The first cross-disciplinary, cross-campus, and cross-reality course at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) “EMIA 6500C: Metaverse Cross-disciplinary Design Thinking” ended on a high note with the Demo Day on Dec 1, 2023! Honorable guests including Prof. Ting Chuen PONG (Vice-President for Administration and Business), Prof. Jimmy FUNG (Associate Provost, Teaching & Learning), Prof. Huamin QU (Dean of Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies), Dr. Beatrice CHU (Head, Professional Development of CEI), Mr. Thomas NG (Director of MTPC), and Mr. Anthony HO (Head of Digital Media, MTPC) from the Clear Water Bay campus, as well as Prof. Lionel M. NI (President), Prof. Jingshen WU (Vice-President, Teaching & Learning), and Prof. Man CHAN (Head of Division of Red Bird MPhil) from HKUST (Guangzhou), joined the course closing ceremony.

In the Fall semester of 2023, HKUST and HKUST (Guangzhou) jointly launched a ground-breaking course that has combined metaverse and design thinking. Ten students from different disciplines at HKUST and HKUST (Guangzhou) immersed themselves in the metaverse classroom, overcoming the limitations of physical restrictions, to learn design thinking and its application in metaverse education. Under the guidance of course instructor Prof. Pan HUI and Dr. Rong ZHANG, the students unleashed their creativity, explored the boundaries of metaverse education, and attained surreal learning experiences that cannot be achieved in the real world.

The course was conceived by Prof. Huamin QU, Dean of the Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies (AIS) at HKUST. Prof. Pan HUI, Chair Professor of the Computational Media and Art (CMA) Thrust Area at HKUST (Guangzhou), provided the technical realization. Dr. Rong ZHANG, Lecture I of the Emerging Interdisciplinary Area (EMIA) at HKUST, designed the course and the metaverse classroom. The course was supported by the Associate Provost (Teaching & Learning), the Media Technology and Publishing Center (MTPC), and the Center for Education Innovation (CEI). The course code is EMIA6500C. The “C” represents “cross-disciplinary”, “cross-campus”, and “cross-reality”. It also reflects the aim of cultivating students' “4C skills for the 21st century”: critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration. AIS which houses EMIA has served as a hub to drive innovative pedagogy and interdisciplinary research in emerging areas. This course showcases the exciting collaborative practice between the two campuses under the framework of “Unified HKUST, Complementary Campuses”.

At the ceremony, students showcased their project outcomes to the guests on a massive screen in the metaverse classroom. In the virtual roadshow session, they used the innovative interactive posters and immersive group presentations to further show their project details and the design journey to guests. Guests tried the unique feature “3D painting” in the metaverse classroom and had a vibrant exchange of the metaverse experience with students and instructors. 

To conclude the ceremony, the course designer and lead instructor Dr. Rong ZHANG shared his original song “Meta Design Thinking”, in which he condensed the key knowledge of the course into a captivating musical form, to celebrate the extraordinary co-created journey by students and instructors. He used the song as an innovative educational approach to foster students’ reflection on their experiential learning experience and to encourage students to step out of their comfort zones, embrace challenges, and strive for excellence:

I step out of my comfort zone and leave my fear behind.

I look, I think, I try, I fail, but I don’t mind!

It is the way to the highland that I commit to climb!

Learning by doing, I open my mind.

Embrace the challenges, I’m gonna shine!

Course Highlight Video

Course Development Team

Course conception:

Prof. Huamin QU

Course design & management:

Dr. Rong ZHANG

Course instructors:

Prof. Pan HUI

Dr. Rong ZHANG

Metaverse classroom design:

Dr. Rong ZHANG (Design Lead, function, architecture, aesthetics)

Jia SUN (architecture, aesthetics)

Kairong FANG (aesthetics)

Metaverse classroom realization:

Prof. Pan HUI (Technical Lead)

Shan JIN (Development Lead)

Xuetong WANG (development, test)

Zihao ZHU (development, test)

Zihao FU (development, test)

Dr. Rong ZHANG (development, test)

Course offering unit:

Division of Emerging Interdisciplinary Area (EMIA), Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies (AIS), HKUST

Supporting units:

HKUST: APTL of Office of the Provost, AIS, MTPC, CEI, ARO, ITSC

HKUST(Guangzhou): VPTLO, ARO, ITD

Click here to read more about the course in our WeChat post (Chinese).