Vice-President (Teaching and Learning)

Dear colleagues and students

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

Dear colleagues and students

Just a quick updating email about T&L forward planning.

Semester 2, 2021-22

May assessment period: most exams will be conducted online and open book
Exceptions: exceptional arrangements will be announced by Faculties and programmes
Proctoring: online invigilation will take place as before
Cheating: any student found cheating will receive an F for the assessment and may face further action
Bad weather: http://www.exam.hku.hk/a2_badweather.php

Summer Semester, 2021-22

UG students: regular f2f teaching is planned for campus-based courses
TPG students: arrangements will be announced by Faculties and programmes
Outgoing activities: some have already been cancelled, and some will be looked at again in May

Academic Year 2022-23

We hope to return to on-campus f2f teaching in September

Best wishes, Ian

Professor Ian Holliday
Vice-President (Teaching and Learning)
The University of Hong Kong

Message from Professor Ian Holliday, Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning)

Dear colleagues and students

The Covid-19 situation in HK remains very worrying and is affecting the entire education sector. I’m writing with updated arrangements for all UG and TPG programmes offered by HKU in S2.

1. Starting from next week, HKU will teach in online mode only.
2. For students who are unable to come to HK, online delivery is guaranteed for the rest of S2.
3. When possible, we will schedule f2f sessions for courses with laboratory, practical and studio work. Students who are not in HK will be able to complete the sessions remotely. Individual Faculties will contact students directly about these arrangements.
4. Towards the middle of S2, we will issue detailed guidelines for the main S2 assessment period in May. Students on non-clinical programmes who are not in HK will be able to undertake their assessments remotely.
5. When possible, we will maintain an open campus. This will enable students to make use of HKU Libraries, Chi Wah Learning Commons and other designated study facilities, including additional learning commons and classrooms.
6. Clinical programmes will contact their students directly with detailed S2 arrangements.

Pls drop me a line with queries – ian.holliday@hku.hk.

Best wishes for the Year of the Tiger!

Ian

Professor Ian Holliday
VP/T&L
Chair, TFID

Dear colleagues and students

We’ve been monitoring the Covid-19 situation and thinking through the implications for S2 T&L arrangements. I’m writing to brief you on our plans.

As you know, S2 opens with a period of just over two weeks up to Chinese New Year. We teach from Monday January 17 to Monday January 31. We then break for one week. We come back on Tuesday February 8.

For the initial part of S2 (January 17-31), these arrangements will apply to all UG and TPG courses:

• Large classes (enrolment 40 students and above) will switch to online mode.
• Small classes (enrolment up to 39 students) will be offered f2f.
• Special arrangements for preclinical, clinical, and laboratory courses requiring f2f teaching will be made and communicated separately by individual faculties.
• Teachers will receive from ITS a bulk email showing how they can upload to HKU Moodle a brief message about course delivery mode for the initial part of S2.
• Students will be able to check HKU Moodle from Monday morning for information about their courses.

We’re introducing these T&L arrangements to reduce the risk of Covid-19 infection on campus, on public transport, and in the community. We hope to reinstate full f2f teaching on Tuesday February 8. Closer to the time, I’ll write again.

As usual, please drop me a line with queries: ian.holliday@hku.hk.

Best wishes for S2 — Ian

Professor Ian Holliday
Vice-President (Teaching and Learning)
The University of Hong Kong

Important message from Professor Ian Holliday, Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning)

Dear colleagues

Just a quick note about S2 T&L arrangements.

S2 will be a lot like S1. We’ll continue to offer mostly f2f teaching. We’ll again operate at 75% room capacity, with A/B weeks for a few large classes. We’ll still record lectures and upload them to HKU Moodle. If there are special reasons, individual teachers will seek approval for different arrangements and notify students about them.

In S2, though, there will be two key changes:

• We’ll no longer support remote learning on UG courses. We’ve asked all UG students to be in HK and able to attend classes by the start of S2 on Monday January 17. It looks like fewer than 100 will fail to arrive on time, mostly because of academic exchange commitments. These students should all return to HK by early February and for the first couple of weeks of S2 can be supported on a case-by-case basis.
• There will be a vaccine mandate. As I said in my previous email, further details will be provided in the next few days. If you’re planning to get vaccinated, please do so soon.

Many thanks for all you’ve done to get campus life back on track in S1 – it’s been great to feel so much energy at HKU this semester. 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