Enhancing Liberal Arts Education with IBM Cloud Technologies: A Case Study of Hong Kong Shue Yan University

Hong Kong Shue Yan University (HKSYU) is a private liberal arts university founded in 1971. It offers 17 undergraduate and 18 postgraduate programs to around 4,000 students a year. The university has recently focused on the field of digital humanities, using information and digital technology to transform education. In September 2020, HKSYU launched three laboratories for the study of big data, virtual reality, and robotics with the aim of reinventing liberal arts education and staying relevant in the digital age. The university is a pioneer in the industry for using AutoAI technology and low-code or no-code methods to teach data analyses skills to non-technical students and faculty.

Hong Kong Shue Yan University (HKSYU), a liberal arts school, was faced with the challenge of teaching non-technical students how to use advanced technology to enhance their studies. In September 2020, the university launched three laboratories for the study of big data, virtual reality, and robotics with the aim of reinventing liberal arts education and staying relevant in the digital age. The Big Data Laboratory was designed to facilitate studies and support research projects requiring data analytics, machine learning, and data visualization. However, the challenge was to equip the lab with technology that both students and faculty could easily learn and use. The students and faculty members were interested in using technology to support their studies and research but found it complicated to start with.

Dr. Connie Yuen, Head of the Department of Applied Data Science, Director of iFREE GROUP Innovation and Research Centre, and Director of the Big Data Laboratory, chose IBM Cloud Pak for Data technology, which runs on the university’s on-premises private cloud. This technology was chosen for its user-friendly interface and multiple microservices that could guide students step-by-step through tasks. The IBM Client Engineering team conducted a workshop to understand the university’s pain points, expectations, and requirements for academic use cases. The workshop resulted in a two-week minimum viable product (MVP) of IBM Watson® Discovery software for news analyses. The platform also provides an array of analytic components, but gives the university the flexibility to select just those services and components it needs most. One of those components is the AutoAI graphical tool in IBM Watson® Studio technology, which is integrated with the IBM Cloud Pak for Data platform.

• The adoption of IBM Cloud Pak for Data technology has greatly enhanced teaching and learning at HKSYU. The platform's user-friendly interface and multiple microservices have made it easier for students and faculty to understand and use advanced technology in their studies and research. The AutoAI graphical tool, in particular, has been praised for its ease of use, allowing students to visualize the whole modeling process, from data collection to data analysis to results and the performance of the algorithms. The platform has also motivated students to learn Python and has made tasks such as data clean up easier. The positive feedback from students and the increased workshop attendance rates reflect the success of the platform in enhancing the university's teaching and research capabilities.

• 100 students from the Department of Business Administration and the Department of Economics and Finance use the IBM Cloud® platform to learn the concepts of data analysis framework and Python coding.

• Nearly 50 staff attended a four-day workshop from home to learn how to use IBM Cloud Pak for Data, a significant increase from previous years where no more than 20 colleagues joined.

• The platform will support the Bachelor of Science in Applied Data Science undergraduate program when it launches in 2022, equipping students with the skills and knowledge needed for data analytics, data science and more.