Jointly Organised by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL), E-learning Pedagogical Support Unit (EPSU) and Technology-Enriched Learning Initiative (TELI)
Speaker : Professor Ricky Kwok, Associate Vice-President (Teaching and Learning) Moderator : Dr. Tracy Zou, Assistant Professor, CETL Date : April 20 (Wednesday), 2016 Time : 12:45pm – 2:00pm Venue : Room 321, 3/F, Run Run Shaw Building (Main Campus), HKU Hot lunch will be provided.
About the Joint Event
Like many other leading universities, HKU is seeking to enhance the internationalisation of its curricula and its teaching. But what can be done in a course or a programme to bring the international learning experiences to students without the need to travel? A recent policy paper (2015) by European Parliament advocates that digital and virtual learning offers a promising way to realise international collaborative experiences and achieve ‘internationalisation at home’.
During the first join-the-conversation in January, we identified digital and virtual learning as one of the eight learning challenges and opportunities associated with the internationalisation of teaching and learning in HKU. In this joint event, we will further look at the ways that recent advances in information and communication technologies open up new possibilities to enrich international experiences in courses and programmes. Participants will be able to review a range of approaches and techniques whereby digital learning may facilitate international learning experiences for students, evaluate the value and feasibility of these approaches in HKU’s context, and discuss the possible applications of some of the approaches in their courses or programmes.
Organized by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL)
Date : 5 April, 2016 (Tuesday) Time : 12:45pm – 2:00pm Venue : Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building
Abstract:
In academic contexts, reflection is an essential tool for both teaching and learning. It refers to the active intellectual monitoring and evaluation of one’s own formal learning and professional practice activities, and this very process that leads to new knowledge and self-understanding. This workshop would focus specifically on the context of reflective learning, and examines how reflection can be an essential part of teaching and learning within higher education. By exploring the possible conceptualization and implementation of reflective learning within the different disciplines, we will discuss and share insights and tools on how to motivate, engage, and assess the learning of students through reflection.
Facilitators
Dr. Cecilia Chan, Head of Professional Development, Associate Professor, CETL
Dr. Michael Chan, Project Officer, CETL
About the Speaker: Dr. Cecilia Chan
Head of Professional Development/Associate Professor
Dr. Cecilia Chan is the Head of Professional Development and an Associate Professor in the Centre of the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). Cecilia has a dual cultural background; she was originally born in Hong Kong but grew up in Ireland. In addition to her dual cultural background, she also has a dual discipline expertise in engineering and education; she has been playing an important role in enhancing engineering, business and science education. Her combined expertise in these fields and multi-cultural experience enabled her to lead and conduct research on topics such as assessment, technology enhanced learning and the development and assessment of 21st century skills from east to west in the different disciplines.
Cecilia holds a PhD in Engineering from Trinity College, a postgraduate diploma and a MA in Higher Education. She also held a Fellowship from King’s College London. She has received many teaching awards and has over 15 years of effective practical experience in engaging students.
Dr. Michael CHAN
Project Officer
Dr. Michael Chan received a M.A degree in Cultural and Religious studies and a Ph.D in Religious Studies both from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2010 and 2015 respectively. As an Adjunct Lecturer for different higher education institutions in Hong Kong, he teaches undergraduate courses on comparative culture and religion, particularly on the development of contemporary religious traditions and its connection with current global issues.
Michael is responsible in managing and executing different research projects on teaching and learning at CETL. Apart from working on the Centre’s latest project on developing and assessing generic skills in engineering education, he is keen to explore avenue of teaching and learning that approximates to his own research interest in culture and religion, particularly on the impact of ethnic diversity and multiculturalism on teaching and learning approaches and experiences.
Dr. Cecilia Chan presented a workshop entitled “Design of CLOs, PLOs and Mapped Assessments” in collaboration with Prof. Pauline Chiu, the Acting Dean for the Faculty of Science (also the Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning). The lunchtime, interactive workshop took place on Monday, 29th February, 2016 and attracted over 70 HKU colleagues and students across disciplines.
Cecilia gave a brief overview of the curriculum reform in Hong Kong (2012), including the introduction of the common core curriculum, Outcomes Based Approach to Student Learning (OBASL) and whole-person education at HKU. All programs within HKU has to declare their Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs), Program’s Learning Outcomes (PLOs) to students. Leading by example, Cecilia presented the workshop’s four learning outcomes:
1. Apply the concepts of outcomes-based approach to student learning (OBASL)
2. Identify and write learning outcomes in your course using appropriate verbs and the Bloom’s taxonomy
3. Align your course with the programme outcomes and HKU aims
4. Justify the evidence for student learning in your course/programme
As a form of formative assessment, casino chips were awarded to attendees who participated by answering, commenting or asking questions during the workshop! This activity motivated much discussion and smiles during the workshop.
Aligned teaching and assessment activities with learning outcomes are critical to student learning.
Cecilia provided the rationale behind OBASL which is to help students better understand what they are expected to achieve, how they should go about achieving and how that achievement should be assessed. Learning outcomes should be seen as a contractual obligations to our students and should be written from the perspectives of the students.
Next, Cecilia presented an example of OBASL based on a driving course and discussed the practice of designing observable and measurable outcomes using Bloom’s taxonomy. In general, each step of Bloom’s taxonomy requires a greater depth of learning. Cecilia stressed that higher level of learning domains are not exclusive to senior students and could be appropriate for Year 1 students if it is the required skill level for the intended learning outcomes. The workshop attendees were encouraged to write learning outcomes, teaching activities and assessment methods using verbs that correspond to the learning domains of the Bloom’s taxonomy. Examples were shared amongst the attendees followed by discussions on the challenges when designing learning outcomes suitable to skill level of Year 1 undergraduate students.
The University has decided on a set of educational aims which also constituted as learning outcomes. Besides disciplinary knowledge, the remaining 5 education aims of HKU are focused on students’ generic skills competency. Attendees were invited to share their perspective on whether their current programmes have sufficiently covered all the HKU educational aims and some of the potential barriers. This generated a lively discussions and comments on whom should be responsible to ensure the education aims are achieved and the challenges on the assessments and the accreditation process of generic skills competency. Some examples of matrix mapping with CLOs with PLOs were presented as they are important evidence of students learning and demonstrate the alignment between CLOs with PLOs.
In closing, Dr. Chan reiterated CLOs, PLOs and HKU education aims are our contractual obligations to our students. Whilst there are challenges and issues we may face when designing CLOs and PLOs, it is essential to student-centred learning. Cecilia thanked all the attendees in particular Prof. Chiu for her contribution to the workshop and the Faculty to sponsor lunch. Last but not least, Cecilia distributed prizes for the attendees with more than 10 casino chips.
Organized by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL), E-learning Pedagogical Support Unit (EPSU) and Technology-Enriched Learning Initiative (TELI)
Speakers: Dr. Lily Zeng, Assistant Professor, CETL
Professor Ricky Kwok, Associate Vice-President (Teaching and Learning)
Date : 8 March, 2016 (Tuesday)
Time : 12:45pm – 2:00pm
Venue : Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building (Main Campus), HKU
About the Joint Workshop
Many teachers who are planning to flip their classes might agree that moving traditional lectures online is an effective way to deliver instructional materials. More importantly, it can also make room for quality interactions between teachers and students. However, after the flip, what kind of learning opportunities can we create to engage, inspire, provoke, or even shock our students in the face-to-face sessions, the “face time”? How should face time and screen time be meaningfully blended? In this workshop, you will hear cases of flipped classes in different disciplines, analyze the key elements of the pedagogical strategies used in face time, identify the activities that you might be able to use, and come away with initial plans for a flipped class. Be sure to bring your wireless device and a lesson that you are considering flipping to work on!
This workshop is open to the first 42 registered participants to ensure that there is enough time to accommodate questions, provide comments, and give feedback for each participant.
Organized by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL) and Faculty of Science
Speaker: Dr Cecilia Chan, Head of Professional Development, Associate Professor, CETL
Date : 29 February, 2016 (Monday)
Time : 12:45pm – 2:00pm
Venue : Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building
Abstract
Since HKU has embarked on outcome based learning, all programs have been asked to declare to students the program’s learning outcomes (PLOs) and course learning outcomes (CLOs) for the courses of the programs. This brief workshop will discuss the rationale behind and the practice of the design of observable and measurable outcomes, using Bloom’s taxonomy with examples currently found in our SIS and how to fine tune them. Challenges and issues faced in the design of PLOs will also be addressed and discussed.
About the Speaker
Dr. Cecilia Chan is the Head of Professional Development and an Associate Professor in the Centre of the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). Cecilia has a dual cultural background; she was originally born in Hong Kong but grew up in Ireland. In addition to her dual cultural background, she also has a dual discipline expertise in engineering and education; she has been playing an important role in enhancing engineering, business and science education. Her combined expertise in these fields and multi-cultural experience enabled her to lead and conduct research on topics such as assessment, technology enhanced learning and the development and assessment of 21st century skills from east to west in the different disciplines.
Cecilia holds a PhD in Engineering from Trinity College, a postgraduate diploma and a MA in Higher Education. She also held a Fellowship from King’s College London. She has received many teaching awards and has over 15 years of effective practical experience in engaging students.
Dr. Cecilia Chan, the Head of Professional Development and Associate Professor from the Centre of the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, brought us the second workshop from the Active Learning Pedagogical Series, attracting over 70 participants on 14th January 2016.
Dr. Chan kicked off the workshop with the introduction of an activity, which used casino chips as an incentive for asking questions or sharing ideas during the workshop.
She first pointed out the importance of getting to know students and shared various methods that can help “break the ice” in the first class. She emphasized teacher’s role has changed from a ‘teacher’ to a ‘facilitator’, and suggested that allocating a small amount of lecture time to active learning activities can make a conventional lecture more engaging and productive.
Dr. Chan then gave a presentation on the different classroom scenarios teachers can encounter, and demonstrated various effective pedagogies and assessment methods that can increase the amount of interaction between students and teachers, and students and students in the different classroom scenarios. Simple tools (e.g. Poll Everywhere, Kahoot, Post-it) were used to engage participants throughout the workshop, everyone in the room had “real-time” experience of the easy-to-implement, yet engaging pedagogies.
Dr. Chan ended the workshop by emphasizing that “only motivated teachers will result in motivated students”. She received overwhelming responses from the participants right from the beginning of the workshop, demonstrating how simple active learning activities can motivate students to participate in class. Dr. Chan believes in practice what you preach.
I am happy to announce the launch of our e-newsletter ‘Teaching and Learning Connections’, which aims to establish a channel for communication on teaching and learning related matters among HKU colleagues and beyond. This e-newsletter is an important part of our plans to cultivate a Community of Practice (CoP) on teaching and learning at HKU.
Over the years, the Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL) has supported teaching and learning at the University and facilitated dialogue about pedagogy between staff across campus. The CoP Project, funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC), has provided us with a new way of connecting people, sharing effective practices, and facilitating conversations even more widely. With the growing number of people who have shown their interest in the Project, we hope that this e-newsletter will support the further development of a learning community at the University of Hong Kong in the area of teaching and learning.
The inaugural issue of the e-newsletter discusses what cultivating a community of practice on teaching and learning might mean for HKU. Our contributors are from different units and faculties within and outside HKU. Several articles draw on the example of ‘wise assessment’, the details of which can be easily located on the same website (through the wise assessment page).
We also welcome you to express your opinions through various means embedded in this e-newsletter, for example, the comment box attached to each article, the discussion section, or the one-question poll. You might also wish to subscribe to us through the ‘subscription’ function on the website.
Should you have any queries or wish to make contributions to future issues, please do not hesitate to contact my colleague, Dr. Tracy Zou (tracyzou@hku.hk).
Halls & Society Forum Date: 23 January 2016 (Saturday) Time : 09:30 – 17:00 Venue : Multi-purpose Zone, 3/F, Main Library and Sun Yat Sen Place (the “Happy Park”), The University of Hong Kong.
Aims:
To appreciate and discuss the challenges facing hall/residential education in The University of Hong Kong
Themes:
Staff and students will share their views on hall/residential education and related co-curricular activities under these themes:
Organized by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning
Date: 29 January, 2016 (Friday) Time: 12:30pm – 2:15pm Venue: Room 321 & 322, 3/F, Run Run Shaw Building Hot lunch will be provided from 12:30pm
Contributors:
Professor Grahame Bilbow, Director, Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, HKU
Professor Dai Hounsell, Professor Emeritus of Higher Education, University of Edinburgh
Professor Gerard Postiglione, Associate Dean (Research), Chair of Higher Education, Faculty of Education, HKU
Dr. Wilton Fok, Principal Lecturer and Assistant Dean, Faculty of Engineering, HKU
Ms. Miranda Legg, Senior Lecturer, Centre for Applied English Studies, HKU
Dr. Tracy Zou – Assistant Professor, Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, HKU
Abstract:
In common with other leading universities, HKU is seeking to enhance the internationalisation of its curricula and its teaching. But what will this mean for student learning? How can internationalisation enrich what our students learn in their studies at HKU, while also having benefits that extend far beyond graduation?
Internationalisation of teaching and learning is the main focus of the UGC-funded “Communities of Practice” project this academic year. This Join-the-Conversation event is the first in a CETL series of events exploring various aspects of internationalisation. Drawing on ideas and perspectives from universities across the world, as well as experiences at HKU, it will open the debate by highlighting key learning challenges and opportunities, and invite you to consider their relevance to your own role and responsibilities. The ensuing discussions will help shape the themes, resources and interactions that the CETL project team will be collaborating on over the coming months.
Date : 27 January, 2016 (Wednesday) Time : 12:45pm – 1:45pm Venue : Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building
(sandwiches, coffee and tea will be available from 12:30 pm) Coordinator: Professor Grahame Bilbow, Director, CETL, The University of Hong Kong
Abstract
Grants for overseas reciprocal visits through ‘Teaching Exchange Fellowship Scheme’
To promote HKU staff to bring in new ideas and teaching methods to improve teaching through interaction with overseas university teachers, HKU will award up to $50,000 for reciprocal staff visits. This funding is provided through the “Teaching Exchange Fellowship Scheme”. The seminar provides an overview of this funding scheme and information on the application process. Staff will be guided on how to go about planning exchange visits to enhance the scholarship of teaching at HKU, which is the aim of the scheme. It will explain, and also showcase examples, on how this funding opportunity can be used by HKU teaching staff to share experience and to collaborate on teaching and curriculum development initiatives with overseas reputable universities through reciprocal visits.
The seminar is open to all teaching staff interested in finding out more about this Teaching Exchange Fellowship Scheme. Staff will be provided an overview of the scheme, how to lodge an application, the key objectives, amounts they can apply for, eligibility and advice in preparing an application. Staff who are thinking about applying are strongly encouraged to attend. Staff who attended the last seminar but found they had insufficient time to make overseas contacts, or who are thinking of planning ahead, in time for the second round (having a March 18th, 2016 closing date), would also find the seminar useful. If you are not sure whether this scheme would be relevant to teaching innovations you have in mind, or would simply like to know more about the scheme, you are welcome. The Circular on this scheme can be found at http://intranet.hku.hk/web/reg/adqa/rslleung/TEFS-2015-16.pdf.
