To: Ug and TPg Students and Staff at HKUMed
Dear Students,
Following the below announcement from the University, I am writing to provide guidance on teaching and learning arrangements specific to undergraduate (Ug) and taught postgraduate (TPg) programmes in the Medical Faculty:
Professional undergraduate degrees:
- Professional degree programmes are granted flexibility in modifying the arrangement as and when appropriate.
- The Faculty aims to achieve an appropriate balance between online teaching and f2f teaching as required by the individual curricula.
- Online teaching and learning materials will be made available for most classes, except for some practical and clinical skills sessions which must be conducted f2f and which will be scheduled at a later time. The Faculty or the respective Schools/Departments will inform students of the arrangements in greater details in due course.
- MBBS students in clinical years should have received updated arrangements from the Faculty via separate emails earlier.
- Assessment choices as set out in Professor Ian’s Holliday’s message below would not be applicable for some of the courses of the professional degree programmes. The
- Faculty and/or the respective Schools/Departments will give instructions regarding this matter.
Other undergraduate degrees:
- These programmes will follow the arrangements as announced in Professor Holliday’s message. The respective Schools will reach out to students to provide instructions as necessary.
Taught postgraduate:
- Similarly, TPg programmes will also follow the arrangements as announced in Professor Holliday’s message. The respective Departments will reach out to students to provide further instructions.
If you have any enquiries about the T&L arrangements, please reach us via the following contacts:
- Undergraduate: ugmed@hku.hk
- Taught postgraduate: tpgmed@hku.hk
If you are experiencing any issues, be it related to studies, personal, social or other aspects of your life, our counsellors are here to listen to you and provide assistance. Just reach them through medwell@hku.hk / 3917 9075.
Stay vigilant, and take care!
Yours sincerely,
Professor Gilberto Leung
Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning)
Important message from Task Force on Infectious Diseases
Dear colleagues and students,
The changing public health situation in Hong Kong means that we need to update our teaching arrangements for Semester 1 (S1), 2020-21.
In principle
We remain committed to a dual mode of teaching for UG and TPG courses in S1:
- Online: all courses, apart from a few exceptions requiring hands-on engagement, will be available online throughout the semester. (Faculties will issue separate guidance to their students about anyrequired hands-on teaching.)
- Face to face: when it is safe to do so, we will also offer students the option of returning to campus for some f2f classes.
In practice
This is how S1 will look for UG and TPG courses:
- 1-21 Sept: all courses, apart from a few exceptions requiring hands-on engagement, will be delivered online only. (Faculties will issue separate guidance to their students about any required hands-on teaching.)
- By 1 Sept: I will issue a bulk email outlining our teaching arrangements for the period from 22 Sept. 22 Sept: we hope to reinstate some f2f teaching for the remainder of S1, though in the event that may not be possible.
- S1 as a whole: all courses will be available online, apart from a few exceptions requiring hands-on engagement. (Faculties will issue separate guidance to their students about any required hands-on teaching.)
- Final exams will take place online, unless there are special requirements or all the students taking a course are in Hong Kong and it is safe for them to attend an in-person exam.
Assessment choices
As before, we are offering all UG and TPG students three assessment choices for S1 courses: letter grade, pass/fail, late drop. Assessment choices can be submitted through SIS from 09:00 on Monday 28 September to 23:59 on Saturday 10 October. This deadline is final, and no modifications will be permitted once it has passed. I would like to reiterate here what I have said before. We strongly advise all students to think carefully when opting for pass/fail grading. Courses that are simply passed will be recorded as P on the transcript, with no impact on the GPA calculation. For UG students in particular, this could have important knock-on effects. Internally, we rely on SGPA data for elective opportunities, such as academic exchange and other funded programmes. Externally, employers and universities around the world examine transcripts in some detail when taking decisions about jobs and postgraduate study. Students without solid SGPA data from S1, 2020-21 may therefore place themselves at a significant disadvantage. Please consult your teachers, your academic advisers, the Academic Advising Office, your family and your friends before submitting your assessment choices.
Teaching support
I think most teachers already know about the support for online teaching and learning offered by TELI, CETL and ITS. Hundreds of colleagues have attended each of TELI’s online workshops on Virtual Flipped Classroom Design (https://tl.hku.hk/elearningblog/). Many colleagues have also registered for CETL’s Summer Sandbox Series on Creative Online Course Design (https://www.cetl.hku.hk/sandbox2020/). We also have tech experts and resources available to help with online teaching problems (WhatsApp: 6437-8034). Do contact us with any issues that arise.
Finally, and as ever, many thanks to everyone for enabling us to keep teaching and learning at HKU in challenging circumstances. Please consult our website about teaching and learning in S1 (https://tl.hku.hk/teachonline/). Please contact me with queries (ian.holliday@hku.hk).
Best wishes,
Professor Ian Holliday
Vice-President (Teaching and Learning)