CELT Newsletter, Fall 2011

Abstract

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology CELT Fall 2011 Center for Enhanced Learning and Teaching New Professional Development Opportunity for Early Career Faculty For over 10 years, CELT has been running orientation sessions for new faculty and teaching staff in August and January each year in collaboration with other academic support and administrative units. In the 2010- 2011 academic year, CELT collaborated with the Center for Engineering Education and Innovation in piloting a new course on Teaching in Higher Education in Hong Kong aimed particularly at Assistant Professors. From the 2011-2012 academic year, this 30-hour course will now be run intensively in mid-Jan over three and a half days. The reason for running it at this time is so that new faculty and teaching staff from both the Fall and Spring intakes can come together to build a growing faculty learning community. The course will cover the following topics: how people learn, learning styles and approaches, teaching perspectives, teaching methods for active learning in large classes and small groups, course design (outcomes, assessment, Table of contents New Professional Development Opportunity for Early Career Faculty 1 Upcoming Professional Development Programs for Fall 2011 1 The 4th HKUST Teaching and Learning Symposium 2-3 Has UG Experience at HKUST Led to Improvement in Generic Skills? 4 It's Time for an Innovative Change for your Teaching 5 Teaching Assistant Certificate of Achievement Presentation Ceremony 2010/2011 6 integration and alignment), technology-enhanced learning and teaching, evaluating your teaching and your course, and professional development planning and academic portfolios. Further details can be found in the course brochure which can be downloaded as a PDF file from http://ceit.lIst.lzk/pd/EarlyCareerFac2012.pdj All faculty are welcome to join the course in January 2012. If you are interested in joining your colleagues for this extended professional development event, please contact Nick Noakes (ctnick, ext. 6809). Upcoming Professional Development Programs for Fall 2011 August 2011 Excellence in Teaching = f(x) What is f(x) By Prof Ben Young New Faculty Orientation TA Orientation and Induction Program Workshops on LMES, Turnitin and HKUST Survey Tool September 2011 Social Media for Research Productivity & Information Management October 2011 By Nick Noakes Communication in Classroom I & II (for TAs and RPGs) By Dr Arthur McNeill Workshops on LMES, Turnitin and HKUST Survey Tool Leadership & Personal Effectiveness Training Camp (for RPGs) Social Media for Teaching & Learning By Nick Noakes and Sean McMinn Workshops on LMES, Turnitin and HKUST Survey Tool The 4th HKUST Teaching and Learning Symposium Engaging Undergraduates in Research and Inquiry -A Scholarly Dialogue A s the undergraduate education in Hong Kong changes from 3 to 4 years, redesigning the undergraduate curriculum using innovative pedagogies is now a main focus of many local universities. In response to this challenge, CELT, in collaboration with the Higher Education Research and Development Society in Australasia (HERDSA) - Hong Kong Branch, organized the 4th HKUST Teaching and Learning Symposium - 'Engaging Undergraduates in Research and Inquiry: A Scholarly Dialogue' on 20 May 2011 to promote the use of inquiry-based learning in undergraduate education. The ceremony was officiated by Prof Tony F CHAN, the President, who in his opening address stressed the importance for academic colleagues to 'come together to share their wisdom and insight on how to enhance undergraduate education'. The scholarly dialogue was started with an introductory speech entitled 'The Nature and Development of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry: Mapping the Territory' by Prof Mick Healey, an internationally renowned scholar in the field of Higher Education with a particular interest in the linking of research and teaching. In his speech, he emphasized the international interest in undergraduate research as well as shared his experiences on how to advance undergraduate research and inquiry to promote student learning. Over 70 teaching staff from nine local post-secondary institutions participated in the event and shared their experiences and insights on how to enhance undergraduate education through research and inquiry-based learning approaches. The Symposium was concluded with Prof Healey's address entitled 'Where are we Now and Options for Going Forward', in which he encouraged participants to take their ideas into actions. Some institutional representatives took the opportunity to discuss the possibility of organizing a joint-institution student research conference to celebrate the work of undergraduate research in Hong Kong in the future. Participants discussing the effective practices of promoting research and inquiry learning among undergraduates Highlights of the Symposium can now be retrieved from http://celt. ust. Hk/tlsympo11. Fall 2011 2 From left: Prof Mick Healey, Prof Michelle Yik (HKUST), Prof Lilian Vrijmoed (CityU), and Dr Robert Wright (PolyU) From left: Dr Robert Wright (PolyU), Prof Karl Smith (Purdue U), Dr Catherine Chiu (CityU), Dr Ron Kwok (CityU), Prof A. Reza Hoshmand (HKBU) Prof Mick Healey, Higher Education Consultant and Researcher from the u.K. Participants viewing poster panels contributed by faculty from local universities Fall 2011 Has UG Experience at HKUST Led to Improvement in Generic Skills? Preliminary findings of a 3-year longitudinal study assessing the value-addedness of UG programs at HKUST With funding from the Provost Office, CELT in 2007 launched a study to investigate the effectiveness of our UG programs in helping students to develop the graduate attributes, ABCLIVE. The study involved 417 students randomly selected from the 2007 cohort. Both direct and indirect (self-report) assessments were used to assess the program effectiveness, including tests on critical thinking and information literacy, questionnaires on leadership, learning and study strategies, and students' self-report about the effectiveness of the programs in helping them to develop 17 different generic attributes. Data about students' academic and non-academic experiences during their 3 years at HKUST was also collected with the aim of identifying factors which contributed to program effectiveness. At the end of the project, the overall attrition rate is around 10%. Below are some of the preliminary findings from the study. There is significant improvement in students' generic skills, including critical thinking skills, information literacy, leadership, time management, and study skills after 3 years of UG education. a. From students' self-report data, it was found that the UG programs were successful in helping to develop their generic skills and attributes in 17 dimensions, covering cognitive, social and communication skills, and social awareness. Q Students' achievement motivation was found to con-elate significantly with a range of learning outcome variables including critical thinking test scores, information literacy test scores, leadership scores, and CGA. a. An aggregate variable measuring active learning experience was found to con-elate significantly with several important variables, including relationship with instructors, and students' self-report improvement in cognitive and social skills. A seminar which reported on the findings of the study was carried out on 20 Apr 2011. If you are interested in this study, please contact Tak Ha (cttsha, ext. 6812) of CELT for fu11her information. Fall 2011 (4) It's Time for an Innovative Change for your Teaching Results of the teaching development project applications CELT annually invites faculty and teaching staff to propose teaching development projects for their innovative teaching ideas. The vetting of the second round of applications for the academic year of 2010/2011 was completed in May 2011. The nine successful applications are: a. Development of lecture-demonstration interactive approach for engineering dynamics teaching/learning using wireless MEMS-based motion sensors (prof Yi Kuen LEE, MECH) a. Teaching a Second Programming Language Using the Emporium Model (Prof David ROSSITER, CSE) a. Using scenario analysis, reflective and social communication approaches to teach debating skills to improve students' critical thinking (Prof Chi Ming CHAN, IPO) a. Development of a New Tool Kit for Assessing Intended Learning Outcomes in Signature Courses (prof Michelle YIK, SOSC) a. Less Mathematics Anxiety and More Engineering: the Integration of Graphing Calculators with Computer Algebra Systems (GCCAS) in Engineering Courses (Prof Thomas HU, CIVL and Prof Wenjing YE, MECH) Q Pilot implementation of an interactive homework system for common core level mathematics courses at HKUST (Prof Allen MOY, MATH) a. The Development and Use of General and Discipline Specific Problem Sets to Enhance the Achievement of Learning Outcomes in the Course 'Introduction to Computing with Excel VBA' and Development of Assessment Methodologies for Engineering Programming Skills (prof John BARFORD, CBME) Q. Eliminating Teaching and Learning Barriers for Improved Learning Outcomes in a Class with Students of Diverse Academic Backgrounds by Employing a Student-Centered Problem-Based Teaching and Learning Method (Prof Xueqing ZHANG, CIVL) a. Student Self Assessment Project with OBE element * named Student Self Accessing Practice Test Site Project with OBE elements (Prof Barry SAUTMAN, SOSC and Prof Billy SO, HUMA) Congratulations to all the successful applicants! Also, thanks for the supp011 and efforts of the members of the Teaching Development Project Committee and all the applicants. The new call for 2011 /12 academic year Call for Teaching Development Project proposals for the academic year of 2011/2012 has started and will last till the end of September 2011. Please check out more detailed information at http://celt.ust.hkltdprojectsl callforproposal/website/index.htm/ and share your innovative teaching ideas with us now! For any enquiry, please contact June Chan (ctjune, ext. 8917). Fall 2011 (5) Teaching Assistant Certificate of Achievement Presentation Ceremony 2010/2011 To celebrate the completion of the Teaching Assistant Training Program and to recognize our teaching assistants' (TAs) remarkable effort in fostering quality teaching and learning at the University, the TA Certificate of Achievement Presentation Ceremony 2010-2011 was held on 19 May 2011 when more than 100 TAs and faculty members participated to fill the lecture theatre up with warmth and joy. The ceremony was kicked off with a touching video produced by the Teaching Assistant Coordinator (TAC) Committee, which Faculty and TAs watching a photo video on 'TA's Life @ UST produced by the TAC Committee captured the challenging and fun moments the TAs experienced at HKUST. After the presentation of the Certificate of Achievement and the Best TA Coordinator Awards by Dr David Mole, Associate Provost (Teaching & Learning), the Best TAC of the Year, Miss Liqin Xue shared her experience of being a TA and TAC. She encouraged the TAs and TACs that their roles were important to help 'build up the brand name of HKUST'; and as an outstanding TAC, she emphasized that training was incredibly significant because it helped develop her teaching and leadership skills. Keep it up, TAs and TACs! In the coming Fall semester, the following programs will be organized to equip TAs and TACs with different skills upon their needs: Fall 2011 TA Orientation and Induction Program 22 - 30 Aug 2011 Leadership Training Camp for TAs and RPGs 22 - 23 Oct 2011 For details and questions, please contact Rowena Liu (ctrowena, ext. 6311). Results of the Best TAC Election for 2010/2011 Best TAC: Miss Liqin Xue, Department of Chemistry 1st Runner-up: Mr Gallant Chan, Division of Life Science 2nd Runner-up: Miss Yuan Yao, Department of Mathematics The 1st runner-up of Best TAC Election 2010- 2011: Mr Gallant CHAN (UFS) Miss XUE Liqin (CHEM), the Best TAC, is making a speech Complimentary lunch gathering after the Ceremony The 2nd runner-up of Best TAC Election 2010-2011: Miss YAO Yuan (MATH) Fall 2011