Abstract

The proposed project focuses on the development of metrics for comparative evaluation of classroom versus online delivery of university-level subject matter. We are seeing the sudden proliferation of online courses that seem to offer competitive pedagogic experiences at a fraction of the cost of conventional university courses. We also observe that some aspects of classroom-based education have no clear equivalents in present-day online courses. These include students’ face-to-face interactions with course staff, stimulation from physical presence in an active research environment, and the general social milieu of a university campus. We also need to develop concrete measures of comparative pedagogic effectiveness between online and classroom venues. Comparison will be based on a single course among a conventional classroom offering, an online offering taken by a self-selected group of external students, and an online offering taken on campus by university’s own undergraduates. This study involves a cross-institutional collaboration (with MIT) and cross-faculty collaboration (among Education, Engineering and Social Sciences). The comparative study will shed light on dimensions in which each pedagogic element excels, allowing incremental progress in the improvement of both classroom and online offerings. Based on our analytics, the best practices in terms of teaching and learning will be identified, as well as examined and disseminated through the CUHK KEEP system.