2013-14

Impact Projects 2013-14

Birds of Hong Kong in your hands

Principal Investigator: Dr C.L. Yip ( Department of Computer Science )
Telephone: 2857-8431
Email: clyip@cs.hku.hk

Project Objectives:

• consolidation of knowledge in various past projects to build a mobile application framework for multimedia presentation that can be maintained sustainably;
• demonstration of the far-reaching applicability of the developed framework by building apps that are freely available worldwide on Hong Kong birds;
• strengthening the partnership between HKU and NGOs in Hong Kong; and
• application of our experience and findings in real projects allow two-way flow of knowledge between HKU and NGOs for mutual benefits.

Project Description:

In partnership with the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society (HKBWS), the project applies HKU knowledge in mobile application development to enable mobile device users in Hong Kong and worldwide to access multimedia information about Hong Kong birds for free.

Deliverables in 2013/14:

• A mobile app on Apple App Store for iOS devices;
• A mobile app on Google Play for Android devices;
• A web site about the apps;
• Link of the site from Engineering Knowledge Exchange Portal;
• Link of the site from HKBWS home page;
• Media coverage of the Knowledge Exchange outcome.

3D modeling and 3D printing workshop

Principal Investigator: Dr. Vincent Lau ( Department of Computer Science )
Telephone: 2857-8460
Email: vmklau@cs.hku.hk

Project Objectives:

3D modeling is becoming more and more important, it has many applications such as product design, architect, animation, movies, games and mobile App.

This proposal aims at introduce 3D modeling and 3D printing to the secondary school in Hong Kong. Through the seminar, we can give introduction of free software tools and low cost hardware device 3D printer, and gives some practical and affordable solutions to secondary schools. Through the workshops to students and teachers, we can generalize the experience to create lesson plan and content for school reference.

Project Description:

The proposed project aims to raise the creativity of secondary school teachers and students in Hong Kong, through 3D modeling tools and 3D printing technology.

Through seminars and workshops, we can promote 3D design and 3D printing to secondary schools. Some events are targeted for teachers and some events are target for students.

With proper software tools such as free Google SketchUp, one can learn the construction and design of 3D model in short learning time.

With low cost 3D printer (below HK$20,000), the virtual 3D models can become physical objects in affordable way. It can use to create prototypes and samples. There will be workshops to create 3D characters by teachers and students, and we will print some characters as key chain as souvenirs.

Deliverables in 2013/14:

• Organize seminars and workshops for around 100 teachers and 500 students.
• Create learning materials in electronic files, for lessons and self-learning
• Create some 3D models for school, so that students can freely download and modify.

Knowledge Exchange on ICT for education – e-Assessment for Learning

Principal Investigator: Dr. Wilton Fok ( Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering )
Telephone: 2857-8490
Email: wtfok@eee.hku.hk
 

Project Objectives:

Using ICT tools for the assessment for learning is a new trend in e-education. There is more emphasis on using electronic tools for assessment for learning in order to facilitate teachers seeking to identify and diagnose student learning problems, and providing quality feedback for students on how to improve their work. The e-Learning Technology Development Laboratory of the EEE Department has been developing ICT tools to facilitate teachers to conduct assessment for learning in an efficient and effective way. A new Teaching Development Grant (TDG) project was started in May 2013 to develop tools for peer review assessment, real-time quiz with analytic and a pen-based home feedback system. The tools can provide an efficient and effective channel for providing feedback so as to monitor any learning difficulties and help teachers to diagnose students’ prior skills and abilities, providing feedback for teachers to adjust the curriculum or provide additional assistance accordingly.

These tools are useful for not only our university but also other primary and secondary school. The project team would like to share the knowledge how to make use of ICT for assessment with educators, teachers and parents. The propose project will exchange our knowledge and experience on e-assessment with other stakeholders through different means such as book publications, seminar, workshop, web-site and video.

Project Description:

The aims of the proposed project is to exchange knowledge on how to use a new ICT tool called i-Assessment for real-time assessment and collecting feedbacks in schools. The knowledge will be exchanged with educators, teachers and parents through a series of Knowledge Exchange activities such as bilingual book publication, public seminar, workshop, web-site and on-line video.

It is expected that this e-assessment system developed by HKU would generate great impact to the education sector.

To educators

Improvement of e-education for our next generation - The new e-assessment tools can facilitate the use of ICT to enrich the quality and efficiency of assessment, shorten the feedback loop and provide a more convenient and in-depth analysis on the students strengths and weaknesses.

To teachers

Ease the workload and reduce the pressure of teachers - The new e-assessment tools can ease the workload of teachers so that assessment feedback, score grading and performance distribution information can be collected and recorded on a large scale and in a convenient way. Teachers can spare more time to concern students and further improve the curriculum development.

To parents

Better understand the strengths and weaknesses of their children

To HKU

Better utilize the research output through technology transfer to schools and educational organizations. It is expected more collaborations with schools, educational organization and government will be established through this impact project.

Deliverables in 2013/14:

• 1000 copies of printed book (150-200 pages A5 size full color). The book will be distributed to all public libraries in Hong Kong and many local and international schools.
• One project web-site in English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese
• At least one public seminar and one public workshop, one of those will be co-organized with a public school or a government unit.
• Publish at least two articles in public media, such as newspaper and magazine
• Two video programs to introduce and demonstrate the project. The video will be posted on the Engineering Faculty Knowledge Exchange Portal and public media such as Facebook and Youtube.