Abstract:
The General Education Foundation Course (FC) represents a new educational paradigm for HKIEd and for Hong Kong, as part of the change to a 3-3-4/5 structure. The Institute needs to evaluate the course formally during the implementation stage so that as it moves forward in General Education, the evaluation results for improvement and further development of the Foundation course could be used. Unlike most courses at the Institute, the FC course is designed as a large lecture/smaller tutorial model of interaction. We are specifically interested in how this model may interact with the knowledge, skills and epistemological underpinnings of the General Education Foundation course.
The focus of the study was on pedagogy and assessment. Participants were lecturers (approx. 12), tutors (approx. 30-40) and students (approx. 1000) in the General Education Foundation Course in 2012/2013. Data collection was consisted of three stages: questionnaire, focus group interviews, and student assignments (marked and unmarked). Analysis was conducted in both qualitative and quantitative manner. Reporting of results focused on the subjective and inter-subjective dimensions of the understanding of different stakeholders (participating lecturers, tutors and students) in how the learning outcomes of students in the GE FC are achieved; and the (more) objective dimension of the actual performance of students as reflected in the course assignments. This project intended to produce findings that would enrich the research and knowledge about pedagogies and assessment for the combination of larger lectures and small tutorial classes in Hong Kong and the Region. The pilot result was used as reference for full implementation in 2012/13. It informed the key areas of concern to the Institute, notably:
Reflective learning and practice (by encouraging students in small-class tutorials to engage in reflective thinking, discussion and writing); and
Enhancing the relationship between teaching and learning (by positioning tutors between lecturers – who will provide the input for inquiry and knowledge construction – and students – who will be challenged to think critically and creatively about the material presented to them).
Code:
T0120
Principal Project Supervisors:
Subjects:
Start Date:
01 Jul 2012
End Date:
30 Jun 2013
Status:
Completed
Result:
Feedback from students indicated strongly that future FC topics should be made more interesting and appealing, and should be more clearly relevant to themselves and their lives outside the classroom. The use of English as medium of instruction has been a troublesome issue to the FC students since the beginning of the course. Thus modifications to both the lectures and reading materials, such as using simpler reference materials and providing translations for technical terms, are being implemented in 2013/14 to provide additional support to the students. Workload of the tutor had been reduced by cutting some of the assessments. One essay, one of the two class presentations and two written tests were replaced by a continuous reflective e-journal that encouraged the students to critically think about and to reflect on the lecture contents on a regular basis. Tutors were asked to provide feedback in order to assist students with their writing.
Impact:
The double cohort year of 2012/13 presented a great challenge to both HKIEd and the General Education Office (GEO), in terms of the logistics involved in dealing with 1,200 students who were all required to enroll in the FC, which was itself a new course. The only previous experience GEO had was a small scale pilot course involving a small number of students. The evaluation allowed much information to be gathered from all the stakeholders and provided evidence-based recommendations on how the FC could be improved. Further feedbacks would be collected from the 2013/14 FC evaluation and they would reflect the effectiveness of the implementation of the suggested changes that had been carried out last year.
Deliverables:
Report on Findings of Evaluation of General Education Foundation Course (FC) 2012-2013 (Internal)
Financial Year:
2011-12
Type:
TDG