Bulletin No. 2, 2016

From Cyber to Hyper 21 EduVenture ® The mobile learning system consists of three platforms: a pre-trip EV- Composer plat form which allows teachers to design tasks for their s tudent s to comp l e te at va r i ous checkpoints, an EV-Explorer mobile app showing s tudent s’ real -time positions and their task completion progress during the fieldtrip, and an EV-Retriever platform which enables the teachers to review and correct the students’ answers after the trip. Students, on the other hand, can select their own itinerary and document their fieldtrip observations by taking photos and videotaping their journeys, as well as inserting all forms of data by using the application system installed in their mobile devices. The EV-Retriever platform also allows retrieval of previously saved data to generate graphs and charts for in-class presentations. Currently, more than 300 primary, secondary and special schools are using EduVenture ® . Its user- friendly features and substantial technical support provided by CLST staff are among the many reasons for its increasing popularity. One of the winners at the EduVenture ® Outdoor Teaching Material Design Competition, Ms. Lam Mei-yi from Sacred Hear t Canossian College, is a first-time user of the system. She shared her experience of using EduVenture ® to conduct a fieldtrip about the history of Aberdeen for a secondary school history class. ‘EduVenture ® has made outdoor learning more inspiring and enjoyable for my students. By exploring various h i s to r i c a l s i t e s i n g r oup s a n d c omp l e t i n g a mu l t i - media report about their own adventures, the students have acquired a deeper understanding o n t h e h i s t o r y o f A b e r d e e n a nd e v e n c ame up w i t h suggestions to preserve its unique cultural heritage,’ said Ms. Lam. EduVenture VR ® However, visiting remote areas can be extremely challenging for young primary school students and students with special needs. To overcome these obstacles, CLST launched the EduVenture VR ® in November 2016, which allows students to virtually travel to the places they study without worrying about transportations and accessibility. With a mobile device and a Google Cardboard, the students can enter a fully immersive environment by viewing a 360º VR video with dialogues, sound effects, and questions prepared by their teachers. Mr. Ng Yu-kit , an English teacher at Confucian Tai Shing Primary School, has created interactive teaching materials by using EduVenture VR ® . After taking a virtual tour around a local supermarket and listening to the English dialogues of two grocery shoppers, the students are asked to report their observations in English and answer the multiple- choice questions shown on the screen of their mobile devices. ‘The system allows me to review all of my students’ answers at once and evaluate their individual learning progress almost instantly,’ said Mr. Ng. CLST has uploaded the above-mentioned teaching materials to their EduVenture ® and EduVenture VR ® online platforms, where teachers can share related resources and learn from each other’s experiences. The Centre will also launch a professional training programme on EduVenture VR ® early next year. It is hoped that CLST’s latest innovation will allow multimedia teaching materials to be prepared in a more time-effective manner, and enable computer- assisted instructions to achieve higher educational impacts for the next generation of digital learners. Prof. Morris Jong (right), Director of CLST; Mr. Eric Luk (left), Educational Development Officer (IT) and Mr. Jimmy Leung (centre), Software Developer presenting the EduVenture VR ® learning system at the InnoCarnival 2016