The Academic Registry (AR) issued a notice on 10 September that most teachers and students have returned to campus to begin this semester; however, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, some teachers and students were still unable to return. All the classes this semester are to be conducted as scheduled in one of the three ways: face-to-face teaching; or real-time interactive online mode (e.g. using Zoom), or a combination of face-to-face and online modes.
The college has upgraded technology and equipment to meet the needs of different courses and ensure a high-quality learning experience.
Equipment set up in the classroom
Vice President (Academic) Professor Huang Huaxiong emphasized that integrating technology into teaching and learning is part of the college's long-standing strategy. The college will continue to provide support and encourage teachers to innovate.
According to the AR, a total of 452 courses will be offered during the new semester, of which: 76.8% will be face-to-face teaching, 22.3% will be online teaching courses while 0.9% will be hybrid teaching. The AR has adjusted the timetables to solve the problem of time difference for overseas teachers who cannot currently return to college. These teachers will take classes through an online platform. Students will listen to the lectures in the classroom and they will be assisted by teaching assistants at the same time. The college will continue to help students who cannot return to campus to participate in courses online according to their timetables.
Online class
The main online platforms used by teachers and students are Zoom (real-time interaction, audio and video transmission), iSpace (resources, services, data cloud space), and Panopto (video streaming). In addition to these platforms, teachers can also flexibly use other online platforms to assist teaching according to the course’s needs.
According to Acting Director of the Information Technology Service Centre (ITSC), Mr Mike Lu, the ITSC has provided a dedicated line for overseas teachers and has provided remote support to meet live broadcast needs.
iSpace is a comprehensive online teaching management platform. Teachers and students can share courseware and complete assignments using iSpace. It also provides diversified cooperative learning (such as group discussions, mutual evaluation of group members, etc.), online examinations, learning performance records, etc. It is also well-equipped that it can be used for checking similarities of papers. According to statistics from the Information Technology Service Centre, compared to the same period last year, the number of visits to iSpace by UIC teachers and students has increased more than ten times this year, which has provided great assistance for teachers to improve teaching and learning effectiveness as well as efficiency to carry out teaching innovation.
A teacher using a virtual platform to teach
Associate Academic Registrar of AR Ms Kennis Ng explained that in addition to the end-of-the-semester teaching evaluation, the college will collect students’ feedback and timely evaluate the teaching effectiveness and make any corresponding adjustments.
From MPRO
Editors: Samuel Burgess, Deen He, Zhang Fan
