Celebrating the Two Firsts

By Vienne Lin

Welcome back! Let’s celebrate our two firsts together: our first JTC event in this academic year and our first collaboration with the Equal Opportunity Unit, HKU. This event entitled “Toward an International and Inclusive Learning Experience: Approaches to Assessment Design” was held on 5 November 2018 at HKU.

The topic of the event revolved around assessment and inclusivity. Our first speaker, Mr. Patrick Leung from the Centre for Applied English Studies, HKU, explicated his approaches to assessment design on his undergraduate English course. There are five sub-tasks in the small-scale research assessment: (1) design of a research topic, (2) data collection, (3) data analysis, (4) a final report writing, and (5) a presentation. Sub-tasks 1 and 2 were non-assessed items and could be either done collaboratively or individually while sub-tasks 3 to 5 had to be completed individually and were graded on an individual basis. Patrick sees individual differences in learning styles not as problems to be fixed, but as opportunities for experimentation in order to give students of all backgrounds to excel.

Our second speaker, Ms. Melissa Megan from the Center for Language Education, HKUST, talked us through how her two large courses, English for University Studies I and English for University Studies II, helped create an inclusive classroom for students. Melissa drew on inspiring examples worldwide and brought in multiple perspectives when exploring global issues, such as people, passion and possibilities, beauty and happiness. In terms of assessment, students were asked to write an argumentative essay with their own theses on the global issues covered in class. They were encouraged to conduct a comparative or contrastive analysis of the self-selected topics and to formulate their own conclusion. Through discussing and comparing multiple perspectives, students in general obtained a more comprehensive understanding of the issues. Some were able to appreciate different cultural values.

Our third speaker, Dr. Kristen Li from the Department of Computer Science, HKBU, shared with us how she created an inclusive responsive learning environment to support students with different needs. Kristen launched a social enterprise project called Barrier – Free School to help students with physical challenge get support, have friends and learn well together. Considering that students with special needs will need further assistance, she set up regular meetings with them; adjusted the test format where appropriate; and enhanced the awareness of the class that being inclusive is crucial.

The event ended with remarks by Dr. Tracy Zou that CoP – ITL welcomed teachers across disciplines and institutions to sign up for its membership (https://www.cetl.hku.hk/cop-itl/why-join-us/).