Experiential Learning in General Education

Speakers:

Dr. Li Ming Kenneth (Office of University General Education)
Prof. Lam Weng Cheong (Department of Anthropology & Department of History)

Date: 2 June 2021
Time: 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Venue: ZOOM
Language: Cantonese

Experiential learning has been increasingly important in higher education in recent years. This learning mode allows students to apply classroom knowledge into practice, which inspires them to have a deeper understanding of the subject. Experiential learning also emphasizes students’ interaction with the environment and with others. By doing so, it encourages students to be active agents, and thus helps nurture them to become responsible global citizens and leaders.

In this GE lunch seminar, we have invited Dr. Li Ming Kenneth and Prof. Lam Wen Cheong to share their experience in conducting experiential learning in General Education.

Dr. Li will share the design and learning outcome of adding an agricultural experience element in the science classics reading course UGFN 1000 In Dialogue with Nature. He would also introduce the course design and effectiveness of a summer course UGEB2296 Experiencing and Rethinking Science and Technology in Agriculture, with a sharing on the challenges and reflection of experiential learning during COVID 19 though online teaching.

On the other hand, according to Prof. Lam Weng Cheong, teaching humanities is encountering more and more challenges in modern days, especially when “factual knowledge” becomes easily accessible. However, Prof. Lam argues that we should not lose sight of the important value of the humanities, which is to offer different perspectives on long-term social traditions navigating the development of history. Based on his teaching of four General Education courses related to archaeology, Prof. Lam in this seminar will share how he views teaching as a precious opportunity to learn: to reflect on the relevance between his teaching subjects and daily life, and to explore how to add more meaning to learning experience of the human past.

Speakers' Bio

Dr. Li Ming Kenneth obtained his B.Sc. and M.Phil. degrees in Biology, and Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Dr. Li is currently a Lecturer in the Office of University General Education. Dr. Li has taught the General Education Foundation course UGFN1000 In Dialogue with Nature and the blended learning version of the course (UGFN1001) for a cross-institutional course-sharing project with students coming from three other local universities. Dr. Li is devoted to developing student-centered pedagogy, including flipped classrooms, blended learning, peer-assisted learning, and experiential learning. His initiative of experiential learning through rooftop farming has enriched students’ learning experience. Extending this good practice, Dr. Li has developed UGEB2296 Experiencing and Rethinking Science and Technology in Agriculture, an experiential learning course on modern agriculture, permaculture and related sustainable development goals. Dr. Li has endeavored to explore opportunities for students to learn beyond the courses to accelerate their growth and development. Dr. Li has also taught GESH1010 Orientation and Outreach. Dr. Li received the Exemplary Teaching Award in General Education 2019 and the Vice-Chancellor’s Exemplary Teaching Award 2019.

Prof. Lam Weng Cheong has been teaching at The Chinese University of Hong Kong under the joint appointment by the Department of Anthropology and the Department of History since 2015. Professor Lam has taught four General Education courses, namely, UGEA2330 Chinese Cultural Heritage, UGEB2502 Human Evolution, UGEB2505 Deciphering the Past: Culture, Archaeology and Science, and UGEC1633 Understanding Archaeology. His research currently focuses on ancient market exchange and the development of metal technology in ancient China. Professor Lam believes that the role of a teacher is to make academic knowledge easier to understand and to inspire students to see the connections between the past and the present in human societies. Prof. Lam received the Faculty of Arts Outstanding Teaching Award 2016 and the Exemplary Teaching Award in General Education 2019.

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General Education and Student Growth

Speakers:

Dr. Leung Cheuk Hang (Office of University General Education)
Dr. Lau Chi Hin (Department of Mathematics)

Date: 21 May 2021
Time: 12:00 nn – 1:30 pm
Venue: ZOOM
Language: Cantonese

General Education (GE) is a compulsory study programme in the undergraduate curriculum of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. One of the challenges that all GE teachers faces is how to teach a course with students from different academic background. Besides, what are the influences in the GE courses of humanity- and science- field? Apart from imparting knowledge, what should teachers be aware when they are conducting GE courses to facilitate student growth?

In this GE lunch seminar, we have invited Dr. Leung Cheuk Hang and Dr. Lau Chi Hin to share their teaching experience in respect of student growth. Dr. Leung would introduce his experience in teaching UGFH1000 “In Dialogue with Humanity” and GENA1113 “Student-Oriented Teaching and Seminar”, with a focus on how GE elements are infused in humanity and social issues. Dr. Leung would also share two different teaching pedagogies when conducting discussion-based lessons, followed by a discussion on how GE will help to facilitate student growth. Meanwhile, Dr. Lau Chi Hin will share with us his experience in teaching GE courses related to the science fields. Some students are described as having mathematical anxiety or math phobia. These students usually have a lot of frustrating experience in mathematics and they are lack of confidence in solving mathematical problems. Dr. Lau’s GE course UGEB2530 “Games and Strategic Thinking” provides students with a non-technical exploration of game theory. It starts with very simple parlor games to more realistic problems in economics, social psychology, biology, and business. The celebrated “Nash equilibrium” are explained and studied in simple mathematical terms. One of his goals is to make all students understand that mathematics can be used in many different ways and everyone can use mathematics to solve problems related to daily life.

Speakers' Bio

Dr. Leung Cheuk Hang obtained his B.SSc. degree in Politics from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Ph.D. degree in Education from University College London. His research interests include values education, civic education, and cultural politics of education. Dr. Leung is currently a Lecturer in the Office of University General Education and is responsible for teaching General Education courses UGFH1000 In Dialogue with Humanity for the General Education Foundation Programme and GENA113 Student-Oriented Teaching and Seminar for New Asia College. Dr. Leung has been engaged in developing virtual learning tools and online learning platform for General Education courses. Dr. Leung is also active in conducting pedagogical research on the ideas, curriculum, and assessments of University General Education. Dr. Leung received the Exemplary Teaching Award in General Education 2019

Dr. Lau Chi Hin obtained his B.Sc. and M.Phil. degrees in Mathematics from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Ph.D. degree in Mathematics from The University of Hong Kong. Dr. Lau joined the Department of Mathematics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong as a Lecturer in 2005. Dr. Lau has been teaching two courses on game theory, namely MATH4250 Game Theory, for mathematics major students, and UGEB2530 Games and Strategic Thinking, a University General Education course for almost ten years. Dr. Lau has designed a number of interesting games to facilitate students to study game theory. Dr. Lau received the Exemplary Teaching Award in General Education 2019

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Online Teaching and Learning: Challenges and Opportunities during COVID-19

Speakers:

Dr. Cheung Hang Cheong Derek (Office of University General Education)
Dr. Han Dongkun (Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering)
Ms. Judy Lo (Head of Academic Support Services, Information Technology Services Centre)

Date: 27 April 2021
Time: 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Venue: ZOOM
Language: English

2020–21 has been a year of challenge and change. Teachers and teaching units in CUHK have put tremendous efforts in adapting to online teaching and learning during the pandemic time. Discussion-based lessons are greatly challenged in respect of interaction between teacher and students and communication among students. Apart from that, hands-on skills training is of essential importance in many science and engineering related general education courses, like robotics, electronics, mechanics and renewable energy. A major concern in online/distance education is how to overcome the problems associated with laboratory components. Besides, various IT support teams in the University have been providing a lot of assistance to both teachers and students on online teaching during the pandemic. What new instruments will be introduced in the future?

In this GE Lunch Seminar, we invite Dr. Cheung Hang Cheong Derek, Dr. Han Dongkun, and Ms. Judy Lo to share their experience of online teaching. Dr. Derek Cheung will share his ZOOM lesson design, which attempts to enhance students’ engagement in the ZOOM discussion of the General Education Foundation course UGFN 1000 “In Dialogue with Nature”. Learning support tools that can facilitate students’ independent learning will also be introduced.

Dr. Han Dongkun will demonstrate three eLearning pedagogical approaches he introduced to address the issue of hands-on skills training at different levels. Firstly, flipped online laboratory is proposed and implemented in UGEB1307 “Energy and Green Society”. The basic underlying idea is that an online (synchronous) laboratory could be conducted with the help of flipped (asynchronous) laboratory instructions for students to make solar powered cars. Secondly, based on the flipped online laboratory, an improved version flipped online laboratory plus is developed and implemented in UGEB2303 “Robots in Action”. The main modification is that the online lab is constructed based on a real robotic laboratory with real robots under remote control technique. Finally, a further polished version, flipped online laboratory pro, is generated. The key distinct features are: 1. It makes unmanned robotic lab possible; 2. It incorporates automatic assessment technique on students’ performance in the lab; 3. AI-based learning assistance and personalized education are provided for studying computer programming based on big-data analysis. Dr Han will also demonstrate the effectiveness of the three versions of flipped online laboratory in the existing general education courses.

Ms. Judy Lo will go through a few common challenges GE teachers face when they deliver real-time online classes during COVID-19 and share some support resources and services available to help teachers (and students) cope with the challenges. In addition to ZOOM, a few new IT solutions have been or will be offered for teachers to try during COVID-19. Ms. Lo will briefly go through these new IT solutions (e.g. Respondus Monitor, Gradescope, Piazza, Proctorio, Examsoft) with the audience and share how teachers can try out these new solutions if they are interested.

Speakers' Bio

Dr. Cheung Hang Cheong Derek obtained his Bachelor of Science and PhD degrees in Biochemistry from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is a lecturer at the Office of University General Education and is primarily responsible for teaching one of the General Education Foundation courses UGFN1000 In Dialogue with Nature. Through interactive dialogue in class, he strives to cultivate his students to becoming a reflective person who can scrutinize his/her underlying values, beliefs, and presuppositions from multiple perspectives. As a general education teacher, Dr. Cheung is active in developing online micro-modules and educational mobile applications to meet the diverse needs of students with different academic background. He also conducts pedagogical research on evaluating the effectiveness of various learning activities for continuous refinement on the lesson designs. Dr. Cheung received the Exemplary Teaching Award in General Education 2018 and Vice-Chancellor’s Exemplary Teaching Award 2018.

Dr. Han Dongkun is currently a lecturer at the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering. He earned his PhD degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from The University of Hong Kong. From 2014 to 2016, he was a research scientist at the Department of Informatics, Technical University of Munich, Germany. From 2016 to 2017, he was a research fellow at the Department of Aerospace Engineering, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States. He now teaches three General Education courses: UGEB1307 Energy and Green Society, UGEB2303 Robots in Action, and GENA1113 Student-Oriented Teaching and Seminar. He received the Exemplary Teaching Award in General Education 2018, and Dean’s Exemplary Teaching Award of the Faculty of Engineering in 2019.

Ms. Judy Lo joined the Information Technology Services Centre (ITSC) of CUHK in 2006. She is now the head of the Academic Support Services (Education Technology) in ITSC. Together with colleagues at the Centre for Learning Enhancement And Research (CLEAR), Judy works with teachers to adopt new technologies and pedagogies to enhance teaching and learning. She also leads the instructional design and media production service team of the Centre for eLearning Innovation and Technology (ELITE).

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Building College Life under the New Normal: Challenges to Colleges and Their Responses

Speakers:

Professor KO Wing Hung (Associate Head & Dean of Students, Chung Chi College)
Ms. CHENG Yuk Kiu Amy (Administrative Manager, Dean of Students’ Office, Chung Chi College)
Dr. CHIU Chi Ming Lawrence (Dean of General Education, S.H. Ho College)
Ms. WONG Nga Kwan Phoebe (College Development Officer, College General Education Office, S.H. Ho College)

Date: 14 April 2021
Time: 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Venue: ZOOM
Language: Cantonese

College life plays an irreplaceable role in the whole-person education of a university. With a long history, Colleges in CUHK have extended students learning from classrooms to all aspects of campus life effectively. While the pandemic has lasted for more than a year, the university community is making efforts to adapt to the new normal with online teaching. Campus life becomes virtual. How can students, especially freshmen, adapt? How can they establish social connections and develop sense of belonging to the Colleges? In what ways they can seek assistance when encountering academic and financial difficulties? In response to these students’ needs, how would the Colleges tackle the challenges in a new way? Apart from teaching online, are there any alternatives? In this GE Lunch Seminar, speakers from Chung Chi College and S.H. Ho College would share their experiences on providing related assistances to encourage students to join college activities, in a way to build up a sense of belonging to the College. Colleges would also provide different platforms that allow students of various study years to organize activities to consolidate existing connections and to forge new ones to help freshmen to adapt to university life.

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Proposing or Revising a University General Education Course

Speaker: Dr. Chiu Chu Lee Julie (Associate Director, Office of University General Education)
Date: 27 January 2021
Time: 11:30 am – 1:30 pm
Venue: ZOOM
Language: English

Starting from 2004, all University General Education (University GE) courses have been categorized into Four Areas: Area A Chinese Cultural Heritage, Area B Nature, Science and Technology, Area C Society and Culture, and Area D Self and Humanity. With the support from over 40 teaching units, more than 300 University GE courses are offered. In the 2019/20 academic year, 367 classes of University GE courses were conducted, and more than 16,000 students enrolled.

This seminar targets at departments and teachers interested in proposing new University GE courses or in revising existing ones for implementation from 2021/22 academic year. We will 1) introduce the design of the University GE programme as a whole, 2) go through the procedures and criteria of University GE course approval, 3) highlight and conduct a concise demonstration of the GE Course Proposal and Inventory System (GECPI), a web-based system for the submission of University GE Course Proposals and the inventory of University GE course materials, and 4) briefly discuss the University GE course review and archive arrangements.

*For more information of submission of proposals for introduction and revision of University GE courses in 2021-22, please visit our website: https://www.oge.cuhk.edu.hk/index.php/en/teaching-a-learning/2011-07-04-07-54-58/proposing-new-courses-ge-course-proposal-a-inventory/gecpi-system

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Reflections on CUHK GE 4.0

Speaker: Prof. Alan K.L. Chan (Provost and J.S. Lee Professor of Chinese Culture)
Date: 25 January 2021
Time: 11:30 am – 1:30 pm
Venue: ZOOM
Language: English

From the founding of CUHK in 1963, General Education (GE) has been a cornerstone of the University’s undergraduate curriculum. Starting as a College-based programme, it grew into a University GE curriculum comprising seven study areas in the 1980s, before reaching its third and current incarnation in 2012, with two carefully crafted Foundation courses, selected modules in four areas, as well as College GE.

In the face of complex global challenges, a review of the CUHK GE curriculum seems timely. As a part of the University’s new strategic plan, what might CUHK GE 4.0 look like?

Speaker’s Bio

Professor Alan K.L. Chan is currently the Provost and J.S. Lee Professor of Chinese Culture at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He is also a member of the Governing Board, CUHK-Shenzhen, and has been appointed a member of the University Grants Committee (UGC). Prior to joining CUHK in 2020, Professor Chan was Toh Puan Mahani Idris Daim Chair Professor of Humanities at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. Professor Chan joined NTU as Dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences in 2009. In January 2018, he was appointed Vice President of NTU, responsible for alumni engagement, university advancement and international relations. Previously he served as Professor of Philosophy and Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education at the National University of Singapore. Professor Chan was born in Hong Kong. He received his PhD in religious studies from the University of Toronto. Professor Chan’s research focuses on Chinese philosophy and religion, and hermeneutics and critical theory. His MOOC on Coursera, “Explorations in Chinese Philosophy” has drawn over 10,000 learners.