“Winning this award provides international recognition for our curriculum, which is a distinctive, effective and sustainable model for transdisciplinary education worldwide, especially in research-intensive universities,” said Dr Tsao. “The transformative teaching and learning helps students develop a range of essential capacities that make them future-ready.” A team from HKUMed won a Bronze Award in ‘The Power of Partnerships’ category for their project titled ‘Students as CoDesigners’, which has formalised students as partners in the curriculum and promoted collaboration across disciplines and between students, educators and community experts. The project is led by Dr Khong Mei Li and includes Professor Julian Tanner, Dr Peter Lau and Dr Zheng Binbin, as well as Year 6 MBBS students Fok Jing Chen and Clement Ho and Year 5 MBBS students Winson Chan, Justin Ng, Monica Lee, and Odelle Wong. Over the past three years, the team has engaged more than 100 student co-designers, more than 50 educators, and a dozen field experts and community partners, to develop more than 20 teaching and learning innovations, such as interactive worksheets that train students in systematic clinical investigation and diagnostic reasoning. More than 2,000 learners per year have benefitted. “This award recognises how our initiative is significantly changing institutional teaching and learning culture. Students’ learning has become more fit-for-practice. Student co-designers have shifted from passive to active learners. And educators have adopted new views of teaching and learning,” Dr Khong said. UGC TEACHING AWARD A research-based, HKU-led team that equips students with allround, whole-person competencies, such as leadership, critical thinking, integrity, resilience and the latest AI literacy, won the 2024 UGC Teaching Award in the category ‘Collaborative Teams’. The cross-institutional team is led by Professor Cecilia Chan, Professor in the Faculty of Education and former Director of the Teaching and Learning Innovation Centre, and includes Professor Samson Tse, Dean of Student Affairs at HKU, and professors from Lingnan University, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Hong Kong Baptist University. Their project, titled ‘Holistic Competency and Virtues Education (HAVE)’, provides competency development and professional development to universities and includes a framework and an The Common Core project ‘Transdisciplinarity for Future Readiness’ led by Professor Julian Tanner (left) and Dr Jack Tsao (right) won silver in the ‘Developing Emerging Skills and Competencies’ category. The HKUMed project ‘Students as Co-Designers’ led by Dr Khong Mei Li (first from left) won bronze in ‘The Power of Partnerships’ category. The Chairman of the University Grants Committee (UGC) Mr Tim Lui (third from right) presenting the 2024 UGC Teaching Award for Collaborative Teams to the team led by Professor Cecilia Chan (third from left), with members Professor Samson Tse (first from left), Professor Ben Chan (second from left), Professor Albert Ko (second from right) and Dr Theresa Kwong (first from right). (Courtesy of University Grants Committee) GLOBAL HONOURS FOR HKU TEACHERS Two teaching teams from HKU were honoured in the ‘Oscars’ of education, the global Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Reimagine Education Awards, presented in Abu Dhabi in December 2023. The awards honour the most innovative and effective approaches to enhancing student learning and employability. The HKU Common Core team won a Silver Award in the category ‘Developing Emerging Skills and Competencies’, for the success and scalability of the Common Core curriculum. Introduced in 2012, the Common Core requires students to step outside their disciplines and learn in the community and through a wide variety of media. All undergraduate students are required to select courses (from among more than 160 offered each year) in each of four thematic pillars – Science, Technology and Big Data; Arts and Humanities; Global Issues; and China: Culture, State and Society. A fifth pillar on artificial intelligence is planned for September 2025. The team is led by the Common Core’s Director Professor Julian Tanner, Dexter H C Man Family Professor in Medical Science, and Associate Director Dr Jack Tsao. Their submission to the QS Awards was titled ‘Transdisciplinarity for Future Readiness’. accreditation model based around 14 competencies, that have set benchmarks in courses developing these competencies for thousands of students. “Higher education has been largely focussed on disciplinary or professional knowledge, leaving a critical gap in students’ overall development. Academic knowledge is indeed useful, but applying what we learn, caring for society, and loving our families are even more crucial. We hope our next generation will be well-rounded and compassionate – represented by HAVE,” Professor Chan said. The team plans to use the grant to establish a HAVE education centre in 2025 and launch online micro-courses to promote, assess and certify holistic abilities. 14 15 HKU ANNUAL REPORT 2024 TEACHING AND LEARNING
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODI4MTQ=