Abstract
The Community of Inquiry in Land Law is a new frontier in e-learning at CUHK. The community will aim at fostering students’ critical analysis, research and writing skills on the one hand, and enriching students’ global experience through student initiated research projects. It encourages students’ contribution to collaborative discourse on research questions that are of true interest to them.
Through this community, students may select from a range of activities: podcast, blog post, overseas scholars interview and short videos. They may then publish their work on an e-platform, to communicate ideas with broader audience in related field.
In line with the university’s theme of ‘Innovation and Design’ and ‘Internationalization at Home’, this community of inquiry serves two purposes: (1) as an identity transition journey for students, from passive to active learning; from knowledge consumption to production; from being merely a student to emerging scholar; and (2) add intrinsic value to students’ work as a scholarly contribution to academic and professional debates.
The underlying purpose and value of this project is to address the growing discrepancy between skills required to solve real world problems and the knowledge acquired through conventional teaching, learning and assessment method. This project is thus proposed in search for ways of getting more value out of students’ course participation and assignment.
Brief write-up
Project objectives
In line with the university’s themes of ‘Innovation and Design’ and ‘Internationalization at Home’, this CoI project in LLB Land Law courses serves two purposes: 1) to facilitate identity transition journey for students, from passive to active learning; from knowledge consumption to production; from being merely a student to an emerging scholar; and 2) to add intrinsic value to students’ work as a scholarly contribution to academic and professional debates by providing students with a publication opportunity on a public facing Issues in Property Law blog.
Activities, process and outcomes
- Implementation of CoI in Land Law I (LAWS3151) and Land Law II (LAWS3152) courses in 2017/18 and 2018/19 academic years.
Deliverables and evaluation
- Students’ work on a public facing Issues in Property Law Blog
- CoI articles on Learning Matters Blog
- Evaluation through survey questionnaire with Land Law course students
Dissemination, diffusion, impact and sharing of good practices
The project leader has presented findings at
- the CUHK Teaching and Learning Innovation Expo 2017: Communities of Inquiry: cultivating collaborative knowledge building on an undergraduate course (7th December 2017)
- The Association of Law Teachers Conference 2018 : Diversity and Innovation, ‘Forming a community of inquiry in an undergraduate course’, Keele University, UK (26th -27th March 2018)
- Directions in Legal Education Conference 2018: ‘Forming a community of inquiry in an undergraduate course’, Faculty of Law, CUHK, Hong Kong (1st – 2nd June 2018)
- The 41st annual HERDSA Conference: (Re) Valuing Higher Education: ‘Forming a community of inquiry in an undergraduate course’, the Adelaide Convention Centre， Adelaide (2nd-5th July 2018)
- Faculty Teaching and Learning Seminars
