Blended approaches to e‐learning:
Principles and practices at The Universityof Hong Kong
Dr Susan Bridges
Associate Professor
Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning/ Faculty of Education
Assistant Dean (Curriculum Innovation)
Faculty of Education

The University of Hong Kong
Adjunct Professor of Australian Catholic University
Visiting Professor
Medical Development Center

Gifu University

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
Distance education model‐ Large enrolments (small completions)‐ Few credit‐bearing‐ Large production costs‐ Limited income

Early examples:Peter Norvig and Sebastian Thrun: “Intro to Artificial
Intelligence — Learn the Fundamentals of AI”;
https://www.udacity.com/course/cs271> 160,000 enrolled
Michael Sandel (Harvard): “Justice”
http://www.justiceharvard.org/

Hype

UnderestimationFree

Cost to university

Enrolment number 100,000+

Low completion rates

Accessible to all

Non‐credit‐bearing

Change the landscape of on‐campus provision

Mainly older adult learners

Knowledge accessible to all(potential to erase poverty)

Mainly privileged enrolled

Trends in e‐learning for on‐campus
experiences

A flipped classroom

PennState’s View of the Flipped Classroom

Rethinkinghigher
education
designs

http://ileighanne.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/flipped‐classroom‐learning‐cycles.jpg
Accessed 7/4/2014

The flipped classroom – fallacies & opportunities
Fallacies• Content is still owned by thelecturer• ‘Learning by doing’ is an add‐
on to presentation modes• Lectures are converted tohomework• Using new ‘free’ class time
for more direct instruction

Opportunities• Active learning• Inquiry• Research and knowledge building• Task design for deep learning• Differentiated learning > own pace
• Constructive, Socratic
conversations

Building new spaces for student
collaboration

The Centennial Campus• Varied, new spaces for student learning• Shopping mall meets library…
The Chi Wah Learning Commons

The Learning Sciences andFlipped Classrooms

Cambridge Handbook of theLearning Sciences (CHLS)• R. Keith Sawyer, Editor• 1st edition (2006)• By December 2011, 5,000 copies sold• translated into Japanese and Chinese.

• 2nd edition (August 2014)• total number of chapters has onlygrown by two—from 34 to 36• new outline reflects the changes anddevelopment of a vibrant and rapidly
growing field• contributors to the first edition werealmost exclusively from the USA; incontrast, contributors to the second
edition represent the many countries
with active ongoing research in thelearning sciences.

Ch15 Problem‐based learning
Jingyan Lu
Susan Bridges
The University of Hong Kong, China
Cindy E. Hmelo‐SilverRutgers University, USA

PBL as curriculum design• a curriculum‐level pedagogical strategy NOT one component of a curriculumthat is otherwise didactic and instructionist• Requires careful mapping of content and organization of problems alignedto learning outcomes across the years of the curriculum• becomes both the driver and link across disciplines• Characteristics of successful PBL environments include:• content integration across a range of disciplines;• collaboration and teamwork;• application and synthesis of new knowledge towards greater understanding of thedimensions of the problem at hand;• reflection on the learning process with self and peer assessment;• engagement with ‘real‐world’ problems and issues; and• examination processes measuring progress towards the goals of PBL.

HKU Case 1:
Undergraduate Dentistry– blended learning
Infusing educational technologies
within traditional PBL (PBL2.0)

PBL2.0: E-learning for Problem-based Learning (PBL) @Faculty of Dentistry: The Team
Teammember

ProfileTeammember

ProfileDr Susan Bridges

Prof Cynthia Yiu

Assistant Professor, Dental Education & elearning Assistant Dean (Curriculum Development) (2010‐11) Undergraduate Education (2012) Curriculum development, including e‐learning
initiatives, to enhance student learning outcomes
and to support territory‐wide curriculum reformmeasures.
 FYE Coordinator (2011‐now)

Professor in Paediatric Dentistry• Associate Dean (Undergraduate Education) &Chair FCDC, BUS (2010‐12)• 2009 Outstanding Teacher Award by the HKU
Faculty of Dentistry.
• Actively involved in PBL and development of thenew 6‐year dental curriculum in the Faculty ofDentistry.

Dr Michael Botelho

Prof Edward Lo

Clinical Associate Professor in Oral Rehabilitation• Year Director for BDS 5 for over a decade• Assistant Dean (Undergraduate Education)(2010‐11)• Member, Faculty Task Force for the development
and implementation of the BDS PBL Curriculum
since its inception in 1998.

Professor in Dental Public Health• Full‐time teacher of the University of Hong Kongfor 23 years.
• Undergraduate Programme Director in 1997‐2002• Chair, PBL review GroupDr Rory Watt

Dr Yanqi Yang

Assistant Professor in Oral Bioscioences• Chair Problem Development Group (BDS1b)• Development, delivery and review of the brand‐
new 6‐year BDSI curriculum and syllabus

Clinical Assistant Professor in Orthodontics• Undergraduate Programme Director inOrthodontics (2010‐now)• Actively involving in Problem Based Learning eversince she was appointed to the Faculty ofDentistry

Dr Peter Tsang

Ms Jessica Wong

Clinical Assistant Professor in Oral Rehabilitation• PBL for more than a decade.
• BDS I Year Director and past Chairman of the BDS
I Problem Development Group• PBL facilitator

e‐Learning Officer• Supporting the faculty e‐Learning developmentand managing web learning courses (Moodle &WebCT) for the undergraduate and postgraduate
curriculum.

“The problem comes 1st”
Problem
ScenarioLarge screen visualisation to enhancecollaboration
Problem
Scenario

Discuss learning resources

In‐house digital resource building
Problem
Scenario

Dr Henry Yip (Medicine)Students providing instant responses by iPad (iClass)Knowledge building in online
communities
Problem
Scenario

Dr Winnie Choi (Clinical Assistant Professor ‐ 1st batch of PBL Graduates)(inter)Active learning

Problem
Scenario

Using IWB

Using Panaboard

Learning tools

Problem
Scenario

Re‐designing Learning Spaces
Before upgrade

After upgrade (2012)

Dr Winnie Choi (Clinical Assistant Professor ‐ 1st batch of PBL Graduates)

What’s in a name?
ePBL (Blended Type A)

PBL2.0 (Blended Type B)• Replace components of the PBL
process with electronic medium• Infuse technologies into the PBL
process (both F2F and LMS)

ePBL

PBL2.0HKU Case 2:
Undergraduate S&HS ‐ Online
PBL
ePBL
Replacing components of traditional PBL

Speech & Hearing Sciences (HKU)‐ pilot study aim: design &implement an online learning
environment for 3rd Year PBL‐ Online PBL platform: Adobe
Connect (2012) :synchronous delivery facilitating multi‐
node,real time audio and/or visualcommunication,with other auxiliary functionalities suchas document sharing and online chat

Quantitative: Assignment score comparison > online vs traditional
PBL students > did not perform differently from each other
Qualitative:
generally favorable ‐ saved study time in clinical years

Source: Ng, M. L., Bridges, S., Law, S. P., & Whitehill, T. (2013). Designing, implementing and evaluating
an online problem‐based learning (PBL) environment‐A pilot study. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics
Acknowledgement: HKU Teaching development Grant (Ng et al.) No. 10100387

HKU Case 3:
Grad. Cert. IMHSE ‐ PBL Module
ePBL
Replacing components of traditional PBL

Certificate in Medical and Health Sciences Education (CIMHSE),
LKS Faculty of Medicine, HKU
PBL Module: Designers & Teachers ‐ S.M. Bridges & L.K. Chan
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this module, learners
should be able to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Engage in an inquiry‐based learning
process
Identify and critically evaluation a range ofcurriculum philosophies and educational
principles underpinning curriculum models
Describe the design features for
curriculum‐level implementation of PBL
Outline the stages within the PBL process
Analyse the dynamics of tutor facilitated,small group learning

Inquiry‐based, activity‐centred design:• Narrative structure: sequential
disclosure• Activity‐based:• Tasks linked to problem• Each stage in problem unfolds via
Moodle with release after submitting
prior task

• Multiple virtual spaces:• Moodle forum; Moodle assignments;
Moodle chat and announcements

Reflections:
Our thoughts as designers & facilitators• Inquiry‐based approach and structuring of tasks = increased levels ofinteraction than our other distance education courses• Greater structure & scaffolding than a traditionally ‘ill‐defined’ PBL
scenario = less room for student exploration• Asynchronous nature problematic for effective facilitation – feed via
email stream; time lagStudent’s thoughts (clinical teachers)
For assignment 1 and 2, they provide opportunities
for me to consider a curriculum from variousperspectives. I realize that teaching is acomplicated process that it involves not only
creation of content for teaching, but also co‐
operation with other colleagues for evaluation.

This is definitely one of the best on‐line module that I
have ever participated before. This module not only
equipped me with knowledge concerning withcurriculum redesign and problem‐based learning, also it
has reconstructed my teaching philosophy on theteaching and learning process.
For me, the meaning of learner‐centered has beenchanged. Learner are the ownership of learning and weshould facilitate their learning process instead offollowing the traditional approach of delivering theknowledge. We should motivate them to learn throughproblem solving and self‐directed learning. In fact, PBL

This course allows me to review my own teachingexperiences and I understand I really need tocontribute much more effort to make
improvements in order to ensure my students canlearn effectively with the help from different
sectors of the institute. Teaching is a process
could thus strengthen the weakness in this new
involving a lot of parties, not a matter between only generation and better equip themselves for theteachers and students.
challenge in the health care system in 21stcentury!
December, 2014
Again, thank you Dr Chan and Dr Bridges, whodedicated to provide us with such a wonderful learningjourney.

January, 2015

Acknowledgements:• Funding: General ResearchFund, HKSAR• SRT “Science of Learning”

sbridges@hku.hk