Message from Professor Ian Holliday, Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning)
Dear colleagues
Just a quick note about plagiarism. The University is committed to upholding the highest standards of academic integrity, and has in place a Policy on Student Plagiarism in Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Curricula. Please do inform your students about proper academic practice. Relevant resources could be found in the plagiarism website.
Thanks and best wishes — Ian
Professor Ian Holliday
Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor
(Teaching and Learning)
Applications are invited for the Teaching Exchange Fellowship Scheme
Objectives
The Scheme aims to enhance the scholarship of teaching and learning at the University, including experiential learning, through enabling academic staff members to share experience and to collaborate on teaching and curriculum development initiatives at reputable universities where excellent pedagogical practices or curriculum innovation are being implemented, and to facilitate reciprocal visits to the University by academic staff of these institutions.
Eligibility
All full-time teaching staff with a minimum of two years of service at the University are eligible to apply.
Deadline for Application
Interested colleagues are encouraged to attend the Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning seminar on Friday, December 2, 2022, at 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. via Zoom. All applications and supporting documents should reach Ms. Cynthia Wong, Curriculum Development and Quality Assurance Section of the Registry on or before Friday, January 6, 2023.
Enquires may be directed to Ms. Wong at 2241 5535 or via email to cynwong@hku.hk.
Message from Curriculum Development and Quality Assurance Section of the Registry
Teaching Development Grant (TDG) 2022
This is to remind colleagues that the next round of TDG application will close on October 14, 2022, and the cut-off date for the third round of application is December 28, 2022. Please refer to the invitation circular (document 157/222, URL below) for details:
All applications should be submitted online via the TDG system, which is accessible through https://tdg.hku.hk or HKU Portal (navigation: HKU Portal > Manager Self Service > Teaching Development Grant (TDG) > TDG System).
General enquiries on TDG may be directed to Ms. Cynthia Wong (cynwong@hku.hk) of Curriculum Development and Quality Assurance Section of the Registry.
Message from Curriculum Development and Quality Assurance Section of the Registry
Applications are now invited for awards under the Teaching Excellence Award Scheme (TEAS) in 2022.
The TEAS aims to recognise, reward and promote excellence in teaching at the University. Under the Scheme, there are four categories of awards, viz. University Distinguished Teaching Award (UDTA), Outstanding Teaching Award (OTA), Early Career Teaching Award (ECTA) and Teaching Innovation Award (TIA). Besides individual awards, both OTA and TIA comprise team awards to recognise and encourage collaborative effort and achievement in enhancing teaching and learning. Faculties should encourage their teachers with outstanding contributions to teaching and learning to apply for these awards.
The Scheme was reviewed in the past year, and there are changes inter alia to the eligibility and selection criteria as well as application procedures. For further details, please refer to the circular from the Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) at: https://intraweb.hku.hk/reserved_1/cdqa/doc/TEAS/TEAS_List_A_2022.pdf
CETL has developed a dedicated website (https://www.tea.cetl.hku.hk) to provide useful resources for applicants. Applicants are also encouraged to contact their CETL Faculty liaison academics for advice on the preparation of the submission.
All applications should be submitted online, with endorsement, on or before October 24, 2022.
Message from Professor Ian Holliday, Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning)
Dear colleagues,
As you are aware, assessment is an important vehicle for supporting and guiding student learning. The University has an overarching assessment policy which sets out the philosophy and principles that guide and regulate assessment practices. The key principle is that students should be assessed in an appropriate, fair, rigorous and transparent manner. Solid and timely feedback, not restricted to scores or grades, should be provided. In particular, the QAC Audit Panel has advised us to enhance students’ understanding of the grade descriptors used in undergraduate and taught postgraduate courses, and to provide better feedback.
You are therefore requested at the start of each semester to talk students through the grade descriptors used in their courses, so that they understand the level of performance expected of them. You are also asked to give timely feedback on assignments and written examinations, so as to enable students to learn from what they have done well and what they have done badly.
The Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL) will continue to work on enhancing assessment practices and providing good feedback to students. If you have any thoughts or need any help, you are most welcome to contact the CETL staff liaison for your Faculty/Office as set out below:
Opportunity is taken to draw your attention to a new exciting initiative called “Collaborative Online International Learning” (COIL). Through online technology, COIL connects teachers and students from two or more universities in different countries, enabling them to engage in discussions, collaborative projects, and other virtual exchanges (in class or out of class). Fully aligning with the University’s internationalisation at home strategy, COIL expands our course offerings, and broadens students’ horizons. You are strongly encouraged to develop COIL courses for undergraduate and taught postgraduate students, and consult the CETL staff liaison for your Faculty/Office as necessary. Details about COIL can be found on the T&L website.
Best wishes, Ian
Professor Ian Holliday
Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor
(Teaching and Learning)
As you know, all UG programmes will be delivered f2f in S1. Faculties will support students who cannot return to HK for the start of S1, but the experience will not be as good as actually being here. Pls do try to get back as quickly as possible. TPG programmes are making their own decisions about S1 T&L arrangements and informing their students directly.
Teaching rooms
We’ll be occupying many teaching rooms up to full capacity in S1. At the same time, we’ll be requiring everyone to comply with our health protocols in all classes, whether lectures, tutorials, labs, studios or anything else – masks on throughout, no eating or drinking at all.
Lecture recordings
For the past couple of years, we’ve asked teachers to upload lecture recordings to HKU Moodle. In S1 our policy will change. Teachers may still upload lectures to Moodle, especially during the add/drop period when many students like to audit courses online. However, this will no longer be required (unless a Faculty decides to retain the policy). To keep everything simple, ITS is creating a ‘hide’ button in Moodle. This will enable teachers to decide which lectures they wish to share with students and which they prefer not to share.
We look forward to welcoming everyone back on Sept 1. HKU offers an immersive experience, much of which can be gained only by coming on campus and participating in the many activities taking place here.
Best wishes for S1!
Ian
Professor Ian Holliday
Vice-President (Teaching and Learning)
The University of Hong Kong
Venue:
Zoom (The link will be sent to registered participants 1 day before the event.)
Description:
This hands-on workshop provides teachers with an opportunity to learn how to convert an existing undergraduate course into a communication-intensive course. A communication-intensive course is a course where communication knowledge, skills, and attributes are taught alongside course content; it has communication-related course learning outcomes and communication-rich assessments and learning activities. This workshop will be 1 hour but there will be an optional extra 30 minutes to discuss your course with the presenters.
Registration:
Choose 1 workshop date below. If these time slots are not suitable, please send an email to cics@hku.hk to arrange another time.
Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) is an innovative pedagogical approach that connects, through online technology, teachers and students from different geographical and linguacultural regions to enable them to engage in discussions, collaborative projects and other virtual exchanges, with a view to providing a transformative, cross-cultural and transnational learning experience. The University’s COIL Guidelines and associated forms for undergraduate and taught postgraduate courses are available below:
HKU Faculty of Dentistry presents a 4-Week Biomaterials and Your Health Massive Open Online Course on edX platform (https://www.edx.org/course/biomaterials-and-your-health). In this course, you will explore novel biomaterials and biotechnologies in oral health care with Professor Jukka Matinlinna and Dr James Tsoi along with more than 20 dental practitioners and researchers across 10 dental specialties in different parts of the world, Europe, the United States, China and Hong Kong. You will learn about the development of biomaterials and biomaterial research in dental health care. The course starts on 19 July 2022.
Would you be interested to go inside the laboratories of researchers and hear their stories of exciting biomaterials research? Would you be curious to find out what they discovered about cutting-edge technologies such as nanoneedle in oral cancer? And learn about biomimetic dentistry and the implications and applications of polymeric materials, resin composites, and silicon in today’s oral health care? In this 4-week course, you will find out about these and more.
How do you join the course?
This 4-week online course is available free of charge with no entry requirements for participants around the world. The first course run starts on 19 July 2022. The course is recurrent and will be re-run after this debut.
Who is this course for?
The course is specially designed to serve multiple groups of learners: From dentistry students to dental practitioners who wish to broaden their knowledge in dental materials science and practitioners in related fields such as clinical medicine, biology, chemistry, physics, material science, and engineering, and in particular those who wish to make a difference in materials research in tomorrow’s oral health care development.
General information about Biomaterials and Your Health on edX:
Course Start Date: 19 July 2022
Course Length: 4 Weeks
Prerequisite: No entry requirement
Course Payment: Free of charge for all learners in the Audit Track
(Audit Learners have an option to upgrade for a Verified Certificate, see the course page for details.)
For enquiries, please send your message to gdco@hku.hk.
I’m writing about UG teaching arrangements in S1 2022-23, when we plan to return to f2f for all programmes. Faculties will make their own arrangements for TPG programmes and will notify their students directly. Clinical faculties will also notify their students directly about any special arrangements for their UG programmes.
Lectures
Almost all classes will be delivered f2f with 75% room capacity. As in 2021-22, this means a small number of lectures will have to adopt an A/B arrangement, with students attending in alternate weeks and viewing recordings in between. For these courses, students with a UID ending in an odd number will be in Group A and students with a UID ending in an even number will be in Group B. We will also permit a handful of classes to be delivered fully online with the endorsement of the Programme Director. Full details will be uploaded to SIS before the course selection period.
Recording lectures
We continue to ask all teachers to record all lectures and make the recordings available on HKU Moodle, unless there are specific reasons not to. Many students have told us how productive it is to engage with archived lectures at their own pace, and how helpful it is to return to lectures delivered earlier in the semester.
Remote learning
We do not expect to offer students a full suite of remote learning opportunities in S1. Some teaching will be accessible online because that makes sense for both teachers and students. However, it will not be possible for students to complete S1 online.
Returning to Hong Kong
Teachers and students expecting to travel outside Hong Kong in the summer are asked to time their return journeys to ensure they make it back to campus by the start of September. Government quarantine guidelines may be modified in the weeks ahead and different requirements may be in place depending on origin of travel and vaccination status. Please plan accordingly.
Coming to campus
We look forward to welcoming all colleagues and students back to HKU in September. As you know, everyone coming to campus must comply with our infection control protocols (https://covid19.hku.hk/). We will continue to monitor the pandemic situation and make adjustments when necessary. Please always stay vigilant and make personal and group health your top priority.
Feel free to drop me a line with queries: ian.holliday@hku.hk. Happy summer!
Best wishes, Ian
Professor Ian Holliday
Vice-President (Teaching and Learning)
The University of Hong Kong
