CAES Annual Report 2019-2020

CAES ANNUAL REPORT 2019 – 2020 9 8 Small Private Online Courses After a two-year planning, writing, and piloting stage, Small Private Online Courses (SPOCs) were officially launched in the 2019-2020 academic year. Four different courses spread over a total of 21 groups and 12 teachers were offered: ConciseWriting, Impactful Presentations, Intercultural Communication and Creative Writing. Of these, the first two were the most popular, with as many as 12 students attending despite the switch to virtual delivery via the ZOOM platform. After a mid-year review of the demand and applicability to students’ learning needs, it was decided that Intercultural Communication and Creative Writing would be offered in the summer period only. Student feedback was generally positive, with appreciation for the high degree of teacher guidance and feedback both online and in face-to-face classes. Across all four SPOCs, students gave ratings between 3.98 to 4.40 on a five- point scale, with teaching quality and transferability of skills to academic studies viewed particularly favorably. Towards the end of the academic year, two new SPOCs, Critical Reading and Formality in AcademicWriting, were proposed and accepted for development. These are expected to run on a pilot basis in early 2021. Nurturing Global Leaders Programme CAES Work The Nurturing Global Leaders (NGL) Programme is a 12-credit free-elective experiential learning programme where HKU undergraduates participate in a six-week teaching internship in various locations across Myanmar (Hpa-an, Shan State and Yangon) in the summer. Upon completion of a two-week pre-departure training programme in Hong Kong, NGL participants teach English language and communication skills to local learners in Myanmar. The NGL experience is intended to enrich students’ education by expanding their horizons and enabling them to draw on their communication skills and academic knowledge through first-hand practical intercultural experience. NGL opportunities are specially designed to encourage students to maximize their full potential by going beyond the confines of the campus, their own academic disciplines and geographical boundaries. In 2020, on top of the two-week pre-departure training programme and six-week teaching internship in Myanmar, NGL planned to offer an additional two-week post-trip project experience to Social Sciences majors in which they would take part in a 360-degree evaluation of the impact of the NGL programme at another NGL location. In the 2019-2020 academic year, a total of 81 students applied for theNGL Programme, of which 64 were interviewed. Following the interviews, 54 offers were made and 35 of these were accepted. However, in view of COVID-19 and its associated health risks and travel restrictions, the decision was made to suspend the summer 2020 NGL programme.