Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 1979

Special Emphasis Week on University Teaching and Learning A Special Emphasis Week on University Teaching and Learning was held at the University from 3rd to 6th September, 1979. The programme was arranged by the Senate Committee on Instructional Development and staff members from many different departments contributed to the Week's activities. During the Week there were many opportunities to discover what facilities were available to help staff in their teaching and students in their learning. The Vice-Chancellor opened the Week. In a written address he said that in order to provide education of a high quality that was also socially relevant, the University must be prepared to exercise its tradition of intelligent flexibility and to modify itself from time to time. Academics were used to giving systematic and critical attention to academic subjects in order to maintain the highest possible standards in them. In the same way and for the same reasons, in their role as professional educators, they needed to give systematic and critical attention to their educational practices. In discussing the reason for having a Special Emphasis Week he pointed out: 'much of what is being taught in the university today was not known 20 years ago and may be obsolete or irrelevant 10 years hence. The ways of teaching and learning that suited a more leisurely age may no longer be relevant today. It is necessary to teach for change and to explore and use to their best advantage all the recent advances in educational technology and our understanding of the teaching and learning process.' Programme of the Week included over ten topical lectures on teaching technology as well as workshops and introductory sessions on computer- assisted learning, micro-teaching and audio-visual aids. Highlights of the programme were: a lecture on ‘The Functions and Limitations of Lecturing' by Professor To Cho-Yee, Director of the School of Education; seminars and discussions on 'Sciencing in English: A N e w Approach to First Year English', ‘Small Group Teaching, The Applied Learning Model' ， ‘The N ew Curriculum for First Year Chinese Language Studies' and 'Chinese-Oriented Approaches to Teaching and Learning in the University' . The new Audio-Visual Department of the University Library was also opened, and exhibitions/ workshops on audio-visual aids and on how to prepare materials and operate the machines were held. The Special Emphasis Week was planned to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and experie concerning learning and teaching in the University. It was part of an on-going programme in which staff explore the possibilities for interesting and more effective teaching and learning. Before the Week was over participants were already requesting and planning further sessions to deal with some of the issues that had been raised and to make the workshops available on other parts of the campus. Professor To's lecture will be published as an Occasional Paper of the Senate Committee on Instructional Development.