The Steering Committee on 4-year Undergraduate Curriculum held its 5th Curriculum Reform Retreat on June 2, 2011. This year approximately 160 participants, consisting of Faculty Deans, Associate and Assistant Deans overseeing undergraduate teaching and learning, programme directors and members of the teaching and learning related committees, joined the Retreat to deliberate on issues relating to student admissions under the new Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSEE), and the honours classification system.
The Fifth Curriculum Reform Retreat will be held on June 2, 2011 to take stock of the reform progress. All Faculty Deans, Associate and Assistant Deans overseeing undergraduate teaching and learning, programme directors and members of the teaching and learning related committees will gather to deliberate on issues relating to student admissions under the new HKDSE, and the honours classification system.
The first of two seminars in the English-in-the-Disciplines and Academic Literacy Seminar Series has been held on May 6, 2011. The seminar was jointly organized by the Steering Committee on 4-Year Undergraduate Curriculum, Centre for Applied English Studies (CAES), and Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL).
Professor Ken Hyland, Director of CAES, pointed out at the seminar that communicative demands driven by learning at the university level represent a challenge to undergraduate students worldwide. The way to help students is to enhance their academic literacy skills through collaboration with Faculty subject experts in the materials design and curriculum development of English enhancement courses.
Other speakers at the seminar include Dr Max Hui-Bon-Hoa, Mr Jon Hui, Dr Claudia Wong and Ms Tse Lai Kun, who shared with the audience examples of courses developed in collaboration with the Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Medicine.
As part of the Curriculum Reform Seminar Series jointly organized by the Steering Committee on 4-Year Undergraduate Curriculum and Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL), a seminar entitled “Making Sense of Experiential and Reflective Learning, an Exploration of Ideas” was given by Dr Jenny Moon on April 19, 2011. Dr Moon is Associate Professor, Centre for Excellence in Media Practice at Bournemouth University.
In the seminar, some general issues about Experiential Learning and Reflective Learning as constructed terms were shared. The four stages of thinking described by Baxter Magolda (1992) were explored using examples of quotations from students. Based on a crucial piece of subsequent research by Baxter Magolda, students shift from independent knowing (the third stage) to contextual knowing (the fourth and highest stage) either through postgraduate study or through being in good placement experiences. Dr Moon pointed out that three crucial qualities of a situation of good experiential learning are that:
it involves the student in making independent judgments in situations of ill-structured knowledge
there is learning from the representation of learning – learning from doing
the student is required to reflect on his/her learning
As part of the Curriculum Reform Seminar Series jointly organized by the Steering Committee on 4-Year Undergraduate Curriculum and Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL), a seminar entitled “Standards Based Assessment: Nice Idea But What About The Practice?” was given by Professor Margaret Price on April 8, 2011. Professor Price is the Director of the Assessment Standards Knowledge Exchange, Oxford Brookes University Business School.
The seminar looked at issues relating to the implementation of standards based assessment, including the translation of theories into practice for the following major topics:
Standards and complex learning
Standards and consistency
Standards and accreditation of learning
By taking a holistic view to standards based assessment, Professor Price suggested key points to observe in the production of learning outcomes, criteria, level descriptors, and in the process of bringing meaning to these items. It is important to ensure teachers and students actively use standards and discuss their understandings and application of them.
The HKU Assessment Resources Centre (http://ar.cetl.hku.hk/), a virtual platform providing assessment resources to support teachers, was launched on March 22, 2011. At the launching ceremony, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Amy Tsui pointed out that assessment is an important but often neglected part of teaching and learning. The profound effect of assessment and teachers’ feedback on student performance is evident. At a time when HKU is moving to adopt standards-referenced assessment, the establishment of the HKU Assessment Resources Centre plays a significant role in bringing together teachers to share resources and experience.
Please click the link below to access the presentation slides used by Prof Mike Prosser, Executive Director of CETL, at the launching ceremony. (HKU portal login required)
The Enhancing Learning Experiences in Higher Education: International Conference will be held on December 2-3, 2010 at the University of Hong Kong. Hosted by the Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, the conference aim is to provide a platform that brings all our partners and stakeholders together, including higher education educators, researchers and students, to exchange knowledge and experience; to appreciate contribution and share achievements; and to update current trends and future development of learning and teaching in higher education.
The main theme of the conference is Enhancing Learning Experiences in Higher Education. There are twelve sub-themes covering a wide range of topics such as First Year Experience, Experiential Learning, OBASL, Assessment, and so on. Dr. Gary Poole, Director of the Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth and the Institute for the Scholarship of Teaching andLearning at the University of British Columbia, and Professor Caroline Baillie, Chair of Engineering Education for the Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics at the University of Western Australia, will be the keynote speakers at the conference.
Vice-Presidents and representatives from China’s C9 Universities and HKU met on September 20 and 21, 2010 at the Inaugural Symposium of C9+1 Universities in China held at HKU.Learn More
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.
HKU Portal Authentication Required. Some users of the IE Browser may receive a message that your document download has been blocked. Click here for help on this problem.
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.
