Lilian Vrijmoed

1
Developing Ideal Graduates Our Challenge, Our
Goal

• Lilian Vrijmoed
• Dean of Student Learning

2
Purpose of this Session

• Give me a chance to meet and welcome you
• Help you to understand
• some background about CityUs students
• the vision of learning and teaching at CityU
• CityUs Learning Environment

3
Survey of first-year CityU Students (2005)

• 7 of their fathers have received post-secondary
  education
• 25 repeated Form 5 and 17 repeated Form 7
• 66 live in public housing estates or in Home
  Ownership Scheme flats
• 58 do not have a private room
• 37 of their fathers earned less than 10,000 per
  month, 18 have no income
• 56 take 30-59 minutes to commute from home to
  the campus
• We also know 80 of our students are from Band A
  group in their JUPAS selection

4
Opportunities and Challenges

• We can add a lot of value to our students.
  University education is going to transform their
  lives.
• But in general, our students
• do not
• make the transition from secondary school to
  university easily
• have high self-esteem
• feel proud to be at CityU
• feel a sense of belonging to the university
• have a long-term view on their lives and careers

5
Our objectives

• Adding value to our students
• Preparing them for the world of work
• Developing them as whole persons and responsible
  citizens

6
Learning and Development of Students

• Articulating the desirable learning outcomes
• Enhancing learning and teaching with a
  high-quality process
• Providing the necessary support services

7
CityU Ideal Graduates

• qualified, competent professionals with high
  moral and ethical standards
• proficient communicators
• language proficiency, computer literacy and
  interpersonal
• skills
• confident to
• enter a more international and culturally
  diverse workplace
• take up broad responsibilities in their
  community
• able to think critically and to solve problems
  independently
• able and willing to continue to learn
• able to appreciate the arts, culture and history

8
EMB Survey on Opinions of Employers on Major
Aspects ofPerformance of Local Graduates

• Chinese Language Proficiency
• English Language Proficiency
• Numerical Competency
• Information Technology Literacy
• Analytical Problem Solving Abilities
• Work Attitude
• Inter-personal Skills
• Management Skills
• Technical Skills Required for the Job
• In the 2003 survey, CityU students scored
  particularly low on Work Attitude and
  Inter-personal Skills

9
Producing the Ideal Graduates

• Helping our students to be effective learners
• Adopting a student- and learning-centered
  approach to teaching
• Integrating curricular and co-curricular
  activities (seamless learning)
• Mentoring

10
Student-centered, or Learning-centered Approach
to Teaching

• Placing students first is a simple design
  principle, but it has
• great power.
• Donald Kennedy
• President Emeritus, Stanford University
• It is not teaching that causes learning.
  Attempts by the
• learner to perform cause learning, dependent on
  the quality
• of feedback and opportunities to use it.
• Grant Wiggins
• President, Center of Learning Assessment

11
Constructive Alignment

• Start by defining learning outcomes
• Adopt teaching and learning activities that
  facilitate the attainment of such outcomes
• Use assessment both as a motivation for learning
  and as a measure of learning effectiveness
• Quick demo of an example of constructive alignment

12
Learning Environment at CityU

• In our submission to the UGC for the 4-year
  degree, we
• highlighted 4 major elements of the Learning
  Environment at
• CityU and emphasized continued commitment in its
• enhancement
• Whole Person Development
• Proactive Measures to Help Student Learn the
  LASSI Project
• IT Support for Student Learning
• Support for Staff in the Enhancement of Student
  Learning

13
Alignment of TL Activities

• All teaching and learning activities at CityU
  will be
• Using the CityUs Ideal Graduate as the ultimate
  
• outcome
• Constructively aligned under the OBTL
  initiative.
• Data driven through extensive use of the
  Learning and
• Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI).
• Consolidated through a phased development of e-
• learning resources (Blackboard).

14
Mentoring

• Student Mentoring Scheme
• 2004-05 gt1,100 mentors and 4,164 mentees
• 2005-06 1,000 mentors and 3,783 mentees
• English Mentoring Scheme
• 2004-05 32 mentors and 220 mentees
• 2005-06 39 mentors and 273 mentees
• Graduate Mentoring Scheme
• Project-based Mentoring Scheme
• Teacher-mentor

15
Your Role as a Teacher and Mentor

• You can make a real difference in our students by
  helping them to
• be more confident
• move from surface learning to deep learning
• become more effective learners
• be active participants inside and outside the
• classroom
• be responsible and independent

16
Evidence that YOU can make a difference

• Student Experience Survey (2003-2004) shows
  students who interacts with their lecturers and
  tutors
• Higher scores for progress toward personal and
• educational goals
• Higher scores for development of interactive
  skills,
• self-learning skills and intellectual skills
• Associated with higher CGPA scores

17
Other relevant findings in the Student Experience
Survey

• Students who are active
• in reading and note-taking,
• project-related work, and
• overall active in learning
• Linked substantially and positively with
  students perceptions of their progress towards
• Personal and educational goals, interactive
  skills, self-learning skills and intellectual
  skills
• Their senses of overall achievement/development
• Associated with a higher CGPA score
• Female students are more active learners

18
Parting Thoughts

• YOU are our Frontline contact with the students
• Evidence shows YOUR interaction with them makes a
  substantial positive influence on their learning
• Lets work together to nurture Ideal CityU
  Graduates !

19
Resources

• Education Development Office
• http//www.cityu.edu.hk/edo
• Student Development Services
• http//www.cityu.edu.hk/sds
• Library
• http//www.cityu.edu.hk/lib
• Academic Regulations and Records Office
• http//www.cityu.edu.hk/arro

20
Thank You