Re-imagining Undergraduate Education Amy B M Tsui Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice President The University of Hong Kong.

Re-imagining Undergraduate Education

Amy B M TsuiPro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice PresidentThe University of Hong Kong

Outline

• International Higher Education Landscape

• 334 Education Reform: Nurturing 21st century graduates at HKU– Goal-setting: aims of UG education– Operationalization and Implementation– Challenges

• Personal Reflections

Information Age

Knowledge Economy

Reviews of Higher Education Worldwide

UK: 1997 (Dearing Report); 2003 (The Future of HE); Scotland 2002-2004 (3 Phases of Higher Education Review); 2007 (Burgess Report); 2011 (HE White Paper)

US: 1998 (Boyer Report), 2002 (Review of Boyer); 2005 (LEAP); 2008 (national report on HE)

Europe: 1998 (Bologna Process); 2010 (EHEA); 2010 (Impact of BP)

HK: 1996 (Review of HE); 2002 (Sutherland Report); 2010

China: 1993, 211 project (21st century; 100 universities) ; 1998, 985 project (May 1998 – 9 universities) → 34 in 2009 ; 2009, formal establishment of C9 – Chinese Ivy League ; 2010, (Medium and Long Term Educational Reform blueprint 2020)

Australia: 1998 (West Review), 2003 (Backing Aust’s Future); 2008 (Bradley Report)

International HE Reform Initiatives : refocusing on UG Education

Curriculum Structure: standardization & portability of credits; flexibility for student choice, career change; recognition of prior experience

International experience: global outlook

Curriculum content: broadening; early specialization questioned

Breaking down barriers: vocational vs university training; university vs community

Emphasis on generic skills and life-long learning

“The growth of the conceptual component of output has brought with it accelerating demands for workers who are equipped not simply with technical know-how, but with the ability to create, analyze, and transform information and to interact effectively with others.”

Knowledge Economy Conceptual Economy

Alan Greenspan, 1997, speech at U. of Connecticut

“The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind—creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers.”

Daniel Pink, 2005, A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers will Rule the Future (Riverhead Books); translated into 34 languages.

Conceptual Age

“…technology alone is not enough. It is technology married with liberal arts, married with humanities, that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing.” (Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple Computer and Pixar Animation)

Innovation: crossing boundaries

• It is no longer sufficient to teach skills or even meta-skills (e.g. learning how to learn).

• Skills are important but so are mind sets and dispositions. … passion, imagination, and “arc of life” learning: activities in our daily lives which keep us learning, growing and exploring.

Thomas, Douglas & Brown, John Seely (2011), Lexington, Ky: CreateSpace

334 Education Reform (2009 - ) in Hong Kong

Secondary education (2009 - )

5 (100%) +2 (40%) → 3 +3 (100%)

New senior secondary curriculum:

S4-S6

New exam system:

HKALE (NRA) → HKDSE (SRA)

Undergraduate education (2012 - )

3 → 4 years

4 Core Subjects

Chinese LanguageEnglish Language

MathematicsLiberal Studies

Literacy + numeracy

Critical thinking

2 or 3 Elective Subjects

Chosen from: 20 elective subjects

Applied Learning courses

Other Languages

Broad knowledge base and diverse

interests

Other Learning Experiences

Moral and Civic Education

Community ServiceAesthetic DevelopmentPhysical Development

Career-related ExperiencesPositive values and

attitudes, and whole-person development

Source: EDB (2005) New Academic Structure for Senor Secondary Education and Higher Education – Action Plan for the Future. HK Govt. Printers

New Senior Secondary Curriculum (S4-6)

Professors’ Responses to 4-year UG Curriculum Reform

I want my students to have a more solid grounding in Chemistry!

I want to give students remedial math so that they can follow our syllabus.

I want my students to specialize more !

I want my students to stop asking me what is the right answer !

I want thinking architects !

I want my students to treat patients as human beings !

Professors’ Responses to 4-year UG Curriculum Reform

Employers’ Responses

I want graduates who can work outside their comfort zone !

I want graduates who can identify what the problem is, not just solve problems !

I want graduates who can tell me an interesting novel they have read !

Undergraduate Curriculum Reform at HKU

Goal-Setting: Educational Aims

Six Educational Aims for UG Education:• Academic excellence and critical intellectual

inquiry • tackling novel situations and ill-defined

problems• personal and professional ethics• intercultural understanding and global

citizenship• communication and collaboration• leadership and advocacy for the improvement

of the human condition

Operationalization and Implementation

Questions from teachers

• These aims are motherhood and apple pie. How do we achieve them?

• How can they be realized in the curriculum?

• How do we teach them?

• How can we assess values and dispositions?

Response

• What do we need to do to generate university-wide discussion?

• What are the key ideas and concepts in this reform process ?

• Do we have a common language to explore them?

• How do we know whether things are working?

A Conceptual Framework for New Curriculum

EducationalAims

Co

nce

pti

on

of

Kn

ow

led

ge

Th

eory

of

Lea

rnin

g

University CommunityGlobal & Local Environments

Goal & Principles of Curriculum Design

Conception of the Curriculum

Pedagogy Assessment

Content

CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK

Common Conception of Curriculum

Extra-/Co-curricular activities (Informal

curriculum)• Non-systematic• Incidental• Tacit• Contextualized and

situated• Not assessed• Student driven

Classroom Learning(Formal curriculum)

• Systematic• Organized• Explicit• Decontextualized• Assessed• Teacher driven

Reconceptualization of Curriculum

Curriculum = Total

learning experienc

e

ClassroomLearning

Extra / Co-curricular

Learning

Learning Environment : Learning Commons - Synergy between physical,

virtual and social environments

Learning Commons: Collaborative learning

Learning Commons: Collaborative learning

Learning Commons : Chilling out after class

Learning Environment : Collaborative classrooms

Learning Environment: Flexible classrooms

Library

Library: discussion corners

Enabling Curriculum StructureLearning environment : Curriculum structure

Learning Environment: Curriculum Structure

Minor

Physics (Science)

Music (Arts)

Computer Science

(Engineering)

Finance (Business and Econ)

Global Studies (Social

Sciences)

Major

Astronomy (Science)

Philosophy (Arts)

Information Management (Education)

Economics (Business and Econ)

Psychology (Social Sciences)

CompulsoryCommon Core

English

Chinese

ElectivesElectives 1

Electives 2

Electives 3

Curriculum structure: enabling & flexible

Learning Environment: Curriculum Structure

Minor

Physics (Science)

Music (Arts)

Computer Science

(Engineering)

Finance (Business and Econ)

Global Studies (Social

Sciences)

Major

Astronomy (Science)

Philosophy (Arts)

Information Management (Education)

Economics (Business and Econ)

Psychology (Social Sciences)

CompulsoryCommon Core

English

Chinese

ElectivesElectives 1

Electives 2

Electives 3

Curriculum structure: enabling & flexible

Learning Environment: Curriculum Structure

Minor

Physics (Science)

Music (Arts)

Computer Science

(Engineering)

Finance (Business and Econ)

Global Studies (Social

Sciences)

Major

Astronomy (Science)

Philosophy (Arts)

Information Management (Education)

Economics (Business and Econ)

Psychology (Social Sciences)

CompulsoryCommon Core

English

Chinese

ElectivesElectives 1

Electives 2

Electives 3

Curriculum structure: enabling & flexible

Learning Environment: Curriculum Structure

Minor

Physics (Science)

Music (Arts)

Computer Science

(Engineering)

Finance (Business and Econ)

Global Studies (Social

Sciences)

Major

Astronomy (Science)

Philosophy (Arts)

Information Management (Education)

Economics (Business and Econ)

Psychology (Social Sciences)

CompulsoryCommon Core

English

Chinese

ElectivesElectives 1

Electives 2

Electives 3

Curriculum structure: enabling & flexible

Goals:

• Transitioning to university education

• Setting academic and personal goals

• Selecting courses and programmes

• Maximizing learning opportunities

Learning Journey: Academic advising

Approach: Advising Redundancy

• Academic advisor for each student (mandatory)

• Peer advisor (optional)

• Residential advisor (all residential halls)

Induction into University Learning

• To ask questions instead of looking for right or wrong answers

• To see things from different perspectives• To see things as connected

The student who can begin early in life to think of things as connected … has begun the life of learning.” (Mark van Doren, 1943, Liberal Education, p. 115)

Mark van Doren (1894-1972) American poet, writer, critic; winner of Politzer prize for poetry (1940)

Common Core Curriculum: Framework

Addresses

• issues of deeply profound significance to humankind

• core intellectual skills that all undergraduates should acquire

• core values that they should uphold

HKU Common Core 核心課程

China: Culture, State and Society

Scientific & Technological Literacy

Humanities

Global Issues

“Only connect….” E.M. Forster (1910), Howards End.

Theme 1 Science, technology and society – Key issues

i. Can science and scientific discoveries be value-free? How are scientific findings shaped by beliefs and value systems?

ii. Can science be error-free? What are the possibilities and consequences of the misuse of science?

iii. What are the benefits of technological innovations and what kind of unwelcome and unanticipated side effects could they bring?

iv. What are the moral and ethical dilemmas created by scientific discoveries and new technologies? …. How can we formulate our position and plan appropriate action as we face these dilemmas?

"I want students to think about where the food they eat comes from and the human and environmental costs of providing food. They find out very quickly that the key issue is not biotechnology, it's much more to do with economics and politics. Social science departments may teach some of this, but they tend to skate over the technological issues. But if it were taught purely as a food science course, students wouldn't learn about the bigger issues."

Dr Harold Corke, Assoc Professor in the School of Biological Sciences, teaches “Feeding the World”

Feeding the World

8.8%

26.4%

5.7%

0.3%5.5%5.5%2.1%

8.2%

14.0%

23.6%

Architecture

Arts

Business & Economics

Dentistry

EducationEngineering

Law

Medicine

Social Sciences

Science

2012-2013: 151 courses on offer

Common Core : Faculty Participation

Assistant Professor41 (34%)

Associate Professor 50 (42%)

Chair Professor & full Professor

21 (17%)

Teaching Consultant/ Fellow9 (7%)

Common Core : Profile of teachers

Investigation of issues in real-life contexts

Experiential Learning: from peripheral to central

Dialectics of Knowing and Doing

“When you know something but don’t act on it, your knowledge of it is still superficial. After you’ve personally experienced it, your knowledge of it will be much clearer and its significance will be different from what it used to be.”

Zhu Xi, 朱熹 philosopher, Song Dynasty, 1130-1200)

• “Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.” John Dewey (1895-1952)

• Learning as social participation: learning is not just a cognitive process, it is fundamentally social and experiential(Jean Lave, 1988; Lave and Wenger 1991; Wenger 1998).

45

Dialectics of Learning and Doing

Characteristics of real-life working environments:• Situations are often unfamiliar• Problems are not well-defined• Contextual factors are crucial• No perfect solution – learning to live with dilemmas

Experiential Learning: Embodiment of knowledge, skills, disposition and

values

Skills and disposition cultivated:• Adaptability; thinking on one’s feet• Empathy; passion• Resourcefulness; imagination; creativity• Communication, collaboration, negotiation• Decision-making: making informed decisions driven

by core values

Engineering Faculty: Sichuan Post-earthquake Kindergarten Reconstruction

(2008-2011)

Sichuan Kindergarten Construction Completed

Main Entrance of Sichuan Kindergarten

Engineering FacultyConstruction Projects in Guangxi, PRC

Mingde Lou– a primary school

Gewu Lou – a dormitory

Qinmo Village Project 2006-2010 (Architecture Faculty )

A New School blending with the terraced rice fields

A school in Qinmo Village in need of a face-lift

The school provides a new community space for the village.

Community participation is encouraged by having the villagers and children paint the individual bricks for the façade of the classrooms

Rural Urban Framework: Luk Zuk Village Redevelopment Project 2011-12

(Faculty of Architecture)

Business Consulting Practicum: Making a business plan for a social enterprise

(Faculty of Business & Economics)

2.5

3

3.5

4

07-10 08-11 09-12 Intercultural

understandingGlobal Citizenship Advocacy for the

improvement of the human condition

Same-cohort comparison of HKUSLEQ scores (3-year curriculum)

07-10 08-11 09-12 07-10 08-11 09-12

2007 – First Yr N = 1087; Final Yr N = 1324 / 2008 – First Yr N = 1241; Final Yr N = 1513 / 2009 – First Yr N = 1389; Final Yr N = 1581

Reflections on Leading and Managing Curriculum Reform

Shared “Vision” • Seeing the big picture• Seeing the need for change : evidence-based

Goal-setting: What do we want to achieve?• Building “consensus” Building a common discourse

and a shared repertoire (ideas and concepts)Operationalization and implementation

• Innovation: New ideas is only part of the equation, execution is just as important.

• Participation and ownership: willingness to live with imperfection

• Resource supportSustaining change

• Incorporated into everyday practice

– as part of quality assurance and enhancement mechanisms

– as part of performance indicators, with resource implications

• Infra-structures to support and sustain change

• Monitoring and disseminating progress

• Celebrating and sharing good practices

• Strategic allocation / re-allocation of resource support

Challenge: Sustaining Change

Qualities of a Leader

• Don’t presume you have the answer.• Initiate open discussions and interrogation.• Look for “positive deviants” – they see solutions where

others don’t.• Use innovative behaviours to shape new thinking, not

the other way round.

Jerry Sternin – Save the Children Project in Vietnam (1990-1996)

“Act your way into new ways of thinking”, not “think your way into news ways of acting.” (Pascale, Sternin and Sternin, 2010)