Abstract
Within the education of high-quality professional engineers, it is important to provide training to our teaching staff (both faculty members and teaching assistants) to ensure that the highest teaching quality can be provided to our students. Although the university already provides a professional development course (PDC) for new faculty members, training courses for teaching assistants and also sharing seminars to new teaching techniques, there are several limitations still prevailing: (1) the courses are general in nature to all disciplines rather than being specific to Engineering; (2) the number of training contact hours are limited; (3) training sessions are typically once-off; and (4) trainings and seminars are scattered and not accessible at a centralized location. The purpose of this project is to develop an online e-learning course with a set of micro-modules specific for our teaching staff and assistants in the Faculty of Engineering, with the following three objectives: (1) provide micro-modules training material to our teachers, from course preparation, teaching of lectures and tutorials, running of laboratory classes, course assessment and reflection; (2) provide case studies and inspiration to state-of-the-art teaching techniques to enhance our education, such as flipped classroom, gamification, VR/AR/MR and new assessment methods; and (3) disseminate and enhance interaction excellent of teaching practice of exemplary teachers and teaching assistants. As an outcome from the project, 20 micro-modules will be made online as a training course for our teaching staff and assistants.
Brief write-up
Project objectives
(1) Disseminate excellent teaching practice of exemplary teachers; (2) Categorize and document different pedagogical approaches in engineering education; and (3) Enhance the interaction and teaching experience transfer from exemplary teachers/tutors to junior teachers and teaching assistants
Activities, process and outcomes
Activities: (1) Research assistant recruitment; (2) Facilities booking and interview; (3) Tapes documentation; (4) Video production and quiz questions development; and (5) Refinement and publicity
Process: (1) Topics of pedagogies scheduling; (2) Micro-modules development; (3) Website construction; and (4) Dissemination
Outcomes: (1) 20 micro-modules; (2) 2 online training courses; and (3) One project website
Deliverables and evaluation
Deliverables: (1) 20 micro-modules; (2) 2 online training courses; (3) One project website; (4) 4 poster presentations in local conferences; (5) 2 seminars; (6) 1 workshop; and (7) 1 leaflet and 1 guidebook
Evaluation:
• Survey on the experience towards the end of the eLearning training course for junior faculty members and new teaching assistants.
• Survey on the website for eLearning and micro-modules towards the end of the eLearning training course for junior faculty members and new teaching assistants.
• Focus group interview with a small group of volunteer trainees of the eLearning training courses.
• Feedbacks and discussions from the course website and small group forum on the eLearning training courses.
• Weekly reflection meetings with research assistant and technician to monitor the progress and propose future improvements.
Dissemination, diffusion, impact and sharing of good practices
(1) 4 poster presentations in local conferences; (2) 1 seminar at the department level and 1 seminar at the university level; (3) 1 workshop with 60 people; and (4) 1 leaflet and 1 guidebook
Impact on teaching and learning
This project got two awards in the Teaching and Learning Innovation Expo 2021, CUHK:
• People’s Prize
• Silver award in Pedagogical Innovation
The developed 20 micro-modules and 2 online courses will be used by teaching staffs and teaching assistants in the Faculty of Engineering each year (more than 10 new teachers and more than 100 fresh graduate students) in the future.
