Newsletter No. 158

CUHK Newsletter No. 158 19th January 2000 3 New Plans for the TDU Still in a State of Fluidity Prof. Leslie Lo Prof. C.B. Hazlett V i s i o n of the New Head Set up in 1995 with a Teaching Development Grant of $1.7 million from the University Grants Committee (UGC), the Teaching Development Unit (TDU) was taken out of the Faculty of Education last year. Its new head, Prof. C.B. Hazlett, said that although it is too early to identify all the changes the restructuring may entail — apart from that of its funding 一 the unit w i ll continue to focus on facilitating enhanced teaching skills of graduate students, teaching assistants, and academics, and to help individual teachers gather information about their teaching effectiveness. One change already implemented is the TDU will levy charges for some services, necessary as the unit is now being supported by the University's block grant, not a Teaching Development Grant. Prof. Hazlett believes that a budgeting system for partial cost recovery also provides a mechanism for helping to determine if TDU's services are sufficiently helpful and valued. So far feedback from registrants in all the TDU workshops and programmes has been very positive; however, impact of these on teaching quality and learning still remains to be seen, he said. Research and evaluation need to be done as to their long-term impact, and whether and how these services should be improved. Prof. Hazlett said the TDU might eventually broaden its focus to include some functions such as those now performed by the Office of Educational Services in the Faculty of Medicine, of which Prof. Hazlett is director. Apart from organizing teaching enhancement workshops, the Office of Educational Services runs workshops on a variety of topics (grant writing skills, assessing students' problem-solving skills, developing critical appraisal skills), holds Teacher of the Year elections, maintains a computerized bank of some 12,000 multiple choice questions (MCQ) for use by the Faculty in its examinations, provides instructors with item analyses on the MCQ tests they use for student assessments, and provides teachers with a sophisticated course and teacher evaluation service. He added that although he'd like to see the TDU move into some of these functions, it remains to be seen if the TDU should do so, and will depend on interests and needs across the faculties. The TDU has proposed to run a think- tank this April involving University leaders and senior academics to reconsider the precepts of teaching and learning within the Age of Information — how and what students should learn. For instance, the think tank may discuss how much students at the University should be involved in web-based learning, and the means for developing independent learning and critical analysis skills. An important side benefit of this type of think-tank will be in helping the TDU determine important new foci for its supporting services. In Prof. Hazlett's view, TDU's role should not be seen as faculty development because the term connotes paternalism. Faculty support is a much more appropriate description. He believes that as the majority of university teachers worldwide are not trained teachers, they also are not as good as they could be. 'Research universities normally hire academic staff on the basis of their research expertise, their performance in graduate school, their publications. Appointees will have proven their research capability or potential, but not necessarily their competence in teaching. As research universities also exist as education/training centres, academics should know how to communicate what they know. TDU's role therefore should be to help improve teaching in the University as a whole, and not only the teaching judged to be in need of improvement by student feedback. I believe that "adequate" teachers can become "good" and "good" teachers can become "excellent",' he said. Views of the Former Head Prof. Leslie Lo, described by Prof. Hazlett as having done an 'excellent' job as former head of the TDU, sees the TDU as, by design, a friendly service unit based formerly in the Faculty of Education to enhance teaching on campus. As its head for four years, Prof. Lo is most proud of the support the unit received from the University community, its success in nurturing a decent level of awareness among teaching s t a ff o f the importance of good teaching, and its contribution to teaching enhancement on campus. He believes that the recent restructuring has elevated TDU's status from a unit operating within a faculty to one of a university unit, and as such, may be participating in a significant way in debates on teaching po l i cy. It may i n f o rm University administration on policies affecting teaching and through that help to set up a clearer framework for rewarding good teaching. Its new status also means the unit may have to charge a fee for its workshops as the University is unable to financially support all its activities. He believes that department chairs who are genuinely concerned about the teaching of their staff will be willing to come up with the money. 'The TDU is unlikely to charge a lot, only enough to partly offset operational costs. I won't have a heart attack over it,' he remarked. If he could go back in time. Prof. Lo said he would have fought harder to get more space, money, and a stronger commitment f r om U n i v e r s i ty adm i n i s t r a t i on to support its work, and met more frequently with the staff of other faculties who were on the unit's executive committee to solicit their views. He added though that the only way to have made the unit's service effective was the way it was done — in a non-intrusive, helpful, and collegial manner. There were other issues he would like to have seen done differently but such policy-related issues do not depend on the TDU alone. 'What weight does teaching carry in the assessment of a staff member's performance? I'd say it counts but I can't say specifically what percentage is allotted towards a teacher's substantiation and promotion. The University would have to come up with a clearer view, through policy design, of what good teaching would do to performance assessment,' he said. He hopes that the restructured TDU will be able to participate in this level of teaching enhancement on campus. He is also aware that while academics may have the best intentions and adequate teaching skills, they may not have adequate time to implement or deliver them. With academia's emphasis on teaching, research, and service, an academic would have to juggle his/her time and energy very well to be able to really think about teaching, plan classes, be creative (as creativity needs investment of time and energy), and interact effectively with students. But difficult as it is, it is not impossible. 'Even given the emphasis on research and publications, there should be time and energy left to reflect on teaching,' Prof. Lo said. Does Prof. Lo have a few words of advice or caution for his successor? 'Always reach out to the University community, always be ready to provide them with good service. Make them realize good teaching can only be nurtured through collective wisdom. Don't order people to participate in the workshops. Don't instruct them on teaching because we too are teachers. Don't intervene or go into classrooms and supervise teaching. Don't do the job of the department chairs. Just be there to help,' he said. The CUHK Newsletter will follow up on the progress of the restructuring and keep readers posted of changes once they have been finalized. Piera Chen Several teachers from the Department of Physics facilitated the teaching cell Teaching Beyond the Classroom' organized by the TDU on 16th December 1999. They shared with the participants their ongoing projects in physics which extend their teaching capability beyond the traditional classroom. The TDU held a reunion for over 30 teaching assistants, graduate assistants, and postgraduate students on 20th December 1999. The party consisted of games and an experience sharing session in which the participants shared their teaching experience with one another.