Greetings from the Common Core Director

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Message from Common Core Curriculum Office

Dear Campus Community,

I want to let you know how very pleased I am to be joining all of you in shaping the shared enterprise of the Common Core as a means of educating our students for a very complex 21st century world. Although I have been here just a few weeks, I can readily see the vitality, imagination, and thoughtfulness that all of you have brought to the task of creating active, reflective, and transformative learning experiences for our students.

In addition to the usual logistical and administrative tasks, I also want to engage with you on longer term planning for the opportunities for intellectual partnerships, cross-sectoral projects, and the inter- and trans-disciplinary possibilities that the Common Core offers us. One of the major themes for the year will be making connections across and within courses, questions, methodologies, and geographies, so please start thinking about what the most exciting opportunities might be for connecting with your own work and for helping students connect the dots of their curriculum.

I will be in touch with the campus on a regular basis as we develop new course offerings and modalities of active teaching; find ways to link CC teaching to scholarly activity; begin to make use of the new CC Lounge in the Main Building for exhibits, lectures, and events; create CC Student Ambassadors and a CC Community and Business Advisory Board; and concoct other initiatives that connect both the staff and the students to the campus, the city, the region, and the world.

In the meantime, I invite you to give me a call, send an email, or drop by so that I can begin to learn how we might best build the most intellectually intriguing, enticing, and valuable pathways for, and with, our students. You can reach me at gklindgren@hku.hk, 2219 4956, or in Room 140 of the Main Building.

Once again I am looking forward, in this period of the reinvention of higher education, to developing the Common Core’s next phase with you.

All best,
Gray Kochhar-Lindgren, PhD
Professor and Director
The Common Core

Common Core Forum on 30 May 2014

Resources (HKU Portal Login Required)

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A Common Core Forum was held on May 30, 2014 from 2:15 pm to 5:00 pm in Room 102, K.K. Leung Building.

Programme

2:15 – 2:20 pm Welcome Remarks and Introduction – Professor George Tham
2:20 – 2:40 pm Presentation: Findings of the Semester 2 Student Evaluation of Teaching and Learning (SETL) on Common Core Courses
– Mr Gwyn Edwards
2:40 – 3:20 pm Sharing Session: An exploration of the Common Core Curriculum
– Ms Miranda Legg
3:20 – 3:45 pm Tea/coffee Break
3:45 – 4:25 pm Small Group Discussion
4:25 – 5:00 pm Report Back and Way Forward – Professor George Tham & Professor Gina Marchetti
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Previous Common Core Forums

Director of Common Core Curriculum

Message from Professor Roland T. Chin, Acting Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning)

Dear Colleagues, Students and Alumni,

I am pleased to announce that upon an international recruitment search, Professor Gray Kochhar-Lindgren has been appointed Director of Common Core Curriculum. He will officially take up the appointment on June 5, 2014.

Professor Kochhar-Lindgren has significant years of experience in both interdisciplinary studies and academic administration. He was Associate Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Learning and the inaugural Director of the First Year and Pre-Major Program at the University of Washington Bothell. Professor Kochhar-Lindgren is familiar with Hong Kong and this University. He spent a year (2009-10) as a Fulbright Scholar in General Education, based at HKU, and assisted in the development of the HKU Common Core Curriculum.

I hope you would give your full support to Professor Kochhar-Lindgren in further enhancing the Common Core Curriculum and making a difference to undergraduate education at this University. Please join me in welcoming Professor Kochhar-Lindgren to the University family.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to Professor Gina Marchetti, Professor of Comparative Literature in the Faculty of Arts and Convenor for Global Issues Area of Inquiry, for serving as Acting Director since December 2013 and enabling a smooth transition in the change of Directorship.

Professor Roland T. Chin
Acting Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning)

Global policing: dream, nightmare or reality?

Message from Department of Sociology

Thinking Globally About Crime and Justice Seminar Series

10 April 2014,
6:45-8:00pm,
Social Sciences C hamber, 11/F, The Jockey Club Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU

Global policing: dream, nightmare or reality?

As crime becomes a global problem, police officers are travelling abroad to collect evidence, apprehend fugitives and render them overseas for interrogation, trial or detention. Complex investigations of crimes and conspiracies spanning numerous countries demand international collaboration. Police officers frequently share information with their overseas counterparts and steer local policing practices from a distance. Globally integrated policing is a law enforcer’s dream, but being arrested and detained at the request of overseas police can be a nightmare. This paper examines the reality of global policing and considers some practical, political and ethical issues emerging from the field.

Professor Ben Bowlingis Professor of Criminology &Criminal Justice and Associate Dean of the Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London.

He was previously Assistant Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (City University of New York), Senior Research Officer in the Home Office and lecturer at the University of Cambridge Institute of Criminology. He has been a visiting professor at the University of the West Indies, at Monash University (Melbourne) and at the East China University of Political Science and Law (Shanghai). Ben’s research examines practical, political and legal problems in policing and the connections between local and global police power.

His work exploring central themes of fairness, effectiveness and accountability has been published in three recent books – Policing the Caribbean (Oxford University Press 2010),Global Policing(with James Sheptycki, Sage 2012) and Stop & Search: Police Power in Global Context(edited with Leanne Weber, Routledge 2012) – and in articles in the Modern Law Review, Criminal Law Review, Policing and Society and Theoretical Criminology. His studies of Violent Racism(Oxford University Press 1998) and Racism, Crime and Justice(with Coretta Phillips, Longman 2002) are the standard works on these subjects.

All are welcome

CCHU9006 Girl Power in a Man’s World

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Speaker: Martha Adams
Moderator: Professor Nirmala Rao
Date: 5th March, 2014 (Wednesday)
Time: 12:30 to 14:20
Venue: Knowles Building Lecture Theatre 223

About Martha Adams
Martha Adams is an award-winning storyteller who travels freely between the commercial realm of TV, the independent world of filmmaking and all things social media. She is currently the creative director of Girl Rising, the global action campaign in support of girls education. Adams produced Inside the Kill Box, Fighting the Gulf War which won Best Documentary Special?at the New York Festivals and a gold medal in the Outstanding Political Affairs?category of the Cine Awards. She also produced or executive produced are Forty Deuce, Citizen Soldier, The Chain: ID to Impact, Robots Rising and Spies Above.

About the Film
From Academy Award-nominated director Richard Robbins, Girl Rising journeys around the globe to witness the strength of the human spirit and the power of education to change the world. Viewers get to know nine unforgettable girls living in the developing world: ordinary girls who confront tremendous challenges and overcome nearly impossible odds to pursue their dreams. The film uses the power of storytelling to convey this truth: educating girls can transform families, communities, countries and eventually, the world.

With the Support of:

Centre for the Study of Globalization and Cultures (CSGC)
Common Core Curriculum
Consulate General of United States
Department of Comparative Literature
Department of Sociology
Faculty of Education
Women’s Studies Research Centre

Contact Person: Man Man (39178211)

Director of Common Core Curriculum

Message from Professor Amy B.M. Tsui, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching & Learning) and Vice-President

Dear Colleagues,

Director of Common Core Curriculum

DSC02113As some of you may know already, Mr Gwyn Edwards, Director of Common Core Curriculum, will step down from the Directorship at the end of December 2013, having served in that capacity since its inception. Mr Edwards has played an important role in the conceptualization of the Common Core Curriculum as well as its implementation. His very broad knowledge base, deep insights into profound issues confronting human societies, and collegial intellectual engagement with colleagues have inspired many to contribute their best to the Common Core Curriculum. I wish to express my deep gratitude to Mr Edwards for taking on a highly complex and onerous task and making it a success.

An international recruitment for a new Director has been underway. In the interim, Professor Gina Marchetti, Professor of Comparative Literature in the Faculty of Arts and Convenor for Global Issues Area of Inquiry, has kindly agreed to serve as the Acting Director from December 23, 2013. To facilitate the transition, Mr Edwards has kindly agreed to serve as Deputy Director on a part-time basis from mid-February 2014. I wish to thank both Professor Marchetti and Mr Edwards for their commitment to making a difference to undergraduate education at this University.

Amy B.M. Tsui
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching & Learning) and Vice-President
Chair of Language and Education

Common Core Forum on 10 Dec 2013 – Presentation & Notes Uploaded

Download Presentation Notes of the Forum (HKU Portal Login Required)

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A Common Core Forum was held on December 10, 2013 from 2:15 pm to 4:15 pm in Room 111, 1/F, Knowles Building.

Programme

2:15 – 2:20 pm Welcome Remarks and Introduction – Professor Joseph Chan
2:20 – 2: 40 pm Findings of the 2012-13 Student Learning Experience Questionnaire (SLEQ) on the Common Core Curriculum – Mr Gwyn Edwards
2:40 – 3:00 pm Feedback from Faculty Visits – Professor Amy Tsui
3:00 – 3:40 pm Small Group Discussion
3:40 – 4:15 pm Report Back and Way Forward – Professor Joseph Chan & Professor Gina Marchetti
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Result of 2013 Call for Common Core Stage I Proposals

In response to the September 2013 call for Common Core Stage I proposals, 12 proposals were received and each reviewed by two reviewers from two different Faculties, the relevant Area of Inquiry Working Group and finally by the Common Core Curriculum Committee. Upon the rigorous selection process, 7 proposals were selected to proceed to Stage II. Successful Stage I proposers are invited to submit their full proposals online before January 11, 2014.

AAO Workshop: All you need to know about Common Core

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Date: 12 Sept 2013 (Thursday)
Time: 5:45 pm to 7:00 pm
Venue: Meng Wah Complex, T3

Who is it for?

Open to all students.

What is it about?

This workshop will provide students with practical advice on understanding the common core curriculum requirement and how to prepare for these types of courses. Each area of inquiry will be highlighted. Current common core faculty and the director of common core will address typical questions from first year students and take questions from the audience.

Who will speak?

  • Mr. Gwyn Edwards, Director of the Common Core Curriculum
  • Dr. Amy Lewis, Academic Adviser, Academic Advising Office
  • Representatives from the four Areas of Inquiry:
Humanities

Dr. David Pomfret Convenor of the Humanities AoI and course co-ordinator for “Making History: Engaging with the Powerful Past” (CCHU9003)

Scientific and Technological Literacy:

Professor L.C. Chan Leader for the AoI and course co-ordinator for “Blood, Beliefs, Biology” (CCST9024)

Global Issues

Dr. Gina Marchetti Convenor for the AoI and involved in the teaching of “Hong Kong Cinema through a Global Lens” (CCGL9001) and “Hong Kong Culture in the Context of Globalization”(CCGL9002)

China Culture, State and Society

Dr. Xianjun Yan Course co-ordinator of “Protests, Rebellions and Revolutions in Modern China: From 1840 until Today” (CCCH9009)

How to register?

Click here to register!

Enquiries:

Telephone: 2219 4686
Email: aaoffice@hku.hk