Abstract

Since 2012, all entrants to our UG programmes are required to take a one-unit core course on information technology, the objective of which is to equip students with basic knowledge of information technology and develops their capability in handling and using digital information properly. In view of the advancement in technology and its changing roles in our life and the IT competence of the younger generation, the 1-unit IT course shall evolve to prepare our students for the knowledge, skills and values regarding IT expected or needed in future. Alongside this, the CUHK 2025 identifies computational thinking and digital literacy as the 21st century skills-set expected of future leaders and proposes to enhance students' computational thinking and digital literacy.

The Faculty of Engineering has been tasked to design and implement new core IT courses. Two such courses have been proposed – (1) ENGG 1003 – Digital Literacy and Computational Thinking-P; and (2) ENGG 1004 – Digital Literacy and Computational Thinking-R. It is planned that the two 3-unit courses be piloted in 2021-2022 twice to identify any major issues and enhancement measures before their full implementation in 2022-2023.

Against this background, this project proposes to develop the necessary courseware for the pilot and conduct an evaluation of the effectiveness of the two courses in terms of process and outcome during their pilot offering. Three types of data (perception, behaviour and performance) will be collected from two stakeholders (teachers and students) to identify the feedback, process and outcomes of the two courses. It is intended that findings will better inform curriculum review, pedagogical designs, instructional strategies and course implementation for enhancement purposes.