The 11th Knowledge Management and E-Learning Workshop (Part One) Was Held Successfully

The Advanced Innovation Center for Future Education collaborated with the Knowledge Management and E-Learning of the University of Hong Kong to hold the 11th Knowledge Management and E-Learning Workshop (KM&EL, Part One) on 20th and 21st May, 2019. This meeting promoted the global cooperation and communication. In part one, the theme is Fostering Critical Thinking and Creativity in Learning with Technology. Two talks are arranged which were delivered by Eric Klopfer from MIT and Cindy Hmelo-Silver from Indiana University to share latest research results.

 

The workshop was hosted by Associate Professor Maggie WANG from the Faculty of Education of the University of Hong Kong. Prof. Shengquan YU, Executive Director of the Advanced Innovation Center for Future Education and Associate Professor Yu LU, the Director of AI Lab, attended the lecture. At the same time, in order to engage more researchers who cannot present, we put the lecture on live broadcast.

 

At 14 o'clock on the afternoon of 20th May, Professor Eric Klopfer's keynote speech on Designing Games that Resonate with Learners and Learning started at Room 204, 2nd Teaching Building. Eric Klopfer is Professor and Director of the Scheller Teacher Education Program and The Education Arcade at MIT. He is also a co-faculty director for MIT’s J-WEL World Education Lab. His work uses a Design Based Research methodology to span the educational technology ecosystem, from design and development of new technologies to professional development and implementation.

Figure 1. Professor Eric Klopfer
 
His talk was carried out in six areas: The Evolution of Digital Learning, Creative Thinking and Play, “Learning? Games?”, Resonant Games, Examples, From Playing to Making. Professor Klopfer believes that in games we willingly submit to arbitrary rules and structures in pursuit of mastery, but only if we can continue to be playful. There are five main traits that are important for building an interesting game: Interesting decisions (Sid Meier), Consequences to decisions (+/- value), Clearly defined goals (rules/constraints), Visible measurable feedback (quantifiable outcome), Underlying model/system (coherent system of rules). Finally, Professor Klopfer pointed out that there are three key points in using technology to make learning interesting and meaningful. First, designing and manufacturing experience. Secondly, implementing and expanding experience. And finally, cultivating the ability to gain more experience. All the three principles rely on the design-based research, and constantly evolve and are redesigned in practice, and finalize the design principles.
 
Figure 2. Professor Eric Klopfer in the speech
 
On the afternoon of May 21, Professor Cindy Hmelo-Silver gave a keynote speech on "CSCL for All: Technology Support for Inquiry Learning" in the Room 108, 10th Teaching Building. Dr. Maggie WANG introduced Professor Cindy Hmelo-Silver. Dr. Cindy Hmelo-Silver is the Barbara B. Jacobs Chair in Education and Technology, Professor of Learning Sciences, and Director of the Center for Research on Learning and Technology at Indiana University. She studies how people learn through problem-based inquiry and how technology can provide support for problem-based and inquiry learning. 

Figure 3. Professor Cindy Hmelo-Silver

Technology has created new forms of inquiry that can support learning and engagement across the lifespan. The results of a recent synthesis report show that Indeed, the most robust uses of computer-supported collaborative learning in STEM domains are to support inquiry. From citizen scientists working on locally relevant problems over time to secondary students using technology to communicate across space, STEM inquiry can serve as a path to civic engagement. In this presentation, she talked about the use of computer-supported collaborative learning to support inquiry, in particular, how different combinations of technologies, pedagogies, and modes of collaboration interact. In particular, she discussed how the Jeong & Hmelo-Silver (2016) framework of Seven Affordances for Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning has been instantiated in recent robotics and game-based learning projects, ways that they have the potential to support deep collaborative engagement in inquiry learning, provide structure for student agency, and conjectures about opportunities realized and challenges faced. Audience present were attracted and intrigued by Prof. Hmelo-Silver’s research and idea. A series of questions were asked about the details of her work and they talked about edges and hot spot in this field.
 
Figure 4, Professor Cindy Hmelo-Silver in the speech

 

In this session, Professor Klopfer and Professor Hmelo-Silver shared their own perspectives on critical thinking and innovation in the intelligent education. It was enlightening for junior researchers and student new to this field. At the same time, the organization of the workshop is of great significance in strengthening the exchanges and cooperation between domestic scholars and foreign scholars. We are looking forward to the Part Two of KM&EL in June.

 

Figure 5. Group photo

(As. Prof. Yu LU, Prof. Shengquan YU, Prof. Eric Klopfer, Prof. Cindy Hmelo-Silver, As. Prof. Maggie WANG, from left to right )