On March 18th, CTLE held the first online professional development workshop via Zoom. The workshop addressed two themes: building online teaching community; conducting effective online assessment. About 60 academic members from different faculties and institutes joined the workshop.

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Watch the full recording here (need to login with UMPASS)

In the first part of the workshop, Prof. Emily Wang from ICMS shared difficulties encountered by the graduate students at ICMS during distance teaching. Students generally study in laboratories, which is hindered by the current situation. During class suspension, she communicates with her students regularly through online platforms such as Zoom and Wechat.

Prof. Katrine Wong, Director of CTLE, then chaired the discussion session. Faculty members from different academic units had a lively discussion on building online teaching communities and shared teaching practices that engaged students:

  • Prof. William Hughes (FAH): teachers can communicate face to face directly with students in Zoom, which is more engaging than text chat.
  • Prof. Javier Cuervo (FBA): teachers can try to use different platforms and tools to complement online teaching.
  • Prof. Alice Lei (FED): we can set goals for quiet students in our class and adopt ways for students to communicate with each other.
  • Prof. Barry Reynolds (FED): distance teaching and learning require flexibility and teachers must be open to students.
  • Dr. Joan Tang (FAH-ELC): we need to give students more time to carry out learning activities. Too many goals and activities will make it difficult for students to follow.
  • Mr. Miguel Costa (FST): online teaching present with us with various issues. Teachers should keep a positive mind, whereas undergraduate students will benefit from developing normal daily routine.
  • Prof. Muruga Ramaswamy (FLL): it’s crucial that teachers look at the entire learning process and experience calculating the semester scores.

Prof. Katrine Wong added that both teachers and students need to be mindful of physical and mental health when conducting online teaching and learning; we need to take regular breaks from our screens and rest our eyes regularly. She also reminded colleagues of assignment design as students take multiple courses. To help solve potential problems of students who are unable to access certain online material or join online class meetings owing to regional connectivity, teachers can upload such teaching materials and recordings to UMMoodle for students.

In the second part of the workshop, Dr. Alice Lee (FAH-ELC) showed faculty members how to use Quiz and Discussion, two features in UMMoodle, to check learning outcomes. She spoke about giving Turnitin assignments to further engage students in learning. Meanwhile, she reminded all participants that no one had expected such changes in teaching and learning styles before class suspension happened: ‘Let’s show empathy and understand our students’ difficulties when teaching online.’

According to Professor Thomas Lok (FST), students of FST tend to remain quiet in class. He conducted a survey in one of his courses before the mid-term exam, and found out how and when students wanted to take the exam. He then issued relevant regulations and made arrangements for that to happen.

3月18日，教與學優化中心利用Zoom平台舉辦了首個在線教師專業發展工作坊，主題為如何建立在線教學社群及有效評估，有近60位來自不同學院的教職員參加，活動探討了在當前停課不停學的情況下，老師應如何在新的教學平台上，對教學活動作出有效的新嘗試。

工作坊第一部分，首先有來自中華醫藥研究院的王穎教授，分享對於該院的研究生在遙距教學上遇到的困難，學生們一般都是以實驗室為基礎進行學習，礙於現在的停學情況，現在她只能通過在線平台如Zoom及Wechat和他們定期進行交流。

本中心主任王嘉祺教授接著主持討論環節。多位來自不同學院的教學人員就建立在線教學社群作出熱烈討論，並分享學生喜愛的教學做法：

  • 人文學院William Hughes教授：Zoom裡老師直接和學生進行語音交流，學生們會比文字聊天更投入；
  • 工商管理學院Javier Cuervo教授：使用了不同的平台和工具，互相配合地進行遙距教學；
  • 教育學院李思敏教授：為沉默的學生們在課程設置小目標，並採取了讓學生們相互交流的方式學習；
  • 教育學院Barry Reynolds教授：遙距教學需要靈活性，老師要對學生保持開放態度；
  • 人文學院英語中心鄧歡喜博士：需要給予學生更多時間進行教與學活動，太多的目標和活動會令學生難以適從；
  • 科技學院Miguel Costa先生：在線教學會遇上很多問題，希望老師保持正面思想；本科學生按時間表上課，並建議他們作息正常；
  • 法學院Muruga Ramaswamy教授：建議老師們在計算學期的分數時，不應只取測驗和考試的成績，可以將學習時的整個經歷包括在內。

王主任補充，持續進行線上教學需要保持身心健康，長時間面對螢幕眼睛需要定時休息；她同時希望老師適當調整課程活動、功課量，因為同學們在家中是需要學習多門課，參與其他老師的所設置的課程活動和作業。她同時建議老師們可以將教學內容，如書本教材或其他資源，盡可能上載在UMMoodle裡供學生們查看，解決因地域問題不能在網上存取或參與網上課堂的困難。

在工作坊的第二部分，英語中心的Alice Lee博士向教職員展示如何利用UMMoodle裡的小測功能和討論功能來檢驗學習成果，並發佈Turnitin作業令學生更積極參與學習。她同時提醒，沒有人能在高校停課前預料到現在所面臨的學習模式的改變，老師要保持靈活的教與學心態，並保持同理心了解學生參與遙距教學的難處。

科技學院的陸萬海教授表示，該學院學生比其他學院學生不同，較多學生傾向保持沉默去學習；他為其中一門課在進行期中考前做了調查，了解學生想在何時進行考試，並在考試前發佈相關的規定和安排。在這個時刻，老師和學生都在努力學習。