Teaching development grants final and financial report: Development of digital lectures in the Department of Chinese Language Studies

This proposed project aims to cultivate staff pedagogical thoughtfulness as a learning community through establishing a technology-enhanced environment in the Department of Chinese Language Studies (CHL). The idea is consistent with the Institute’s commitment to provide a ‘total learning experience’ for students. Apart from the use of Learning Management System (e.g., Blackboard, Moodle), other e-learning initiatives are yet to be explored by colleagues in CHL. To facilitate colleagues to realize the full potential of e-learning and enhance innovation in learning and teaching, this project will provide support for (i) producing digital lectures; (ii) sharing pedagogies for digital lectures; (iii) developing a department digital lecture database. Such a task-based approach not only sets a clear goal for colleagues in the same department to achieve but also provides a common ground for inquiries into pedagogies for e-learning in pertinent academic areas. To engage students in digital lectures, each lecturer participant will need to rethink carefully about the course intended learning outcomes, lecture contents, teaching and learning activities, and assessment. These reflections are crucial to effective professional development as they involve a through review of past teaching experiences. Through peer sharing on the design of e-learning, the emerging new ways of thinking about learning and teaching will become catalyst for department wide improvement, transforming our capacity that leads to a better learning experience for students.