Annual Report 2013–14

MOOCs CUHK also keeps track of all the new developments in educational technology and media to offer new learning methods. The continuous developments in information technology have not only changed the speed and ways of information access, they have transformed higher education, which is not confined to brick-and-mortar campuses, classrooms, or boundaries of countries. CUHK has offered free educational programmes to online learners since 2010 by joining iTunes U. In early 2013, CUHK joined Coursera as a partner, offering five courses for free to world learners. These were called Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The Centre of Learning Enhancement And Research (CLEAR) is responsible for coordinating matters regarding Coursera and supporting University members to design and compile the courses. MOOCs have quite a lot of science and engineering courses, whereas CUHK selected five courses belonging to the humanities, economics, education and engineering. The courses on ‘Classics of Chinese Humanities’ and ‘The Beauty of Kunqu Opera’ underscore CUHK’s characteristics in Chinese studies while other research strengths are also included. Its first course ‘The Role of the Renminbi in the International Monetary System’ was launched in September 2013. Starting from January 2014, ‘Information Theory’ has been posted online. Both courses have attracted around 17,000 students. MOOCs also have an impact on traditional classroom teaching. With this convenient platform, teachers upload introductory material online for students to study beforehand. They can use time previously reserved for lectures to solve students’ problems; they can tutor through in-depth discussion. This is known as the ‘flipped classroom’ where the traditional order of teaching, i.e., lecturing in classroom, followed by homework, is flipped. Proven to be more efficient, the ‘flipped classroom’ is characterized by an interactive real- time Q&A function that allows teachers to be immediately notified of students’ questions and to see the distribution of the answers. This allows them to adjust their teaching. MOOCs are still in its infancy and its impact is under observa- tion. CUHK is considering a wider use of different e-learning methods beyond MOOCs. The University has set up an ad-hoc group for integrating various e-learning platforms. Ancient Chinese believed that the missions of teachers were instilling values, imparting knowledge, and dispelling doubts. Both CUHK’s new programmes and new teaching methods are aimed at accomplishing these missions. Online courses may be conducive to the latter two. As for instilling values, interpersonal relationship between teachers and students may still be most important and irreplaceable. As Prof. Hau Kit-tai, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, puts it, ‘Human interaction is crucial in traditional education; it cannot be replaced.’ At any rate, CUHK is committed to promoting the well- being of society in changing times through its new and old programmes, new and old teaching methods. 大型公開網上課程 大學也善用新發展的科技提供新的學 習方式。由於資訊科技發達，現今的 高等學教育已不只局限在大學校園或 者教室，甚至突破國界藩籬。 中大早在2010年已通過 iTunes U 的 公開專頁，提供學術資源讓大眾免費 下載， 2013年初又與Coursera結成 合作夥伴，提供五項課程供全球人士 免費修讀。這些課程稱為「大型公開 網上課程」（簡稱MOOCs，中國大 陸稱為「慕課」）。校內的學能提升 研究中心負責統籌中大加入Coursera 事宜，並協助教學人員設計及籌劃有 關課程。 MOOCs以理工學科居多，中大挑選 的五項課程，既凸顯中大在中國文化 研究的優勢，如「中國人文經典」和 「崑曲之美」，亦網羅其他如經濟、 教育和工程等課程。首項課程「人民 幣在國際貨幣體系的角色」於2013年 9月開課， 「信息論」於2014年1月 開課，兩者均吸引全球約一萬七千人 報名。 MOOCs「翻轉課室」，與教師在課 堂授課，學生回家做功課的傳統次序 相反，藉着便捷的平台，課前教師上 載基本知識，讓學生預習，減省課堂 教授時間。上課時則由學生提問不明 之處，以及深入討論相關問題。這種 教學法特點是即時互動，透過系統， 教師可即時知道學員提問及回答選擇 的分布，上課時便能因應需要調整 教學。 科技在不斷發展，舉凡有助知識傳遞 的電子教學形式，都會考慮，大學已 成立了團隊，提出整合各項電子教學 平台的方案。 不管是開設新課程還是提供新學習方 式，其目的都是一致：傳道、授業， 解惑，也就是中國古人對於為人師者 的期許。網上的課程或許在授業和解 惑方面，至於傳道，大概還是需要 言傳身教這種人際關係來達到，也就 是親炙良師。正如大學副校長侯傑泰 教授說：「傳統教育中，人與人的 接觸和互動，是最重要的因素，也不 可取代。」無論如何，中文大學致力 與時並進，以新舊課程和新舊教學方 式來造福社會。 侯傑泰教授 Prof. Hau Kit-tai 16 嶄新課程與新學習方式 New Programmes and New Learning Methods