Common Core Forum on May 27, 2011

Following two successful forums held in May and December 2010, a new Common Core Forum has been held on May 27, 2011 for teachers and tutors to share experiences and discuss issues arising from teaching and assessing Common Core courses. The overall aim of this forum is to explore the challenge of maintaining academic rigour in the Common Core Curriculum while teaching large and diverse groups of students. Approximately 80 participants, including over 70 teachers and tutors plus some students, attended the event.

Professor Amy B.M. Tsui, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning), opened the forum and thanked all teachers and tutors for their great efforts in teaching Common Core courses. Having observed a number of Common Core lectures in the past semester, Prof Tsui told the audience how impressed she was with the delivery of those courses and the alignment exhibited between the Common Core goals and the University’s six educational aims.

The forum consisted of a review presented by Mr Gwyn Edwards, Director of Common Core Curriculum, and four sharing sessions presented by Common Core teachers representing the four Areas of Inquiry. In Mr Edwards’ review, 2010-2011 Student Evaluation of Teaching and Learning (SETL) scores and qualitative comments were presented. Overall, improvements in the SETL scores of Common Core courses from semester 1 to semester 2 are very encouraging.

In the sharing sessions, exemplar courses from all four Areas of Inquiry were presented and participants were eager to share their views at the end of each session. To access presentation slides used at the sessions, please click the links below.

Mr Gwyn Edwards Review of Common Core Courses 2010
Sharing Sessions: exemplar courses from all Areas of Inquiry
Professor Sun Kwok Human’s Place in the Universe
Dr Robert Peckham Battle for Bodies: Public Health in the Modern World (coming soon)
Dr Michael Adorjan Cybersocieties: Understanding Technology as Global Change
Students’ videos
Dr Petula Ho Love, Marriage and Sex in Modern China

Meetings on Student Learning Experience

Two meetings were held on February 22 and 23, 2011 by Pro-Vice-Chancellor Prof Amy Tsui and Dean of Student Affairs Dr Albert Chau with student representatives from Hall Associations and Faculty Associations. The meetings were enthusiastically attended by over fifty students who raised questions and shared their views on issues relating to the student learning experience. Students were particularly interested in topics such as learning spaces on campus, Experiential Learning opportunities and requirements, Common Core course workload, GPA and assessment, and the new undergraduate curriculum. At the meetings, students were given an overview of the University educational aims, the new curriculum, and findings of the HKUSLEQ survey. As HKU moves towards the full implementation of the new undergraduate curriculum, the University will continue to engage students in the ongoing enhancement of the student learning experience.

Visit of the CCC External Examiner

Professor Harry Lewis, Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science of Harvard University, met with members of HKU’s Common Core Curriculum (CCC) Committee on January 18, 2011 to share his views on the Common Core Curriculum. As External Examiner for the CCC, Professor Lewis commented on various aspects of the curriculum and believed that the CCC is appropriately intellectually demanding. Professor Lewis also shared his experience from teaching the General Education programme at Harvard, and addressed the questions raised by members of the CCC Committee. At the meeting, Director of CCC Mr. Gwyn Edwards gave an overview of the CCC status in the first semester. Results from the Student Evaluation of Teaching and Learning (SETL) were discussed, and ideas on future data collection were raised.

Professor Harry Lewis (middle, front row) with members of the CCC Committee

Common Core Teachers Forum

Common Core Teachers Forum

A forum will be held on December 9, 2010 to provide a platform for Semester 1 Common Core teachers and tutors to share experience, and to engage Semester 2 Common Core teachers in the discussion of issues related to the teaching of Common Core courses.

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Call for CC course proposals

2010 Call for Course Proposals

The Common Core Curriculum Committee now invites submission of course proposals for the Common Core Curriculum. The deadline for submission of Stage I (preliminary) proposals will be January 7, 2011. Staff members are invited to access the circular below to read more details.

Course proposals will be selected on the basis of academic quality. Stage I outcomes will be announced on February 25, 2011. Successful proposals from Stage I will progress to Stage II. Course proposers will be informed about the final outcome (Stage II) of the selection at the end of the 2010-2011 academic year.

Course proposal writing workshops will be offered by CETL in November 2010 for Stage I submissions and March 2011 for Stage II submissions.

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Common Core Forum for Teachers on May 10, 2010

In September 2010 a new 3-year undergraduate curriculum will be implemented to smooth out the transition to the full launch of the new 4-year curriculum in 2012. At the centrepiece of the new undergraduate curriculum is the Common Core Curriculum. In preparation for the partial launch of the Common Core Curriculum this coming September, about 70 members of the teaching staff, who are either teachers of Common Core courses, teachers of pilot Common Core courses or members of the Common Core Curriculum Committee, gathered together for a one-day forum on May 10, 2010 to share their experiences, concerns and plans.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Amy B.M. Tsui gave an opening speech, taking participants on a journey revisiting HKU’s conceptualization of the Common Core Curriculum and highlighting the world-wide trend in higher education where there is growing recognition of Arts and Humanities forming a crucial part of the undergraduate curriculum.

A major focus of the forum was the examination of what had been learnt from the pilot Common Core courses, with Mr Gwyn Edwards, Director of Common Core Curriculum, giving a broad overview. It has emerged from interviews with staff and sharing sessions that pedagogy for large classes, assessment, and teaching students with diverse background are the key issues faced by teachers. From lesson observations and interviews with students, it was learnt that students generally believe they have developed an enhanced understanding of the complexity of and the connections between issues in life.

A panel discussion moderated by Professor Joseph Chan, Deputy Chair of the Common Core Curriculum Committee, took up issues at greater depth. While Dr Harold Corke and Dr Jess King, who are both Common Core teachers, stressed the importance of maintaining non-science students’ confidence when making references to scientific concepts and formulae, Ms Kathy Griffin, who had sit in some sessions of the pilot courses and interviewed students in her capacity as commissioned professional writer for university publicity material, shared that students indeed feel very positive about the pilot courses. Students in particular treasure the inclusiveness of the classes, the new perspectives being brought to them, and even the different modes of assessment such as keeping journals and doing group presentations.

The other major focus concerned exemplar practices on which three presentations were given. Dr Sam Winter spoke on motivating students in large classes, Professor L.S. Chan shared examples of facilitating and assessing tutorials, and Dr Patrick Ng explained how interactive learning through various classroom activities such as participatory games was used in classes.

Besides learning from presenters, participants had the opportunity to share views at the two break-out sessions. Discussions in the morning break-out session focused on specific issues of concern including assessment, tutorials, pedagogy for large classes and teaching students from different Faculties while those in the afternoon on issues pertaining to individual areas of inquiry. The forum ended with a plenary session in which some of the practical concerns such as the running of tutorials were addressed.

Click here for the Programme Rundown

PowerPoint Presentations
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Motivating students in large classes by Dr Sam Winter
Facilitating and assessing tutorials by Prof L.S. Chan
Interactive learning in large classes by Dr Patrick Ng
What We have Learned from the Six Pilot Common Core Courses by Mr Gwyn Edwards

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Common Core Update

Common Core: Call for Proposals

The special call for Stage I proposals for the China AoI ended on March 26, 2010. This call, open for only six weeks since its announcement, was met by a very positive response of eight submissions. The China AoI Working Group met in early April to consider these Stage I proposals and made its recommendations to the Common Core Curriculum Committee. Out of the eight proposals, six have been selected to proceed to Stage II. All preliminary Stage II results, including those for the October 2009 call and the special call, will be announced in mid June.

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Staff-student Meeting on Common Core

Staff-student meeting on Common Core

On March 8, 2010 Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) Professor Amy B.M. Tsui and a number of staff, including Executive Director of CETL and members of the Common Core Curriculum Committee and the Teaching and Learning Quality Committee, met with fourteen students to discuss issues related to the Common Core Curriculum. The meeting was initiated by office bearers of the Students’ Union and its associated Faculty Societies in an attempt to address students’ queries over the implementation of the Common Core Curriculum in 2012.

Students were informed of why HKU would be implementing the Common Core in the context of undergraduate curriculum reform. In particular, the Common Core would enable students to broaden their horizons beyond their chosen discipline and would give them the opportunity to explore issues of profound significance to humankind in the 21st century. Teachers from various Faculties explained how the Common Core would be incorporated into their future curricula, and assured students that the Common Core would fit into professional degrees as well as double-degree programs involving multiple Faculties.

Since most Common Core courses would have a heavy weighting of coursework assessment, students were concerned about the workload implications. It was explained that student workload hours for each standard 6-credit course would be between 120 and 180, so coursework assessment should not lead to additional workload. The meeting ended with Professor Tsui’s remarks on the importance of constant dialogue between students and staff, and her words of thanks to the students for initiating and joining the meeting.

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