Content Enhancement

The Language of Business Cases

Project Overview
Project Title	The Language of Business Cases
Project Leader	Elsie Christopher
School / Dept	LANG
Project Duration	Jan 2004 - Jun 2005
Project Description	This new course project adopted elements of problem-based learning such that tasks and activities were designed to build upon each other as the learner progresses. It also followed a systematic approach to case analysis closely related to specific language learning objectives. Overall, the course was designed to integrate both analytical and communication skills. The face-to-face classroom sessions were used mainly for oral skills development and practice; whereas the reading and writing tasks were reserved for homework accessible via a course website. The website was only contain essential reading and writing tasks for classroom use, but also relevant and timely reference materials, visual learning cues to reinforce skills and an online portfolio where students collected their work. Each major unit was concluded with a formal assessment. These assessments were designed as a combination of individual and group tasks which covered all four language development skills.
Project Outcome	New Student Book – Classroom Teaching New Teacher Book – Classroom Teaching & Relevant Resources New Course Website – LC Computer Lab, by HKUST Internet Access
Status	Completed
Project Documents (Only accessible by HKUST users)	Project Plan Progress Report: First \| Second \| Final Report
Adaptation	Full Project

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LANG 201 Business Communication: a Simulated Interactive On-line Business Environment (Virtual Office) for Developing Business Communication Skills

Project Overview
Project Title	LANG 201 Business Communication: a Simulated Interactive On-line Business Environment (Virtual Office) for Developing Business Communication Skills
Project Leader	Edward Li
School / Dept	LANG
Project Duration	Dec 2003 - May 2005
Project Description	The proposed simulated interactive online business environment replaced a fifth of current face-to-face teaching activities within this course. It targeted functional skills in an interactive manner to optimize students’ participation within and across sections. Peer and collaborative learning were encouraged in order to develop the leadership, team-building and interpersonal skills needed. The set-up also provided students hands on problem-solving experience with other professionals so that students’ thinking skills were further developed. It also promoted students’ self-directed, generic learning skills as well as increased learning motivation and confidence.
Project Outcome	Three company websites were developed. The components of the website included ‘Home’, ‘Mission’, ‘History’, ‘Approach’, ‘Services’, ‘Careers’ and ‘Contact us’. In each company website, there was a staff intranet section which had online modules on business writing skills located under ‘Staff Development’, discussion boards under ‘Email’, time-release downloadable client profiles under ‘Clients’, and online peer evaluation under ‘Staff Appraisal’.
Status	Completed
Project Documents (Only accessible by HKUST users)	Project Plan Progress Report: First \| Second \| Final Report
Adaptation	Full Project

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ESCE500 Introductory Environmental Chemistry & Microbiology

Project Overview
Project Title	ESCE500 Introductory Environmental Chemistry & Microbiology
Project Leader	Prof Pei-Yuan Qian & Dr Ice Ko
School / Dept	SSCI / AMCE
Project Duration	Jul 2002 - May 2005
Project Description	This project aimed to provide students with a highly flexible learning environment delivering course materials of various topics using an interactive and interesting medium. The web setting allowed students to learn at anytime, anywhere. Also, multimedia items, hyperlinks, animations, pop-up Q&A, self-assessments, and the discussion forum resulted in a highly interactive and interesting learning experience.The course was furnished with multimedia items to demonstrate some chemical experiments and difficult concepts. Photos of local ecosystems were taken for this course. Video clippings about state-of-the-art laboratory studies and local habitats or ecological problems were produced.
Project Outcome	The students of the MSc Environmental Science and Engineering Program were able to be equipped with sufficient background in chemistry, biochemistry and microbiology for their core course “ESCE 520 Environmental Chemistry and Microbiology”. Students, especially the part-time ones, enjoyed the flexibility (temporal and physical) and interactivity of this online course. The course served as the pioneer of totally web-based teaching in HKUST. Through this project, both the instructors and the CELT collaborated closely on how to develop a user friendly, interactive and effective web course. The student evaluation and the data generated from this course provide useful information about web-based teaching in Hong Kong. This information was shared with other teaching staff in HKUST through various symposia.
Status	Completed
Project Documents (Only accessible by HKUST users)	Project Plan Progress Report: First \| Second \| Third \| Forth \| Fifth \| Final Report
Adaptation	Full Project

Innovative and Active Overhaul of SOSC111

Project Overview
Project Title	Innovative and Active Overhaul of SOSC111
Project Leader	Prof Naubahar Sharif
School / Dept	SHSS / SOSC
Project Duration	Apr 2012 - Aug 2013
Project Description	The project intended to introduce an active learning approach in the existing course SOSC111 “Science, Technology and Society” to faciliate the implmentation of the 3-3-4 curriculum and outcome-based approach of teaching and learning.
Project Outcome	New material designed for exercises and discussion forum. Evidence of student experience that indicate enhanced understanding and application of critical concepts to issues of science, technology and society.
Status	Completed
Project Documents (Only accessible by HKUST users)	Project Plan Final Report Project-end Review by Project Leader
Adaptation	Full Project

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Development of a New Tool Kit for Assessing Intended Learning Outcomes in Signature Courses

Project Overview
Project Title	Development of a New Tool Kit for Assessing Intended Learning Outcomes in Signature Courses
Project Leader	Prof Michelle Yik
School / Dept	SHSS / SOSC
Project Duration	Jan 2012 - Dec 2012
Project Description	The project developed an assessment tool kit for values that were covered in signature courses which were introduced in the 3-3-4 curriculum.
Project Outcome	An assessment tool kits for values was developed to assess the learning outcomes of a signature course. Students took an active part in the development of the new assessment kit and its associated activities (including debriefing sessions, focus groups & survey questionnaire). A questionnaire was developed to tap the importance of 61 values to students and the change of students' understanding on three values learnt in the course over the semester. The debriefing lecture together with the focus group sent a strong message to the class that instuctors care about their learning outcomes and actively seek students' views on creating a platform to scaffold effective learning.
Status	Completed
Project Documents (Only accessible by HKUST users)	Project Plan Final Report Project-end Review by Project Leader
Adaptation	Full Project

Intercultural Skills Development among HKUST Business School Undergraduate: A Longitudinal Investigation

Project Overview
Project Title	Intercultural Skills Development among HKUST Business School Undergraduate: A Longitudinal Investigation
Project Leader	Prof Melody Manchi Chao and Prof Larry Jiing-Lih Farh
School / Dept	SBM / MGMT
Project Duration	Jun 2010 - Jun 2012
Project Description	It was a longitudinal study that aimed at: Identifying and validating assessment tools for measuring students' multicultural skills Documenting undergraduates' intercultural experiences and the development of their multicultural skills Identifying factors (e.g., activities or experiences) that are conducive to the development of student's multicultural skills Providing suggestions to improve the outcome based education program.
Project Outcome	A longitudinal study was conducted to examine how students' university experiences contribute to the development of their multicultural ability, as well as their career success upon graduation. Through the longitudinal study, it was found that the exchange program is effective in enhancing the intercultural skills and fostering more positive attitudes towards minority group. Factors that could potentially facilitate students' learning were also identified so as to harvest the most out of their exchange experiences.
Status	Completed
Project Documents (Only accessible by HKUST users)	Project Plan Progress Report Final Report Project-end Review by Project Leader
Adaptation	Full Project

Establishing an Assessment Reporting System for Undergraduate Programs

Project Overview
Project Title	Establishing an Assessment Reporting System for Undergraduate Programs
Project Leader	Prof Mike So
School / Dept	SBM / ISOM
Project Duration	Jan 2009 - Feb 2013
Project Description	This is a program-level project that aims at developing a new assessment and reporting system for the new program - Risk Management and Business Intelligence (RMBI) - to understand individual students' strengths and weaknesses as well as to keep track how program intended learning outcomes achieved throughout the course study. The learning outcomes for the RMBI Program, including communication skills, integration of knowledge; teamwork and cooperation; creativity and critical thinking; and IT proficiency.
Project Outcome	A basic empirical analysis on the data collected from the assessment questionnaire was conducted. Particular focus is on critical thinking, the use of information and language skill. Some interesting findings were revealed from the analysis. They are: The surveyed students on average wrote 3.5 pages for their English assignments per week. This may be insufficient for maintaining a high writing standard. On average, the surveyed students met their instructors/ TAs once per month, indicating that students may not be very active in seeking academic advice. Students were familiar with searching inforamtion for their assignments on the internet but not in the library. This may suggest that students overlook or underestimate the value of the library. The university may organize seminars or classes to let students know more about resources available in the library. After the first-level analysis, statistical models linking the degree of the involvement of the students in various generic-skill learning activities in their daily life to different performance measures were obtained. Summary results are: Taking committee position has dominant negative effect on the academic performance of the students. Frequently using application software is not a sign of positive influence on the critical-thinking proficiency of the students. In fact, the effect from frequently using application software to critical-thinking proficiency is negative. Critical-thinking proficiency is positively related to the frequency of searching information from different sources. Hence instructors may consider emphasizing and encouraging students to conduct more "critical" information search for their assignments. Students in general pay inadequate effort in reading newspapers or discussing current controversial issues. In the project, an assessment form was designed to let students know their generic skill competencies and to learn which areas they can improve. Sharing sessions were held to explain to students how to use and interpret the assessment form. Structural equation models were developed to understand the relationship between students' learning behaviors and their generic skill proficiency.
Status	Completed
Project Documents (Only accessible by HKUST users)	Project Plan Progress Report: First \| Second \| Third \| Final Report Project-end Review by Project Leader
Adaptation	Full Project

Developing Business Case Studies on Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions in China

Project Overview
Project Title	Developing Business Case Studies on Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions in China
Project Leader	Prof Vidhan K. Goyal
School / Dept	SBM / FINA
Project Duration	Nov 2005 - May 2008
Project Description	Business school teaching becomes heavily case-based. Existing cases available through Harvard Business School Publishing and the European Case Clearing House focus mostly on the US and European firms. Business situations faced by Chinese managers or students working in the Mainland often differ quite significantly from those in Europe or the US. The Asian Case Research Center has started to develop some Asian cases but only a few of them focus on finance. Asian cases on cross-border mergers and acquisition transactions are almost non-existent. The objective of this project is to develop two high quality business cases revolving around recent cross-border mergers and acquisition transactions in China. This will greatly enhance student learning as they will be able to analyse business problems that reflect local context and institutions.
Project Outcome	We researched and wrote a case study and a teaching note that can be used in corporate finance courses at both the undergraduate and the graduate level. The case describing a recent cross-border acquisition by a Chinese company and focuses on valuation and cross-country acquisition issues. The main objective of project was to contribute to the teaching material that can be used by instructors in Asia and to write a case on a recent Asian cross-border transaction that has local context and that raises issues that are of concern to Asian firms. The first case "Lenovo: The Acquisition of IBM's PC Business" was tested in two sections of FINA535 Strategic Finance and Value Creation (with total enrollment of 78 MBA students) in the spring semester 2008. We asked students to complete a group analysis of the case before coming to the class. We then spent a whole class period discussing the case as would be done in a case session. The CELT staff observed the case discussion and complete a survey form to obtain feedback on various aspects of the case and the discussion that took place in class. The comments and views of participants obtained were helpful in revising the case. A second case based on the restructuring of a Hong Kong company has been planned. The tentative title of the case is "Chevalier iTech: Restructuring" and it is currently in progress.
Status	Completed
Project Documents (Only accessible by HKUST users)	Project Plan Progress Report: First \| Second \| Third \| Forth \| Final Report
Adaptation	Full Project

The Development and Use of General and Discipline Specific Problem Sets to Enhance the Achievement of Learning Outcomes in the Course “Introduction to Computing with Excel VBA” and Development of Assessment Methodologies for Engineering Programming Skills

Project Overview
Project Title	The Development and Use of General and Discipline Specific Problem Sets to Enhance the Achievement of Learning Outcomes in the Course “Introduction to Computing with Excel VBA” and Development of Assessment Methodologies for Engineering Programming Skills
Project Leader	Prof John Barford
School / Dept	SENG / CBME
Project Duration	Nov 2011 - Jun 2013
Project Description	This project developed discipline-specific problem sets to compliment the learning outcomes in the course "Introduction to Computing with Excel VBA". It stimulated student’s interest in programming by the use of selected problem sets which directly related to material covered in subsequent discipline specific core courses. This interactive learning of engineering programming skills in the classroom environment served as a precursor to developing an online teaching module. In addition, the corresponding assessment methodologies to assess engineering programming skills would be developed.
Project Outcome	Development of Engineering Problem Sets in Selected Core Courses in CBME and Civil and Environmental Engineering, which build on and enhance the course material of Introduction to Computing with Excel VBA. Improvement in student learning by application of 1). Motivating students to replace abstract computer programming concepts with targeted applications that are interesting and practical. Development of rubrics to evaluate students' engineering programming skills.
Status	Completed
Project Documents (Only accessible by HKUST users)	Project Plan Final Report Project-end Review by Project Leader
Adaptation	Full Project

Development of Lecture-Demonstration Interactive Approach for Engineering Dynamics Teaching/Learning Using Wireless MEMS-based Motion Sensors

Project Overview
Project Title	Development of Lecture-Demonstration Interactive Approach for Engineering Dynamics Teaching/Learning Using Wireless MEMS-based Motion Sensors
Project Leader	Prof Yi-Kuen Lee
School / Dept	SENG / MECH
Project Duration	Jul 2011 - Jan 2013
Project Description	This project developed both hand-on and virtual demonstration/experiment modules to supplement and assist classroom teaching using the advanced wireless MEMS-based motion sensors. The objectives were to stimulate students’ interest, promote interactive learning environment and effectively transfer knowledge through the combine lecture-demonstration teaching approach.
Project Outcome	The project developed a set of experiment kits to supplement and assist classroom teaching of the Engineering Dynamics courses (MECH103 / MECH2030)
Status	Completed
Project Documents (Only accessible by HKUST users)	Project Plan
Adaptation	Full Project

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