Andrew T. Yim
Assistant Professor of Accounting
School of Business & Management
Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
Clear Water Bay, Kln.
HONG KONG
Email: andrew.yim@ust.hk /
andrew.yim@aya.yale.edu /
andrew.yim@hongkong.com
Fax: (852) 2358-1693
URL: http://www.bm.ust.hk/~acct/faculty/ayim/ayim.htm
I. Course Web System (CWS)
The main objective of the system is to provide an Internet-based tool
for faculty and supporting staff with minimal computer experience to
organize course materials and distribute them on Internet in an efficient
and manageable way. It also contains modules to store answers to
frequently asked questions and to provide on-line multiple choice tests to
students and keep track of their performance histories. Compared to more
powerful commercial tools serving similar functions, the CWS is intended
to be offered as a freeware alternative.
II. Further Study Pack (FSP)
Given the popularity of Internet, a lot of resources have been
developed by someone somewhere that are readily available to enchance
one's teaching. The idea of FSP is to collect suitable resources available
in the Internet that can deepen students' understanding of a topic if they
choose to explore the resources.
CWS: The CWS provides a freeware alternative to more powerful commercial systems with similar functions. Like such systems, the CWS requires its users to have only minimal computer experience. Its randomized MC test generation module allows better use of textbooks' MC test banks by encouraging students to reinforce their understanding by practising with such questions at any times and places convenient to them individually.
FSP: The idea of establishing FSP for different topics may improve teaching efficiency in two senses. First, it makes use of readily available tools in the Internet rather than requires an instructor to develop them from scratch. Second, once a FSP has been established, it can be shared by other instructors and saves on the lengthy time spent on searching for and selecting the right resources to include in a FSP. Students can get exposure to the latest development in technology related to the courses topics.
The CWS and the FSP idea serve as part of a learning environment that demonstrates how Internet resources can be utilized to facilitate one's work. Given the popularity of the Internet and the convenience it brings, students will not be able to face the future challenges without making the Internet an integrated part of their working habits.
The URL of the CWS's demo web site is http://teaching.ust.hk/~cwsdemo/demo.html
For more details about the system, please refer to a paper entitled "CWS: A Course Web Site Creation and Maintenance Tool for Improving Teaching and Learning Efficiency" (URL of the paper in HTML format: http://teaching.ust.hk/~cwsdemo/document/CWS1QT&L.htm) presented in the Quality in Teaching & Learning: A Celebration of Best Practices in Hong Kong Higher Education Conference held in December 1998. Several FSP's used on an experimental basis can be found at http://teaching.ust.hk/~acct221/link/.
They include