World-Class Universities Share Educational Innovations

-3rd OSE Center Seminar

 

 

On September 22, the Open Smart Education (OSE) Center hosted a seminar in cooperation with the University of Hong Kong and Kyoto University. The theme was “Educational Innovations,” and the seminar’s goal was to help develop a new educational vision for Yonsei, specifically by implementing an on/off-line integral information platform and conceiving futureoriented policies.

 

 

 

               Professor Toru liyoshi                                                      Professor Ricky Yu-Kwong Kwok

 

 

Among the speakers were Hong Kong’s Associate Vice President for Teaching and Learning Ricky Yu-Kwong Kwok and Kyoto’s Deputy Vice President for Education Toru Iiyoshi. Both presented cases studies of educational innovation at their institutions, while leading discussion about the future directions of higher learning.

 

Hong Kong has agreements with two of the world’s largest Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platforms, edX and Coursera. The university offers a number of MOOCs and flipped classrooms through its newly-established Technology-Enriched Learning Initiative (TELI) Center. Kyoto also has an agreement with edX, and it offers several MOOCs in life science and biology.

 

Professor Kwok’s presentation was entitled “HKU E-Learning: Where Are We?,” and it focused on a flipped classroom lecture for 300 students. He explained that “restructuring the lecture space for seminar interaction and skillful TA activities are key to the successful operation of the Flipped Classroom.” Professor Kwok also emphasized that e-learning assistance and multimedia infrastructure are essential for innovating higher education.

 

Professor Iiyoshi spoke on the topic of “Harnessing Educational Innovation to Evolve Higher Education.” He stressed the importance of rewarding MOOC participants, pointing to Kyoto’s practice of providing campus tours for top MOOC students and recognizing exceptional teaching assistants. “In the twenty-first century,” he said, “in which open education thrives, the purpose of education is no longer simply conveying information. There must be new roles for and relations between professors and students. It is important that new ideas and new knowledge emerge through the exchange of information between them.”