Important message from Professor Ian Holliday, Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning)
Dear UG students
Thank you for working with us to get campus life back on track in S1 – it’s been great to feel so much energy at HKU this semester.
S2 will be a lot like S1. We’ll continue to offer f2f teaching in most courses. We’ll again operate at 75% room capacity, with A/B weeks for a few large classes (see SIS for details). We’ll still record lectures and upload them to HKU Moodle. Only if there are special reasons will individual teachers make different arrangements and notify students about them.
In S2, though, there will be two key changes:
We’ll no longer support remote learning. Teaching will commence on Monday 17 January 2022. We expect all students to be in HK and able to attend classes by then.
There will be a vaccine mandate. As I said in my previous email, further details will be provided in early December. If you’re planning to get vaccinated, please do so soon.
Because of the Government’s strict quarantine arrangements for inbound travel, we urge all UG students who are currently in HK to stay here throughout the winter break. That will be by far the best way to ensure you can attend class at the start of S2.
Good luck to all of you with S1 exams. As usual, please drop me a line with queries – ian.holliday@hku.hk.
Best wishes, Ian
Professor Ian Holliday
Vice-President (Teaching and Learning)
The University of Hong Kong
HKU Worldwide Undergraduate Student Exchange Programme (HKUWW) in 2022/23
The HKUWW provides amazing student exchange opportunities for one or two semesters abroad. Don’t miss the opportunity to join the exchange programme and be ready to learn in a new and exciting environment! Please visit our website for application details.
Worldwide Plus Visiting Programme (WWPV) in 2022/23
If you are ready to step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself with a different university life abroad, this is the programme for you! We have expanded our partnerships with two renowned and prestigious universities, Yale University’s Yale Visiting International Students Programme (Y-VISP) and the University of Oxford’s Junior Year Abroad (JYA) Programme. Students joining these programmes will attend classes with local students at the host institution, live in residential colleges with them and take part in exciting extra-curricular activities for a full academic year. Please visit Worldwide Plus Visiting Programme for application requirements and procedures. HSBC Overseas Scholarship will also be available for applicants to apply.
Virtual Winter Programmes in 2021/22
Let’s make good use of the upcoming winter time and join some fun online programmes from the comfort of your home! With easy access to the internet nowadays, you can enjoy internationalisation no matter where you are located. Participating in an online programme is a great way to immerse yourself in the virtual while interesting learning environment through the institutions from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and to get connected with international students all over the world. Start early and plan ahead to choose your favourite programme!
HKU Study Abroad Programmes – Information Sessions for Undergraduate Students
Joining the online Information Session conducted by International Affairs Office (IAO) is your first step to learning more about the overseas opportunities ranging from HKU Worldwide Undergraduate Student Exchange Programme, Worldwide Plus Visiting Programme, Virtual Winter programmes, and other short-term programmes. Please take action and sign up for the session!
Best regards,
International Affairs Office
Academic Liaison Office
The Registry, 9/F, Knowles Building
The University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
Message from Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning)
Dear colleagues and students
I’m writing to share with you the exciting news that two of our colleagues, Dr. Koon Yee Wan of the Faculty of Arts and Professor Daniel Wong Fu Keung of the Faculty of Social Sciences, have received awards under the 2021 UGC Teaching Award scheme. The UGC Teaching Award was established to honour teachers who excel across the entire UGC sector.
Dr. Koon Yee Wan has been honoured with the UGC Teaching Award under the General Faculty Members category. Dr. Koon joined the University in 2006 and is currently Chair of the Department of Art History. Dr. Koon’s teaching excellence has been recognised in Faculty and University teaching awards. Her vision is to transform students’ curiosity into a deeper commitment to the arts. Her ‘art history in action’ strategy underpins her innovative and effective redesign of HKU’s art history programme. She leverages her vast networks for student learning to illustrate the role of art in society and highlight the myriad career opportunities in the arts ecosystem. Dr. Koon is an exceptional educator who epitomizes all that is best about teaching and learning in academia: her disciplinary expertise, passion, energy and genuine care for her students are an inspiration to all. Her immense contributions have lifted the profile of arts education within Hong Kong and across the globe.
Professor Daniel Wong Fu Keung is a member of a cross-institutional team that received the UGC Teaching Award (Teams). The Award recognizes the “Joint University Mental-Wellness Project (JUMP)”, which is a collaborative initiative among five local universities led by City University of Hong Kong. Professor Wong is a leader in cognitive behavioral therapy, with a specialism in adapting western frameworks to eastern contexts. His commitment to teaching has previously been recognised at both Faculty and University levels.
The HKU Horizons Experience Awards competition is organized annually to encourage students to reflect on and share their mainland/international learning experiences, with a top prize of $10,000 and two further prizes of $5,000 to be awarded.
For the 2021-22 round of competition, undergraduate students may submit a video of not more than three minutes capturing and reflecting on their local, mainland or international learning experience. Submissions may be made on an individual or a group basis.
Awards will be made on the basis of the substance and value of the learning experience captured, and also the quality of the video presentation. The winning videos, acknowledged as “HKU Horizons Experience”, may be used by the university for promotional purposes, both internal and external. The student producer, individual or group, will be acknowledged as appropriate. The videos may also be refined as appropriate and authorised by the HKU Horizons Committee.
Submissions for the 2021-22 Round are welcome from February 8 to 28, 2022 (2400). Please fill in the online form for your submission. Further details can be obtained at http://tl.hku.hk/horizons/hkuhea.
Message from Curriculum Development and Quality Assurance Section of the Registry
This is to remind colleagues that the next two rounds of TDG application will close respectively on October 15, 2021 and December 28, 2021. Please refer to the invitation circular (document 199/221 amended, URL below) for details, in particular the priority areas and the funding ceilings for different TDG proposals (paragraphs 2-4 refer) and Common Core TDG proposals (paragraph 8 refers):
All applications should be submitted online via the TDG system, which is accessible through < http://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 Miss Alison Lai (email: tdgs@hku.hk; tel: 2219 4832) of Curriculum Development and Quality Assurance Section of the Registry. Questions on technical matters of the TDG system may be sent to Mr. Cyrus Chan of the Technology-Enriched Learning Initiative (TELI) team (email: tdg@teli.hku.hk; tel: 3917 1110).
Message from Curriculum Development and Quality Assurance Section of the Registry
Teaching Excellence Award Scheme 2021
This is to remind colleagues and students that nominations are now invited for awards under the 2021 Teaching Excellence Award Scheme (TEAS).
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, 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. All Faculties are encouraged to nominate colleagues who have made outstanding teaching and learning contributions for these awards. For ECTA, in particular, we hope to receive at least one nomination from each Faculty.
For further details, please refer to the circular from the Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) at:
Nominees are encouraged to contact the Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL) for advice on the preparation of teaching portfolios.
All nominations and the supporting documents should reach Ms. Synthia Chau, Curriculum Development and Quality Assurance Section, by October 22, 2021. Enquiries may be directed to Ms. Chau at 2859 2440 or email to schau@hku.hk.
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:
To facilitate lecture recording and uploading on Moodle, the classroom lecture capturing function via Zoom service is enabled on Moodle. All classroom lectures can be recorded and uploaded to Moodle with a few simple steps. Please refer to the followings:
Please be reminded that all lectures recorded under this service will be deleted automatically after six months. If you wish to keep a copy of your lecture videos, please download the files within six months of uploading.
For enquiries, please contact:
Immediate Classroom Support Service by LES, ITS (telephone numbers can also be found in each classroom)
Important message from Professor Ian Holliday, Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning)
Dear colleagues and UG students
I’m writing to update you on our teaching arrangements for Semester 1 (S1), 2021-22.
As mentioned in my bulk email of May 5, we will return to face-to-face (f2f) teaching and learning in S1. As confirmed by the Senior Management Team (SMT) in consultation with the Task Force on Infectious Diseases, lectures will be delivered f2f in teaching venues (including central classrooms and department rooms) adopting a room capacity of 75% of the original capacity. The only exceptions will be a very small number of classes which, for pedagogical reasons such as a flipped classroom approach, have the endorsement of the Programme Director to be delivered online.
Under the “75% room capacity” arrangement, most of the lectures of UG courses will be allocated a classroom which can accommodate all course participants. In view of the limited supply of central classrooms, however, around 7% of lecture classes can only be allocated a classroom that can accommodate most but not all course participants. For these classes, the students will be split into two groups. Students whose last digit of their University ID number (UID) is an odd number belong to Group A, and will attend the f2f lectures in the odd teaching weeks and view the recording of the lectures held in the even teaching weeks. Those whose last digit of their UID is an even number belong to Group B, and will attend the f2f lectures in the even teaching weeks and view the recording of the lectures held in the odd teaching weeks.
For colleagues
The Examinations Office will soon release the draft teaching timetables for 2021-22 and room allocation results. For classes which need to adopt the above-mentioned split-class arrangement, departmental colleagues will be asked to indicate this in the Student Information System (SIS) before release of the programme guide on July 26, 2021 for students’ viewing.
Notwithstanding that most lecture classes will be delivered f2f, all lectures have to be recorded and the recordings have to be made available on HKU Moodle. Assistance and advice from ITS and TeLi on lecture recording via Panopto and uploading to Moodle will be provided where necessary.
For students
Starting from July 26, 2021, students will be able to view, in SIS, whether individual courses are going to adopt the split-class arrangements as detailed above. Students enrolling in such courses will be able to view the class arrangement of the lectures for each teaching week (i.e. whether they are able to attend f2f lectures) in their personalized HKU Event Calendar and SIS-My Timetable. Details will be provided in guidelines to be issued before July 26 to help students prepare for course selection.
The online course selection period will start on August 4, 2021 (please refer to the 2021-2022 calendar here). As such, please be reminded to check and settle all of your outstanding payments and login your HKU Portal at least once on or before August 1 to ensure a smooth Portal login for course selection.
As usual, please drop me a line if you have any queries.
Best wishes, Ian
Professor Ian Holliday
Vice-President (Teaching and Learning)
The University of Hong Kong
The public health situation in Hong Kong is improving. Barring another large outbreak in the city, we can plan for a wider range of on-campus and off-campus activities in the months ahead. I’m writing now about teaching arrangements in Semester 1 (S1), 2021-22.
Moving back to f2f
In S1 we will return to face-to-face (f2f) teaching and learning. This does not mean we will abandon all that we have gained from online teaching, for much of it has been good. It does mean we will again offer students the immersive campus experience that defines a student journey at HKU. Blended into our f2f classes will be online components designed to promote quality teaching and learning.
Lectures
Lectures will be delivered f2f unless there are strong reasons not to. On the one hand, public health protocols may impose capacity constraints that oblige us to keep some lectures online. On the other, teachers may wish for pedagogical reasons, such as a flipped classroom approach, to present their lectures online. We will provide students with detailed information through SIS.
Recording lectures
We will ask teachers to record all lectures, including those delivered f2f, and make the recording available on HKU Moodle, again 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.
Tutorials, seminars, etc
Interactive sessions such as tutorials, seminars, laboratory work and clinical practice (and, indeed, some lectures with large participation components) will be delivered f2f.
End-of-semester examinations
In the past couple of years we have made extensive use of our OLEX platform for end-of-semester examinations. At the end of S1 we will minimize use of this platform and return as much as possible to proctored, onsite assessment in examination halls.
Academic student exchange
We intend to make a full return to academic student exchange in S1. We are working with our global partners to ensure both inbound and outbound students have the support they need to navigate diverse public health protocols in distinct jurisdictions around the world.
Remote learning
We do not expect to offer a full suite of remote learning opportunities to students in S1. Some teaching will be accessible online because that makes sense for both teachers and students. But it will not be possible for students to complete their S1 courses purely online.
Returning to Hong Kong
Teachers and students expecting to travel outside Hong Kong in the summer will need 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.
Vaccination
We are still in the middle of a global pandemic. We strongly recommend that all staff and students get vaccinated for their own protection and for the protection of others. HKUMed operates one of 28 community vaccination centres at Ap Lei Chau Sports Centre (Lei Tung MTR). Online bookings can be made at all 28 centres (https://booking.covidvaccine.gov.hk/forms/index.jsp). While vaccination will not be a requirement for coming onto campus in S1, it may be necessary for some higher-risk on-campus and off-campus activities.
Coming to campus
We look forward to welcoming all colleagues and students back to campus in September. As you know, everyone coming to HKU needs to adhere to our infection control protocols (https://covid19.hku.hk/). We will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and make necessary adjustments. Always stay vigilant and make personal and group health your top priority.
