Staff members who wish to propose a GE course should submit their course proposals through respective College/School Boards to the Office of Education Development and Gateway Education (EDGE). The Gateway Education Programme Committee (GEPC) under EDGE will assess the proposals and make recommendations to the Board of Undergraduate Studies (BUS).
EDGE receives new GE course proposals from College/School Boards all year round. Approvals will be given by the Academic Policy Committee (APC) through BUS on a semester basis. For the sake of clarity, indicative deadlines for proposal submission are given in Table 1 for reference.
| Indicative deadlines to submit proposals to EDGE | GEPC Assessment | BUS Endorsement | APC Approval | Earliest time of offering |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 November | Feb/Mar | April | May | Semester A of the following academic year |
| 30 April | May/June | September | October | Semester B of the academic year |
The proposals should be sent by the above deadlines to EDGE through gateway.edu@cityu.edu.hk. Course designers should use the Course syllabus template (GE) to submit their proposals. GEPC will review the GE course proposals with reference to the criteria for assessing GE course proposals stipulated by GEPC. An Assessment Form is used to collect comments from GEPC members on every GE course proposal. The Fulbright Scholars will serve as external members in the GEPC and contribute to the assessment of GE proposals. When the views of GEPC members and external members are in consensus, the course proposal will be recommended for APC approval through BUS. In case of diverging views, additional external reviewers may be sought.
Throughout the course development and assessment processes, the GEPC members will work collegially and closely with proposers to improve their proposals to meet the requirements of the GE programme.
The assessment seeks evidence of alignment between Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs) and GE Programme Intended Learning Outcomes (PILOs), appropriateness of pedagogy (teaching and learning methods as well as assessment), and the availability of the required expertise in the offering units.
GEPC seeks to ensure that the following desired attributes are embraced in every course proposal:
Succeeding sessions highlight some key issues in course development.
GE courses should be designed to achieve the Programme Intended Learning Outcomes (PILOs) with different levels of depth and breadth. Every GE course should significantly address PILO 1 and PILO 10. Each area must also address those outcomes that have been specified as "Required" in the curricular mapping of GE programme approved by the City University's Senate (see Table 2 below). Each distributional area should satisfy at least one of the stated outcomes from PILOs 5 to 9.
| Programme Intended Learning Outcomes (PILOs) | Distributional Requirements |
University Requirements |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arts & Humanities | Study of Societies, Social and Business Organisations | Science & Technology |
English | Chinese Civilisation – History and Philosophy | |
| 1. Demonstrate the capacity for self-directed learning | R | R | R | R | R |
| 2. Explain the basic methodologies and techniques of inquiry of the arts and humanities, social sciences, business, and science and technology | R | R | R | O | |
| 3. Demonstrate critical thinking skills | R | R | R | ||
| 4. Interpret information and numerical data | O | R | R | ||
| 5. Produce structured, well-organised, and fluent text | Every course in the distributional areas is required to achieve at least one of these outcomes. | R | O | ||
| 6. Demonstrate effective oral communication skills | R | R | |||
| 7. Demonstrate an ability to work effectively in a team | R | R | |||
| 8. Recognise important characteristics of their own culture(s) and at least one other culture, and their impact on global issues | O | R | |||
| 9. Value ethical and socially responsible actions | O | R | |||
| 10. Demonstrate the attitude and/or ability to accomplish discovery and/or innovation | R | R | R | R | R |
To facilitate course designers to interpret the GE PILOs, it is required that the following desired characteristics of GE courses should be embedded in every GE course:
Pedagogy should play an important role in the delivery of your course content. Courses that allow for in-class discussions, analyses of major issues impacting your discipline and its relationships to other knowledge areas, and projects that engage students in their learning will have a long-term impact. In your GE course proposal, you should attempt to show the teaching and learning strategies which you intend to use to actively engage your students to achieve the GE PILOs. Sample GE course syllabi are given as follows:
The above syllabi do an excellent job of linking teaching and learning strategies to stated Course Intended Learning Outcomes and reflect many of the desired characteristics of GE courses (using engaged pedagogies, moving away from strictly exam-based assessments, etc.) They also expand their keyword syllabi on the topics/issues covered in the courses.
During the proposal development stage, course designers are encouraged to seek advice from members of the GEPC. GEPC may also contact proposers as appropriate to identify issues for improvement.
Proposers are strongly encouraged to contact the following units to consult the resource implications of their proposals and obtain support:
| Unit | Contact Person |
|---|---|
| Academic Regulations and Records Office (on class-scheduling) |
Miss Wong Ka Ying (Tel: 34429092; Email: cukywong@cityu.edu.hk) Ms Li Wing Ki (Tel: 34429171; Email: wingkili@cityu.edu.hk) |
| Library (on reading materials) |
Ms Joanna Pong (Tel: 34426083 ;Email: lbjoanpg@cityu.edu.hk) |
| Office of the Chief Information Officer (on e-learning) |
Dr Crusher Wong (Tel: 34426633 ;Email: crusher.wong@cityu.edu.hk) |
