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THE EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

CENTRE FOR LEARNING, TEACHING AND TECHNOLOGY

Preamble

1.1 In some unusual and uncertain situations (e.g., public health emergencies),

face-to-face teaching may not be possible, and online learning and teaching

has to be adopted. This document presents some options for conducting

online learning and teaching. Some practical examples are provided for your

reference in this paper.

1.2 There are two common modes of online learning and teaching. The

synchronous mode works well for classes with 40 participants or less.

The asynchronous mode should be used when classes are over 40

students. Academic/teaching staff are encouraged to split a large class

into groups of 40 if they opt for the synchronous mode of online learning

and teaching (e.g., splitting a class with around 80 students into two

groups).

General expectations

2.1 Scheduled classes will take place and may be conducted online through the

synchronous and/or the asynchronous modes. This allows programme-

specific requirements (if any) on attendance/ participation be maintained as

far as practicable.

2.2 In other words, academic/ teaching staff and students are expected to deliver

or participate in the online learning and teaching during the scheduled

(timetabled) timeslots at a location suitable for learning and teaching.

Synchronous mode

3.1 Hosting a live, synchronous online meeting with students via Zoom or Skype

for Business is a way to conduct online face-to-face classes. It is most

suitable for classes of smaller size (i.e., under 40 students).

3.2 We suggest using Zoom (https://eduhk.zoom.us) for such online meetings. It

accommodates up to 300 persons in one session. All staff and students can

use it with their EdUHK network account and password. There is no limit

on the duration of each session. PowerPoint presentation, whiteboard, and

screen sharing are supported. Smaller group discussion is possible through

creating breakout rooms (up to 50 separate rooms). For more information,

please refer to the “Zoom – Quick Guide for Academic/ Teaching Staff” in

Appendix 1.

3.3 Skype for Business is also an official application of EdUHK. For a

comparison on its functions with Zoom, please refer to Appendix 2.

Guidelines for Online Learning and Teaching

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Attendance-taking

3.4 With Zoom, attendance report can be generated about 30 minutes after the

end of each online meeting session. The report provides detailed information

on when students joined and left the meeting session.

3.5 For smaller classes, attendance-taking in a synchronous online meeting is

also possible through the traditional “roll call” during the meeting session,

i.e., manually checking which of the students in the class are present.

Engagement in learning and teaching activities

3.6 For better engagement in learning and teaching activities, we advise those

courses with a large number of students (e.g., 600 students in the GE

Foundation Course) to conduct in the tutorial mode rather than having all

students to join one online face-to-face meeting. In case it is really necessary

to include a large number of students in one session, it is better to use the

asynchronous mode (see the section on “asynchronous mode” below).

3.7 An example for a three-hour synchronous online meeting is as follows:

Duration Content Reference in

Appendix 1

45 minutes: Instruction or lecture by academic/

teaching staff facilitated by

PowerPoint presentation

Part 7

30 minutes: Breakout discussion session by

students (in small groups)

Part 10

15 minutes: Short break

60 minutes: Reporting back by breakout groups

and discussion facilitated by

whiteboard, file sharing and/or chat

room

Parts 6, 7 and 8

20 minutes: Wrap-up by academic/ teaching staff Part 7

3.8 To keep the online meeting interactive, we encourage the use of breakout

discussion session because it helps students to be more constructive in their

learning. Technically, it is feasible for the host (academic/ teaching staff) to

join any breakout session during the discussion time, which enables

guidance in a smaller group setting. The reporting-back after breakout

sessions can be more effective when it is done with whiteboard (ideas

illustration), file sharing (presentation) and/or chat room (feedback-giving).

3.9 It is helpful to record the synchronous online meetings because:

(a) for many reasons, it might be infeasible for some of the students to

join the synchronous sessions, and they need to review the online

meeting later; and

(b) academic/ teaching staff might wish to review their online meeting

for improvement and/or preparation of the next one, or simply keep

a record for archiving purposes.

To know more about recording the online meeting session in Zoom, please

refer to Part 4 of Appendix 1.

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Asynchronous mode

4.1 The asynchronous mode is suitable for classes of relatively large size. It

primarily involves preparing instructional materials for course content

delivery online.

4.2 These materials can easily be created through the following ways:

Method Demo/ guides

(a) Add narration to PowerPoint

file as slideshow

https://bit.ly/312d1y1

(b) Convert the PowerPoint

slideshow to MP4 format and

further edit it with a video editing

software

http://bit.ly/2tNaSdL

(c) Create short videos using a

mobile device or a laptop

https://youtu.be/Vcu8iaZj_BE

(English)

https://youtu.be/6i4tjELRQvA

(Chinese)

(d) Capture the lecture as a video

in selected lecture rooms on the

Tai Po campus

https://www.eduhk.hk/ocio/lecture-

capture-services

4.3 Videos can be shared through the EdUHK Video Portal

(https://www.eduhk.hk/ocio/eduhk-video-portal) or the Video Based

Learning Community (VBLC; https://vblc.eduhk.hk/vblc/index.php). The

former is similar to an enterprise YouTube. The latter is a video-sharing

platform which also facilitates students’ discussion based on specific

objectives.

Engagement in learning and teaching activities

4.4 For better engagement, keep the recording to a reasonable length or separate

it into short, theme-based sessions. If possible, use a standalone microphone

for better audio quality.

4.5 Students’ progress in going through the online materials should be

monitored. It can be done by creating understanding-checking quizzes

(which are automatically marked) through Moodle

(https://moodle.eduhk.hk/course/view.php?id=21314) or Qualtrics

(https://www.eduhk.hk/ocio/qualtrics-survey-tool) if appropriate.

Up-to-date information related to the Guidelines

5.1 Up-to-date information related to this set of guidelines will be uploaded to

the LTTC website (https://www.lttc.eduhk.hk/).

29 January 2020

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Appendix 1

Zoom – Quick Guide for Academic/ Teaching Staff

This quick guide will help you organize and deliver online face-to-face

meetings using Zoom. Zoom client can be installed in PC, Mac and mobile

devices.

This service is accessible in Hong Kong, Oversea as well as Mainland

China. In the rare case that accessing Zoom from the mainland is blocked,

users can access through the Zoom mainland portal. The procedures are

stipulated in https://www.eduhk.hk/ocio/online-meeting-tool-zoom .

Part 1: Create your Zoom account (First time user)

1. User already installed Zoom app can proceed to Part 2

2. First time user, please visit https://eduhk.zoom.us/download

3. Click Download and run the installer. Zoom should be installed on

your device

4. Launch the Zoom app and click Sign In with SSO

5. Enter “eduhk” as the company domain name and click Continue

6. Zoom client is successfully installed in your computer

7. Now, proceed to Part 2

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Part 2: Creating a meeting (before class)

You can create an online meeting A) in Moodle, B) on the Zoom website,

or C) using the Zoom app.

Remark: if you would like to generate the attendance report (see Part 11),

please create an online meeting in Moodle (see A) below).

A) Creating a meeting in Moodle:

1. On your Moodle course page, click the Turn editing on button at

the top right corner to switch to the editing mode.

2. Choose a topic, say Topic 1.

Click on +Add an activity or resource link.

3. Select Zoom meeting and click the Add button.

4. Click the Expand all link at the top right corner of the page.

5. Input a title into the Topic text field and instructions into the

Description text box.

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6. Change the start date/time and input the Duration

7. When ready, click the Save and display button.

The Zoom meeting is created with unique Meeting link and Meeting ID:

Remark: Students should join the meeting by clicking Join Meeting in the

Moodle course

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B) Creating a meeting on the Zoom website:

1. Visit https://eduhk.zoom.us

2. Click Sign In and login your EdUHK Network Account

3. On the side menu, click Meetings

4. Click Schedule a New Meeting

5. Enter the topic of the meeting, start date/time and duration, enable

Video for Host / Participants or more

6. Click Save to confirm the schedule

7. In the Summary page, click Copy the invitation

8. You can paste invitation information in you Moodle course

announcement to notify students to join the online session

9. Now, you have completed the setup of online meeting

C) Creating a meeting using the Zoom app:

1. Launch the Zoom app

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2. Click the Schedule icon

3. Enter the topic of the meeting, set meeting start date/time and

duration, enable Video for Host / Participants

4. Click Advanced Options at the bottom of the box for more

settings

5. Click Schedule to confirm the schedule

6. Zoom will automatically open Outlook and paste the invitation

information into the content of your email.

7. Besides sending invitation through email, you can paste the message

in your Moodle course announcement and notify students to join the

online session

8. Now, you have completed the setup of online meeting

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Part 3: Start the online meeting you created

You can start a Zoom meeting from A) EdUHK zoom website or use the

B) Zoom app.

A) Start meeting from EdUHK website

1. Visit https://eduhk.zoom.us

2. Click Sign In and login your EdUHK Network Account

3. On the side menu, click Meetings

4. Click Start and launch the Zoom meeting room

B) Start meeting using Zoom app

1. Launch the Zoom app

2. Click the Join icon

Zoom meeting room provides all the functions for you to conduct online

lecture and manage participants. The middle of the room is the

presentation screen, and the functions are located at the bottom.

Audio on/off Video on/off invite participate

view participant list. setup polls

share desktop, Whiteboard, applications

text chat/send files. start/stop Recording

small group discussions send thumb up/clapping

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Part 4. Recording the online meeting

Recording can benefit students who have missed the live session to

review the lecture at a later time and for students wants to revisit the

topics.

1. To record the while online session, click Record

2. You can save the Recording on your computer or the Zoom Cloud

3. Recording starts and you can see the recording red light on the top

left corner of the screen

4. To stop the recording, click the stop button on the bottom menu

5. When you ended the meeting, the recorded session will be saved to

your hard disk. You can publish the video (.mp4) in your Moodle

course for students to review and prepare for their exams and

assessment at a later date.

Part 5. Chat with participants

1. Click Chat to display the group chat panel on the right of the

screen

2. You can chat with Everyone or select the name of a participant you

want to send private message

3. To save the chat messages, click the (…) button and select Save

Chat

4. Chat messages will be saved in your folder with the file name

“meeting_saved_chat.txt”. Rename this file and keep it for your

record. Academic/ Teaching staff can also take notes of students’

learning activities and participations based on the chat messages.

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Part 6. Share files

1. You can share files with your participants in the Chat panel, click

Chat

2. At the bottom of the panel, click File. Select the file from your

folder and send to participants

Part 7. Share PowerPoint presentation and your computer screen

Before you can share any applications running on your computer

screen, you need to open the application.

1. Open your PowerPoint file

2. Setup your slide show, click Slide Show tab and select Set Up

Slide Show icon

3. Select “Browsed by an individual (window)”, click OK

4. In Zoom, click Share Screen

5. Select the PowerPoint file you have opened in the screen and click

Share

6. Now, click Play from Start or Play from Current Slide to begin

the online presentation

7. Click Stop Share to end the presentation. If you have enabled

Recording prior to your presentation, the whole session will be

recorded.

8. To learn how to create a narrative PowerPoint presentation and

upload to Moodle, visit

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19lYqNztAR5sRgWyXCnH

DW4uesfPuQbbz

Part 8. Share Whiteboard

1. Click Share Screen, and select Whiteboard

2. This interactive Whiteboard provides drawing tools for you and all

the participants to draw and write text such as equations, symbols

etc. and share with Everyone.

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Part 9. Polling

1. Click Polling to launch the Poll panel

2. Click Ask a Question

3. Enter the MC type question you want the class to response

4. When completed, click Save

5. The Poll questions are ready, click Launch Poll

6. All participants can response to the Poll questions

7. To end the Poll, click End Poll

8. You can share the poll result by clicking Share Results

Part 10. Breakout rooms

Breakout rooms function can be used to facilitate small group

discussions. Each online session can create up to 50 breakout rooms and

maximum 200 participants in one room.

1. In each room, participants have full audio/video and screen share

functions.

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2. Click Breakout rooms

3. You can create number of rooms and assign participants into

different rooms automatically or manually

4. Click Create Breakout Rooms

Part 11. Attendance report generation

Attendance report is generated about 30 minutes after the end of the Zoom

online session. You can access to the report in your Zoom online account or

download the report in Excel (csv) format.

The report contains online meeting details such as Topic, email address,

Start/End time, Duration and the number of participants. Attendee’s details

including: Name, email address, Join/Leave time, Duration etc.

1. Visit https://eduhk.zoom.us

2. Click Sign In and login your EdUHK Network Account

3. On the side menu, click Report

4. Click Usage to access attendance reports

5. Select a data range and click Search to locate the report

6. Click the number in the Participant column to view the details of

attendance

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\

7. Click Export with meeting data, click Export and download in

Excel (.csv) file

8. You can save the (.csv) file into Excel format and rename the file

for usage analysis

Appendix 2

Skype for Business vs Zoom features

Features Zoom Skype for Business

Accessibility

Available in EdUHK OCIO website

Staff:

https://www.eduhk.hk/ocio/online-

meeting-tool-zoom

Student:

(need to notify the above download link to

student)

OCIO website

Staff:

https://www.eduhk.hk/ocio/microsoft-

office-365-staff

Student:

https://www.eduhk.hk/ocio/microsoft-

office-365-students

Schedule online collaboration

Schedule session 1) Launch Web Scheduler:

https://eduhk.zoom.us

2) Schedule meeting within Moodle

course

Launch Web Scheduler:

https://sched.lync.com

Invite Attendees Copy meeting link to Moodle

announcement

Copy meeting link to Moodle

announcement

Functions for instructor

Manage attendees Yes Yes

Share files Yes (use Chat) Yes

Share PowerPoint Yes Yes

Share desktop Yes Yes

Chat (all attendees) Yes Yes

Private chat Yes Yes

Polls Yes Yes (on PC)

Breakout rooms Yes No

Whiteboard Yes Yes

Recordings Yes (cloud & local) Yes (on PC)

No (on Mac)

Attendance report Yes (attendance list & registration list)

Yes (based on chat content)

No

Yes (based on chat content)

Functions for student

Chat Yes Yes

Private chat Yes Yes

Breakout rooms Yes No

Polls Yes Yes

Hand Raise Yes No

System requirements

OS platforms Windows (7, 8, 10)

Mac OS X (10.7 or later)

Windows (7+)

Mac OS X (EI Capitan or later)

Mobile Devices iOS

Android

Blackberry

iOS

Android

Blackberry

Supported Browsers Windows (IE 11+, Edge 12+, Firefox

27+, Chrome 30+)

Mac (Safari 7+, Firefox 27+, Chrome

30+)

Windows (IE 7+, Edge, Firefox,

Chrome)

Mac (Safari, Firefox, Chrome)