Call for Proposals

Blended Learning or MOOC projects involve significant curriculum or course reform.

At HKUST, Blended Learning (BL) is defined as a blend of self-paced online and face-to-face teaching that typically involves students acquiring fundamental, conceptual knowledge online and applying, analyzing, or evaluating this through a sequence of activities in-class, thus maximizing the benefits of both online and face-to-face to help campus students achieve higher levels of learning. The self-paced online component of a blended course is usually delivered through a learning management system (e.g. Canvas) and consists of, among others, online video lectures/demonstrations, online activities, and online assessments. While the face-to-face component is delivered on campus and consists of, among others, interactive exercises, group tasks, projects, and discussions. Our guideline is to replace 30-50% of contact hours with online components for self-study and keep the remaining 50-70% of the contact hours for face-to-face learning activities. Click to see a list of BL courses developed at HKUST.

A MOOC is an online HKUST course provided to the general public through our strategic MOOC partners’ platforms, such as Coursera and edX. Learners who sign up for these courses are of different academic backgrounds, cultures, languages, age ranges, etc. All learning activities, including lectures, practices, discussions, projects, and assessments are mainly done asynchronously online. Click to see a list of MOOCs developed by HKUST.

For Blended Learning: Up to HK$250,000. No matching is required from the School. Clear justification must be provided for the amount requested.

For MOOC: Up to HK$250,000 including matching from the School. Endorsement from the Dean of School for a 50% matching fund is required. Clear justification must be provided for the amount requested.

Funds awarded can be used for the purposes such as:

• hiring support staff (for example, project / instructional assistant); and
• with Department Head’s agreement, hiring temporary staff to partially release the project leader from regular commitments to work on the project.

The following expenses are NOT normally covered by the funding:

• equipment and teaching material expenses, which should be covered by the relevant School/Department
• conference attendance, publications in journals, and traveling outside Hong Kong; and
• refreshment for functions/events; and provision of incentives to students (for example, coupons or allowance) for taking part in the study.

Committee

The Teaching and Learning Innovation Projects Sub-committee (TLIP) is a sub-committee of the Committee on Teaching and Learning Innovation (CTLI). TLIP is chaired by the Director of Center for Education Innovation (CEI) and consists of members from PRVST, SHSS, SENG, SBM, SHSS, IPO, CLE, and CEI. TLIP’s role is to review and evaluate proposals that facilitate the development of active and online learning courses and make funding decisions.

Submission Deadlines

Preliminary Proposal   –   2 SEP, 2022

Final Proposal   –   30 SEP, 2022

Result Announcement

End of NOV 2022

Eligibility for Application

All full-time faculty members of the University with the responsibility of teaching and learning are eligible for application.

Procedures

1. Download the relevant project proposal template below. It will guide you to complete your proposal with the key information needed.
   
   • Blended Learning (BL)
   • Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
     
2. Preliminary proposal: Email to June Chan by the specified deadline. Upon receiving your submission, the Center for Education Innovation (CEI) will contact you to discuss your ideas and to provide advice to shape the proposal up.
   
3. Final proposal: Email to June Chan by the specified deadline. After the softcopy has been accepted by CEI, mail the endorsed hardcopy to CEI at Room 6401 c/o June Chan.

For Blended Learning

• Outcome-based: Demonstrates a strong alignment among course intended outcomes, assessments, and learning activities.
• Effective Use of Online: Scaffolds students with fundamental and conceptual knowledge through guided learning sequences. The online activities should prepare students well for the face-to-face sessions.
• Effective Use of Face-to-Face: Develops students’ higher-order thinking skills through a series of collaborative activities that focus on knowledge application, analysis, or evaluation. The in-class activities should prepare students well for the assessments.
• Students’ Readiness: Articulates a clear mechanism to provide feedback to students on their self-study and assure students are ready for the development of higher-order thinking skills in class.
• Project Management: Provides a clear and systematic design, development, and implementation plan to demonstrate how each of the milestones can be achieved and the final target can be met.
  
  

For MOOC

• Outcome-based: Demonstrates a strong alignment among course intended outcomes, assessments, and learning activities.
• Learning Effectiveness: Scaffolds students with fundamental and conceptual knowledge and develops their higher-order thinking skills through sequences of learning activities to achieve the course intended outcomes.
• Students’ Readiness: Articulates a clear mechanism to provide feedback to students on their self-study in each stage and assure students are ready to proceed to the next stage of learning.
• Reusable for Campus courses: Ensures all the materials developed will be used for campus courses through the Blended Learning/Pure Online formats.
• Project Management: Provides a clear and systematic design, development, and implementation plan to demonstrate how each of the milestones can be achieved and the final target can be met.

Q: My project is about using technology to enhance student learning. Is it a BL or an innovative learning project?

A: The key difference between BL and technology-enhanced teaching development projects is that BL projects involve curriculum and course restructuring by designing or redesigning 30-50% of fundamental content materials for online delivery and reconfiguring 50-70% classroom time with interactive activities, exercises or discussions. If your project idea is to integrate information and communication technologies with classroom learning activities without restructuring the curriculum and course as mentioned above, it would be categorized as an innovative learning project.

Q: Can I request funding for buying equipment, like computers and tablets?

A: Laboratory equipment and permanent equipment for Schools/Departments, such as computers will not be funded.

Q: I plan to attend a conference to present my project by the end of the project period. May I request funding for the related cost?

A: Expenses related to attending conference are not supported. However since project teams are always encouraged to disseminate their projects, you may further discuss the dissemination and resources needed with CEI that may suggest other funding sources or alternatives.

Q: I have missed the submission deadline for the preliminary proposals. Can I go straight ahead to submit the final proposal?

A: The purpose for submitting a preliminary proposal is to help shape up your project ideas. After receiving your preliminary proposal, CEI staff will contact you to discuss your project ideas; and only those final proposals that includes mutually agreed refinements would be accepted and channeled to the funding committee for vetting.

Contact June Chan (By email or call x8917) of CEI if you have any questions on the above.