Join-the-Conversation: Toward an International and Inclusive Learning Experience: Approaches to Assessment Design

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Organised by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL)

Details of the Join-the-Conversation:

Date : 5 November 2018 (Monday)
Time : 12:45pm – 2:00pm
Venue : Room 321, 3/F, Run Run Shaw Building (Main Campus), HKU
Speaker : DMr. Patrick Leung (HKU), Ms. Melissa Megan (HKUST), Dr. Kristen Li (HKBU)
Facilitator : Dr. Tracy Zou (HKU), Dr. Beatrice Chu (HKUST), Dr. Lisa Law (HKBU)
Organiser : Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, HKU
Co-organisers : Center for Education Innovation, HKUST; Centre for Holistic Teaching and Learning, HKBU; Equal Opportunity Unit, HKU

Staff and invited guests only.

Abstract

The ultimate purpose for internationalisation of the curriculum is to enhance students’ overall learning experience (Leask, 2015). This will not be achieved without taking aspects of learning, teaching and assessment into consideration. In particular, many students seem to see assessment as the sole purpose of learning and tend to focus on what will be tested. Working on assessment design, therefore, will have a significant impact on student learning. In this Join-the-Conversation event, colleagues from HKU, HKUST, and HKUST will share with us their wise practices on assessment design in internationalisation of teaching and learning. Following discussion of these wise practices, participants will identify possible approaches to adapting pedagogical strategies to meet the needs of a diverse group, and reflect on how assessment design becomes a critical step to an equal and inclusive learning environment for students at all levels.

About the Speaker

Mr. Patrick Leung is Assistant Lecturer at the Centre for Applied English Studies at HKU teaching English for academic and specific purposes courses. Over his years of teaching, he has worked with students from different cultural backgrounds and tried out different practices and strategies to help make student learning experience more international and inclusive.

Ms. Melissa Megan is Senior Lecturer in the Center for Language Education at HKUST where she has worked since 1999. She has taught many of the courses offered by the Center. She is currently coordinator of the two biggest courses in the Center – the Common Core English courses. Melissa grew up and started her teaching career in Australia. In the early 1990’s she was part of a taskforce for the implementation of the NSW Department of School Education’s Multicultural Education Policy, and she lectured on this policy and anti-racism education at the University of New England, NSW. She now calls Hong Kong home but also regularly visits Cambodia where she helps manage the education programmes of an NGO in Siem Reap.

Dr. Kristen Li is Lecturer and Associate Master Programme Director at HKBU. She holds PHD degree in Computer Science. Dr. Li is a professional Design Thinking facilitator. She is actively promoting Internationalisation in Education, including coordinating exchange/internship programmes and designing curriculum which enhance students’ global competitiveness.

Contact Information
Should you have any enquiries, please feel free to contact Joza Kot by email at jozakot@hku.hk.

Registration

Joining the dots in BA with BSc, BA with BEng, BA with BLLB, BASc…

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Organised by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL)

Details of the workshop:

Date : 29 Oct 2018 (Monday)
Time : 13:00pm – 2:00pm
Venue : Room 321, 3/F, Run Run Shaw Building (Main Campus), HKU
Presenter : Prof. James Cohn, Quest University Canada
Facilitator : Dr. Cecilia Chan, Head of Professional Development, Associate Professor, HKU

HKU staff and invited guests only.

Abstract

Most undergraduate majors offer students a paved highway with milestones to pass, and students (and parents) may happily banish their own anxiety over their education by knowing what the check-boxes are. When we trust students to tell us their concerns, however, we sometimes find that their curiosity and their drive may have little to do with the skills and content prescribed for them. When we grasp that education does not simply mean filling empty vessels (students) from full vessels (professors), we face the challenge of designing a curriculum that engages and truly addresses the learner. The curriculum at Quest University Canada may not work for all universities, but the example may prove provocative, and stimulate a conversation about the ends of undergraduate education, and about the advantages and disadvantages of an interdisciplinary approach.

About the Speaker
James Cohn is a founding faculty member of Quest University Canada, a new and innovative undergraduate institution located north of Vancouver, BC. He has served there as Coordinator of the Arts and Humanities, Chief Academic Officer, and Executive Vice President. He received his BA in French and German from Dartmouth College, and after graduation won a Fulbright award for the study of literature and society in post-war Germany. He received his doctorate from the University of Chicago, studying in the interdisciplinary Committee on Social Thought under the direction of Nobel laureate Saul Bellow. His PhD takes up the problem of the influence of the Duc de St.-Simon’s Memoirs on Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past. He was a tenured “tutor” at St. John’s College in Santa Fe, NM, before emigrating to Canada to help design and run the fledgling Quest. His guiding question is, “What are the liberal arts?”

Registration

For information, please contact:
Mr. Thomas Lau , CETL
Phone: 3917 4807; Email: kanclau@hku.hk

Chit and Chatting, Mix and Matching – Interdisciplinary Curriculum Design, how and why?

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Organised by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL)

Details of the workshop:

Date : 25 Oct 2018 (Thursday)
Time : 13:00pm – 2:00pm
Venue : Room 321, 3/F, Run Run Shaw Building (Main Campus), HKU
Presenter : Prof. James Cohn, Quest University Canada
Facilitator : Dr. Cecilia Chan, Head of Professional Development, Associate Professor, HKU

HKU staff and invited guests only.

Abstract

An interdisciplinary curriculum is not an end in itself. Rather, it is an open approach that hopes to give better, more comprehensive answers to pressing questions, answers that no single discipline, and no single method, by itself could answer. Our deceptively simple inquiry, then, will be to explore what questions we want answered. What do we risk, and what do we gain, when we ask questions that take us beyond our familiar horizon?
In this informal chat setting, we will discuss how and why of an interdisciplinary curriculum.

About the Speaker

James Cohn is a founding faculty member of Quest University Canada, a new and innovative undergraduate institution located north of Vancouver, BC. He has served there as Coordinator of the Arts and Humanities, Chief Academic Officer, and Executive Vice President. He received his BA in French and German from Dartmouth College, and after graduation won a Fulbright award for the study of literature and society in post-war Germany. He received his doctorate from the University of Chicago, studying in the interdisciplinary Committee on Social Thought under the direction of Nobel laureate Saul Bellow. His PhD takes up the problem of the influence of the Duc de St.-Simon’s Memoirs on Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past. He was a tenured “tutor” at St. John’s College in Santa Fe, NM, before emigrating to Canada to help design and run the fledgling Quest. His guiding question is, “What are the liberal arts?”

Registration

For information, please contact:
Ms. Noranda Zhang , CETL
Phone: 3917 4729; Email: noranda@hku.hk​

Chat-n-Snack Session “Curious about Creating a Common Core Course?”

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Dear Colleagues,

As a way to prime the pump for the coming Common Core Course Proposal Process—which has now been streamlined into a one-stage, rather than a two-stage, process—we will have an informal gathering in the CC Lounge for those interested in the possibility of developing a proposal. We will be seeking, as always, courses that are organized around topics of significance that you care deeply about, that will be appealing to students across all the faculties, be interdisciplinary and multimodal in content, and make use of active assessments (instead of relying on traditional exams). We are also seeking courses that are highly experiential or use a flipped classroom or other alternative forms of design.

Finally, we are hoping to see ideas that might add to our proposed CC Transdisciplinary Minor in Gender, Sexuality, and Difference, especially in the AoIs of Scientific and Technological Literacy and China. (Our first two Minors/Clusters are in Sustaining Cities, Cultures, and the Earth and The Universe and the Question of Meaning.)

Chat-n-Snack Session
“Curious about Creating a Common Core Course?”

Date : Thursday, October 4, 2018
Time : 4.00pm – 5.30pm
Venue : Common Core Lounge, Room 150, 1/F Main Building

Everyone is welcomed! And snacks included….

For registration, please contact Ms. Charmaine Tse at charmainetse@hku.hk.
Thank you.

All best,
Gray

Gray Kochhar-Lindgren, PhD
Professor and Director: The Common Core

Teaching Excellence Awards Workshop – Understanding the Criteria and Preparing your Portfolio

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Organised by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL)

Details of the workshop:

Date : 27 Sep 2018 (Thursday)
Time : 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Venue : Room 321, 3/F, Run Run Shaw Building (Main Campus), HKU
Speaker : Dr. Cecilia Chan, Head of Professional Development, Associate Professor, HKU

Career Building: Developing Your Teaching Ideas, Insight and Action Workshop Series

Workshop I: Teaching Excellence Awards Workshop – Understanding the criteria and Preparing your Portfolio
Abstract

This workshop is open to all teaching staff who are preparing their teaching portfolio particularly for the TEA scheme. Staff will be provided an overview of the award schemes, the key selection criteria and advice in preparing an evidence-based teaching portfolio. Staff who are thinking about applying in the next round are strongly encouraged to attend. Staff who are not sure or would simply like to know more about the scheme, are most welcome.

HKU staff and invited guests only.

Registration

For information, please contact:
Ms. Noranda Zhang , CETL
Phone: 3917 4729; Email: noranda@hku.hk​

ALS: My students are falling asleep. How to motivate my students and myself?

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Organised by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL)

Details of the workshop:

Date : 3 Oct 2018 (Wednesday)
Time : 12:45pm – 2:00pm
Venue : Room 321, 3/F, Run Run Shaw Building (Main Campus), HKU
Presenter : Dr. Cecilia Chan, Head of Professional Development, Associate Professor, HKU

Abstract

In this workshop, we will discuss how to turn a traditional lecture classroom into a fun, rewarding and challenging environment with minimum efforts, how to increase interactions between students and teachers, and students and students. This is a practical workshop, be ready to have fun with me! Examples and methods will be shared and demonstrated to motivate students in a classroom.

HKU staff and invited guests only.

Registration

For information, please contact:
Ms. Noranda Zhang , CETL
Phone: 3917 4729; Email: noranda@hku.hk​

TEFS Seminar – Grants for overseas reciprocal visits through ‘Teaching Exchange Fellowship Scheme’

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Organised by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL)

Details of the workshop:

Date : 24 October, 2018 (Wednesday)
Time : 12:00nn – 1:00pm
Venue : Room 321, 3/F, Run Run Shaw Building (Main Campus), HKU
Chairman : Ms Alice Lee, Associate Professor, Department of Law, HKU
Facilitator : Dr. Luke Fryer, Associate Professor, CETL, HKU

Details and Online registration: https://www.cetl.hku.hk/tef181024/

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 next round (having a November 16, 2018 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://intraweb.hku.hk/reserved_2/cdqa/doc/TEFS/TEFS_2018-19.pdf.

Registration

For enquiries, please contact:
Miss Noranda Zhang by email noranda@hku.hk

Join the Fight Against Epidemics

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Trailer and sneak previews

Registration

About this course
“If history is our guide, we can assume that the battle between the intellect and will of the human species and the extraordinary adaptability of microbes will be never-ending.” (1)

Despite all the remarkable technological breakthroughs that we have made over the past few decades, the threat from infectious diseases has significantly accelerated. In this course, we will learn why this is the case by looking at the fundamental scientific principles underlying epidemics and the public health actions behind their prevention and control in the 21st century.

This course covers the following four topics:

  1. Origins of novel pathogens;
  2. Analysis of the spread of infectious diseases;
  3. Medical and public health countermeasures to prevent and control epidemics; and
  4. Panel discussions involving leading public health experts with deep frontline experiences to share their views on risk communication, crisis management, ethics and public trust in the context of infectious disease control.

In addition to the original introductory sessions on epidemics, we revamped the course by adding:

  1. new panel discussions with world-leading experts; and
  2. supplementary modules on next generation informatics for combating epidemics.

You will learn:

  1. the origins, spread and control of infectious disease epidemics;
  2. the importance of effective communication about epidemics; and
  3. key contemporary issues relating to epidemics from a global perspective.

Who is this class for
This is an introductory course suitable for all learners, with no prerequisite required.

Join the fight against epidemics now.

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook for more updates!

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(1) Fauci AS, Touchette NA, Folkers GK. Emerging Infectious Diseases: a 10-Year Perspective from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Emerg Infect Dis 2005 Apr; 11(4):519-25.

TEFSS – Teaching and Learning of Multidisciplinary Science for Modern Undergraduate Students

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Organised by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL)

Details of the workshop:

Date : July 12, 2018 (Thursday)
Time : 12:00 nn – 1:00 pm
Venue : Room 321, 3/F, Run Run Shaw Building (Main Campus), HKU
Speaker : Dr Jason C S Pun, Principal Lecturer, Department of Physics, HKU

Abstract

In the 4-year curriculum for our Bachelor of Science students, we incorporated compulsive learning modules to give students a broad view of science in terms of its nature, its history, its fundamental concepts, its methodology, and its impact on civilization and society. An integrated approach was adopted to introduce the general principles and unifying concepts to describe the diverse phenomena in the natural world and to highlight the interdisciplinary nature of science. A major challenge is to make such a learning experience relevant to an increasingly diverse student population having a wide range of career aspirations and pursuing majors in different science disciplines. In this talk, I will introduce the current status and challenges of multidisciplinary science education at HKU, and outline some student-centered learning initiatives adopted such as a large-scale peer-learning system. I will also share first-hand observations of how multidisciplinary integrated science education are conducted in the setting of a large comprehensive university (National University of Singapore) and a liberal arts college (Yale-NUS) gained from a visit supported by the Teaching Exchange Fellowship Scheme.

About the Speaker
Dr Chun Shing Jason Pun is currently Principal Lecturer at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Since 2012, Dr Pun has served as the course coordinator for Fundamentals of Modern Science, a core science course required for all HKU science students which adopts an interdisciplinary and integrated approach to introduce the students to the broad landscape of science. Dr Pun has also been involved in multiple Teaching Development Grants, ranging from developing observational astronomy, promoting public interest in science through experimental science videos, developing first-year experience and initiating a peer-learning system for science students. He is also the recipient of the Teaching Exchange Fellowship 2017-18 to visit Yale-NUS College.

Registration

For information, please contact:
Ms. Noranda Zhang , CETL
Phone: 3917 4729; Email: noranda@hku.hk​

TEFSS – Join-the-Conversation: Effective Classroom Feedback Practices

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Organised by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning

Details of the workshop:

Date : 29 June 2018 (Friday)
Time : 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Venue : CPD 2.77, 2/F, Chi Wah Learning Commons (Centennial Campus)
Speaker : Dr. Michael Botelho (Faculty of Dentistry), Dr. Michelle Raquel (CAES), Dr. Alex Webb (Faculty of Science)
Facilitator : Dr. Tracy Zou, Assistant Professor, Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning
Light refreshments will be provided.

Abstract

Giving feedback to students and engaging them in the feedback process are integral to student learning. Effective feedback practices in the classroom not only guide students on what steps to take, but also allow the instructor to collect and act on information about students’ learning progress. In this join-the-conversation session, our panel speakers will share with us their feedback practices in the classroom that have effectively provided students with constructive, timely, and relevant feedback, and engaged them in a meaningful learning process.

About the Speaker

Dr. Michael Botelho
Dr. Michael Botelho has been at the University of Hong Kong for over 20 years and has been actively involved in the design, development and implementation of a range of curriculum innovations and reforms in: PBL, e-learning, simulation training and competency assessments. He has published and presented on dental education in journals and at conferences locally and internationally and has conducted workshops on PBL, facilitator training, problem writing and standards descriptors for clinical skills performances. He is actively involved in the scholarship of teaching and learning and has been awarded a number of teaching development and research grants as principal or co-investigator and has a number of teaching and learning prizes including the Hong Kong UGC teaching award.

Dr. Michelle Raquel
Dr. Michelle Raquel is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Applied English Studies (CAES). She has worked in different Hong Kong universities for more than 10 years as an English instructor and as a language testing and assessment specialist. She was project manager of several large-scale language assessments in different tertiary institutions and was project manager of a UGC inter-institutional project on developing an online diagnostic English language tracking assessment (DELTA; 2012-2015). Her research area is learning-oriented assessment (LOA) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) assessment. She is currently the programme coordinator of the CAES Academic English for Business and Economics course, and the project leader of the Communication-intensive Course initiative.

Dr. Alex Webb
Dr. Alex Webb was trained at Amherst College (B.A. Geology 2001) and UCLA (PhD Geology 2007). He is Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong (2016-present) and was Assistant and Associate Professor at Louisiana State (2008-2015) and Associate Professor at the University of Leeds (2015-2016). Alex is an expert in tectonic processes, ranging from the Himalaya, to the early development of terrestrial planets, to the interactions of salt glacier flow and weather. He has been practicing communications-intensive teaching strategies for 8 years, focusing on project-based learning via student creation of Wikipedia pages.

Registration

For information, please contact:
Ms. Noranda Zhang , CETL
Phone: 3917 4729; Email: noranda@hku.hk​