Designing and Teaching Effective Capstone Courses
Designing and Teaching Effective Capstone Courses
Date: 29 April 2010 (Thursday)
Speakers:
Prof. Janel Curry (Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan)
Prof. Gray Kochhar-Lindgren (Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of Washington, Bothell
Prof. Janel Curry and Prof. Gray Kochhar-Lindgren, Hong Kong Visiting Fulbright Professors in the area of general education, will lead a workshop on the pedagogical and institutional challenges of running a campus-wide or college-wide capstone seminar program. The workshop will also have relevance for discipline-specific capstone programs.
The capstone course may provide both a culminating academic experience for all students and a means of assessing several key components of whole-person education. An effective capstone can help to prepare students for some of the kinds of projects that are prevalent in today's workplace, which might involve independent and collaborative research, argumentative writing, presentation design, and presentation skills. Given the complexity of such projects and their multidisciplinary range, it is a challenge for specialized faculty members to mentor students effectively. This workshop will draw on examples from the experiences of presenters and participants to explore ways to make our capstone courses meaningful and inspiring. The presenters may also address student assessment issues.
About the Speakers
Prof. Janel Curry, currently hosted by the City University of Hong Kong, is a former dean and is presently Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She has helped to shape general education programs at several U.S. colleges. Her research involves cross-cultural and institutional comparisons.
Prof. Gray Kochhar-Lindgren is Director of University Studies and Programs, and Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, at the University of Washington at Bothell. He is currently at work on a book on designing the global university. During his Fulbright year, he is hosted by the University of Hong Kong.
Effective Pedagogy for Developing Critical Thinking
Effective Pedagogy for Developing Critical Thinking
Date: 25 February 2010 (Thursday)
Speakers: Prof. Paul Hanstedt (Professor of English, Roanoke College)
Prof. Joseph Chaney (Associate Professor of English, Indiana University - South Bend)
Professors Hanstedt and Chaney will lead a seminar on “Effective Pedagogy for Developing Critical Thinking”. Teachers in all of the faculties value critical thinking skills; and most teachers find ways to promote critical thinking in their own courses. However, we do not always formulate explicit methods, and we do not always explain to our students how our assignments will help them to develop specific critical thinking skills. By means of workshop and discussion, this session will help teachers to understand more clearly what a good critical thinking course does. Following the thinking of John C. Bean, author of Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom, our focus will be on the challenge of making a course assignment-centered. The proposition to consider is the following: “A good critical thinking course presents students with problems, questions, and issues that make a course assignment-centered, rather than text or lecture centered and holds students responsible for formulating and justifying their solutions orally or in writing.” In this way, students develop critical thinking as a conscious practice. We hope in this session to learn from one another and even, perhaps, to debate questions of definition and method.
About the Speaker
Prof. Paul Hanstedt is Professor of English at Roanoke College, where for five years he was Director of General Education. He is currently a visiting Fulbright Scholar at Hong Kong Institute of Education. He is a specialist in composition and rhetoric. His recent interest is in sustainable faculty development.
Prof. Joseph Chaney is Associate Professor of English at Indiana University South Bend, where he was Director of General Education from 2004-09. He is hosted by the Office of University General Education at the CUHK as a Fulbright Scholar. He is currently teaching the UGE course UGD2411 ‘Classics for Today: In Search of Good Life and Good Society’.
Presentation Powerpoint (login required) Discussion Summary (login required)
Addressing and Undressing Chinese Cultural Heritage
Addressing and Undressing Chinese Cultural Heritage
Date: 11 December, 2009 (Friday)
Speaker: Prof. David Pong (Professor in East Asian History, University of Delaware)
This session is intended to explore the major issues in the conception, design, organization, and delivery of courses on Chinese history and civilization. It aims at studying the issues in general, but with an attempt at focusing on those particular to CUHK as well. Audience participation is essential. In the interest of having a lively discussion, Cantonese, Putonghua, and English are all admissible. Prof. Pong’s remarks will be in English (with Cantonese summary where necessary). Participants would do well to remember that, at CUHK, students, after studying Chinese Cultural Heritage, should be able to:
- identify the essential characteristics of Chinese culture;
- recognize that Chinese culture involves different aspects and components;
- develop a critical appreciation of Chinese culture;
- recognize the relevance of Chinese cultures in modern life.
About the Speaker
Prof. David Pong is Professor in East Asian History at the University of Delaware in the US, but has taught also in England and Australia. He is now based in the History Department and the Centre for East Asian Studies at CUHK as a Fulbright Scholar. A graduate of St. Paul’s Boys’ College, Hong Kong, he earned both his BA (Hons.) and PhD in History at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His specialty is in modern Chinese history (late Qing). He has authored three books, edited three books, and published more than thirty journal articles and book chapters. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the 4-volume Encyclopedia of Modern China, which is hot off the press (August 2009). He teaches courses on East Asian Civilizations and modern China. He founded and directed the East Asian Studies Program at Delaware (1989-2009) and has led many study abroad programs to China.
“Teaching” Values
“Teaching” Values
Date: 25 November, 2009 (Wednesday)
Speakers:
Prof. Ivette Vargas-O’Bryan (Associate Professor of Asian Religions, Austin College, Texas)
Prof. Joseph Chaney (Associate Professor of English, Indiana University - South Bend)
The Ten-Year Vision Statement of CUHK expresses, in part, the following goals for its academic programmes: "The programmes offered shall strike a balance between enduring academic, social and cultural values, and the needs of society for a highly qualified workforce." Recent debate over the promotion of social and cultural values in education has centered on the possible conflict between values education and disciplinary and professional training. Taking as our starting point the article by Mark W. Roche, "Should Faculty Members Teach Virtues and Values? That is the Wrong Question" (Liberal Education, Summer 2009, 32-37, available online at http://www.aacu.org/liberaleducation/le-su09/le-su09_Roche.cfm), we shall investigate the degree to which we already "teach" values; and we will attempt to define the status of values as a consideration in university instruction and in general education especially.
About the Speaker
Professors Vargas-O’Bryan and Chaney will lead a seminar on the question of whether values should be taught at the university, whether they can be taught, and if so how they might be taught or addressed in the classroom. Much of the session will take the form of open discussion. Participants will have an opportunity to ask questions, explore possible answers, and share teaching methods.
Prof. Ivette Vargas-O’Bryan is Associate Professor of Asian Religions at Austin College in Texas. Prof. Vargas-O’Bryan is currently a visiting Fulbright Scholar teaching at City University of Hong Kong. She teaches “Religion and Society in Asia” in the Department of Asian and International Studies. She has also been involved in the discussions with Fulbright on general education in Hong Kong.
Prof. Joseph Chaney is Associate Professor of English at Indiana University - South Bend. Prof. Chaney was Director of General Education at the Indiana University South Bend from 2004-08. He is hosted by the Office of University General Education at the CUHK as a Fulbright Scholar. In Term 2, he will teach the UGE course UGD2411 ‘Classics for Today: In Search of Good Life and Good Society’.
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Science Education through General Education
Science Education through General Education
Date: 13 November, 2009 (Friday)
Speakers:
Dr. Chiu Chi Ming Lawrence (Department of Biology, CUHK)
Dr. Pang Kam Moon (Department of Physics, CUHK)
Teaching departments are now welcome to put up proposals for the introduction/revision/withdrawal of UGE courses to be implemented in 2010-11 through the Course Proposal and Inventory System (GECPI). Our office will organise a series of seminars which will provide ideas and inspirations to you if you are planning to write course proposals.
About the Speaker
Dr. Chiu Chi Ming and Dr. Pang Kam Moon are both experienced University GE (UGE) teachers. They have been teaching UGE science courses since 2002. In this seminar, they will share their experience in teaching large classes. It is generally agreed that a UGE science course should lead students to, with a scientific attitude, appraise and evaluate human’s role in being part of nature and the impact of science and technology on today’s life. However, most teachers also find it difficult to achieve this goal in large classes where individual students’ science backgrounds are hard to cater for. The speakers will share the difficulties they encountered and suggest some possible solutions, including the design of teaching plans, for discussion.
Dr. Chiu Chi Ming teaches UGB226M ‘From Genes to Life’ and a team taught course, UGB236M ‘Wonders and Insights in Bioscience’. ‘From Genes to Life’ introduces to students some fundamental knowledge of how genes determine and control our appearance and behaviour. The course is also designed to develop students’ critical thinking through discussing ethical, legal and social issues
generated from genetic research and biotechnology.
Dr. Pang Kam Moon teaches three UGE courses: UGB240M ‘Astronomy’, UGB250M ‘Forces of Nature’ and UGB239M ‘Perspectives in Physical Sciences’. He jointly developed the course ‘Astronomy’ with other teachers at the Physics Department. The course is exemplary in both design and implementation. It imparts to students not only scientific knowledge alone, but also examines, from a historical perspective, different views on the universe, the philosophy of science and astronomy’s relations to other disciplines.
Presentation of Dr. Chiu Chi Ming (login required) Presentation of Dr. Pang Kam Moon (login required)
Tale of Two Cultures: Reflection on Universal Issues
Tale of Two Cultures: Reflection on Universal Issues
Date: 22 October, 2009 (Thursday)
Speakers:
Prof. Lynne Y. Nakano (Chairperson, Department of Japanese Studies, CUHK) and
Prof. Kenneth R. Valpey (Visiting Scholar, Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, CUHK)
Teaching departments are now welcome to put up proposals for the introduction/revision/withdrawal of UGE courses to be implemented in 2010-11 through the Course Proposal and Inventory System (GECPI). Our office will organise a series of seminars which will provide ideas and inspirations to you if you are planning to write course proposals.
About the Speaker
Prof. Lynne Y. Nakano and Prof. Kenneth R. Valpey both teach GE courses which expose students a specific culture and society. In this seminar, they will share their valuable experience teaching these courses. Specifically, they will show us how they lead students to address more universal issues through discussion and analysis of a particular culture.
Prof. Lynne Y. Nakano taught the GE course UGC223G ‘Japanese Culture and Society’. In 2007-08, she received the Exemplary Teaching Award in General Education. She is currently the Chairperson and Associate Professor of Department of Japanese Studies.
Prof. Kenneth R. Valpey teaches two GE courses in this term: UGC230P ‘Tradition and Modernity in India’ and UGD232P ‘Love in Indian Culture’. He is currently a Research Fellow at the Centre for Hindu Studies of Oxford University. Since 2007, he continues to teach at Department of Cultural and Religious Studies each Autumn semester as a Visiting Scholar.
Presentation of Dr. Lynne Y. Nakano (login required) Presentation of Dr. Kenneth R. Valpey (login required)
