4 March 2010
Professor Alex Fung Dr. Elson Szeto Centre for Learning, Teaching and Technology The Hong Kong Institute of Education
Diverse endeavours (1998 – 2002): Pioneering Phase o Scattered individual and departmental efforts o Various e-learning projects initiated during the period Transitional pilot (2000 – 2002): Converging Phase o “Next-Edu” as a ‘localised shell’ of Blackboard version 4 o The first ‘chosen’ platform derived from a project and housed in an academic department Standardised platform (from 2003 onwards) : Centralised Phase o First installation of Blackboard LMS version 5 as an institute-wide platform o Major upgrade to Blackboard Learn Plus recently in late 2009
1. Issues on Decision-making o A top-down approach via an institute-wide committee o An associate vice president chaired the committee until 2007 o An IT service unit is responsible for the decision-making 2. Issues on Policy and practice o No explicit e-learning policy o Voluntary use of LMS o Individual academics o Departmental coordination
3. Issues on Resources & Support o University senior management level o Triennial budgeting o Seed money for teaching development (2004/05 and 2006/07) o ICT infrastructure level o Information technology services o Teaching and learning support level o Blackboard training workshops/self-learning materials/consultation o On-demand Blackboard course creation and student enrollment (from 2003 to 2009)
Evolving LMS Development
A Partnership Strategy HKIEd community Blackboard Inc. ITS & ISO (infrastructure support) LTTC (Blackboard training, user support) Academic & Teaching Staff (e-learning in practice)
Can we foster quality teaching and learning with e-learning in practice? Teacher-controlled Learner-controlled environment o Re-engaging students in learning o Facilitating students to take charge of their learning o The trend of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs)?
Partnership Understanding of faculty’s pedagogical preferences Understanding of students’ learning needs Ongoing staff development to keep up with fast- changing technologies Being entrepreneurial in fostering e-learning