Abstract
“As an instructor, the KEEP platform was very useful for content delivery of multiple different kinds (passive forms such as videos and notes, but also active forms such as automated interactive mathematical exercises with hints), but also keeping track of student engagement with fairly comprehensive back-end support that reported a variety of useful statistics that helped me note performance levels of students.” - CUHK Professor teaching a mathematics course.
Beginning in 2014, the vision for the KEEP platform was to provide an open eLearning platform where teachers could gain access to the best eLearning tools and utilize such tools with various innovative pedagogies to enhance teaching and learning. Since then, KEEP has impacted 30,000+ users across 8 UGC institutions, 300+ courses, more than 2/3 of which are CUHK-led, and innovative technology such as university single sign-on, which allows any student or staff with a CUHK account to gain access to the platform instantaneously. With the high usage of the platform, this project intends to 1) address the feedback from teachers on the existing platform; 2) upgrade the systems to the latest versions and resolve any security issues; and 3) enhance the platform to provide advanced learning functionality. The improvements to the platform hope to achieve outcomes that enable teachers to streamline the use of technology in the classroom, better online learning experience for students, and easier access for all educational stakeholders. Since the original phases of the KEEP project has been achieved and accomplished, this proposal is not only readily achievable, but essential for supporting the development of teaching and learning for existing teachers and students using the platform. These future developments are intended to advance CUHK's eLearning objectives, to enhance CUHK's international reputation.
Brief write-up
Project objectives
This project aims to enhance the KEEP platform, an open eLearning platform where users can
access the best eLearning tools and utilize such tools with
various innovative pedagogies. Through KEEP’s steadfast support of online education, teachers can streamline the use of technology in the classroom, students can have a better online learning experience, and all educational stakeholders can enjoy easier and quicker access to valuable resources. There were no changes to our original overall objectives. We sought to
improve the functionality of KEEP’s key features that teachers currently enjoy, covering the four major areas:
course hosting, assistive tools, learning analytics, and technology integration.
Activities, process and outcomes
To achieve the captioned objectives, activities conducted included:
1.
Installing new plug-ins and updating the existing functions in all existing KEEP learning management systems (LMSs, including CUHKMoodle, KEEPMoodle, and KEEP Open edX, respectively). These updates involve gamification plug-in, analytics, and dashboard function of the LMSs.
2.
Hosting different events and sharing the latest eLearning trend. We planned to host online events on different scales (i.e., “Community of Practice” event, workshops, seminars) to share new practices for teaching and learning with educators, academics, and experts in the field of eLearning.
3.
Quantitatively and qualitatively surveying usage at KEEP and its related functions using the online questionnaire.
Deliverables and evaluation
In general, this project has
completed deliverables in four areas thus far. These deliverables cover:
1.
Course Hosting – Platform enhancements for providing better services to learners
2.
Assistive Tools – Additional, external tools for enhancing platform stability and performance
3.
Learning Analytics – Metrics for providing educators with new insights on their courses
4.
Technology Integration – Collaboration projects with core platforms for bringing new functionalities to learners and educators
Dissemination, diffusion, impact and sharing of good practices
The plan to disseminate the best practices across CUHK and UGC-funded institutions in Hong Kong lie within the partnership with the Centre for eLearning Innovation and Technology (ELITE) at CUHK. Here is the plan for the identification of good practices and relevant outcomes:
1.
To promote all of the new
enhancements and
technologies to teachers and course providers as a part of
ELITE’s portfolio of services and
support for the CUHK community, KEEP will continue to host a wide variety of events, including but not limited to seminars, meetings, and workshops for users across all the faculties in CUHK.
2. KEEP will continue to share success stories and tips to
disseminate knowledge about online learning and
teaching via social media channels and
newsletters. KEEP organized the
KEEP eLearning Community of Practice 2021, which provided a platform for
educators and veterans in the eLearning field to
exchange their views on the eLearning experience for lifelong learning.
3.
To provide cutting-edge technology for
supporting teachers in developing new pedagogy, KEEP has introduced
gamification to educational professionals so that they can best utilize this brand new tool to
enhance their teaching effectiveness through innovative pedagogy.
4. We will also keep searching for teachers who are well-versed in gamification or using other advanced education technology and encourage them to share their experiences with counterparts in the education sector.
Impact on teaching and learning
In our experience, we foresee that “peer learning” will become a pedagogical trend in the future, the Project Team has emphasized the introduction of gamification in an eLearning setting. Compared to traditional settings in which teachers assume the leading role in guiding students, the launch of the gamification plugin in the
KEEP LMSs enables students to actively seek out more knowledge for themselves. By analyzing the feedback we collected from teachers, gamification is shown to have exciting potential for sustaining educational effectiveness for educators and learners.
