FACULTY AWARD
Award for Teaching Innovations in E-learning 2023-24
'Engaging students in the learning process is a critical challenge for teachers. As technology continues to evolve, the potential of e-learning to engage and empower modern learners will continue to be unleashed to cater to their diverse learning styles and preferences.’ by Dr Edmond LEUNG
‘The migration of the peer-assisted learning programme to an e-learning platform enhances flexibility for both the students to engage with the learning materials on their own schedule and at their own pace, and for our peer leaders to focus on the key learning troubles experienced by the students to come up with the proper means to address them.’ by Dr Jason PUN
‘Not only teachers need to be able to choose suitable content for teaching, but students should also be able to choose suitable means for learning. A modern e-learning platform enables such flexibility for effective teaching and learning.’ by Dr David YU
Dr Edmond Kar Man LEUNG
Lecturer, Faculty of Science
Dr Jason Chun Shing PUN
Principal Lecturer, Department of Physics
Dr David Hoi Fung YU
Lecturer, Faculty of Science
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the rapid development of a variety of e-learning tools, which allow students to access and engage with educational materials in different ways. Such technological development inevitably has an impact on students’ learning habits and preferences.
Since 2016, the teaching team of SCNC1112 Fundamentals of Modern Science, a large-sized (annual enrolment over 600) core science foundation course, has been running a peer-assisted learning system. Experienced senior students (aka peer leaders) organise face-to-face group learning sessions and individual help hours to cater to students of diverse science backgrounds and enhance student learning. With the rapidly evolving learning habits of the students, the teaching team continues to look for ways to enhance flexibility in peer-learning and to facilitate students’ engagement in academic discussions with their peers.
With the support of a Teaching Development Grant in 2023, Drs Edmond Kar Man Leung, Jason Chun Shing Pun, and David Hoi Fung Yu, transformed this peer learning system into a fully online system known as the mobile-assisted peer-led e-learning (MAPLE) network. The commercially available e-learning platform Piazza was adopted, and a learning community making of students, peer leaders and teachers was created. The platform integrates the various peer-learning resources into a single e-platform (with both mobile app and web versions), including lecture summaries highlighting key science concepts delivered in lectures, weekly practice questions with follow-up discussions, and live Q&A sessions on designated dates to answer students’ questions in real-time.
The enhanced flexibility enables students to access the MAPLE platform, study, and post questions on their own schedule. The platform also allows multiple peer leaders to address them in a collaborative manner. The option of anonymous posting in the discussion forum is a key feature that encourages engagement of students who lack confidence in their knowledge and understanding. The feature ensures that all feel safe and monitored, promoting their active involvement in posting questions and discussions within the network.
The collected learning analytics from academic year 2023-24 indicates that MAPLE is more effective in drawing student participation in peer-learning than the previous face-to-face based system. Furthermore, students more actively participating in the MAPLE network perform better in the course. The teaching team is looking forward to this e-learning initiative to be further developed in the current and other courses that can offer students with a wider range of learning experiences and shaping the future of e-learning.