Newsletter No. 488

08 # 4 8 8 | 0 4 . 1 2 . 2 0 1 6 Photo by ISO Staff 口 談 實 錄 / V iva V oce 黃水珊博士 Dr. Isabel Hwang • 生物醫學學院高級講師 Senior Lecturer of School of Biomedical Sciences • 醫學院2016年度傑出教育獎得主 Recipient of Outstanding Education Award 2016, Faculty of Medicine • 積極運用電子學習實踐「翻轉教室」 Active in flipping classroom with e-learning • 2016第十三屆亞太醫學教育會議電子海報報告優異獎得主 Recipient of Merit Award of e-Poster presentation at the 13th Asia Pacific Medical Education Conference 2016 How did your past experience shape your determination for pedagogical excellence? I love to stay flexible to accommodate students’ changing needs. My openness to changes can be traced to my days in London doing a master’s degree in organic chemistry. I often made bold attempts to try different methods with my lab mates from diverse cultural backgrounds to design new ways to synthesize some organic compounds useful for the pharmaceutical industry. It was fun, and sometimes full of laughter. As a teacher living in a constantly evolving era, I should embrace changes—especially in times of constraints—and be a role model to students. You have been developing biomedical sciences coursewares since 2007. What motivates you? Putting myself into students’ shoes, I think picturing the concepts in health sciences can help them better understand physiological mechanisms. I’m not denying the value of didactic lectures, but the use of 2D static images in lecture slides does have its limitations. For instance, the mechanism of how electrical impulses are generated in human neurons is an abstract concept. If my students can visualize the process by an animated story with voiceover, the learning efficacy can be enhanced. When I completed my first courseware in 2008, I was excited to find that my students were already asking for more. What support did you receive during the development stage? The grant schemes of the University such as Micro-Module Courseware Development Grant Schemes have financially supported the development of the coursewares. As most of the micro-modules developed contain audio and visual components from other sources, the clearing of copyright issues can be very time-consuming. Production of each micro-module can take a month, while testing and fine-tuning require one to two weeks. I’m very grateful to work with a team of approachable and professional colleagues from the Information Technology Services Centre and the Office of Medical Education. Without their technical support, I couldn’t have created such quality animated coursewares. In your flipped classroom, how do the micro-modules facilitate quality in-class interaction and their learning motivation? Micro-modules such as Health Sciences I are hosted on the Faculty’s website and the learning management system (LMS) Blackboard Learn for students to access for pre-lecture preparation. As some in-class lecture materials have been shifted to the micro-modules, more time is allowed for in-depth discussions in class. Students can now discuss simple case scenarios in lectures, which was not possible before. Flipped classroom is becoming a feature of the course. I’ve even uploaded all the modules on the cloud-based KEEP platform for open access. How does the learning analytics help you evaluate students’ learning and enhance your teaching? The analytics on Blackboard Learn helps me review individual students’ access rate of each micro-module at a glance anytime anywhere. It enables me to understand students’ learning progress and evaluate the courseware projects. What is your secret in developing micro-modules which engage your large classes? Initial planning is very important. Team up with relevant expertise when a topic is selected. Students are interested in real-life scenarios, particularly those that may relate to their own state of health. When developing an animated courseware which mimics a real-life scenario, however, be prepared to juggle between time, budget and the actual outcome. How do you strike a work-life balance? Sports help to relax my mind and body, and I’m particularly interested in skiing and playing tennis. No matter how occupied I am, I try to arrange at least one skiing trip each year to pamper myself. In the summer, I usually spend at least a week in Wimbledon to watch tennis. 學習的經歷如何塑造你追求卓越教學的決心？ 我喜歡靈活應對學生多變的學習需要，這種開放的心態源於我在倫敦攻讀 有機化學碩士學位的歲月。當時我慣於大膽嘗試，與文化背景各異的實驗 夥伴構思不同方式結合一些有機化合物，希望製造有用的藥物，過程饒有 趣味，有時充滿歡樂。世事日新月異，身為老師，即或有時會面對掣肘，我 也應該勇於改變，成為學生的榜樣。 2007年起，你一直都有製作生物醫學課程的課件，背後的推動力是 甚麼？ 我嘗試站於學生的角度思考，發覺把健康科學的概念圖像化的話，可助學 生進一步明白生理機制。我並不是否定課堂講學的價值，但單憑二維靜態 影像教學確有局限，未能讓學生透徹理解抽象概念，人類神經元中產生的 電脈衝便是一例。透過動畫故事和旁白，抽象的概念可以繪影繪聲地躍現 學生眼前，學習成效便得以提升。當我在2008年完成第一個課件，學生已 急不及待，希望我有新課件面世，這教我十分雀躍。 在製作階段得到甚麼支援？ 大學有資助計劃支持教師製作課件，例如微單元課件製作資助計劃。由於 不少我製作的微單元包含現成的視聽素材，為尊重他人的版權，我得一一 標明出處，但會用上不少時間。製作一個微單元起碼需時一個月，而測試 和修正教材又多用一至兩個星期。其間我得到中大資訊科技服務處和醫學 教育處同事的幫助，他們既親切又專業，沒有他們的技術支援，我就不能 製作出如此優質的動畫課件。 在你的「翻轉教室」，微單元如何促進課內的互動和學生的學習 動機？ 我把「健康科學（一）」這類微單元放在醫學院的網站和學習管理系統 Blackboard Learn，供學生下載備課。正因為把一些原本在課堂講授的內 容轉為微單元，學生可以在課內有更多空間深入討論，以前這是不可能的。 「翻轉教室」已漸成課程特質。我甚至已把所有教學單元上載至雲端平台 KEEP，開放給公眾下載學習。 學習分析如何助你評估學習成效和提升教學？ Blackboard Learn的學習分析一目了然，我可以隨時隨地逐一檢視學生讀 取微單元的情況，有助我明白學生的進度，評估課件的學習成效。 你製作的微單元促進了大班內的互動，訣竅在哪？ 初期規劃非常重要。當教師選定了題材，便要找相關專業背景的人組成團 隊。學生對生活情境感興趣，尤其是與自己健康狀況有關的情境，但製作 模擬生活情境的動畫課件需要更長的時間，所以須記緊衡量時間、財政和 實質成果的因素。 如何保持工作與生活的平衡？ 運動有助我放鬆身心，我尤其喜歡滑雪和打網球。無論平日有多忙碌，我 總會每年去一趟滑雪之旅，每逢夏天，我會在溫布頓渡假起碼一星期，觀 賞網球賽事。