Teaching Computational Thinking: Designing Students’ Learning Experience Through Blended Learning in Higher Education Engineering Courses in HKU

Abstract

This chapter will anchor the discussion on designing a blended learning environment in The University of Hong Kong through the lens of instructional design support offered by the Technology-Enriched Learning Initiative. This case study focuses on three pioneering Engineering courses from three various projects, which adopted blended learning in their course delivery, and we will unpack how the design of the courses facilitates computational thinking skills. We will look at the entanglement of different layers of intricacies involved using an instructional design model called ADDIE. In particular, we will zoom into the design and implementation phases of the Engineering courses. These courses include a Common Core course Everyday Computing and the Internet (CCST 9003), an elective engineering course Advanced Programming and Application Development (ELEC 3542), and a general engineering course Calculus and Ordinary Differential Equations (MATH 1851). These courses are offered to different types of learners, from novice to advanced engineering students. Finally, we will offer recommendations on: (1) how to develop quality blended learning courses; and (2) how to design both online and face-to-face courses that facilitate computational thinking using a four-element framework identified in the literature.