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

3. 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

4. Information Age
Knowledge Economy

5. Reviews of Higher Education Worldwide
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)
UK: 1997 (Dearing Report); 2003 (The Future of HE); Scotland (3 Phases of Higher Education Review); 2007 (Burgess Report); 2011 (HE White Paper)
Europe: 1998 (Bologna Process); 2010 (EHEA); 2010 (Impact of BP)
US: 1998 (Boyer Report), 2002 (Review of Boyer); 2005 (LEAP); 2008 (national report on HE)
HK: 1996 (Review of HE); 2002 (Sutherland Report); 2010
Australia: 1998 (West Review), 2003 (Backing Aust’s Future); 2008 (Bradley Report)
Reviews of Higher Education Worldwide

6. International HE Reform Initiatives : refocusing on UG Education
Curriculum Structure: standardization & portability of credits; flexibility for student choice, career change; recognition of prior experience
Curriculum content: broadening; early specialization questioned
Emphasis on generic skills and life-long learning
Breaking down barriers: vocational vs university training; university vs community
International HE Reform Initiatives : refocusing on UG Education
International experience: global outlook

7. Knowledge Economy  Conceptual Economy
“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.”
Alan Greenspan, 1997, speech at U. of Connecticut

8. Conceptual Age
“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.

9. Innovation: crossing boundaries
“…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)

10. It is no longer sufficient to teach skills or even meta-skills (e. g
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

11. 334 Education Reform (2009 - ) in Hong Kong
Secondary education ( ) 5 (100%) +2 (40%) → 3 +3 (100%) New senior secondary curriculum: S4-S6 New exam system: HKALE (NRA) → HKDSE (SRA) Undergraduate education ( ) 3 → 4 years

12. New Senior Secondary Curriculum (S4-6)
4 Core Subjects
Chinese Language
English Language
Mathematics
Liberal Studies
2 or 3 Elective Subjects
Chosen from: 20 elective subjects
Applied Learning courses
Other Languages
Other Learning Experiences
Moral and Civic Education
Community Service
Aesthetic Development
Physical Development
Career-related Experiences
Literacy + numeracy
Critical thinking
Broad knowledge base and diverse interests
Positive 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

13. Professors’ Responses to 4-year UG Curriculum Reform
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 have a more solid grounding in Chemistry!

14. Professors’ Responses to 4-year UG Curriculum Reform
I want my students to treat patients as human beings !
I want thinking architects !
I want my students to stop asking me what is the right answer !

15. 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 !

16. Undergraduate Curriculum Reform at HKU

17. 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

18. 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?

19. A Conceptual Framework for New Curriculum
Global & Local Environments
University Community
Conception of Knowledge
Theory of Learning
Educational
Aims
Conception of
the Curriculum
Goal & Principles of
Curriculum Design
Pedagogy
Assessment
Content
CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK

20. Common Conception of Curriculum
Classroom Learning (Formal curriculum)
Extra-/Co-curricular activities (Informal curriculum)
Systematic
Organized
Explicit
Decontextualized
Assessed
Teacher driven
Non-systematic
Incidental
Tacit
Contextualized and situated
Not assessed
Student driven

21. Reconceptualization of Curriculum
Curriculum = Total learning experience
Extra / Co-curricular Learning
Classroom Learning

22. Learning Environment :
Learning Commons - Synergy between physical, virtual and social environments

23. Learning Commons: Collaborative learning

24. Learning Commons: Collaborative learning

25. Learning Commons : Chilling out after class

26. Learning Environment : Collaborative classrooms

27. Learning Environment: Flexible classrooms

28. Library

29. Library: discussion corners

30. Enabling Curriculum Structure
Learning environment : Curriculum structure
Enabling Curriculum Structure

31. Learning Environment: Curriculum Structure
Curriculum structure: enabling & flexible
Learning Environment: Curriculum Structure
Major
Minor
Physics (Science)
Music (Arts)
Computer Science (Engineering)
Finance (Business and Econ)
Global Studies (Social Sciences)
Astronomy (Science)
Philosophy (Arts)
Information Management (Education)
Economics (Business and Econ)
Psychology (Social Sciences)
Electives
Compulsory
Electives 1
Electives 2
Electives 3
Common Core
English
Chinese

32. Learning Environment: Curriculum Structure
Curriculum structure: enabling & flexible
Learning Environment: Curriculum Structure
Major
Minor
Physics (Science)
Music (Arts)
Computer Science (Engineering)
Finance (Business and Econ)
Global Studies (Social Sciences)
Astronomy (Science)
Philosophy (Arts)
Information Management (Education)
Economics (Business and Econ)
Psychology (Social Sciences)
Electives
Compulsory
Electives 1
Electives 2
Electives 3
Common Core
English
Chinese

33. Learning Environment: Curriculum Structure
Curriculum structure: enabling & flexible
Learning Environment: Curriculum Structure
Major
Minor
Physics (Science)
Music (Arts)
Computer Science (Engineering)
Finance (Business and Econ)
Global Studies (Social Sciences)
Astronomy (Science)
Philosophy (Arts)
Information Management (Education)
Economics (Business and Econ)
Psychology (Social Sciences)
Electives
Compulsory
Electives 1
Electives 2
Electives 3
Common Core
English
Chinese

34. Learning Environment: Curriculum Structure
Curriculum structure: enabling & flexible
Learning Environment: Curriculum Structure
Major
Minor
Physics (Science)
Music (Arts)
Computer Science (Engineering)
Finance (Business and Econ)
Global Studies (Social Sciences)
Astronomy (Science)
Philosophy (Arts)
Information Management (Education)
Economics (Business and Econ)
Psychology (Social Sciences)
Electives
Compulsory
Electives 1
Electives 2
Electives 3
Common Core
English
Chinese

35. Learning Journey: Academic advising
Goals:
Transitioning to university education
Setting academic and personal goals
Selecting courses and programmes
Maximizing learning opportunities
Approach: Advising Redundancy
Academic advisor for each student (mandatory)
Peer advisor (optional)
Residential advisor (all residential halls)

36. 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 ( ) American poet, writer, critic; winner of Politzer prize for poetry (1940)

37. 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

38. HKU Common Core 核心課程
Scientific & Technological Literacy
Humanities
Global Issues
China: Culture, State and Society
“Only connect….” E.M. Forster (1910), Howards End.

39. Theme 1 Science, technology and society – Key issues
Can science and scientific discoveries be value-free? How are scientific findings shaped by beliefs and value systems?
Can science be error-free? What are the possibilities and consequences of the misuse of science?
What are the benefits of technological innovations and what kind of unwelcome and unanticipated side effects could they bring?
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?

40. Feeding the World
"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”

41. Common Core : Faculty Participation
Architecture
Social Sciences
Arts
Science
Business & Economics
Medicine
Dentistry
Law
Education
Engineering
: 151 courses on offer

42. Common Core : Profile of teachers
Teaching Consultant/ Fellow
9 (7%)
Chair Professor & full Professor
21 (17%)
Assistant Professor
41 (34%)
Associate Professor
50 (42%)

43. Experiential Learning: from peripheral to central
Investigation of issues in real-life contexts

44. 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, )

45. Dialectics of Learning and Doing
“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 ( )
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).

46. Experiential Learning: Embodiment of knowledge, skills, disposition and values
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
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

47. Sichuan Post-earthquake Kindergarten Reconstruction (2008- 2011)
Engineering Faculty:
Sichuan Post-earthquake Kindergarten Reconstruction ( )

49. Sichuan Kindergarten Construction Completed

50. Main Entrance of Sichuan Kindergarten

51. Construction Projects in Guangxi, PRC Mingde Lou – a primary school
Engineering Faculty
Construction Projects in Guangxi, PRC
Mingde Lou – a primary school
Gewu Lou
– a dormitory

52. Qinmo Village Project 2006-2010 (Architecture Faculty )
A school in Qinmo Village in need of a face-lift
A New School blending with the terraced rice fields

53. Community participation is encouraged by having the villagers and children paint the individual bricks for the façade of the classrooms
The school provides a new community space for the village.

54. Rural Urban Framework: Luk Zuk Village Redevelopment Project 2011-12
(Faculty of Architecture)

56. Business Consulting Practicum:
Making a business plan for a social enterprise
(Faculty of Business & Economics)

57. Same-cohort comparison of HKUSLEQ scores
(3-year curriculum)
Advocacy for the improvement of the human condition
Intercultural understanding
Global Citizenship
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

58. 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 support
Sustaining change

59. Challenge: Sustaining 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

61. Qualities of a Leader

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

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