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The Vocational Training Council (VTC), The Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK), Caritas Institute of Higher Education (CIHE) and Caritas Bianchi College of Careers (CBCC) jointly launched the first cross-institutional Vocational and Professional Education and Training (VPET) online sharing platform – VPETCity (https://vpetcity.vtc.edu.hk) – in Hong Kong today (24 August). From now on, students, teachers and the public can access this online open platform to exchange and use VPET learning and teaching materials, as well as discover innovative pedagogical practices to experience flexible and open learning. The Launching Ceremony of VPETCity was held at the Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI), with Permanent Secretary for Education Ingrid YEUNG as the Guest-of-Honour and representatives of VTC, OUHK, CIHE and CBCC in attendance. Mrs Yeung said that the Ceremony marked a major milestone of this core project on VPET. She said, “VPETCity was a good example of collaboration among institutions for the betterment of the sector. She called on all self-financing post-secondary institutions to leverage on Government funding and their respective strengths in developing more collaborative projects that fostered synergy, raised the overall standard of teaching and learning, and provided better support and learning experience for students.” VTC Executive Director Carrie YAU noted that with advances in technology, education around the world was taking off in new directions. “New technologies enable multi-modal teaching and learning, and also usher in rich forms of online collaboration,” she said. “There is no doubt that Technology Enhanced Learning is one of the major VPET trends in the 21st century, a trend that can enhance the access and effectiveness of learning, as well as create better teaching and learning experiences.” She added that VPETCity would enable teachers, learners and industry practitioners to co-develop, share and exchange learning materials and teaching practices anytime, anywhere, taking VPET learning to the next level. Funded by the Quality Enhancement Support Scheme (QESS) of the Education Bureau (EDB), this three-year cross-institutional project is aimed at identifying learning and teaching needs of VPET in Hong Kong, as well as developing innovative and effective pedagogy and platform. Taking reference from world-renowned VPET systems in Finland, Germany and Switzerland, it reviews training effectiveness across institutions and industries in Hong Kong. A sharing platform providing teaching and learning resources has also been established based on survey results and researches, while continuous professional development programmes have been developed to implement and promote across-the-board innovative pedagogical practices for VPET. VPETCity provides students, teachers, the service and commercial sectors and the public with an open and flexible online learning and teaching platform for exchanging and sharing VPET education resources, so as to enhance the learning of VPET. Currently VPET teaching and learning package exemplars in vocational skills have been developed for four programme areas, namely Hotel and Catering, Health Care and Community Services, Business and Management, and Servicing. The exemplars focus on areas like “Meat Hygiene and Food Inspection”, “Front Office Operations” and “Dispensing Practice”, providing short teaching videos, interactive games and quizzes. The partner institutions are also making use of innovative technologies including Augmented Reality (AR) and 360-degree panoramic filming to devise new teaching materials. Related packages and details of VPET pedagogical and assessment practices, as well as workplace guidelines, can be downloaded from the project website. One of the assistive packages will be used in the Higher Diploma in Food Technology and Safety programme offered by the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE). By means of an AR mobile app used on smartphones or tablets, students are ushered into a virtual slaughter hall to understand the swine slaughtering processes and hence gain better knowledge of hygiene and food inspection. With a view to identifying suitable instructional strategies and pedagogical practices, the cross-institutional team undertook surveys between November 2015 and February 2016 to study the learning and teaching needs of VPET students and teachers. As a first stage, questionnaires were distributed to some 400 students and teachers. At the second stage, focus group and one-to-one interviews were conducted with students and teachers of various VPET providers, along with class visits. The survey findings revealed that flexibility in teaching, timely guidance, peer group collaboration and professional training were all necessary to accommodate VPET students, teachers and workplace mentors’ learning and teaching needs. They also indicated that Technology Enhanced Learning would be the most appropriate innovative pedagogical practice for VPET. It is hoped that by blending innovative technologies with face-to-face teaching, such as introducing elements of electronic and mobile learning, VPETCity will enhance students’ motivation to learn and promote interaction on learning. In the current third stage, the partners are seeking input from the public and VPET providers through online questionnaires, the findings of which will be uploaded regularly to the sharing platform of VPETCity. Established in 1982, the Vocational Training Council（VTC）is the largest vocational and professional education and training provider in Hong Kong. The mission of VTC is to provide a valued choice to school leavers and working people to acquire the values, knowledge and skills for lifelong learning and enhanced employability, and also to provide support to industries for their manpower development. VTC has 13 member institutions, namely the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi) , the Institute of Professional Education And Knowledge (PEAK) , the School for Higher and Professional Education (SHAPE), the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE) , the Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI) , Hotel and Tourism Institute (HTI) , Chinese Cuisine Institute (CCI) , International Culinary Institute (ICI) , Maritime Services Training Institute (MSTI) , Youth College , Pro-Act by VTC , Integrated Vocational Development Centre (IVDC) and Shine Skills Centre. Website: www.vtc.edu.hk Media Enquiries: 2836 1896 / 2836 1046 |
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