New MOOC course on frailty in daily living

Dr Rick Kwan, Dr Justina Liu, Dr Daphne Cheung, and Mr Patrick Kor delivered a new massive open online course (MOOC) “Frailty In Daily Living” in January. It was the first MOOC course led by SN staff members and the third MOOC project in which SN staff members were involved.

This 4-week free online course was offered by the HKPolyUx and delivered via the edX*platform. It aimed to enhance the understanding of local and global audiences on frailty and promote frailty management. The instructors from our School introduced the theories, risk and protective factors, assessment methods, and interventions of frailty, as well as association between frailty, cognitive functions and nutrition. The course was open to global audiences and over 680 learners enrolled.

Dr Rick Kwan, one of the instructors, said that mini-lectures, demonstrative videos and tests were conducted to facilitate learning. “We hoped that our learners will apply the skills they learnt for assessing and managing frailty or helping older adults managing their daily living,” said Dr Kwan. Another instructor, Dr Justina Liu said that this course equipped learners with the knowledge about frailty and the ability to differentiate between sarcopenia and frailty. “These are big steps forward for frailty prevention and management,” said Dr Liu.

Learners gave positive comments to the course, such as:
“Thank you, Dr Rick. Being a former (now retired) scientist, I like seeing issues defined and analysed in a scientific framework, as you did very nicely in your mini-lecture.” --- Bruce McChullough

*PolyU is an institutional partner of the edX Consortium, an e-educational platform founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. HKPolyUx is an online platform established to facilitate online learning.