HKUST KEEP Seminar – Idea Exchange on E-learning

KEEP (Knowledge and Education Exchange Platform) team and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology co-organized a seminar on 18th November to introduce the platform, and also to exchange ideas and practices regarding e-learning.

 

In the first part of the seminar, Prof. King and other KEEP team members acquainted the audience with the mission and functions of the e-learning platform. In order to let everyone know more about how KEEP helps facilitate and enhance e-learning, the KEEP team members demonstrated a scenario for using KEEP in the whole process of making use of the platform to teach online. Users can first look for relevant educational resources by using KEEPSearch. Then, KEEPCatalog can help educators to find the suitable software and technologies that they may use for preparing their teaching materials. After preparation of courses, educators can also share their courses with others by uploading them to KEEPCourse. Finally, educators may utilize KEEPoll to encourage students’ participation in lectures. After demonstrating how to make use of the major functions of the platform, the KEEP team members then showed the audience the way of using mobile gadgets to respond to polls via the newly launched KEEPoll app. The KEEP team also invited their co-brand partners Edore to introduce their co-brand product Edore @ KEEP, which can be used for developing visually appealing exercises with multi-media elements for their students in an easy and efficient way.

 

In the second part of the seminar, Prof. T.C. Pong gave an update on the development of HK MOOC Platform and the learning analytics tools being developed on the platform. HK MOOC Platform is a project funded by UGC and a MOOC learning platform for Hong Kong’s tertiary education sector. Prof. T.C. Pong then discussed the effort made by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in providing MOOCs for students and shared his views on how MOOCs can enhance learning effectiveness, pointing out that the pattern of students using MOOCs can provide useful data and figures that give educators a reference on how they may improve their online lectures and course materials.

 

In the Q & A session, participants of the seminar showed their enthusiasm towards the e-learning initiatives, actively asking questions and involving in the discussion. A summary of the Q & A session is as follows:

 

Q1: What is special about KEEP?

A: The special point of KEEP is that it breaks down the barriers among different institutions and provides an analysis of educational materials for both students and educators.

 

Q2: Does KEEPoll support more question formats in addition to simple texts?

A: KEEPoll also supports formats like quizzes and exams.

 

Q3: Is KEEP providing any recommendations for online courses?

A: We show information on all courses but there will be a sorting order function soon. We will recommend courses and a learning path for each individual user.

 

Q4: What is the relationship between KEEP and the Hong Kong MOOC Platform?

A: We are close partners and both platforms help facilitate e-learning in Hong Kong.

 

Q5: Why do we do that for Hong Kong?

A: Actually we are not just aiming at Hong Kong but we also hope that this platform can go global in the future.

 

Q6: Can I find Chinese content on KEEP?

A: Yes, content written in English and Chinese can all be found on the platform.

 

 Video on the UST KEEP Seminar: