About this course: University Teaching is an introductory course in teaching and learning in tertiary education, designed by staff at the Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning at the University of Hong Kong. With input from instructors, guests and interviewees, including teaching award winners, students, and experts in the fields, you will be exposed to research evidence in relation to effective university teaching and practical instructional design strategies. You will also be exposed to multiple examples of effective teaching, and hear the views of teachers whose teaching has been judged to be excellent. More specifically, University Teaching will help you to address the following questions: - What does teaching in higher education involve? - What does research evidence tell us about effective teaching in higher education? - How can we ensure that our instructional design will help our students achieve their intended learning outcomes? - What pedagogic options do we have to make our teaching successful? - What assessment and feedback practices can help our students learn more effectively? After completing the learning tasks in this course, you will be able to: - Discuss the teaching and learning context in higher education and reflect on the potential challenges and opportunities you might encounter. - Explain key teaching and learning concepts and relevant evidence in relation to effective university teaching. - Analyse the relationships between various aspects of teaching and student learning. - Identify a range of instructional strategies to support effective student learning. - Apply key concepts to the structuring of course outlines and lesson plans in order to create learning experiences to support successful student learning. Course trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJu-dViz3NE Course outline: http://www.cetl.hku.hk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/CETL-MOOC-course-outline.pdf
Who is this class for: If you are thinking about becoming an academic teacher, or you have just got an academic teaching post, or you just have an interest in understanding the essentials of university teaching, this course is for you.
Created by: The University of Hong Kong
Taught by: Lily Min Zeng, Assistant Professor
Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning
Taught by: Tracy, Xiaoping Zou, Dr.
Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning
| Level | Beginner |
| Commitment | 3-4 hours/week |
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Course Introduction
1 video, 3 readings, 1 practice quiz
- Video: Course introduction
- Reading: Course outline
- Reading: Course communication
- Reading: Course entrance survey
- Practice Quiz: Orientation quiz
What does it look like teaching in higher education?
This module focuses on a wider scope of what it is like teaching in higher education, such as, what responsibilities are involved, where challenges and opportunities might occur, and how experienced academics approach their teaching development, to help you to think about your teaching role in a broader context.
8 videos, 1 reading
- Video: Module overview
- Video: Teaching and learning spaces
- Video: Student voice: What are we looking for in university education?
- Video: Student voice: What kind of teaching engages us?
- Video: Student diversity in learning (I) : Three examples
- Video: Student diversity in learning (II) : Implications for teaching
- Video: What does it involve teaching in a university? – Interviews with colleagues
- Video: What options do we have for long-term professional development? – Interviews with colleagues
- Discussion Prompt: Global lounge
- Reading: Reading list
Graded: Self assessment
Graded: Module quiz
WEEK 2
What does research tell us about effective teaching in higher education?
This module focuses on a selection of established research evidence on effective university teaching in higher education for you to learn what works, what doesn’t, what helps, and what hinders. No overwhelming literature review. These are only selected essentials.
8 videos, 1 reading
- Video: Module overview
- Video: Three domains of learning and levels of understanding
- Video: Teaching and learning approaches
- Video: Factors that influence student learning (I)
- Video: Factors that influence student learning (II)
- Video: Seven principles of effective teaching (I)
- Video: Seven principles of effective teaching (II)
- Video: Seven principles of effective teaching (III)
- Discussion Prompt: What do you think about the research evidence discussed in this module?
- Reading: Reading list
Graded: Self assessment
Graded: Module quiz
WEEK 3
How shall we go about curriculum and instructional design?
This is a practical module where you will be introduced to some key ideas you can immediately apply in your instructional design. You will also hear directly from the founders of one of the concepts in this module, Professor John Biggs and Dr. Catherine Tang.
8 videos, 1 reading
- Video: Module overview
- Video: Constructive alignment
- Video: Interview with Biggs and Tang
- Video: Writing learning outcomes (I)
- Video: Writing learning outcomes (II)
- Video: Writing learning outcomes (III)
- Video: Compiling a course outline
- Video: Planning a lesson
- Discussion Prompt: Alignment exercise
- Reading: Reading list
Graded: Self assessment
Graded: Module quiz
WEEK 4
What pedagogical options can we find from successful examples? – An instructional toolbox
Module 4 presents a range of real instructional examples from different disciplines, hoping to inspire you to design your own course. Depending on your interest and discipline, you are invited to choose three (or more) examples to watch. For almost every example, there are one or two readings for those who are interested in exploring more.
9 videos, 4 readings
- Video: Module oveview
- Reading: Information sheet – Problem-based learning
- Video: Problem-based learning (I) : PBL in practice
- Video: Problem-based learning (II) : Rationale, design and practical experiences
- Video: Audience response system
- Video: Think-pair-share
- Video: Teaching a large class
- Video: Flipped learning
- Video: Team-based learning
- Reading: Information sheet – Experiential learning
- Video: Experiential learning
- Discussion Prompt: The examples I like
- Discussion Prompt: Share your examples
- Reading: Reading list
- Reading: FAQs for the peer reviewed assignment
Graded: Reflection on the instructional examples
WEEK 5
How to design effective assessment?
This module will provide you with some principles and practical examples for designing assessment that is effective and enhances students’ learning. It will introduce the purpose of different types of assessment, the design principles, and a number of exemplary practices.
8 videos, 1 reading, 1 practice quiz
- Video: Purposes of assessment
- Video: The impact of assessment on students’ learning and the backwash effect
- Video: Decisions framework for assessment design
- Video: Contexts of assessment: Learners’ characteristics
- Video: Contexts of assessment: Standards-based assessment and norm-based assessment
- Video: Interview with Prof. Royce Sadler on understanding standards
- Video: Groupwork assessment
- Video: Principles of good assessment practices
- Discussion Prompt: Assessment challenges
- Reading: Reading list
- Practice Quiz: Practice quiz
Graded: Assessment design (Scenario 1)
Graded: Assessment design (Scenario 2)
WEEK 6
How to provide constructive and high-impact feedback?
This module will offer advice and strategies on providing constructive and high-impact feedback to students. We will show examples supported by evidence and theories. We will also look at some common concerns among teachers on giving feedback and discuss possible solutions to make feedback manageable and sustainable.
5 videos, 2 readings, 1 practice quiz
- Video: Introduction of feedback and the relationship between assessment and feedback
- Video: Feedback that makes a difference
- Video: Small changes in feedback practices making a big difference
- Video: How to make feedback sustainable?
- Video: Principles of good feedback
- Discussion Prompt: High-impact Feedback
- Reading: Reading list
- Practice Quiz: Practice quiz
- Reading: Course exit survey
Graded: Feedback design
FAQs
How It Works
Coursework
Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.
Help from Your Peers
Connect with thousands of other learners and debate ideas, discuss course material, and get help mastering concepts.
Certificates
Earn official recognition for your work, and share your success with friends, colleagues, and employers.
Creators
The University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong is the territory’s oldest institute of higher learning and also an internationally recognized, research led, comprehensive university. It engages in frontier research and academic endeavours that reflect and address the needs of a fast changing, knowledge-based world.
Ratings and Reviews
I learned many latest techniques , the course is very well designed with interviews, literature and tips. Language is clear and assignments are unto level. I highly recommend this course for teachers at university level in any educational field.
The University Teaching course is excellent. The video presentations give a good overview of each unit topic. The readings provide a deeper understanding of the topics. The practice quizzes motivated me to study the unit topics excessively.
very helpful
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Excellent experience. I am highly satisfied. Information is presented in a clear and engaging way.
Relevant cases. I also learnt from the experience of many other international students.
Highly recommend it.