Newsletter No. 123

CUHK Newsletter No. 123 19th March 1998 3 MAE Open Day The Department of Mechanical and Au t oma t i on Engineering t h r ew an open day on the morning of 21st February in the Ho S i n - Ha ng En g i n e e r i ng Building to introduce some of the fruits of its research and t each i ng to the p u b l i c, i n particular, young people looking f or a career i n advanced technology. It attracted some 200 visitors. Recent advances i n electronics and computers have b r ought new elements i n to traditional mechanical engineering, as evidenced by the exciting demonstrations of robot musicians, a cyberglove f or accessing the virtual world, a joystick with the ' f ed' of force, and an obstacle-avoiding car. Each visitor was given a piece of metal with memory as souvenir. Established in 1994, the department's mission is to contribute, through research and teaching, to technological advance by the integration of mechanics, electronics, and computers. Chung Chi Presents Alumni Scholarships for Excellence A total of 103 scholarships were presented to outstanding Chung Chi students on 20th February at the college's Friday assembly. The first batch of 40 Alumni Scholarships for Excellence donated by the Chung Chi A l umni Association were presented in 1995-96. These have been increased from 40 to 60 this year to give extra encouragement to Year 1 students of the college who excel in both their studies and extracurricula activities. As a sign of gratitude to the alumni, the Chung Chi College Board of Trustees resolved to match each alumni-donated scholarship with two other scholarships so that the scholarships can be renewed i f the recipient maintains his/her aptitude. On the same occasion, 43 of these 'renewal' scholarships were presented to second- and third-year students of the college. The recipients were cheered on by an audience of over 1,600. Faculty Course Questionnaire results, as well as Thank You emails or notes from students. They should also include a variety of feedback f r om peers and colleagues, such as summaries of observed lessons, letters, emails. I f teaching materials have been created, or carefully adapted, examples can be included, as well as, for example, journal entries and video recordings of lessons taught. I f the teacher has attended any conferences, presented papers or had anything published, details of these can also be included. Although it is necessary to be somewhat selective, a portfolio can do a good j ob of presenting 'the big picture'. Teachers' Journals A more personal and simpler 一 but perhaps even more effective — kind of documentation is a teacher's journal or teaching diary. I f co-teaching represents the ultimate form of teaching/learning collaboration, then journals represent the ultimate form of 'inside information', as only the teacher really knows what they themselves are thinking and feeling — thoughts and feelings wh i ch cannot be seen, and therefore, not recordable on video or by peers. The entries can be made by hand, in a notebook, or word-processed and stored on disk. They can be long or short, depending on time available and what teaching and l ea r n i ng events or episodes occurred in class. But, rather than being simply an account of what has occurred, the entries should reflect all the 'internal activity' in which all of us are engaged during a lesson, but which usually does not enter consciousness. By writing about them and so taking these thoughts f r om the subconscious to the conscious, journals provide a powerful tool for personal and professional reflection. Mentoring and Coaching Mentoring and coaching are considered as a pair, as they are, in some ways, closely related. In mentoring, a more experienced teacher (the mentor) is paired with a less experienced teacher (the mentee) to guide them, in an arrangement similar to the traditional apprenticeship model. The mentor and mentee may observe each other's lessons, v i ew video recordings of each other's teaching, teach together, etc. The defining characteristic of this approach is that it is a one-to-one, ongo i ng, and o f t en l ong - l a s t i ng professional relationship. However, the mentor is o f t en i n a po s i t i on of administrative seniority and so could be making decisions about his/her mentee's future. Consequently, the mentee is unlikely to talk openly about problems they may be having, to avoid presenting himself/herself in a bad light. In coaching, however, the two teachers are peers and have no influence over each other's career. The same kind of collaborative activities are engaged in, but w i t h o ut the hierarchical tension. Both arrangements can be useful for both parties, whether peers, mentor or mentee. Learners at the Heart of Teaching In the third and final workshop in the series, t wo more approaches were considered: action research and client surveys. Action Research A c t i on research was o r i g i n a l ly popularized in language teaching circles, but is now being used in many different areas, and is related to Problem-Based Learning (PBL) approaches, now popular in Hong Kong. A logical extension of PBL is problem-based teaching, which leads on to the idea of problem-based teacher development. In action research, the teacher focuses on a specific and solvable problem or 'target for change' in their classroom or lecture theatre, for example, a lack of interaction between teacher and students. The teacher then considers and researches into possible causes, which may include collecting information from their students and from other teachers. They then devise a number of possible solutions, try out one or more, and observe and evaluate the outcomes. Although going through all these steps takes time, action research is a systematic and structured approach to ma k i ng changes. Client Surveys The final approach we considered is based on feedback from students, who are increasingly referred to and thought of as ' c l i en t s' i n the market's v i ew of education. This feedback goes beyond the usual end-of-course questionnaires we distribute, and may involve soliciting brief but regular written and/or spoken feedback from our students as often as every week. We can simply ask our students, for example, what they have and have not found useful, helpful, interesting and enjoyable, which topics and activities they would like to do more and less of in and out of class and why. By asking our students for their comments, suggestions and observations, we are not only getting valuable student-centred feedback, but are also encouraging our learners to feel they are actively shaping what we do and how we do it. There can be teaching without teachers, but there can't be learning without learners. Andy Curtis can be contacted at andycurtis@cuhk.edu. hk. If you wish to share your teaching experience with the others through the CUHK Newsletter, drop us a message at pub2@uab.msmail cuhk.edu. hk. Dr. Andy Curtis of the English Language Teaching Unit