Abstract
The interest in learning Chinese language and Chinese culture have grown rapidly in the recent years. A vast number of self-learning materials, including books, podcasts, YouTube videos and websites has been developed, however, the quality of these learning materials is quite variable and the needs or learning habit of everyone is quite different. Hence, an interactive online platform with flexible complementary supports that could help users of different proficient level to find the suitable materials and evaluate one’s own learning would be very helpful. The project aims to develop a trilingual (Cantonese, Mandarin and English) and bilateral online platform (English and Chinese) with complementary supports provided by the Independent Learning Centre (ILC) to recommend self-learning Chinese languages or Chinese culture resources and encourage autonomous learning to all non-Chinese and Chinese speaking students of CUHK.
Self-learning materials of 5 major areas, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Chinese characters, Chinese culture and Hong Kong culture will be categorized, reviewed and selected for recommendation. Links or location information of the materials, written and video introductions, learning tips and suggested learning steps, interactive exercises, response questions, an “Online Self-Assessment System” as well as comments and experience sharing sections will be included in the platform. ILC will collect feedbacks from the platform and provide complementary supports, including tailor made workshops, consultation service, Guided Study Plan (GSP) and Language Exchange Program (LEP) for students who want to review, reflect, evaluate or deepen their understanding on particular areas. The design of this project (online platform with complementary supports) would help promote autonomous learning, life-long learning, deep learning and enhance e-literary.
Brief write-up
Project objectives
This project aims to develop a trilingual (Cantonese, Mandarin and English) and biliterate online platform (English and Chinese): Online Platform for Successful Chinese Learning (OPSCL) with complementary supports provided by Independent Learning Center (ILC) to guide the CUHK students to find the most suitable self-learning materials for Mandarin, Cantonese, Chinese Characters, Chinese Culture and Hong Kong Culture.
Activities, process and outcomes
OPSCL was officially launched on September 2021. Student can access the platform:
https://www.ilc.cuhk.edu.hk/Workshop/ChineseLanguageAndCulture/EN/index.aspx
with Onepass. The high number of access rate recorded from Sep 2021 to Dec 2021 suggested that the platform was well received and able to assist student on practicing independent learning. This conclusion can be further supports by the result collected from the online survey embedded into the system.
Deliverables and evaluation
2 papers (1 in English and 1 in Chinese) have been presented in international conferences and published in the conference proceedings. 1 poster has been presented in the Teaching and Learning Innovation Expo.
Dissemination, diffusion, impact and sharing of good practices
OPSCL has been widely promoted by ILC though ILC webpages, booklet and mass mailings. The platform was also a recommended learning platform for ILC co-curricular learning activity: Language Exchange Program (LEP) and CHLT1104 Self-Learning Elementary Chinese.
Impact on teaching and learning
Students found OPSCL useful in helping them to learn Chinese language or Chinese culture and able to enhance their learning experience, comments such as “The OPSCL platform was intuitive and easy to use” and “are helpful to my level (advanced)” have been submitted to the survey.
