Stephanie Biedermann awarded Early Career Teaching Award 2024

Congratulations to Ms. Stephanie Biedermann who was awarded the Early Career Teaching Award under the University of Hong Kong Teaching Excellence Award Scheme (TEAS) 2024.

Stephanie is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, the Programme Director of the Master of Laws in Human Rights, and is a US-licensed lawyer. She specializes in international law, immigration, forced migration, and discrimination issues, particularly for refugees, asylum-seekers, and migrant workers. Her legal experience includes work in the US, the Middle East, and Hong Kong, with a focus on public interest law and access to justice issues as they relate to individual client services, policy decisions, and the development of clinical opportunities for law students. Stephanie teaches across a variety of subject areas at HKU. She is the course coordinator for the Legal Research and Writing programme for LLB students, is Co-Director of the Rule of Law Education project (ROLE), and also teaches courses in human rights and refugee law.

In her time at HKU, Stephanie has emphasized the practical applications of classroom learning, to encourage students to use their creativity, to take initiative to design their own projects, and to excite them about what is possible when they implement what they have learned. Stephanie’s teaching seeks to create opportunities for students to practice and demonstrate a full range of legal skills. She believes that balanced learning requires not only subject matter knowledge, but also practical awareness, understanding the needs of an audience or client, and developing good judgment. She has also incorporated the use of GenAI into to the legal writing curriculum to encourage thoughtful, critical use of this new tool. 

The Teaching Excellence Award Scheme (TEAS) aims to recognise, reward and promote excellence in teaching at the University. Under the Scheme, there are four categories of awards, viz. University Distinguished Teaching Award (UDTA), Outstanding Teaching Award (OTA), Early Career Teaching Award (ECTA) and Teaching Innovation Award (TIA). 

Click here to view the list of 2024 TEAS Winners.

HKU Law Teachers Recognised by Teaching Excellence Awards 2020

Three HKU Law teachers were recognised in the 2020 HKU Teaching Excellence Awards for individual and group efforts.  Congratulations to the following colleagues:

• Ms Lindsay Ernst won the Outstanding Teaching Team Award (OTA) with  Mr David L Bishop of the Faculty of Business and Economics for EmpowerU: A cross-disciplinary, community-led, impact-based teaching and learning platform.  The initiative aims to connect domestic workers with opportunities to learn from top education partners, including NGOs, companies, and top university professors. Currently, Lindsay is a Co-Director of the LLM  in Human Rights Programme and Lecturer in Human Rights Experiential Learning. Lindsay specialises in developing interdisciplinary experiential learning opportunities focused on advancing social justice and human rights. Her areas of interest are community legal education and empowerment, migration, children’s rights, disability rights, and clinical legal education.

• Dr Anya M Adair, co-appointed in the School of English, Faculty of Arts, and Department of Law, Faculty of Law, won the Early Career Teaching Award (ECTA). Anya is Assistant Professor in Law and Humanities. Anya’s research centres on medieval English law and legal culture, as well as pre-modern English literature. Her focus is the early medieval period (c.550-1200), but her research extends also to Old Norse and Anglo-Latin, medieval language interaction, book history and manuscript studies, poetry and poetics, digital humanities, and the history of the English language. Her present research seeks to unite more closely the fields of medieval law and medieval literature, and to provide insight into the intellectual, emotional and social dimensions of legal and literary production across the period. Her interest in legal and literary culture takes her work into the history of emotion, historical linguistics, religious writing, poetry, poetics and rhetoric, as well as palaeography, codicology, and the history of law.  Currently, the two courses she is teaching are Introduction to Law and Literary Studies, and The Beginnings of English Law and Literature.

• Professor Douglas W Arner won the Teaching Innovation Team Award (TIA).  Douglas collaborated with  Mr David Bishop of the Faculty of Business and Economics, Mr David S Lee of Faculty of Business and Economics, Ms. Ellen Seto of Technology-Enriched Learning Initiative and Professor Siu-ming Yiu of the Faculty of Engineering to develop HKU edX Professional Certificate Programme in FinTech. This program is designed for those working in finance, technology, regulation or FinTech, those studying related subjects, or those just interested in learning more about one of the most exciting processes underway today. Each course brings together leading experts in FinTech from a range of backgrounds, including professors, market professionals and entrepreneurs. Designed by leading academics from a range of disciplines with input from industry leaders including among others SuperCharger, the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship, Microsoft, PwC and the Asia Capital Markets Institute, each course provides the tools necessary to transform one’s own future in FinTech. Remarkably, this programme is now nominated for the 2020 edX Prize.

The Teaching Excellence Awards Scheme (TEAS) aims to recognise, reward and promote excellence in teaching at the University. Under the Scheme, there are four categories of awards, i.e. University Distinguished Teaching Award, Outstanding Teaching Award (OTA), Early Career Teaching Award (ECTA) and Teaching Innovation Award (TIA). Besides individual awards, both OTA and TIA comprise team awards to recognise and encourage collaborative effort and achievement in enhancing teaching and learning.  We are pleased to see Faculty of Law colleagues obtaining awards in three of these categories this year. Click here to view the list of 2020 TEAS Winners.

HKU Law Teachers Recognised by Teaching Excellence Awards 2019

Six HKU Law teachers were recognised in the 2019 HKU Teaching Excellence Awards for individual and group efforts.  

    Congratulations to the following colleagues:

• Ms Alice Lee who won the University Distinguished Teaching Excellence Award. Alice has been teaching and researching copyright law for more than 20 years. She has obtained nine Teaching Development Grants and one KE grant, and received three university-level teaching awards including the University Distinguished Teaching Award 2019. She promotes and facilitates Teaching & Learning initiatives as Associate Dean (Academic Affairs) of the Law Faculty, as Chair of the University Teaching Exchange Fellowship Scheme, and as a Senior Fellow and an accredited mentor of the UK Higher Education Academy. Her most recent work is the project on 'the Copyright Classroom'. The copyright education videos, tailor-made for the tertiary, secondary and primary education sectors, are disseminated through https://hku.to/Copyright_Classroom “The Copyright Classroom – HKU” channel as well as Ms Lee’s education website www.law.hku.hk/collab.

• Ms. Julienne Jen who won the individual Outstanding Teaching Award. Julienne received the Faculty’s Outstanding Teaching Award in 2015 and is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. Julienne is interested in exploring different methods of experiential learning in her teaching and she now practises as a solicitor, offering pro bono legal advice at the University’s Clinical Legal Education course. She has co-authored various articles and spoken in conferences concerning professional legal education and experiential learning. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the Hong Kong Lawyer magazine. In addition, she contributes regularly to the LexisNexis Practical Guidance series and the Current Service of the Halsbury’s Laws of Hong Kong.

• Team award: Professor Janny H.C. Leung (Leader) of the Faculty of Arts, Dr Marco Wan of the Faculty of Law, Dr Daniel Matthews of the Faculty of Law and Dr Anya Adair of the Faculties of Arts and Law for BA & LLB Programme Curriculum. This joint programme in Arts and Law offers an exciting double degree combining the critical and communication skills offered by a world-leading literary studies programme with comprehensive training in the law. This selective programme uniquely allows students to gain two degrees in a single five-year course of study: a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws.

• Ms. Daisy Cheung who won the Early Career Teaching Award. Daisy is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Medical Ethics & Law and currently co-teaches Medico-Legal Issues for the LLB and JD/LLM programs, as well as tort and contract law.

The Teaching Excellence Awards Scheme (TEAS) aims to recognise, reward and promote excellence in teaching at the University. Under the Scheme, there are four categories of awards, viz. University Distinguished Teaching Award, Outstanding Teaching Award (OTA), Early Career Teaching Award (ECTA) and Teaching Innovation Award (TIA). Besides individual awards, both OTA and TIA comprise team awards to recognise and encourage collaborative effort and achievement in enhancing teaching and learning. All Faculties are encouraged to nominate colleagues who have made outstanding teaching and learning contributions for these awards. For ECTA, in particular, we hope to receive at least one nomination from each Faculty. Click here to view the list of 2019 TEAS Winners.

E-book of HKU Law Conference on Experiential Learning and Innovations in Legal Education

The Conference on Experiential Learning and Innovations in Legal Education 2019 was a major teaching and learning conference held at the University of Hong Kong from 18-19 October 2019 as part of the HKU Law's golden jubilee celebrations.  The edited transcripts of the conference proceedings are now available for download from the conference website. They can be accessed here and below.  

Session 1 & 2 – Clinical Legal Education
If you build it, will they come? Innovation and Sustainability in Clinical Legal Education
by Professor Jeff Giddings, Monash University
Current and Future Challenges for Clinical Legal Education
by Professor Peter Joy, Washington University
Experiential Learning in China: A Case Study of Clinical Legal Education
by Dr Pan Xuanming, Sun Yat-sen University
The CLE Programme at HKU: Any room for an Inter-professional Approach?
by Ms Julienne Jen, The University of Hong Kong
Strathclyde Law Clinic: Plugging the Gaps in Access to Justice in Our Community
by Ms Kathleen Laverty, University of Strathclyde Law Clinic
Professionalism in an Age of Dynamic Change? Teaching New Skills via Clinical Legal Education
by Professor Tania Leiman, Flinders University
Advancing Human Rights through Experiential Learning
by Ms Lindsay Ernst, The University of Hong Kong

Session 3 – Simulations in Legal Education
‘Complicitous and Contestatory’: The Hermeneutics of Legal Education and Our Sisyphean Future
by Professor Paul Maharg, York University
Legal Design & Laboratory Models as Next-Gen Experiential Legal Education
by Mr Dan Jackson, NuLawLab, Northeastern University
Online Simulations and Inclusivity – Troubling “Authenticity” in Online Practice-Based Legal Education
by Dr Kristoffer Greaves, UNSW
Simulated Clients are “Live” Clients too! Integrating Standardized Clients into Law Clinic at HKU
by Mr Wilson Chow & Dr Michael Ng, The University of Hong Kong

Session 4 – Technology and Innovations in Legal Education
New Technologies and the Disruption of Legal Education
by Professor Daniel Rodriguez, Northwestern University
中國內地法學實驗教學活動的回顧與展望
by Professor Yang Jianguang, Sun Yat-sen University
The Integration of Technology into Clinical Legal Education: An Exploration of the ‘Virtual’ Law Clinic
by Ms Francine Ryan, The Open University
Using Technology and the Media to Cultivate Authentic Problem-solving Skills in Undergraduate Law Students
by Professor Rick Glofcheski, The University of Hong Kong
LITE Lab@HKU – Future Lawyering to Serve Hong Kong’s Tech Startups, Social Entrepreneurs and Access to Justice
by Mr Brian W Tang, The University of Hong Kong

Session 5 – Experiential Learning and Innovations in Professional Education
An International, Interdisciplinary, Innovative Discussion Platform for Real Estate & Legal Education in HK
by Ms Alice Lee & Dr L H Li, The University of Hong Kong
Experiential Learning and Innovations in Professional Education – Interdisciplinary Roundtable (Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine)
by Professor C S Lau, The University of Hong Kong
Experiential Learning and Innovations in Professional Education – Social Work Practice Laboratory
by Dr Elsie Chien, The University of Hong Kong
Experiential Learning and Innovations in Professional Education – Interdisciplinary Roundtable (Faculty of Education)
by Dr Gary Harfitt & Ms Jessie Chow, The University of Hong Kong
Experiential Learning and Innovations in Professional Education – Interdisciplinary Roundtable (Faculty of Dentistry)
by Professor Michael Botelho, The University of Hong Kong

Simon Young on Teaching Evidence Law in Hong Kong after 1997 (new book chapter)

"Teaching Evidence Law in Hong Kong after 1997"
Simon N. M. Young
in Yvonne Daly, Jeremy Gans & PJ Schwikkard (eds), Teaching Evidence Law: Contemporary Trends and Innovations (Routledge, 2021), Chapter 10, pp. 122-132

Introduction: Hong Kong was a British colony for one hundred and fifty-five years before it was returned to China in 1997 under a constitutional arrangement known as "one country, two systems".  A new apex court, the Court of Final Appeal (CFA), was established in Hong Kong after the abolition of appeals to the Privy Council in London.  The previous common law legal system was preserved but not frozen.  The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights remained implemented, almost verbatim, by local legislation as a matter of constitutional imperative.  The constitutional instrument, known as the Basic Law, guaranteed that courts could continue to "refer to precedents of other common law jurisdictions" (Article 84), judges could "be recruited from other common law jurisdictions" (Article 92), and "judges from other common law jurisdictions" could be invited to sit on the CFA (Article 82).   Indeed, many distinguished senior judges from the United Kingdom (UK), Australia, New Zealand and recently Canada have been appointed non-permanent members of the CFA, sitting in more than 90 per cent of the cases (Young, and Da Roza, 2014, p. 259). Rules for "lawyers from outside Hong Kong to work and practise" in Hong Kong (Article 94( were maintained and extended.  Many prominent English silks have been admitted ad hoc as leading counsel on important cases requiring their expertise. 

    It was to this unique legal environment I migrated from Canada in 2001 to teach Criminal Law and Evidence Law at the University of Hong Kong (HKU).  At first, I co-taught Evidence at the undergraduate level, but in 2010, I became the sole teacher of a course in the two year Juris Doctor (JD) programme, eventually leaving undergraduate teaching.  In teaching these courses, Hong Kong was like a patch of newly fallen snow.  No student textbooks or casebooks on Hong Kong Evidence Law had been published.  My Hong Kong Evidence Casebook, published in 2004, was a first.  Previous teaching materials were based almost entirely on English evidence cases and little attention was paid to the impact of human rights law (even though our Hong Kong Bill of Rights (HKBOR) had already been in force for a decade). Four years after the handover, the CFA had already shown its preparedness to depart from English authorities.

    In 2001, I knew little of Evidence Law teaching other than what I had absorbed from my LLB course at the University of Toronto, which I very much enjoyed.  I knew more about fact-finding, having articled with appellate criminal lawyers at the Ministry of the Attorney General for Ontario, before becoming one after a stint as a trial prosecutor in Hamilton, Ontario.  With this background, my footprint on HKU teaching was sure to reflect the two aspects of comparative law and legal practice.  My knowledge of Hong Kong legal practice grew steadily, from serving as a member of law reform sub-committees on reforming criminal hearsay and the rule against double jeopardy, practicing as a barrister from 2008 and running a continuing legal education programme for Hong Kong prosecutors from 2011 to 2017 (Young 2012 b; Young 2017).  Even in these realms comparative law was critical. 

    In this chapter, I discuss my experience of using comparative law materials and incorporating experiences from legal practice to enrich Evidence Law teaching.  As most people now know, the implementation of "one country, two systems" in Hong Kong has not been without its challenges.  In the conclusion, I reflect upon whether the civil unrest of 2019, sparked by a proposed bill enabling ad hoc extradition of Hong Kong residents to Mainland China and other places, has implications for the teaching of Evidence in Hong Kong...

Alice Lee on “Copyright Classroom” (new KE and T&L initiative)

HKU Law promotes creative and ethical use of copyright works in education with short videos

Led by HKU Faculty of Law Associate Dean (Academic Affairs) and Associate Professor Ms Alice Lee, a series of short videos titled “Copyright Classroom” is produced to promote creative and ethical use of copyright works in education. In the videos, HKU law alumnus and English Language enthusiast KOL “Uncle Siu” is the voice. A total of nine videos, tailor-made for the tertiary, secondary and primary education sectors, are disseminated through “The Copyright Classroom – HKU” channel as well as Ms Lee’s education website. 

      Copyright is meant to encourage creativity by conferring exclusive rights on authors and enabling copyright owners to make profits by distributing or licensing copyright works. Nevertheless, in reality, the copyright regime is too complex and technical for a layman to comprehend. “There are burning questions regarding copyright issues in education. For example would it be copyright infringement when teachers and students include copyright works like images or music into their presentations, teaching/learning materials or social media? How about busking or school performance in which parody or adaptation is involved? Or merchandise to be sold at Lunar New Year Fair? Would any exception be granted? We hope, through these videos, both the education sector and general public would have a better understanding of the copyright principles; and be able to identify copyright exceptions in teaching and learning, and know where to look at if relevant resources and materials are needed.” said Ms Lee, who has been teaching and researching copyright law for more than 20 years and was the recipient of the 2019 University Distinguished Teaching Award.

     The project is supported by the HKU Knowledge Exchange Funding and HKU Teaching Development Grant. To view the Copyright Classroom, please click here. 

New Book: Scaling Up Assessment for Learning in Higher Education

Scaling Up Assessment for Learning in Higher Education
Editors: D Carless, SM Bridges, CKY Chan, Rick Glofcheski
Springer
Dec 2016, 222 pp

About the book: A critical issue in higher education is the effective implementation of assessment with the core purpose of promoting productive student learning. This edited collection provides a state-of-the-art discussion of recent, cutting-edge work into assessment for learning in higher education. It introduces a new theme of scaling up, which will be welcomed by theorists, researchers, curriculum leaders and university teachers, and showcases the work of leading figures from Australia, England, continental Europe and Hong Kong. 

     The work illuminates four key elements: (1) Enabling assessment change; (2) Assessment for learning strategies and implementation; (3) Feedback for learning; (4) Using technology to facilitate assessment for learning. Solidly research-based and carrying important implications for enhanced practice in assessment for learning at the university level, it is a must read for academic developers, researchers, university teachers, academic leaders and all those interested in assessment matters.

Launch of the Legal English in Hong Kong Website

Learning ‘legal English’, the specialized language that students encounter in law school, is particularly challenging. Law students must learn to use English forms and structures in such a way as to meet the expectations of members of the legal academic community, consistent with the conventions of the legal discipline. Learning legal English is therefore a process which involves elements of both legal expertise and language expertise. As a result, both lawyers and language teachers have something to contribute in order to support this learning process. This interdisciplinary project combines the expertise of lawyers and language teachers/applied linguists to develop a digital multimedia resource for legal English based on an analysis of the language needs of Hong Kong law students. This resource will target the most common tasks and genres for law students, e.g. essays, legal problem questions, memoranda, dissertations, oral mooting, and provide input in two forms: 1) edited video interviews with legal experts providing advice on legal writing and legal argument; 2) task-based activities created by applied linguists providing language-focused extensions on experts’ observations.

      The aims of the project are three-fold:

1. To provide an in-depth analysis of the English language needs of Hong Kong law students; 
2. To develop video-based teaching materials to target these needs, including expert videos, language-focused activities and resources; 
3. To promote the use of these language-focused materials by law professors in legal skills and content courses.

The team members are Christoph Hafner, John Burke, Katherine Lynch, Anne Scully-Hill and Rajesh Sharma.  For a sample of one of the instructional video for students, see below.  The new website can be accessed here.

Wilson Chow & Michael Ng on Using E-Simulation Platforms in PCLL (EJLT)

"Disintermediator or another intermediary? E-simulation platform for professional legal education at University of Hong Kong"

Wilson Chow & Michael Ng
European Journal of Law and Technology
2016, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 1-21

Abstract: Education has been undergoing significant changes in the past decade. Some universities have been taking advantage of information technology in order to enhance the interactivity and the degree of realism in their experiential learning environment. More recent legal education and training reviews and current scholarship, including the latest discourse on disintermediation of legal education, readily assume the tech-enablement of students’ learning experience via the use of technology. This article argues, through a reflective and empirical study of the adoption and adaptation of an e-learning platform by the Department of Professional Legal Education of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) in its Postgraduate Certificate in Laws programme (“HKUPCLL”), that the use of technology can possibly turn out to be another unwelcomed intermediary in the disintermediation process if it is not adaptive to the students’ needs and expectations which may be shaped by their evolving e-behaviour, different background and cultural particularities. It further proposes to modify the disintermediation discourse by embracing this possibility of inhibition, so that it can become a suitable model to assess the effectiveness of use of technology in legal education.  Click here to download the full article.

Law Faculty Members Featured in HKU's Bulletin (May 2016)

This month's HKU Bulletin magazine (May 2016, Vol. 17, No. 2) features the accomplishments of several Faculty of Law colleagues: Douglas Arner (Cover Story, pp 8/9), Puja Kapai (Research, pp 32/33), Rick Glofcheski (Teaching and Learning, pp 40/41) and Eric Cheung and his team (Knowledge Exchange, pp 50/51).  Click here to read the latest issue of the Bulletin.  Congratulations to all of them.

HKU Teaching Excellence Awards 2015 - Law Faculty Wins Three Awards

Congratulations to Rick Glofcheski, Katherine Lynch and Marco Wan for winning University level teaching awards for 2015.  Here is an excerpt from the President, Professor Peter Mathieson's announcement:

"The Selection Panel was deeply impressed with the awardees’ dedication to teaching, their tireless and creative efforts to make learning enjoyable and challenging, and the impact that they have made on their students’ learning. Because of the eminent achievements of two candidates for the University Distinguished Teaching Award, the Panel decided unanimously to honour both of them. 

University Distinguished Teaching Award
Professor Joseph C.W. Chan, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Faculty of Social Sciences
Professor Rick A. Glofcheski, Department of Law, Faculty of Law [**Watch the video below demonstrating how Prof Glofcheski he has used the 'flipped classroom' method to advance teaching and learning at HKU. Click here to see and read more.]

Outstanding Teaching Award
Dr. Chun-kit Chui, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering
Ms. Katherine L. Lynch, Department of Law, Faculty of Law
Dr. Julian A. Tanner, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine
Miss Nicole J. Tavares, Faculty of Education
Dr. Marco M.H. Wan, Department of Law, Faculty of Law 

Teaching Innovation Award
Dr. Michael G. Botelho, Faculty of Dentistry

The awardees will be honoured at a presentation ceremony on Monday May 9, 2016. Please do join us for that if you can. Their names will be posted on the Teaching Excellence Awards Honour Board."

At the Faculty level earlier this year, the following three colleagues were awarded Faculty of Law Outstanding Teaching Awards by the Dean in February 2016:

1. Dora Chan, Principal Lecturer, Department of Law

Dora is an exemplary teacher. She has helped junior-year students overcome the daunting task of acquiring legal skills that are crucial to their future success as a lawyer, designed a postgraduate JD course that suits the needs of the students, and taken up the shepherding role of Deputy Head (Student Affairs) in the Department of Law. 

2. Chen Jianlin, Assistant Professor, Department of Law

Jianlin is a dedicated, enthusiastic and gifted teacher. He has designed new courses and used innovative teaching methodology in his teaching. He has also taken the initiative to organize seminars and workshops to promote research and presentation skills among undergraduate and postgraduate students.

3. Nigel Davis, Principal Lecturer, Department of Professional Legal Education

Nigel is one of the e-learning pioneers in the Department of Professional Legal Education. As a member of two e-learning committees, he has reviewed and promoted e-learning initiatives including MOOCs. He has also designed and implemented a new elective for the Postgraduate Certificate in Laws.

Rick Glofcheski on Rethinking Teaching, Learning and Assessment in the 21st Century

"Rethinking Teaching, Learning and Assessment in the Twenty-First Century Law Curriculum"
Rick Glofcheski
in Christopher Gane and Robin Hui Huang (eds), Legal Education in the Global Context: Opportunities and Challenges (Ashgate 2015) 

Introduction: For much of the past decade, legal education as provided by university law schools has been under review and criticism in many places in the common law world. A major review has just been completed in the UK. Only a few years ago two large-scaled studies in the US were conducted. Another, undertaken by the American Bar Association, is currently in production. And we should not overlook the 2001 Redmond-Roper Report, which reviewed and made recommendations on all stages of legal education here in Hong Kong. These studies are just a representative sample. Criticizing legal education is nothing new. 

     There are multiple stakeholders in legal education, and the factors that might trigger the need or perceived need for a legal education review are many, including political. They are usually driven, at least in part if not in the main, by a perception that there is a gap between academic achievement and professional requirements, that legal education is not fit for purpose. It is not uncommon to hear complaints from the profession that graduates have not been properly prepared for lawyering work. One observation that can be made is that although most of these reviews are concerned to some degree with issues of fitness for purpose, rarely do they examine the tools for learning that predominate in the law school curriculum. The focus is on larger, institutional issues.  Contact the author for a copy.

Alice Lee Writes on "Wise Assessment" (New HKU Teaching/Learning Platform)

"The word ‘community’ is derived from Old French comuneté, from Latin communitas, communis, things held in common" ~ Oxford Dictionaries (2014)

What does it take to make a community? A common interest, obviously. People sharing a common interest naturally come together and share information and experiences. The recently launched ‘Wise Assessment’ Community of Practice Project at HKU is a notable example. Assessment and feedback are intertwined; assessment without feedback does very little to support student learning. Assessment and feedback is such a genuine and universal concern that the project briefings shall be useful and relevant to every teacher. A wise initiative, the project not only enables colleagues to cross boundaries between disciplines; it also facilitates the long overdue interplay between the Common Core and the disciplinary curricula (Common Core being featured in one of the project briefings). Who are the players in a learning community anyway? To cultivate a truly vibrant learning environment, we should do more than reflecting on our own courses. There should be channels for teachers (both full-time and part-time) to communicate and collaborate with each other and with colleagues who contribute to co-curriculum development, technological support, student surveys and quality enhancement. It would be great if we could include everyone and talk to everyone. Break the ice and break the boundaries. Most important of all, we should include the students, the stakeholders, in our feedback loop. We hear their voice, we discuss issues among ourselves, and we must not forget to inform them of the steps we take to address their concerns. Justice must be seen to be done. Quality enhancement too.  Written by Alice Lee, guest blog for the first issue of "Teaching and Learning Connections" a new e-newsletter published by HKU's Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL).

Events on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Law Faculty members are involved in events concerning the scholarship of teaching and learning.  Professor Rick Glofcheski was the recipient of the inaugural University Grants Committee Teaching Award.  The award money will help to fund an international conference on Assessment for Learning in High Education to be held at HKU on 14-15 May 2015.  The conference aims to provide a platform that brings together higher education experts, scholars, researchers, educators and students to share visions on assessment and feedback in higher education.  The deadline for abstract submissions is 14 November 2014.

On Tuesday, 25 November 2014, James Fry will be speaking in the CETL's Teaching Development Grants Seminar Series on his 109-page report on the various plagiarism-related standards and penalties adopted by leading universities in the US, UK, Australia and Singapore.  At the same seminar, Wilson Chow and Michael Ng will present their paper on an empirical study of the use of simulated clients to teach and assess the interviewing skills and communicative competence of HKU law students.  The study involved 320 PCLL students who in 2013-14 participated in interviewing exercises with simulated clients.