Teaching and Learning
In the past few years, we have been devoted to developing various approaches for enhancing the teaching and learning experience through blended learning. Initiated by the university’s teaching and learning strategies amidst the recent pandemic, technology-based blended learning is an emerging solution to provide teachers with various channels for delivering teaching activities so as to enhance the learning experience of students.
To share our initiatives and disseminate the outcomes of our technology-enhanced blended learning, Dr Gary Tsui and Dr YM Tang from the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) have organized two sharing seminars in collaboration with the Educational Development Centre (EDC) at the institutional level. The seminars were open to all PolyU staff and postgraduate students. The topics of the seminars were related to the adoption of technology to enhance blended learning and exploration for the blended learning approaches for the capstone project students. The first seminar entitled “Technology-enhanced learning in blended approach for engineering students” was held on 11 July 2022, while the second one entitled “Towards the Blended Approach: Capstone Projects for Engineering Students” was held on 13 July 2022.
In the first seminar, the development of the latest technology that can potentially be applied to blended learning, as well as the current application of technology in blended learning were introduced. The key technologies including virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), online learning platforms, and artificial intelligence (AI) were presented. Some facilities that are used in our department for blended learning were introduced, and our VR projects for teaching and learning were also presented. The figure below shows a snapshot of teaching and learning using a 4-sided CAVE VR system to provide an enhanced immersive experience to the students. ISE has also developed two online learning platforms, an online collaborative platform and a virtual classroom to enhance students’ internationalization, self-motivated, and interactive learning experiences. Lastly, we are exploring other opportunities for using various technologies in enhancing blended learning in the future.
The second seminar focused on discussing the recent and potential adoption of technologies to facilitate capstone project students’ learning using a blended approach. Due to the wider adoption and acceptance of technology-based teaching and learning in engineering education, we presented cases particularly suited to engineering students. The challenges for running capstone engineering projects, especially during the pandemic period, from the perspective of both supervisors and teachers, were described. Consequentially, ISE has implemented various practices to support the capstone project students for some of the afore-mentioned challenges using a blended mode. Various ISE practices, such as the establishment of a final year project management system, online scientific writing workshop and technical pre-modules, and provision of remote-access computing facilities, were described. In order to provide more support to the students, some new initiatives for adoption of technology-enhanced blended learning approach in the capstone project, including remote-access physical laboratory, diagnostic assessment, augmented blended learning and chatbots, were discussed.
The fundamental objective of the following projects and activities is to improve the quality of teaching and learning in order to achieve student learning outcomes in both disciplinary knowledge and generic skills. Congratulations to the following project leaders for achieving the Teaching Development grants.
Teaching Development Grant (TDG) 2022-25
| Project Title | Project Leader | Total amount funded (including departmental matching fund, if any) HK$ |
|
| 1 | Development of a Constructive and Interactive “Hands-on” Robotics Laboratory in the Metaverse (SEI-3) | Dr Navarro-Alarcon, Department of Mechanical Engineering | 500,000 |
| 2 | Expansion in Breadth and Depth on New Ways of Learning at PolyU (SEI-12) | Dr CKM Lee, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering | 600,000 |
| 3 | Gamified Constructivist Teaching in the Metaverse (VTL-11) | Dr Peter Ng, Department of Computing | 620,000 |
| 4 | Improved Student Attention and Engagement via Visual Attention Analytics-based Slides and Lesson Plan Design (VTL-1) | Dr Li Fan, Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering | 371,729 |
| 5 | Metaversity: Supporting Teaching and Students Learning in the Metaverse Environment (VTL-17) | Dr YM Tang, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering | 627,000 |
| 6 | Automated Video Lecture Processing to Enhance Online Learning Experience (VTL-9) | Mr Richard Pang, Department of Computing | 580,500 |
| 7 | Evaluating Reflective Journals by NLP to Facilitate Students' Learning and Teachers' Grading (VTL-3) | Dr Pauli Lai, Department of Electronic and Information Engineering | 580,940 |
Remarks: The above list is updated as of 19 December 2022.
The PolyU E-Formula Racing Team has been working hard towards preparing for the Formula Student UK 2023 competition, which will be held in July 2023. HKF-05E features a new anti-roll bar to the rear suspension to improve cornering and stability. The team is also focusing on improving system integration, testing and troubleshooting on the powertrain system in preparation for the competition in July.
The team has recruited 40+ members in the new season to support the continuous growth of the team. Training and lessons were delivered to new recruits to support their integration into the team. Each member is tasked with a project to allow new recruits to become familiar with the design cycle and process and the considerations required when working in the team, and in the engineering industry.
Alumni continue to have a positive influence on the team. They are helpful in offering insights on the development of the car and sharing their experience and knowledge. The team is proud to announce that recently, two of their alumni - Nate Tang and Jason Cheung - have joined the Mercedes AMG HPP to assist in the development of the 2026 Mercedes F1 Powertrain. Huge congratulations to them in their pursuit of their dreams, which serves as a great example that F1 engineers are not as remote as you may think. The team would like to thank them for their continuous support and passion in the team despite their busy schedules.
During the summer holiday, the team held several activities such as the Carbon Fibre lay-up workshop that strengthened the abilities of the team’s members and a Christmas Mingling to celebrate their hard work and enjoy the festive season. The team is confident in continuing their preparation for competition and gaining valuable experience after being seriously affected by the pandemic.
