Universities turn to hi-tech learning systems for feedback

Many teachers will recognise the scene. After giving a detailed introduction to a new concept, you ask the students if they have understood the material, only to be met with silence.

Rebecca Lee Kit-ying, an instructor in biomedical science at Chinese University, is all too familiar with this. "I was usually greeted by silence when I asked if anybody had problems understanding what I had just taught," she says.

University lecturers can be faced with classes of up several hundred students, so they can't quiz them all individually.

So how do they find out if they are getting through to their class?

For Lee, such dilemmas have largely faded. Last month, the university introduced a learning system that combines cloud-based computing with mobile technology that helps them assess students' grasp of material - and encourages their participation.

Tapping arrays of servers over the internet to boost capacity for storing, processing, and accessing vast amounts information, cloud computing is enabling lecturers to keep close tabs on their students' performance. That is why universities here have increasingly turned to cloud-based systems.