The Department has incorporated various online platforms (e.g., Moodle and Mahara) into our teaching. Most of our courses require students to participate actively in online discussions for around 1-2 hours per week. Students can also review lecture notes and videos that the course lecturer posts onto the platforms. This aims to enhance students’ comprehension of materials, promote independent learning, and provide a medium for students to learn from each other and express their views.
These online platforms also help teachers distribute materials to students at all times with ease, administer quizzes and questionnaires, and collect assignments. Furthermore, they provide students opportunities to ask questions and respond to posts made by teachers and peers. Through these online media, teachers can provide students with the opportunity to interact with students from overseas universities so that they can personally experience and learn about similarities and differences between cultures.
Several of our courses incorporate e-learning packages to complement face-to-face instruction. These e-learning packages include mini-lectures, interactive activities, online discussion, comprehension checks, etc. Students can learn at their preferred time in their own pace. Some of these courses are:
PSY2020 Human Development across the Lifespan
EPC5014 Foundations and Processes of Learning
PSY2050 Basic Psychology for Educators: Useful Concepts from Educational and Positive Psychology
PSY4900 Honours Project
PSY6011 Research Project in Psychological Studies
Other formats of e-learning are:
Dr Buchtel adopted innovative teaching practices in a course on Cultural Psychology based on her research on cultural stereotyping. To prevent students from misunderstanding research findings about cultural differences in psychology, the course content and activities of “Being Chinese: Insights from Cross-Cultural Psychology” were adapted to emphasise both the effects of cultural influences on psychology, as well as the diversity of individuals within cultures. To give students a real experience of explaining cultural differences in a non-essentialising way, she added online, cross-cultural interaction between students of EdUHK and the University of British Columbia. Positive impact on student learning, especially in terms of avoiding stereotyping, was evidenced.
