Introduction · Web viewProject Background Connecting Hotel ICON: Developing Multi-disciplinary...

Connecting Hotel ICON: Developing Multi-disciplinary Learning Experiences and Reusable Educational Resources - Teaching and Learning Toolkit

Contents1. Introduction......................................................................................................................4

1.1. Project Background...................................................................................................4

1.1.1. Intended Outcome............................................................................................4

1.1.2. Objectives.........................................................................................................4

1.1.3. Participants.......................................................................................................4

1.1.4. Activities Involved.............................................................................................5

1.1.5. Deliverables......................................................................................................5

1.1.6. Team Support....................................................................................................5

1.1.7. Pilot Project Development Process...................................................................5

1.2. Purpose of the Teaching and Learning Toolkit..........................................................6

2. Roles and Responsibilities of Stakeholders.......................................................................7

3. Multi-disciplinary Student Project Development Step-by-Step........................................8

3.1. Preparation & Planning.............................................................................................8

3.1.1. Subject Pairing..................................................................................................8

3.1.2. Project Planning................................................................................................9

Execution............................................................................................................................14

3.2.1 Evaluation during the Project..........................................................................14

3.3 Project Effectiveness Evaluation.............................................................................14

3.4 Documentation.......................................................................................................15

4.0 Appendices.......................................................................................................................16

4.1 Project Development Form...........................................................................................16

4.2 Joint Project Activities Schedule.............................................................................20

4.3 Pre-course Questionnaire Template.......................................................................21

4.4 Post-course Questionnaire Template......................................................................21

4.5 Information Sheet...................................................................................................22

4.6 Consent to Participate in Research Form................................................................23

4.7 Mid-term Evaluation Interview Questions for Teaching Staff.................................24

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1. Introduction

1.1. Project Background

Connecting Hotel ICON: Developing Multi-disciplinary Learning Experiences and Reusable Educational Resources, was a project which focused on achieving the PolyU strategic objective: “providing a holistic education which is outcome-based, work-integrated, professionally and globally-oriented, and student-centred”. It did this by creating authentic and collaborative multi-disciplinary learning experiences for PolyU students around the use of Hotel ICON. The Hotel acted as a bridge between different discipline communities within PolyU, as well as a platform to promote industrial partnerships. It offered a platform to develop, test and showcase innovative technologies, design and business concepts. Students were able to work towards specific subject learning outcomes within a shared teaching and learning context that was both challenging and innovative. Students benefited from getting new resources, and by engaging in an authentic environment through interactions with peers and existing experts in other disciplines.

1.1.1. Intended Outcome

The design and implementation of the collaborative multi-disciplinary student projects was driven by an outcome-based approach, seeking to achieve both specific and generic learning outcomes through authentic learning activities and assessment. The project sought to develop appropriate professional knowledge, skills and attitudes of the different disciplines involved. The project also aimed at achieving generic and shared learning outcomes, such as problem solving, critical and creative thinking, communication and interpersonal skills, teamwork and leadership.

1.1.2. Objectives

• Design and develop an integrated series of multi-disciplinary student projects to utilize the potential of the PolyU teaching hotel, Hotel ICON, as an authentic learning environment.

• Develop accessible, authentic and reusable teaching resources banks for staff and students for teaching and learning, and research opportunities.

• Provide opportunities for inter-department and multi-disciplinary collaboration and innovation in teaching and learning.

• Provide guidance for multi-disciplinary learning and teaching through the Project’s activities that will assist in the future and continuing use of Hotel ICON and the development of collaborative, authentic and high quality learning experiences for PolyU students.

1.1.3. Participants

• Applied Biology and Chemical Technology (ABCT)• Department of Computing (COMP)• Department of English (ENGL)• Educational Development Centre (EDC)• Institute of Textile and Clothing (ITC)• School of Design (SD)

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• School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM)

1.1.4. Activities Involved

The main strategy of the project was to initiate a series of linked multi-disciplinary student projects, utilizing the Hotel ICON facilities as a focal point and in a real hotel environment, which were built through collaboration between the involved departments.

1.1.5. Deliverables

• Teaching and Learning Toolkit (print & digital resources)• Resource Banks for Fabrics, Food Safety and Information & Communication

Technology • Workshops/Seminars • Press releases

1.1.6. Team Support

A cross faculties’ project team was established to carry out the proposed pilot projects. Each involved department had representatives in the team to ensure smooth coordination and implementation for the pilot. Other team members from the SHTM with different expertise were also involved during the operation process of the project. A representative from the Hotel ICON acted as an advisor in the project team providing assistance in coordinating teaching and learning activities at the hotel.

1.1.7. Pilot Project Development Process

At the beginning stage, the project team proposed pilot projects for different subjects which were related to the Hotel ICON. After different subject lecturers agreed on running the proposed pilot projects in their classes, the project team came up with a plan and schedule for different teaching and learning activities for the pilot projects. When semester commenced, there were briefings at lectures in order to make sure students would have enough understanding and be equipped with the knowledge required for the pilot project.

Groups were formed in each of the subjects and communication mechanisms set up between groups from different disciplines. During the project, students needed to make good use of the knowledge of their counterparts, interact with them and create knowledge as the input of their own project in order to achieve their project goals; and create multi-disciplinary learning experiences.

At the end of the pilot projects, groups of students from different disciplines would attend each others’ project presentations. This provided chances for knowledge exchange and for their student project to generate reusable teaching resources for others in the future. Teachers assessed their own class of students only, through

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different criteria set by them. Figure 1 shows a brief process of pilot project development.

Figure 1 Process of Pilot Project Development

1.2.Purpose of the Teaching and Learning Toolkit

This toolkit was designed to provide useful guidance to staff who are interested in participating in multi-disciplinary learning experience for PolyU students using Hotel ICON. Users will be able to develop their own multi-disciplinary subjects by following the guideline in this teaching and learning toolkit. Templates and references are also provided in this toolkit to help staff to kick start their multi-disciplinary student project. It is also hoped that the toolkit can provide a useful reference and example for any teachers who wish to set up multi-disciplinary learning experiences for their students beyond the context of Hotel Icon.

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ScenariosProvided thru Hotel ICON by

project team

Briefing at LectureIndividual subjects from

various disciplines

Groups formationSeperate group from respective subjects

Project formationMulti-discipline learning

experiences with the use of the authentic environment

AssessmentTerm-end group presentation

Resources bankStudent project and project

materials

2. Roles and Responsibilities of Stakeholders

Stakeholders Roles and Responsibilities2.1.Project Team

Promote SHTM & Hotel ICON as a hub of multi-disciplinary learning experience Encourage involvement of stakeholders in different partner departments Work cooperatively with staff and Hotel ICON to meet project objectives Develop resources bank/database of multi-disciplinary student projects which can serve

as reusable educational resources for different departments Develop resources to support students, staff and Hotel ICON to benefit from the

authentic multi-disciplinary learning experience Conduct regular evaluations to monitor the effectiveness of the project Collect feedbacks from stakeholders and produce summary report for different projects Conduct workshop for dissemination purposes Diligently handle administrative tasks

2.2.Teaching Staff

Discuss with Project Team in multi-disciplinary project planning and execution Select appropriate scenarios for the related subjects Match student learning outcomes and provide appropriate project activities in the

multi-disciplinary project Discuss with the project team and design a multi-disciplinary project guideline for your

students Explain the project to your students Discuss with the project team and make arrangement with Hotel ICON for possible

field studies or other kind of learning activities integrated with Hotel ICON Review, complete, and retain all necessary forms and documentation for the

programme Provide sufficient learning support to students (advice and provide necessary

knowledge that will help them get the most out of the project; plan structured time for reflection and discussion to make sense of and appreciate their learning; plan assignment and activities that will challenge students to integrate their classroom learning with their multi-disciplinary learning experience)

Provide sufficient communication channels for students from different disciplines (i.e. LEARN@PolyU, face to face meeting, etc.)

Collect programme evaluation data for reporting purposes 2.3.Students

Take responsibility for managing their own learning Understand the project requirements and specifications Follow the process of the multi-disciplinary project guideline Participate in all multi-disciplinary project activities Provide feedback on your experience for the project Keep contact with students from other discipline Make use of different kind of resources and support provided by the project team

2.4.Hotel ICON

Understand that the activities and experience are designed for learning but not to create pressure for different departments in the property

Provide a supportive environment for student learning (e.g. support different kinds of teaching and learning activities in the Hotel ICON, provides guest lectures, site visits, etc.)

Open up to new ideas from students and take into account (e.g. try to apply innovative and feasible ideas into the daily operation)

Updated information, evaluations for project administration and course improvement

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3. Multi-disciplinary Student Project Development Step-by-Step

Multi-disciplinary student projects can be varied, each project will benefit students from different disciplines and create an environment for communication and knowledge sharing, while producing innovative ideas and suggestions for the Hotel ICON. The purpose of this toolkit is to clarifying the project goals, learning objectives and keeps track of the multi-disciplinary student project process. Specific goals and project details are subject to change based on the involved different subjects. Each section of this tool kit is intended as a reference only and modification is needed as each project is unique in nature depending on the involved participants.

This guide is divided into four areas:

1. Preparation & Planning2. Execution3. Evaluation4. Documentation

The checklist below provides guidance on the items that are needed during the preparation of the project before the start of the semester. Keeping the record as the project proceeds is necessary for evaluating the learning process and the outcomes for the students.

Item DeadlineIdentify subject(s) could be paired for multi-disciplinary student project

6 weeks before semester starts

Fill in project development form and decide collaboration method


Prepare project teaching and learning activities schedule


Update subject syllabus and prepare multi-disciplinary project guideline


Sign up Hotel ICON site visit/guest lecture (if applicable)


Prepare pre-course questionnaires 1 week before semester starts

3.1. Preparation & Planning

There are two steps involved in the initial project stages; these are subject pairing between involved departments and project planning

3.1.1. Subject Pairing

One of the most unique features that differentiate multi-disciplinary student projects from conventional student projects is the interactive exercises between the groups of students from their relative disciplines.

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The first step of multi-disciplinary project preparation is to go through the subject outline to seek for potential teaching and learning activities that can be useful and offer a unique experience for the pairing discipline that can make use of the Hotel ICON.

Brainstorming a Project: What is a Hotel?“All things are difficult before they are easy”, the first thing that should be looked at in order to find out possible collaboration in multi-disciplinary student projects is to investigate “what is a hotel?” There are so many departments in a hotel and there are so many teaching and learning opportunities during its daily operation. What are your discipline’s concerns that can benefit your students in this authentic environment? Brainstorm with different parties, seek for ideas about possible subjects or topics.Reference and recommendations maybe valuable from the following people:

Colleagues in your department Colleagues in SHTM Staff in Hotel ICON Your students

Communications between involved parties are strongly recommended for generating new ideas for the project.

It is also suggested for subject lecturers to seek ideas and interests from students related to the Hotel ICON as these ideas may have been overlooked previously.

3.1.2. Project Planning

There are several aspects that need to be considered for the planning of multi-disciplinary student projects. Multi-disciplinary student projects can be varied in nature and may not require following all of the suggestions provided in this toolkit. The considerations listed below are based on the experience of the pilot projects conducted by the project team.

3.1.2.1. Learning Objectives

Putting in multi-disciplinary student project objectives and aligning them with possible learning outcomes with the respective subject is one of the most important steps of the planning process. It is also critical whether the proposed project idea can match with another subject. It is very important to set learning objectives for the project and explain how this project will benefit the involved students from different disciplines.

The project team adapted the project planning worksheet developed by the Educational Development Centre (EDC) and has tuned it to better fit multi-disciplinary student projects (see appendices: project development form).

In the project development form, various kinds of information about the project are needed including subject title, subject code, semester(s) to project benefit, subject outcomes, synopsis of the project and staff contacts. This project development form will serve as a blueprint for the multi-disciplinary student projects and it also contributes to more organized project documentations for future successors.

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3.1.2.2. Collaboration Mode

Multi-disciplinary student projects can be very flexible in their collaboration with other subjects; it is not necessary to incorporate the whole class of students to pair with another subject with exactly the same class size. There are different kinds of collaboration modes which could apply to your subject. Here are some examples listed below:

Pair groups: One group of student in SHTM will pair with another group from another department

Example: There are 30 students in HTM2XXX and 48 students in COMP2XX. 6 Groups from each subject will both work on same topic or different topics and pair with a group from another department.

One pair with many: One group in SHTM will give input to different groups from another department for their project; vice versa (the class needs to work on same topic)

Example: There are 30 students in HTM3XXX and 36 students in ABCT3XXX; a 5-students-group of HTM3XXX is going to work on a multi-disciplinary project with 6 groups of students from ABCT3XXX. All 6 groups of ABCT students will work on the same topics and HTM3XXX group need to interact with ABCT3XXX and provide input for their project.

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SHTM GroupAnother

Department Group

One Group of Department A

Group 3 of Department B



More than one group: More than one group in SHTM will give input to different groups from another department, vice versa (the class can work on more than one topic)

Example: There are 30 students in HTM4XXX and 36 students in ITC4XXX, two groups of HTM4XXX are going to work on a multi-disciplinary project with 6 groups of students from ITC4XXX. 3 groups of ITC students will work on topic A and 3 groups will work on topic B. HTM4XXX group A will interact with 3 groups of ITC4XXX students who work on topic A while HTM4XXX group B will work with 3 groups of ITC4XXX students and work on topic B.

Multi group: More than 2 groups in SHTM and one other department will work on a project which requires input from different subjects.

Examples: There are 3 subjects (HTM3XXX, HTM4XXX and COMP4XX) involved in a multi-disciplinary student project; in order to achieve the project outcomes and deliverables different groups of the 3 subjects need to collaborate with each other or have to provide input to other groups (depends on the project design). In multi group

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SHTM Group

A

Group 3 of Other Dept


Group 1 of Other Dept.

SHTM Group

B




Groups of SHTM Subject

A

Groups of SHTM Subject

B

Groups of Other

Department(s)

Work on Topic A Work on Topic B

mode, group collaboration structure can be varied; subject lecturer can either choose one of the mentioned modes or set up alternative methods according to the project design.

3.1.2.3. Curriculum Plan

Multi-disciplinary student projects will be able to provide additional content to the existing curriculum. There is no unified multi-disciplinary student project and each of the projects should provide a unique learning experience and opportunity for students to meet other students with different academic backgrounds. All projects are recommended to provide:

Activities that stimulate the acquisition of course concept and skills Activities which student can apply their knowledge of their own discipline Opportunity for knowledge exchange Promotion of critical thinking and problem solving skills Promotion of interpersonal skills Activities that are integrated with Hotel ICON

Develop different methods for students to show how they are involved in the project. Student assignments may include:

Oral presentation and/or demonstration Reports/Essays Products/Prototypes produced for the project Student Reflection for the project Participation in project activities

Making good use of the project development form will help in developing the curriculum in line with the learning objectives.

3.1.2.4. Time Management

Unlike conventional student projects, multi-disciplinary projects require collaboration with other classes, and usually students need to combine efforts with other group of students in order to achieve the project goals. Each project activity should be carefully planned with sufficient time in order for all involved students to complete.

Furthermore, students may need to be equipped with some kind of knowledge before they can fulfill the project requirement or interact with other group of students. It is necessary to cover the topics they need to learn before they need to actually perform tasks related to the project.

During the planning stage, it is necessary to develop a joint project activities schedule for the project (see appendices: joint project activities schedule). Communication between subject lecturers are needed about the joint project activities and put down in the schedule. This schedule will help demonstrate the project planning and check whether students will have enough time to finish their task and will help define

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critical path of the multi-disciplinary student project if there is one, so that modification can be made in advance if any project component goes wrong.

3.1.2.5. Assessment

Although multi-disciplinary student projects involve more than one class of students, subject lecturers can still assess their student performance according to their respective subject requirements. The multi-disciplinary learning process is an approach to help students to better understand their own subject with the opportunity to gain experience outside of their own discipline.

In the project development form, the assessment part should indicate what products/artefacts will be assessed during the course of the project. Once the project assessment rubric has been developed, it should be incorporated and modifications made if needed to fit into the syllabus guideline.

3.1.2.6. Communication

How can different groups of students communicate effectively and efficiently with each other? How can they share their knowledge with each other and contribute to others’ student projects? It is often a constraint for teachers from different departments to arrange common classes for both groups of students to have face-to-face interaction/presentation. Yet, other communication channels are available for the involved students to interact throughout the project to maximize their benefits in multi-disciplinary projects.

There are several methods that can be used as the communication channels for such projects. The project team suggests LEARN@PolyU (the University’s official Learning Management System) as the primary channel as it provides a range of tools for students to communicate and interact with other groups online. The students can make use of online discussion boards, blogs, wikis etc. to exchange ideas and contribute to the assigned topics.

Besides, it is suggested consultation hours and other possible communication methods should be made available for students when they come across issues that cannot be overcome by themselves or the help of other disciplines’ students. This can ensure students can achieve their expected outcome for the multi-disciplinary project.

3.1.2.7. Supervision

Multi-disciplinary student projects may be varied in scale depending on the degree of integration with SHTM and Hotel ICON as well as the complexity of the project itself. In order to guarantee students can finish the assigned project and achieve all learning outcomes of the project, milestones should be setup during the planning stage to monitor students’ working progress. Fill in the project timeline in the project development form include all teaching and learning activities of the project, projects that involve multiple site visits or guest lecturers may have difficulty filling in the form in this stage.

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Execution

“Good to begin well, better to end well”, review the project plan with involved subject lecturers and keep track with the process, here are some problems that are likely to occur during the execution phrase:

Will the project run on its schedule? How are my students feeling about the project process? How are students from other disciplines feeling about the project process? Can they learn new things from each other through this project? Is there any problem arising due to inefficient communication?

3.2.1 Evaluation during the ProjectIt is very important to keep the communication channel open between subject lecturers and students during the project, although most of the multi-disciplinary learning activities were planned in the beginning stage, during the project there are always unforeseeable needs and problems arise. These problems are generally related to:

Project Understanding Knowledge for fulfilling the project requirements Workload Inter-group Communication

Reflection is needed in order to capture students’ concern toward the project and it can be done in different ways (e.g. reflection paper, in-class discussion, etc.)

It is essential for subject lecturer to promptly discuss with students as well as the partnering subject lecturer about the project process, and if any additional teaching and learning activities for the projects are needed to support students to achieve the learning goals for the project.

If there are more than one teaching staff involved in this project, conducting interviews with them can give a different perspective on the project and make adjustments accordingly. There are some questions suggested by the project team for the interview (see appendices: mid-term evaluation for teaching staff), the mid-term evaluation interview can be used to fine tune the project before at the early stage appendices)

Constant modifications are likely to be made to the development form and project activities schedule during the project.

3.3 Project Effectiveness Evaluation

Multi-disciplinary student projects can be varied and there is no generic evaluation tool to apply to all projects. Interviewing students, providing a questionnaire, or even asking them to write a reflection paper are some suggested methods in order to know what they think about the multi-disciplinary learning experience.

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However, the project team suggests there should be pre and post questionnaires for students who are involved in multi-disciplinary student projects in the effectiveness evaluation process (see appendices: pre-course questionnaire, post-course questionnaire). The questionnaire will mainly focus on level of confidence on two or more involved disciplines and find out whether students learn more after they finished the project. Besides, the questionnaires will also ask students about project objectives, expectations and the learning outcomes of the multi-disciplinary student project in order to find out their perception and experience of the student project. Subject lecturers may also ask how the students feel about the teaching and learning activities that were arranged for the project and take it as a reference for the planning for future multi-disciplinary projects.

3.4 Documentation

The last step of conducting a multi-disciplinary student project is to document all project materials and keep a good record for the involved lecturer and successors in the respective department.

Basically, subject syllabus, project development form, joint project activities schedule, mid-term evaluation for teaching staff, pre & post-course questionnaires will fulfill most part of documentation. Last but not least, a summary of the questionnaire results is also necessary.

Besides, one of the project objectives is to create reusable educational resources for students, therefore it is needed to document students’ work and contribute to the resource bank for the project. These student projects will benefit the university on teaching and learning or even benefit the Hotel ICON if the student project is feasible and applicable in the hotel, we could make use of the students’ innovation to apply in the operation of the Hotel ICON.

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4.0 Appendices

4.1 Project Development Form

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4.2 Joint Project Activities ScheduleJoint Project Activities ScheduleUpdated on XX/XX/XX

Subject Code: (YOUR SUBJECT) (PARTNERS' SUBJECT)Lecture Information: XX:XX-XX:XX

(LOCATION) by (SUBJECT LECTURER)

XX:XX-XX:XX (LOCATION) by (SUBJECT LECTURER)

Week Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Week0

(XX/XX-XX/XX) Exact Date

(TEACHING & LEARNING ACTIVITES)

1 (XX/XX-XX/XX) Exact Date








3 (TEACHING & LEARNING ACTIVITES)

4

4 (JOINT PROJECT ACTIVITES)

5

5 (JOINT PROJECT ACTIVITES)

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6 77 88 99 10

10 1111 1212 1313 1414

Update: (ANYTHING CHANGE FROM ORIGINAL PLAN)

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4.3 Pre-course Questionnaire TemplateSee additional separate document

4.4 Post-course Questionnaire TemplateSee additional separate document

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4.5 Information Sheet

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4.6 Consent to Participate in Research Form

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4.7 Mid-term Evaluation Interview Questions for Teaching Staff

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