Earlier this month, the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of the
University of Hong Kong
(HKU) announced
that it is leading an initiative called
“connect*ed”, in partnership with the Education University of Hong Kong
(EdUHK).
connect*ed is a novel cross-disciplinary and
cross-institutional project that uses a social media platform for structured
interactive learning to stimulate the development of professional attributes
desired in Hong Kong’s future doctors and teachers.
It aims to connect students with education by creating dynamic virtual
communities of learning among students when they are scattered around the world
working on diverse projects, exploring new areas of study or immersing in
unfamiliar cultures.
HKU is the lead institution in this collaborative project
funded by the 2016-20 Triennium UGC
Funding Scheme for Teaching and Learning Related Proposals.
‟The connect*ed project
is an innovative way to bring students together as a learning community in a
way that will build knowledge, enhance communication and create a culture of
professionalism. This will be a powerful means to support and enhance
medical students’ Enrichment Year experiences,” said Professor CS Lau,
Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) of the Medical Faculty at HKU.
Students from both universities will form connect*ed teams to learn from
and about each other’s individual experience to develop a collective
understanding about their own professional identity. The interaction
within some cross-disciplinary medicine-education teams will further enhance
and expand the learning experience.
Working in online teams together with a faculty mentor, students
will share experiences, engage in discussion and provoke debates that stimulate
them to connect with each other, with big ideas and with the key roles that
future doctors and teachers have to embody – communicator, learner and scholar,
ethical decision-maker, advocate, and global citizen.
According to the press release, over 200 students from the
Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, HKU and EdUHK will participate in this
initiative for the 2018-19 academic year.
‟This project leverages the potential of technology in a
very smart way to attain educational goals. It enables and encourages
learning without the limitation of time, discipline, or geographical location,
and promotes collaboration and mutual support among students from two
institutions,” said Professor Ricky Kwok, Associate Vice-President (Teaching
& Learning) at HKU.
The majority of the inaugural cohort of students
joining connect*ed are
third year medical students from the six-year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor
of Surgery (MBBS) programme at HKU.
connect*ed will
also provide critical and timely learning and psychological support to these
students who will be embarking in the newly introduced Enrichment Year.
This is a pioneering endeavour that broadens and deepens students’ total
learning experience and whole-person development by allowing them to engage in
an area of their own choosing whether it be research, service or humanitarian
work or overseas exchange for a full academic year.
Fourth-year teaching students from EdUHK who are having
overseas field experiences in school classrooms or academic exchange will
engage in connect*ed, which
will complement the existing capstone ePortfolio that all students must produce
before graduating.
‟We are pleased that our ePortfolio – an innovative approach
to self-directed and co-constructed learning – can help enrich the learning
experience of prospective doctors and teachers, who will become pillars of our
society. This HKU-EdUHK project is the best manifestation of
cross-institutional and cross-disciplinary collaboration for the benefit of
student learning,” said Professor Christina Yu, Associate Vice President
(Student Learning) at EdUHK.
