The rapid advancements in artificial intelligence and chatbot technology offer new opportunities to enhance the traditional classroom learning experience. The potential of AI-powered chatbots as virtual assistants is to provide support and real-time assistance to students while alleviating instructors' workload. This presentation will demonstrate a trial run of a chatbot in a class at City University of Hong Kong. Besides, here will also show the prompting of ChatGPT as a revision chatbot to benefit the study of the students.

The AI in Higher Education project explores AI's educational potential, including virtual teaching and learning. The project showcases pioneering projects and collaborations through seminars and practical workshops. It discusses the benefits of AI applications, such as metaverse, in enhancing student engagement and improving educational outcomes. It also addresses challenges related to AI plagiarism and other ethical concerns. The project aims to provide insights and resources for leveraging AI to revolutionise teaching and learning in virtual space. This initiative is relevant to educators, researchers, policymakers, and anyone interested in the intersection of AI and education.

This paper proposes "AI-demia" to understand how AI aids student learning in higher education. Through case studies in history and religious studies courses, AI stimulated student interest and deepened understanding.

In a class on Chinese Christian thinkers, AI suggested reasons a 20th-century figure contemplated moving to Hong Kong, facilitating discussion. Follow-up questions had AI consider faith's role and potential impact. Students gained insight into this era and the figure's reasoning.

In another course, AI outlined arguments that a 19th-century movement was heterodox or orthodox. Students critiqued AI's points, developing a nuanced perspective.

The AI-demia model enlivens humanities education while cultivating skills for the modern era. Embracing AI's capacities helps students navigate increasing technological change.

To leverage the potential of the metaverse as a real-time virtual space for education, our team designed a project that aimed to formulate a key use of the metaverse environment. We adopted one of the commercial platforms to design and create different virtual learning environments (VLE). It allows a class of students to participate in the VLE with their own designed avatar characters. In learning adventures, students presented their work or did a peer-to-peer vote for the best assignment communicatively and virtually. The project is the first pilot study to explore the perspective application of novel interactive teaching and cognitive learning for student engagement.

As a virtual classroom, Spatial Metaverse can not only be used for online Calculus problem-solving tasks but also to allow students to engage in exploring mathematical thinking processes in different ways. For this study, it was important to document the extent to which tools were used and how our dynamic C3 (competition, cooperation, and communication)-based learning platform was strategically designed to promote more collaborative and real time learning. In this work, to create/enrich more group activities and dialogue in a metaverse environment, we first show how the group of students create one avatar and then demonstrate how students work together to upload their work/presentations on the wall. We also show how teachers monitor multiple rooms simultaneously and interact with students at any point in time that they please.

Modern engineering education faces the core difficulties in delivering thousands of years of continuous innovations with a relatively short one-semester lecture. This difficulty is particularly outstanding in undergraduate mechanical design courses, as the students need to learn and practice various mechanical components and manufacturing processes in a short time. To address this issue, this work aims to establish and exploit a virtual interactive platform to help students quickly enhance design experiences by learning, evaluating, sharing, and recycling mechanical designs. The established virtual platform contains classical designs delivered in lectures, important designs in local and global histories, modern designs in different fields, as well as the students’ own designs. The platform is also used for group-based design review sessions and collective design debugging during the lecture. Through a virtual design expo open to the public, the platform also helps showcase the student designs to their family members and potential recruiters. The platform is established via a combination of a commercial online virtual platform Spatial and a computer-aided design software Fusion 360, so that the students have professional tools to evaluate the different levels of details in the design. Corresponding teaching activities are constructed to ask the students to locate, understand, and differentiate the critical mechanical components, which enhances students’ design experience. The platform is evaluated with surveys to quantify its contributions to students’ understanding of mechanical design concepts and components. Its effectiveness is also assessed with quiz scores of controlled and experiment groups of students (with and without access to the virtual platform, respectively).

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented challenges for educational institutions, particularly in the realm of online examination management. To address these challenges, City University of Hong Kong has sourced a system to accommodate new workflow of exams in the VTL era. The system is expected to facilitate a seamless and efficient solution for faculty members to submit exam requirements and question papers, while also providing real-time data and insights to exam administrating offices, departmental staff, and course leaders. After working on the project for two years, we review the gap between our expectations and the reality.

SAWID is an innovative web application designed to empower educators in creating and distributing calculation-based assessments which are unique to each student, as the numbers/data involved are individualised. Initially developed as a response to the challenges posed by the pandemic, SAWID continues to be a valuable tool in the post-pandemic education landscape, especially for generating individualised assignments without resorting to randomising questions from a question bank. In our video, we will explain what SAWID can do now, its alignment with the theme of VTL adoption in traditional classrooms and its adaptive learning potentialities.

Physics textbooks are often notoriously difficult to read, lacking vivid illustrations, referencing equations throughout the entire book, and are hard to search. Although the knowledge from a single course could be coherent and interconnected, traditional handouts from teachers that separate each chapter can make the content feel disconnected.

We propose a simple-to-manage way to construct a better-than-blackboard course website with cross-references, accessible to everyone. This website will allow students to easily look up previous equations, experimental demonstrations, homework solutions, and even materials from other courses in just a few clicks. Additionally, students' progress data could be mined for future studies.

The New Normal introduces virtual classrooms where students are empowered to study and be assessed together, although physically apart. In my GE subject at PolyU, Creative Thinking and Creativity, students study pre-class materials independently. In the virtual seminar through Blackboard Collaborate, students form small groups, discuss unseen questions, and submit group answers. Their answers are immediately shown online to all students for virtual-classroom discussion. In addition, students present group projects in short online videos, followed by virtual discussions. The freedom of designing their narratives in video formats magnifies their creative imagination. Hybrid and peer learning become fruitfully optimized through VTL.

We report the adoption of virtual teaching and learning (VTL) approach in our General Education subject. In particular, Hybrid Immersive Virtual Environment (HIVE), interactive laboratory learning tools and Padlet discussion platform were introduced to engage and sustain our students’ learning. Preliminary survey through focused group interview with volunteer participants, students are highly satisfied with the designed pedagogy with over 75% satisfaction level. In a long run, we aim to investigate the effectiveness of this approach in supporting large classes (consisting of around 100 students with diverse disciplinary backgrounds) teaching in the post-pandemic era.

This project aims at providing virtual practicum training in Chinese Medicine. Typical patients are chosen to develop virtual practicum cases. Patients provide responses to the questions that may be asked by the students and each response is videotaped separately. Other information that can be examined by the students, such as the facial colour and the tongue of the patients are also videotaped.

The cases are then incorporated into a software which students can type in questions that they want to ask, and the corresponding answers will be shown as video. Students are able to practice the inquiring skill for diagnosis. Students can examine the patients’ facial colour, the voice, the appearance, and the tongue by visual perception as well. Students are required to analyse the aetiology and pathogenesis of the cases, make diagnosis, and suggest therapeutic treatment plan. Correct answers will be shown at the end of the practice.

With physical distancing, strict isolation rules, visitor restrictions in healthcare facilities, and the inability to implement usual funerals and burials, COVID has fundamentally altered our human experience of bereavement and grieving. In 2020, a study reported that experiencing bereavement during COVID-19 elicited more serve acute grief reactions than before the pandemic. In February 2022, an international panel of death studies scholar jointly issued a call for grief literacy movement for communities and helping professionals to identify grief more readily and to be proactive in adopting appropriate support in avoiding complications from the grieving process. In a medical school, how can we make use of an immersive video gameplay to gear students up for supporting families and patients in end-of-life care?

We piloted a novel "online" experiential learning workshop in the MBBS curriculum which comprises an immersive video gaming experience followed by debriefing. In this project, we seek to harness the untapped potential of an award-winning serious game recommended by top medical journals including JAMA and The Lancet Oncology. Our project has been an experiment, pushing the boundaries a bit to see (i) what about burden of care, grief and bereavement could learners experience emotionally from a video game, (ii) how this may help HKU MBBS students connect with families of terminally ill patients in their future practice.

Bullet screen, or danmu, is a popular function in Asian video sharing websites where users can submit, view, and add textual commentaries flying in and out of screen like bullets while watching the videos online. Collaborating with the Information Technology Services Centre (ITSC) at CUHK, this project develops and implements an online tool for video analysis as a virtual teaching and learning activity using the innovative function of “bullet screen”. The bullet screen tool is designed to optimize collaborative online learning with video by encouraging interactions among students and between students and teacher.

Video-based learning resources have become increasingly significant in higher education due to their potential to provide immersive and interactive content that enhances learning outcomes. However, the lack of a standardized mechanism to evaluate the quality of these resources results in differences in their effectiveness. This project explores the feasibility of a quality assurance system for video-based learning resources and establishes criteria for their evaluation. A two-pronged approach was used, involving consultation with professionals and a review of existing frameworks. Experts in online pedagogy and multimedia design were consulted, and literature from the past decade was reviewed. 22 crucial factors were identified, and the system was tested with two cycles of implementation and an online course. Three panels reviewed over 100 videos, and the pilot enabled refinement of the criteria and evaluation rubric. This presentation describes the development process of the evaluation mechanism and suggests how it can enhance the quality of video-based learning content and online courses.

The presentation introduces an online course, "Integration of Technologies into Teaching and Learning in Higher Education", which is designed for new teachers to learn how to integrate technology into their teaching practices. The self-paced course covers eight modules, including mixed-mode teaching, online assessments, and blended learning. Participants will learn about effective virtual teaching practices and have the opportunity to apply them to their course design. The modules include videos, quizzes, and case studies, with a forum for participants to engage with each other. Upon completion, participants will be able to identify e-learning theories, select appropriate technologies for virtual components, and evaluate their effectiveness. This course is a valuable resource for new teachers who want to incorporate technology into their courses.

Dosage form science courses introduce key pharmaceutical science concepts that govern designing, preparation, handling, testing and storage of pharmaceutical products. The application of knowledge gained from these courses is very important for practicing pharmacists in all healthcare sectors for the safe and effective use of the medication. However, due to their technical nature, the courses are often perceived as dry and wearisome by pharmacy students. An online courseware and flipped classroom activities was created to make the learning experience of the dosage form science course engaging and fun.

The courseware includes micromodules, self-assessment quizzes and case-study scenarios. The micromodules are short, narrated lectures covering pharmaceutical science concepts needed to develop dosage forms to deliver drug by different routes, such as via mouth, nose, eye, skin. The flipped class activities included a pre-quiz related to the courseware content, and followed by a case study group discussion, a post-quiz which captured students’ performance, and finally a question answer session. The post activity survey was perceived positively as students agreed that the courseware helped them relate pharmaceutical science knowledge to the design of drug products for a given route of delivery and that working in groups was better to solve open-ended questions.

Virtual reality (VR) has transitioned from a futuristic concept to an influential tool in the world of education. As we look towards 2023 and beyond, some may question the continued use of VR in teaching. In this poster presentation, our speakers will peek into the future of education, drawing from three science and engineering VR projects at City University of Hong Kong. We will explore the benefits and challenges of VR integration and demonstrate its effectiveness as a powerful motivator for students. Join us as we rethink teaching and learning with the transformative power of VR.

The present project aims to break the physical limitation of job interview practices for students in LABU2060 Effective Communication in Business, the last required language course of the Business School’s program. The pandemic has intensified the need for incorporating emerging technologies, e.g., virtual reality (VR), in Higher Education. Conventionally, job interview practices are, largely, in-class. With the VR/ 2D job interview application as a blended element of the course, students, now, could practice, in lieu of a peer and a teacher, to improve their job interview and communication skills. The project hopes to investigate the use of a Virtually Reality/ 2D job interview application in LABU2060 to increase students' practice time and its suitability.

Field trip learning is not limited to physical space. It can also be in the metaverse which provides students with an immersive experience that cannot be achieved through PowerPoint slides. Three virtual reality (VR) trails, namely Central Business District (CBD), Peak Galleria and Central Market, were developed during the Covid-19 pandemic. When physical field trip is not feasible, VR can be an alternative tool to enhance students learning experience. When face-to-face class is resumed, we can continue adopting VR as a complement to physical field trip.

This study presents a Virtual-Reality (VR) game based on images of selected attractions in Hong Kong that are often used as teaching-learning sites of sustainable tourism. The game allows students to conduct virtual visits without physical travel to the sites that cover themes of study such as nature conservation, cultural and historical heritage, tourism impacts, destination planning and visitor management through a self-administered, e-learning and game-based platform. Students are presented tasks such as multiple choice and open questions, site observations and expression of views, randomised on the platform to complete the missions of collecting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) points.

This presentation explores the possibility of incorporating student-created virtual reality (VR) materials into the English narrative writing classroom. The VR materials consist of 360-degree photos captured by students using the Google Street Map app, which are then converted into VR sightseeing tours viewable through VR headsets. Students are then required to turn their immersive VR experience into first-person, multimodal narratives on Microsoft Sway, a digital collaborative platform available on Office 365. Such pedagogical approach does not only allow the students to personalise their immersive learning experience, but also maximise their engagement in the teaching and learning process.

We present the development and pilot testing of VisionARi, an online community-based platform where students and teachers alike can view and share educational augmented reality (AR) content. Despite widespread interest in pedagogical research to deploy AR technology in the classroom, there continues to be barriers that inhibit the effective use of such immersive technologies on a day-to-day basis. VisionARi is an online platform that is being developed to improve the accessibility of high-quality educational AR content to the general public. The platform is being tested in various classroom settings, from primary schools to universities, showing promising results and feedback.

This project, funded by a CUHK VTL teaching development grant, aims to develop a mixed-reality (MR) module that facilitates immersive city appraisal and planning experiences for smart city design. The case is Songdo, an emerging smart city in South Korea. The MR software features a 3D city model that integrates a suite of geospatial data including buildings, road networks, and points of interest. Through this module, users can manoeuvre the map, place structures and paths, measure distances, and even experience street view. The MR module provides a novel interactive platform for students to explore and design components of a smart city, as well as a viable alternative to conduct field studies virtually. Furthermore, the MR technology can help to overcome the limitations of traditional urban planning, which is primarily concerned with the objective built environment. By incorporating mixed-reality technology, the planned built environment can be experienced in a more subjective and immersive way, allowing planners to timely adjust their strategies based on user feedback. This approach offers a unique opportunity to explore people's subjective perceptions about the built environment, beyond the existing physical reality.

The project was a pioneering international collaboration, offering a comprehensive online-to-offline learning experience designed to deepen students' understanding of social issues in both local and international contexts, while fostering the development of leadership in socially responsible business. Consisting of six participant-centred online workshops co-led by faculty members from CUHK Business School and overseas universities and a study tour to Nagoya, Japan, the initiative provided students with a unique cross-cultural, international learning experience. The project successfully demonstrated how online and offline interaction with international scholars and peers can significantly contribute to student’s intellectual growth and global exposure, even during COVID.

Since the use of technology is becoming a popular way to achieve educational goals, a 4-week online self-learning course – Organ Toxicology was developed in this project and launched on the FutureLearn platform. This online course provides a flexible approach for students to study. A set of specially designed learning package allows students to develop their knowledge and inspire their critical thinking. Furthermore, self-evaluation MCQs and discussion forums are also designed for the students to reinforce and share their knowledge and comments. Under the collaboration with the University of Macau and Macau University of Science and Technology, this project also provides cross-cultural learning opportunities on science.

Storytelling methods and techniques have great influences on audiences’ perception of media. To enhance the teaching outcomes, we have adopted three following approaches: 1) By showing stories from the economically marginalised individuals in Hong Kong through Virtual Reality, it enables the students to understand the living condition of subdivided flats using Virtual Reality, as pre-and post-class activities. 2) We invite an international partner to develop the course and engage the students in discussions from a global perspective. 3) Asking the students to do community service so that students learn by doing.

This intergenerational project experiments with participatory and exploratory learning and brings virtual reality and video gaming technologies to local communities in public housing as design communication tools. During a series of interactive and engaging co-design activities, university students and older adults become co-researchers to critically reflect on public spaces and give agency to everyday knowledge. Participants are empowered with techniques of digital tools that help them to generate shared expressions of spatial needs and develop a mutual understanding of community interests. The participatory tools and processes are evaluated and published as open-source educational materials, together with the analysed co-design outcome.

‘Co-learning Space’ is an ongoing project that utilises blended and reciprocal learning in the design of learning spaces. Through co-operative design exercises, teachers and students may better understand each other’s needs and visions, while learning to work together in a creative manner, assisted by 3D modelling and virtual reality (VR) tools. Participants are invited to collectively reflect upon their learning cultures and teaching habits, and how these are increasingly facilitated and challenged by new digital tools. A teaching building is reconstructed volumetrically to collectively study how spatial topology may affect disciplinary learning experiences, highlighting the interdisciplinary needs for spatial design.

E-service-learning is a pedagogy that integrates community service into education using digital technology. It has become a vital teaching approach to offer flexible and personalised learning experience for students. Partnering with Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (TWGHs), Dr Henry FUNG invited 30 HKBU students enrolled in his Interpersonal Communication course to serve as peer mentors and deliver peer mentoring workshops for underprivileged secondary school students in a hybrid format. In the presentation, Dr FUNG will share the pedagogical design of the programme, so as to reflect upon his experience implementing this E-service-learning project.