Peer‐assisted Learning in Interprofessional Scenario‐based Simulation

Principal Investigator: Dr Abraham Ka Chung Wai, Emergency Medicine Unit (E: awai@hku.hk)
Co-investigators:  Dr Janet Wong, Dr Veronica Lam

Although scenario-based simulation is an established learning method, some potential benefits remain unexplored. These include its provision of unique opportunities for students to acquire the perspective of the patient and those of interprofessional colleagues. Simulation may also facilitate a detailed understanding of pathophysiology through the writing of scenarios. We sought to extend the potential of simulation by asking students to write, deliver and debrief simulation scenarios. This is aligned with the modernization of clinical curriculum in which new pedagogies are developed to improve the quality of teaching despite increasing student population, enhance student ownership of learning, and increase student engagement. The project aims to explore if scenario-based simulation provide students an opportunity to acquire the perspective of the patient and those of interprofessional colleagues; to investigate if students would develop a better understanding of pathophysiology of clinical conditions through scenario writing; and to extend the potential of simulation by asking students to write, deliver and debrief simulation scenarios. Students will participate in workshops to experience clinical simulation, to acquire scenario-writing and debriefing skills and to gain experience in clinical simulation operation in a stepwise manner. The learning outcomes will be evaluated through quantitative and qualitative data analysis.

Introduction of Electronic Resources and E-learning Platform to Enhance Student Learning Experiences in Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Principal Investigator: Dr Masayo Kotaka, School of Biomedical Sciences (E: masayo@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Prof Julian Tanner, Dr Rocky Law, Dr Esther Chan, Dr Brian Wong

Creating impact through innovation is one of the key missions in the University of Hong Kong, and university-wide initiatives have been taken to promote and foster the innovation and technology-driven development of our students. We have developed a 12-credit project course teaching innovation and entrepreneurship aiming to cultivate an innovative mind set and enhance the entrepreneurial and leadership skills of students pursuing a STEM degree. The pedagogical portfolio of the course is one that simulates start up accelerator programmes. One of the major features of the course is the access to a mentor network from the industrial landscape. While the maintenance of the mentor network is crucial, as the mentors are voluntary participants, it is sometimes not feasible for them to take part in the training workshops in person. To ensure the sustainability and the student learning experience of the course, we will create an interactive E-learning platform comprising of digital archives of videos from mentor training workshops, interactive assessments and Q & A forum for students to conduct continuous self-directed and active learning and at the same time receive timely feedback from teachers and participating mentors online.

A Cross-Faculty Study of the Development and Optimisation of the Use of AI-technology for Promoting the Quality of Active Learning

Principal Investigator: Dr Nai Sum Wong, School of Biomedical Sciences (E: nswong@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Dr Chi Un Lei, Dr Rachel Ka Wai Lui, Dr Man Yin Cheung, Dr Yat Ming Chan, Dr Christopher Yew Hong See (CUHK), Miss Xinyu Andrea Qi

The “Inquiry method” is at the core of teaching and learning at the tertiary level. One key question about this method is how to nurture students’ interest in adopting a self-initiating attitude in the learning process. We focus on “giving feedbacks” as a major means to enable students gain confidence and hence to become more self-motivated for the “Inquiry method” to be successful. One bottleneck issue that may significantly undermine the value of “giving feedbacks” is the turnaround time for feedbacks of assignments to reach the students. Our aim is to develop AI software that is able to provide feedbacks to students in a rapid and interactive manner. The software will be tested on both qualitative as well as quantitative learning in several undergraduate programs. The outcomes will inform us of both the strengths and shortcomings of the application of AI technologies in tertiary education.

Fine-tuning the Application Exercise and Facilitation Strategies of Interprofessional Education (IPE)

Principal Investigator: Dr Fraide Jr. Agustin Ganotice, Bau Institute of Medical and Health Sciences Education (E: ganotc75@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Dr George L Tipoe, Dr Susan Bridges, Dr Tracy Zou, Dr Janet Yuen Ha Wong, Dr Sarah Chan, Dr Abraham Wai, Dr Alan Worsley, Dr Amy Yin Man Chow, Dr Tyrone Kwok

Interprofessional Education (IPE) aims to break educational silos by putting students from diverse backgrounds to be better collaborators by learning with, from, and about each other. IPE in HKU is a large-scale cross-program initiative involving students from Chinese Medicine, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Pharmacology, and Social Work which has been implemented in Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine. After four years of implementation, it has to be fine-tuned to enhance its relevance and authenticity. An important part of IPE is an application exercise. In application, teams discuss cases and answer questions which are limited in terms of relevance to clinical practice. To address this limitation, this project aims to increase the depth of application exercise and enrich facilitation strategies using technology to effectively manage a large-scale class. It hopes to deliver authentic application exercise which necessitates the formulation of interprofessional management plan, e-learning application, and evidence-based IPE model for HKU.

Acquiring Vaginal Examination Skills using a Virtual Reality Training Model

Principal Investigator: Dr Vincent Yuk Tong Cheung, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Vaginal examination (vag-exam) is an integral part of clinical training as medical students are expected to be competent in this examination at their time of graduation. However, with the increasing number of medical students and the challenges in gaining consents from patients for vag-exam, it is understandable that medical students will have less opportunities to practice vag-exam on patients. Furthermore, allowing inexperienced medical students to learn vag-exam by practice is not necessarily in the best interest of the patients involved but acquiring this skill is essential for a medical student’s future career. Currently, medical students mostly learn vag-exam by practising on pelvic models but is clearly far from ideal as this lacks interaction with the patients during the process. We believe the development of the proposed virtual reality (VR) model is a much better alternative to help medical students practise vag-exam with the following additional advantages:

1. Create an surrounding similar to real clinical setting, with inclusion of an element of patient interaction ;
2. Can expose students to different clinical scenario during vag-exam;
3. Evaluation of competency of students on vag-exam;
4. Ensure students to complete the VR training with satisfaction before practising on real patients.

Modification of this VR prototype can extend to be used for student clinical examination and training nurses and interns on basic procedures such as urinary catheter insertion.

Enriching Physiology Practical through Integration of Virtual Reality and Traditional Experiments (VRTE)

Principal Investigator: Dr Chun Wai Ma, School of Biomedical Sciences (E: cwma2010@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Dr George L Tipoe, Prof Ying Shing Chan

The teaching of physiology is typically facilitated by practical sessions in the laboratory. A limitation of traditional experiments is the lack of opportunities for students to engage in realistic observations in an immersive manner. In our project, practical sessions integrating virtual reality and traditional experiments (VRTE) are developed and applied to promote students’ understanding of physiological concepts. With VR technology, students can view cellular and molecular events during physiological processes as if they are inside tiny biological structures visualised at a high resolution. Through mutual support between VR simulations and traditional experiments, students will appreciate the connection of knowledge delivered by these two modes of learning across the microscopic and macroscopic levels in a coherent and comprehensive way. Our project will contribute to curriculum enrichment via immersive learning achieved by VRTE, as well as the establishment of an innovative pedagogical approach to wider use of VR in medical education.

Developing Cultural Competence among Undergraduate Nursing Students in Hong Kong, Australia and the UK through Peer-supported Online Learning: An Intercultural Engagement

Principal Investigator: Dr Polly Siu Ling Chan, School of Nursing (E: pollycha@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Prof CC Lin, Dr Jacqueline Bloomfield (University of Sydney), Dr Jane Nicol (University of Birmingham), Dr John Fung, Dr Jay Lee, Dr Kelvin Wang, Dr Tyrone Kwok, Mr Abraham Wan

To reduce healthcare disparity and enhance positive health outcomes, it is essential to equip health care professionals with a high level of cultural competence in order to better serve the cultural, social and linguistic needs of a diversified population of different regions of the world. This TDG proposal aims at developing cultural competence of undergraduate nursing students in Hong Kong, Australia and the UK through a mobile interactive simulated web-based learning module. Students of Bachelor of Nursing Programme from School of Nursing of University of Hong Kong, School of Nursing of University of Sydney and School of Nursing of University of Birmingham will encounter in a virtual environment. They need to go through a series of simulated culturally related scenarios which provide clues for them to explore the cultural knowledge that is relevant to their learning context.  In addition, it will help create platforms for students of different ethnicities to interact, discuss, share and exchange information through guided questions on cultural differences in health beliefs and practices so that they can compare, contrast and appreciate the intercultural learning that takes place.  Activating students as learning resources for one another is a key. Consequently, it is anticipated that through this encounter, international and intercultural learning among students will be enhanced, and therefore the development of their global citizenship and cultural competence.

The Use of Innovation “Hybrid Immersive Simulation Experience (HISE)” in a Standardized Simulation Curriculum to Enhance Undergraduate Clinical Competence and Readiness to Practice

Principal Investigator: Dr John Tai Chun Fung, School of Nursing (E: bigjohn@hku.hk)
Co-investigators: Dr Suk Fun Lam, Dr Kong Hoi Mei Cecilia, Dr Wong Yuen Ha, Dr Henry YK Lau

This project aims to examine the application of a standardized simulation curriculum to undergraduate nursing students that focuses on the educational outcomes: clinical competence, critical thinking, and readiness for practice. Providing high-quality clinical experiences for students has been a perennial challenge for nursing programs. The short patient stays, high patient acuity, high-risk care settings will lead to disparities in the learning experience⁹. Moreover, precipitating challenges have emerged with more programs competing for limited clinical sites, and that imposed increasingly challenge to provide sufficient and suitable placements that satisfy program accreditation requirements. To date, we have not examined the impact of a structured, standardized simulation curriculum longitudinally that students build on to achieve their program learning outcomes. This curriculum will follow scenarios aligned with NLN/Jefferies simulation framework that provides the best evidence such as clear objectives, appropriate fidelity for the learning objectives, and a structured debriefing following a scenario. The backbone of the standardized simulation curriculum is by implementing an innovative concept, “Hybrid Immersive Simulation Experience (HISE)” Figure 1.

BiomoleculVR: VR Platform for Teaching and Learning Biomolecular Structures

Principal Investigator: Dr Masayo Kotaka, School of Biomedical Sciences (E: masayo@hku.hk)
Co-Investigators:  Dr Jian Yang, Dr Tomasz S. Cecot, Dr Brian C.W. Wong, Dr Joanna W. Y Ho, Dr Chun Hung Yuen, Dr Abel C. S. Chun

The ability to visualize the atomic geometry of biomolecular structures and the interactions between them is critical for understanding the functions of different biomolecules. We currently use physical models and desktop molecular visualization software in our classrooms to teach the structural nature of biomolecules. While student feedback on these learning activities are positive, these learning activities each have their own shortcomings. Physical models are impossible to construct for complex protein structures; and molecular visualization software often have a steep learning curve for student to overcome before engaging in the learning activities. With the advancement in computer technologies, virtual reality (VR) has become an emerging technology used in education to provide more immersive and engaging experiences to enhance student learning. To this end, we would like to develop BioMoleculVR, a VR platform catered for teaching and learning biomolecular structures in different curricula in HKU and HKU SPACE Community College.

Blood Transfusion Education using Virtual Reality Simulation for Nursing Undergraduate Students

Principal Investigator: Dr Jay Jung Jae Lee, School of Nursing (E: leejay@hku.hk )
Co-investigators: Ms Wai Yin Vivien Tsang, Ms Lai Han Ng, Dr Siobhán O’Connor, Dr Janet Yuen Ha Wong, Dr Maggie Mee Kie Chan, Ms Ho Yan Lam, Dr Suk Fun Lam, Dr Zerina Tomkins, Dr Siu Ling Chan, Dr Wing Kuen Lam

To address clinical placement limitations, nursing educators have increasingly adopted technology-guided simulation pedagogies for nursing students’ clinical skills education. To enhance the effectiveness of simulation learning, the physical, conceptual and psychological fidelity of simulation need to be realistic and believable. However, nursing students struggle with the lack of psychological fidelity with existing simulation education using manikins due to absence of realism. The project aims to enhance nursing students’ core competency in blood transfusion practice using virtual reality simulation to increase realism. It is expected that nursing students will experience more authentic learning of blood transfusion through the virtual reality simulation, and enhance their knowledge, confidence and practice competency of blood transfusion.