Collaborative Online Multidisciplinary Educational Space (COMES)

Funded by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Collaborative learning and experiential learning have been practised and proven effective in higher education. Beyond achieving intended learning outcomes, these approaches help students gain hands-on experience and prepare them for the future job market.

However, applying collaborative and experiential learning to interdisciplinary subjects presents two major challenges. First, there is a lack of learning materials due to the fast-evolving nature of these fields. Second, merging collaborative learning with experiential learning as a new pedagogical approach requires further investigation and the design of specific learning environments.

This project addresses these challenges by first creating a virtual and highly interactive learning space in the Edu-Metaverse called COMES (Collaborative Online Multidisciplinary Educational Space), then designing interdisciplinary learning materials for subjects such as Human-Computer Interaction, Extended Reality, and Game Design, while also examining the potential of this pedagogical approach to facilitate active and effective learning.

Our studies suggest that the Edu-Metaverse is an ideal setting for enhancing collaboration and experiential learning by fostering a stronger sense of belonging to the learning community, boosting learner engagement, and promoting knowledge application.

Related Publications

Lu, Y., Jia, Y., Chen, G., Wang, Y., Ng, P. H., Zhou, L., Li, Q., & Li, C. (2024). Towards Effective Collaborative Learning in Edu-Metaverse: A Study on Learners' Anxiety, Perception, and Behaviour. In Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Web-based Learning. Springer.

Li, C., Jiang, Y., Ng, P. H. F., Dai, Y., Cheung, F., Chan, H. C. B., & Li, P. (2024). Collaborative Learning in the Edu-Metaverse Era: An Empirical Study on the Enabling Technologies. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, 17, 1107-1119. https://doi.org/10.1109/TLT.2024.3352743