The prolonged period of fight against COVID-19 and school suspension has posed huge challenges to every member of the education community. The tremendous effort of schools and parents in sustaining learning online has not only overcome limits presented by social distancing, but also inspired a new chapter of educational transformation as schools resume.

This Faculty of Education has been conducting a comprehensive 360-degree survey study to gather gather information about the experiences and needs of primary and secondary schools during the periods of school suspension and resumption. The project aims to enhance community capacities to improve the education opportunities, digital competence and well-being of students. These would also enable them to cope with various aspects of life in a fast-changing world in which digital technology plays a pervasive role.

https://www.ecitizen.hk/360/#root

Semester Two courses at HKU will be offered 100% online or face-to-face, but not in a hybrid mode.

Students will learn about the delivery mode of courses by 11 December, the deadline for course coordinators to inform students about how the courses will be taught.

In an announcement on second semester teaching arrangements, Professor Ian Holliday, VP for learning and teaching, said that the university is dropping the hybrid mode since student feedback shows that the demand for the face-to-face component of hybrid courses is limited.

“A single teaching mode offers a better learning experience,” said professor Holliday.

The arrangement applies to all undergraduate and taught-postgraduate courses.

Small-group interactive sessions such as tutorials, labs, studios, clinical practicums, could be offered online, face-to-face or in hybrid mode.

Final exams will be conducted online except for those “that need to be held in-person,”  such as courses with special requirements. Exams can also be held in person if all the students taking  the course are in Hong Kong and if “it is safe for them to attend an in-person exam. “

In S2, students will be assessed by letter grades. Pass/fail options will no longer be available but students will be allowed to “late drop” by 23:59 pm on 9 April 2021.

See the detail announcement here

In order to reflect more deeply on the unforeseen circumstances of 2019-20 that have impacted our learning together—and to create a marker for what we have experienced—the Common Core has created Unforeseen Circumstances, a peer-reviewed multimedia journal + exhibit space for Common Core undergraduates, recent HKU graduates, and peer-collaborators from beyond HKU that is published online and accessible to all.

Professor Ian Holliday, Vice-President (Teaching and Learning) of HKU introducing the HKU E-learning Resource Hub

The HKU E-Learning Resource Hub provides access to HKU’s online courses, e-learning projects and services. The platform offers search and browse functions for electronic resources, online tools, guides, courses, equipment, learning spaces and departmental services in support of teaching and learning.

The hub was developed by the University Libraries in collaboration with the Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL), Information Technology Services (ITS) and Technology Enhanced Learning Initiative (TeLi).

HKU staff and students can suggest new resources either developed by HKU or other institutions for inclusion into the E-learning Resource Hub via e-form.

Despite all the remarkable technological breakthroughs that we have made over the past few decades, the threat from infectious diseases has significantly accelerated. In this course, we will learn why this is the case by looking at the fundamental scientific principles underlying epidemics and the public health actions behind their prevention and control in the 21st century.

The course starts at  5 August 2020.

This is the third (control of infectious diseases) of the four courses, covers these topics:

• Disease Surveillance
• Non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI)
• Vaccination (Effectiveness, Trials, Safety, Impact on Populations, Vaccine Economics, Confidence and Hesitancy)
• Panel Discussion on WHO’s Response to the Ebola Outbreak; and Anti-vaccination

It also covers supplementary material on Covid-19.

Enroll now

For past courses, please visit Epidemics I and Epidemics II.

Speech delivered at “Re-imagining Higher Education,”  Responsive4U e-symposium

June 22, 2020

I’m truly delighted today to join this very fruitful conversation upon the completion of the Responsive4U project. And thank you, Andrea, for hosting this symposium.

First, I would like to offer my warmest congratulations to everyone involved in the project from the four universities for these remarkable achievements. And in particular, our project leader Professor Ricky Kwok and the six co-leaders, Professor Isabella Poon and Dr. Wong Wing-hung from CUHK, Professor Chetwyn Chan from PolyU, Professor Chang Chih-Chen and Professor Roger Cheng from HKUST and also Professor Gray Kochhar-Lindgren from HKU.

It is really impressive to have over 2,000 students enrolled in these shared courses under this project. The course packages which are shareable among participating institutions and a wider group of stakeholders are of truly high quality.  I’m pleased to learn the very positive feedback from those who have taken part in this worthwhile initiative.

Coping with the Disruptive Impact of COVID19

You mentioned that the UGC funded this project a couple of years back. Obviously, when we decided to fund the project, we had absolutely no idea how the spread of a new virus in the form of COVID-19 would have disrupted the higher education sector to such an extent. As one observer put it, “for most people throughout the world, it does seem like the world as we knew it has hit the pause button now”. Many are also predicting that the world will be forever different. And a new normal with mask wearing, social distancing, restrictive travel measures, and more frequent online meetings has emerged and is likely to become part of everyday life. Professor Ian Holliday just earlier mentioned the kind of changes the universities would have to introduce to manage all these new developments.

Pandemics are, by their nature, always disruptive to human society. We know during the Black Death in the second half of the 14th century, medieval universities were devastated. Many students and lecturers, for example, in Oxford and Cambridge, fled when the disease spread to the university towns. But the students and their teachers still found ways of managing the situation with escape plans. And even before the pandemic was over, four new colleges were established in Cambridge and student enrollment increased in Oxford. In many ways COVID-19 is more all encompassing in its disruptive impact than previous pandemics and the implications for those of us in higher education is likely to be far-reaching. A recent commentary in the South China Morning Post suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic had “rocked the foundations of universities as a critical sector of our economies, and created a crisis for millions of millennials who see their future livelihoods in jeopardy”.

Blended learning will shape post COVID-19 university education

The Responsive University Project addresses a number of key issues on the challenge of quality learning experiences for our higher education sector, even the technological changes, and the rapidly evolving social and economic environment that took place even before COVID-19 hit us. Universities all suffered during previous pandemics, but they have re-emerged as institutions that help our understanding of the world around us with science and knowledge. They have also become institutions that serve wider segments of society and at the forefront in the promotion of technological innovation, economic growth, better understanding of human societies and also in nurturing leadership for communities around the world. How universities will emerge from the current epidemic is going to be really crucial for the future of human societies. With COVID-19, there is unprecedented interest in e-learning among educational institutions worldwide. The need for sharing quality content as we turn to e-learning is global, from webinars to online streaming of musicals and plays. The world has really embraced the idea of sharing without physical or institutional boundaries almost overnight. I believe blended learning will shape post COVID-19 university education. The paradigm shift is irreversible.

I’m truly excited this morning when I heard so many bright minds sharing their visions on how education can become more responsive in the digital era. The discussion was fruitful and enlightening for me. And this symposium has inspired all of us to think about  the delivery of education in the post-COVID era. I’m sure the successful conclusion of the project will be a very important milestone for more extensive and deeper collaboration among universities in Hong Kong, for new thinking on learning and the impact of this project will be lasting for many, many more years to come.

Promoting an ecosystem for excellence in teaching and learning

As you know, the UGC has always been enthusiastic when it comes to teaching excellence. We certainly are happy to support this meaningful, collaborative endeavor under our funding scheme for teaching and learning. The funding scheme started in the 2012-15 triennium provided extra resources to universities. It has been successful in bringing pedagogical changes and innovations. Another round of funding scheme in the 2016-19 triennium with about $178.9 million was further allocated to the universities. I’m glad to see that the seeds planted a couple of years ago have started to bear fruits.  Even with all these achievements, we know you want to do more. And that is why we provided 50% more funding for the UGC Teaching Development and Language Enhancement Grant in the 2019-22 triennium, bringing the grant amount to $781.2 million. We hope that our message for supporting teaching and learning is clear, and that our support can make a difference to the higher education landscape here in Hong Kong.

Obviously, we would like to see each other face to face and physical interaction is important in university education. I’m sure the trend for blended learning and flipped classrooms, which started well before the disruption brought about by COVID-19 will become more widely adopted. Now that both teachers and students are more skilled at interacting online and are more appreciative of the use and limitations of such platforms.

The UGC is happy to continue our support for innovative ways in the promotion of an ecosystem for excellence in teaching and learning for the sector. I’m truly pleased to see such a successful completion of the Responsive4U project.

Thank you so much.

Professor Daniel K. L Chua, Chair Professor of Music shares his personal musings and improvised thoughts on Schubert.  “Music at a Time of COVID-19: An Impromptu with Daniel KL Chua.”

To encourage online learning during the school suspension period, HKU has launched a “Free MOOC Certification” programme for secondary school students in Hong Kong. The programme allows Secondary 4 and Secondary 5 students to obtain free certificates for completing the online assessment part of the HKUx courses.

Programme details

Each student can complete one HKU MOOC course on the edX platform (courses with HKU logo on edX platform) with assessment and get a certificate for free. Students who wish to take a course can visit the HKU Cloud-based Learning website at https://aal.hku.hk/admissions/local/hku-cloud-learning and register on or before May 29.

After registration, a redemption code for the free course certification will be sent to students via email, which can be used in any of the HKUx courses on edX.org. Upon successful completion of the course, students can obtain a course certificate for free. The number of free certifications is limited.

Over 500 enrolments have been recorded since the launch of the “Free MOOC Certification” programme in early March. These enrolments come from both local and international schools, such as CCC Ming Yin College, Islamic Kasim Tuet Memorial College, YMCA of Hong Kong Christian College, Diocesan Girls’ School, Diocesan Boys’ School, Queen’s College, SKH Tsang Shiu Tim Secondary School, Shatin College, Victoria Shanghai Academy and more.

The University hopes that through the collaboration with edX, secondary school students will be more motivated to continue learning at home during the school suspension period.

Popular HKUx courses

HKUx offers a wide range of online courses covering medicine, law, natural sciences, economics, engineering, humanities and more.

Epidemics I & II

HKU’s School of Public Health launched “Epidemics I” in 2019, enabling the general public to learn about the origin, spread and control of epidemics from world-renowned experts. This year’s MOOC, “Epidemics II”, started on March 19. Over the course of three weeks, epidemiologists from HKU will cover in detail theories of epidemiology, as well as disease prevention and control protocols. Throughout the course, students will learn about foundational epidemiologic theories, such as disease prevention via the epidemiologic triangle model, and transmission and infection forecasts via mathematical models of infectious diseases. Follow-up discussions will also cover current case studies of the new coronavirus – students may partake in discussions with epidemiologic experts, exchanging ideas and opinions with scholars of the field.

Learn more

State, Law and the Economy I

Economic concepts often give a fresh and unobvious perspective when applied to the study of how the state, law, and the economy functions and are interrelated. This course has four parts and is taught by Professor Richard Wong, Chair of Economics Philip Wong Kennedy Wong Professor in Political Economy of HKU. Students will be taught essential economic concepts in an intuitive manner relevant to the study of political economy. Part One of the course is focused on developing the essential economic concepts.

Learn more

Introduction to FinTech

As one of the ten finalists of the edX Prize 2019 and designed by leading academics from a wide range of disciplines with input from industry leaders including SuperCharger, the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE), Microsoft, PwC and the Asia Capital Markets Institute (ACMI), the course provides the latest key trends in finance, technology and regulation, to better prepare for not only the opportunities but also the risks and challenges, to traditional financial institutions and business models and those working in them.

Humanity and Nature in Chinese Thought

Taught by Chad Hansen, Emeritus Chair Professor of Chinese Philosophy of HKU, the course provides an introduction to traditional Chinese ethical thought and a tour of the pervasive contrast in the way Chinese and Westerners think about ethical guidance or guidance concerning what is right and what is wrong, good or bad, with Western ethics focusing on a “law” metaphor – where moral law is “supernatural” command, while Chinese ethics focuses on a “path” metaphor where the paths are “written” in nature prior to human practices.