CETL Seminars: Teaching Excellence Award Winners Seminar Series

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Organized by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL)

Seminar 1

Date: Wed, 23 April 2014
Time: 12:45pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building

Topic: School-University Partnership (SUP) – nurturing professional competence of student teachers, enhancing professional development of mentor teachers

Speaker: Dr Tammy Y.L. Kwan, Faculty of Education

Student teachers enrolling in the initial teacher education programmes have to successfully complete the professional practicum before they become qualified teachers. However, not all schools are willing to offer practicum places. School University Partnerships work towards the creation of a win win environment to allow our STs getting quality mentoring support from mentor teachers, while at the same time, create avenue for MTs further strengthening their continuous professional development.

Topic: Engage Students in Authentic Task with Constructivist Approach

Speaker: Dr Shui Fong Lam, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences

To engage students in learning, a teacher does not need to be a stand-up comedian who provides entertainment in a lecture hall. Students will be naturally engaged if the learning has real-life significance to them. Students are particularly engaged when they are involved in the process of finding answers to authentic problems.

Seminar 2

Date: Wed, 30 April 2014
Time: 12:45pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building

Topic: Maximizing Online Resources

Speaker: Dr Cole Roskam, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture

Online resources present tremendous opportunities as well as significant challenges for enhancing student learning, both inside as well as outside the classroom. I will share my own struggles to incorporate online resources into my teaching methods in ways that appeal to students while satisfying my own pedagogical objectives.

Topic: Lessons from Our Own Bodies

Speaker: Dr Lap Ki Chan, Institute of Medical and Health Sciences Education &
Department of Anatomy, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine

In traditional dissection, students learn anatomy by passively follows a set of specific instructions to reveal the structures in the human body. In this short talk, I will describe several structured activities that have been designed to help students actively learn anatomy and other important lessons in life.

Sandwiches will be served with coffee and tea.

Seminar 3

Date: Thu, 8 May 2014
Time: 12:45pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building

Topic: Teaching Common Core Course on Politics and History

Speaker: Dr Xiaojun Yan
Department of Politics and Public Administration
Faculty of Social Sciences

Politics and History are considered to be the two notoriously “dry” subjects for colleges students of our time; yet, both are crucial elements in a liberal education curriculum. In this seminar, Dr. Yan Xiaojun will share his experiences in teaching political and historical subjects in a lively way in HKU’s common core curriculum.

Topic: Environmental Sustainability Education for Engineering and Non-Engineering Students

Speaker: Dr Kaimin Shih, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering

Environmental sustainability is a new element in both engineering and non-engineering curriculums. Today’s engineering teachers need to acquire new knowledge from cutting-edge research findings and bring them to their students. At the same time, it is also extremely crucial to work with students of non-engineering majors to facilitate the interdisciplinary innovations in this field. This presentation will demonstrate how we enjoy the communications with HKU students on this timely important environmental topic.

Sandwiches will be served with coffee and tea.

Seminar 4

Date: Wed, 14 May 2014
Time: 12:45pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building

Topic: The Enabling Power of Assessment in Higher Education

Speaker: Prof. Rick Glofcheski, Department of Law

The role and power of assessment in higher education is such that it poses significant risks as much as it does opportunities for learning. Teachers in higher education must bear in mind that there are often unintended consequences of assessment – so much so that, if improperly designed, assessment can direct students away from meaningful learning. This presentation, drawing on research and collaborations conducted at two leading Australian teaching and learning centres, under the auspices of a University of Hong Kong Teaching Exchange Fellowship Scheme (TEFS) award, will identify some of the risks and opportunities that assessment poses, and some examples of how, if properly understood and utilized, assessment has the potential to ensure more meaningful and sustainable learning that can serve student purposes well beyond graduation. The presentation will have relevance across the disciplines.

Seminar 5

Date: Wed, 21 May 2014
Time: 12:45pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building

Topic: Teaching Excellence Award Scheme Workshop

Speakers: Dr Cecilia Chan and Dr Susan Bridges, Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning

This workshop is open to all teaching staff who are interested in finding out more about the Teaching Excellence Awards. Staff will be provided an overview of the award scheme, the key selection criteria and advice in preparing an evidence-based teaching portfolio. Staff who are thinking about applying in the next round are strongly encouraged to attend. Staff who are not sure, or would simply like to know more about the scheme, are most welcome.

For information on registration, please contact:
Ms Ivy Lai , CETL
Phone: 3917 8996; Email: laichun2@hku.hk.

Knowledge Exchange Lunch Meeting: Remembering the Holocaust in a Global Context

Message from Knowledge Exchange Office

ke_lunch_seminar_9apr

Remembering the Holocaust in a Global Context

by Dr Matthew Boswell, Arts Engaged Fellow
Leeds Humanities Research Institute, University of Leeds

Date: April 9, 2014 (Wednesday)
Time: 1:00-2:00pm
Venue: Room P6-03, Graduate House

Sandwiches will be provided. All are welcome.

Abstract
In this presentation Dr Matthew Boswell, a Research Fellow in the School of English from the University of Leeds, will give an overview of an ongoing research and knowledge exchange project with the National Holocaust Centre (United Kingdom) and the South African Holocaust and Genocide Foundation. The partnership began in 2013, when a small delegation of academics from the University of Leeds visited the Cape Town Holocaust Centre to undertake a range of research, teaching and knowledge exchange activities, including a workshop for heritage professionals. In March 2014 Dr Boswell and his colleagues returned to South Africa to work on the development of a public exhibition provisionally entitled Germany’s Confrontation with the Holocaust in a Global Context, which will go on display in various venues in the UK and South Africa in 2015. The team will also hold workshops with teachers, curriculum advisors and heritage professionals, in a continuation of the activities begun in 2013.

Dr Boswell will describe the underpinning research that led to these knowledge exchange activities and the impacts that the project aims to deliver. He will also reflect on general lessons learned to date, including how best to negotiate political and historical sensitivities when entering into collaborations on emotional topics such as the Holocaust.

About the Speaker
Dr Boswell is a member of the Arts Engaged at the University of Leeds, a project designed to realise impact and innovation in the arts. He was a key respondent on an AHRC-funded project entitled “Testimony” (2009-2011), with research interest in “hybrid testimony” (which involves collaboration between victims and professional writers), perpetrator representation, heritage cinema and transnational memories of the Holocaust. He also discussed provocative responses to the Holocaust across a variety of media, including literature, film, documentary, comedy, the graphic novel, and punk and post-punk music.

For further details, please visit the KE website:
http://www.ke.hku.hk/events/seminars

Promoting Humanism & Professionalism in Medical Education: An Asian Perspective

Message from Medical Ethics and Humanities Unit

44b688028541f18fa6ff6df66830f0e7Professor CW Lai
Chair of the Taiwan Medical Accreditation Council
Former Dean, Tzu Chi College of Medicine, Hualien
Former Chair, Medical Education Committee, Ministry of Education, Taiwan

As a practising neurologist trained in Taiwan and in the United States and from his leadership roles in medicine and government, Professor Lai brings clinical, cross-cultural and professional experience to the medical humanities.  He has been instrumental in the initiation and development of Medical Humanities education in medical schools across Taiwan, particularly in the efforts to promote vertical curricular integration and collaboration between clinical and humanities faculty.

Date: April, 11 (Fri) 2014 (Rescheduled from March 27)
Time: 1:00 – 2:00PM (Sandwiches will be provided)
Venue: Mrs Chen Yang Foo Oi Telemedicine Centre, 2/F, William MW Mong Block Faculty of Medicine Building, 21 Sassoon Road

Abstract of the seminar

In Taiwan, most medical schools accept students after high school, where the focus had been on the preparation for the highly competitive college entrance examination, and humanism and liberal arts are not emphasized. Furthermore, most medical schools are actually “medical universities” rather than being a branch of a general university, and therefore, have substantial difficulties in recruiting the best qualified faculty in the area of liberal arts, humanities and social sciences, and consequently, the curricula in these areas are suboptimal.

In the past, we have tried to keep the first two years of medical education (“premed”) exclusively for liberal arts and medical humanities, but such a curriculum design has not resulted in significant improvement in the humanistic and professional qualities in our medical graduates, and we are now working on the “vertical integration” of medical humanities courses to emphasize its learning throughout the entire medical school years, especially during the clinical years, to make humanism and professionalism more relevant to the students.

In the last few years, there is a trend in medical education in Taiwan where schools are encouraging students to have exposure to patients in their early years of medical school via service-learning courses in order to raise the students’ sensitivity to human suffering. Some schools also place emphasis on language skills (e.g. in English and the local Taiwanese dialect), bioethics and history of medicine. In addition, we are increasingly aware of the differences between Western and non-Western sociocultural and historical background, and a group of medical educators have challenged the universal applicability of the Western framework of medical professionalism and have proposed a process to build a professionalism framework that reflects the cultural heritage and the values of local stakeholders. Furthermore, there is a concerted effort by medical and non-medical faculty from all medical schools via a core group called “Medical Educators for Humanities (MEH)” to improve the quality of teaching and curriculum design in these areas, as well as the collaboration between clinical and humanities faculty.

We hope our efforts in promoting humanism and professionalism in medical education in Taiwan will produce competent physicians equipped with not only knowledge and skills, but also caring attitude.

All are welcome

Please register at https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_regform.aspx?guest=Y&UEID=29363

China Interdisciplinary Lunchtime Seminar

Message from Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences

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Dear Colleagues,

The Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (Inc. the Centre of Asian Studies) is pleased to announce its 5th China Interdisciplinary Lunchtime Seminar for the second semester 2013-14.

On Tuesday, 1 April 2014, we welcome Dr. Loretta Kim, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Hong Kong Baptist University.

Title: The Pen is as Mighty as the Sword: Documentary and Literary Views of Hailanča

Abstract:
The life of Hailanča (?-1793) can be seen as both prosaic and as extraordinary. Starting his military career as a private, Hailanča earned a solid reputation as a warrior and eventually led several major campaigns, including the suppression of the Jinchuan uprisings. His distinguished service to the Qing empire yielded hereditary honors for his son and customary posthumous accolades. In those ways, he resembled many of his peers in the imperial hall of martial fame. However, he was also unusual as a member of the Solon tribal confederation to attain such high rank and is therefore celebrated not only as one of the Qing dynasty’s greatest soldiers but as a folk hero of the Ewenki ethnic group.
This presentation explores Hailanča’s legacy drawing upon evidence from his own correspondence with other Qing bureaucrats and to the imperial court, official biographies, and contemporary literature. Although his achievements as a military official may speak for themselves in the outcomes of battlefield casualties and the overall stability of the regime that he fought to maintain, his lived experience and the impressions that remain of his personal character are the foci of this study.

The seminar will be held in May Hall, Room 201, from 12-1PM. As usual, sandwiches and light refreshments will be served. We hope you will join us.

The aim of this informal series is to introduce scholars throughout the university to the wide range of current research on China, its society, people, institutions, and interconnections with the rest of the world being carried out in Hong Kong in various disciplines. We look forward to having you join us and welcome your participation and input.

If you have any questions about this seminar, would be interested in giving a talk, or would like to be removed from this mailing list, please contact Dr. Li Ji (liji66@hku.hk) or Dr. Lawrence Zhang (lczhang@hku.hk).

We look forward to seeing you.

Drs. Li Ji and Lawrence Zhang
Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (Incorporating the Centre of Asian Studies)

Call for Contributions – CITE Research Symposium 2014 – Submission deadline extended

Message from Centre for Information Technology in Education within the Faculty of Education

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I am pleased to inform you that CITE Research Symposium 2014 (CITERS 2014) will be held on 13-14 June 2014 (Friday & Saturday) at Rayson Huang Theatre, The University of Hong Kong.  CITERS is organized by Centre for Information Technology in Education (CITE), in collaboration with the Centre for Advancement in Inclusive and Special Education (CAISE), Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL), HKU Libraries of the University of Hong Kong, HKUSPACE Centre for Cyber Learning and Center of Teaching and Learning Development, National Taiwan Normal University.  The symposium’s main theme is ‘Learning without Limits’. 

The CITERS 2014 Organizing Committee is now calling for contributions from educational researchers and practitioners, including teacher educators, principals, teachers, government officers, librarians, students and graduates from education programmes, CITE members and those interested in IT and educational research. More details about CITERS 2014 call for contribution can be found in http://citers2014.cite.hku.hk/call-for-contributions/

The symposium has six sub-themes:

  • Partnerships for learning beyond technology
  • Technology-supported professional learning
  • Leveraging learning environments for meeting diversity in the classroom
  • Open Educational Resources (OER)
  • Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
  • Professional learning for meeting students’ special educational needs

Five presentation formats will be accepted, namely:

  • Symposia (group of presentations on a theme)
  • Paper Presentations
  • Virtual Paper Presentations
  • Workshops
  • Teacher and student Demonstrations

Submitted contributions will be reviewed by the CITERS 2014 Organizing Committee. Full papers (optional) submitted will have a chance to be published in the ITEC e-Journal. Regarding the instructions for preparing the full papers, please kindly refer to URL http://ejournal.cite.hku.hk/ for details.

Selection Criteria:

Accepted proposals will be invited for presentation at the Symposium. Selection criteria:

  • Relevance of the presentation to the theme of the symposium
  • Originality of the presentation contents
  • Clarity of the presentation

Important Dates:

Deadline for submission: 4 April 2014 (Fri)
Notification of acceptance: 12 May 2014 (Mon)
Full paper submission (optional): 11 June 2014 (Wed)
Conference dates: 13 -14 June 2014 (Fri & Sat)

Submission

Please submit proposals via CITE open conference system at http://ocs.cite.hku.hk/index.php/citers2014/LwL/author/submit on or before 21 April 2014..

Enquiries

Please send your enquiries to citers-info@cite.hku.hk if you have any questions about the event.

I look forward to your active participation.

Best Regards,
Dr. Allan H. K. Yuen
CITE Director &
CITERS 2014 Organizing Committee Chair