A Web-based platform for supporting interaction and collaboration within a lifelong learning community

Thomas Y H Chan and Pin Ng
Caritas Francis Hsu College
Hong Kong SAR, China

This paper reports on the preliminary findings of an innovative project designed to enable the sharing of teaching and learning, as well as academic support, resources by all the units in the Caritas Adult and Higher Education Service (CAHES) in Hong Kong -- including the two tertiary institutions, namely Caritas Francis Hsu College (CFHC) and Caritas Bianchi College of Careers (CBCC), and all the CAHES community education centres which provide a wide variety of learning programmes for adults.

A feasibility study was first conducted to determine the core components of the target platform, and this was followed by the development of a prototype named WebTL, which was already in operation and used by staff and students of CFHC. WebTL is in the process of being mounted in other CAHES units for piloting the project. The ultimate goal of this project is to apply current and emerging Web-based technologies to enhance the interaction and collaboration among the teachers within the CAHES lifelong learning community.