HKUST x Minerva Scholars Program - an interactive sharing session

Abstract:

The first cohort of the HKUST-Minerva Scholars Program began last fall. There are currently 19 students enrolled in the 2-year program and this year, there are 6 teachers. The experiences to date, for teachers and students alike, has been one of a rapid and rewarding learning curve. In this interactive sharing, the HKUST-Minerva teachers shared their experiences with all of the participants. The sharing covered the Why, What and How of the current HKUST-Minerva Scholars Program and then outline some upcoming changes followed by a discussion of where HKUST might go from here with this approach.

About the Speakers

Professor Roger Cheng (Minerva course taught: USTM1002ST Empirical Analyses)
Professor Roger Cheng assumed the Associate Provost (Teaching & Learning) position at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) on July 1, 2014. He joined HKUST as Assistant Professor in 1995 and was subsequently promoted to Professor at the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering. Prof Cheng was Associate Head of ECE Department in 2008-2010 and then Associate Dean of School of Engineering in 2010-2014. He led the effort in designing the new 4-year Engineering curriculum, implementing the new school-based admission scheme, and coordinating the first-year advising program for the first batch of Engineering students in the 4-year program during the 334 transition in the HK higher education system.

Professor Cheng’s research focus is in Wireless Communications and Networks. He published over 150 papers with more than 6500 citations. He had also had 27 patents filed and, among them, 9 granted. He is a Fellow of IEEE, a Fellow of HKIE and one of the founders of a technology start-up company in 1999, which was eventually listed on the HK Stock Exchange in 2011. He obtained his BS degree from Drexel University, and MSc and PhD degrees, all in Electrical Engineering, from Princeton University.

Professor Sean McMinn (Minerva course taught: USTM1002HU Multimodal Communications)
Professor Sean McMinn is an Associate Professor of Language Education in the Center for Language Education at HKUST. He has designed and delivered English MOOCs on two major platforms, Coursera and edX, and teaches Information Technology in Language Teaching, which is part of a Master of Arts in International Language Education (MA-ILE) program. He was nominated for the 2016 UGC Teaching Award and the 2016 Michael G. Gale Medal for Distinguished Teaching. He won the 2016 SHSS Teaching Excellence Award and the Teaching Innovation Award for his work with podcasts and education at HKUST in 2007.

Ms. Delian Gaskell (Minerva course taught: USTM1002HU Multimodal Communications)
Ms. Delian Gaskell is a Senior Lecturer in the Center for Language Education at HKUST. She was born into a multi-cultural family and spent the first six years in Borneo, Malaysia before moving to Canada. Since then she has explored and lived in a wide variety of countries around the world, and has taught university students from diverse backgrounds in Taiwan, Canada, the United States and Hong Kong. Her objective as a teacher of language is to inspire my students to learn how to learn, both in terms of their language skills, but also to become life-long independent learners once they leave my classroom. She hopes to inspire her students with the idea that teachers will not necessarily spoon-feed them with all the knowledge they need to ‘pass the course’. Learning to communicate successfully in another language is a challenging task. She is available to facilitate her students’ learning process, not give them the false sense that there are always ‘right ‘and ‘wrong’ ways to go about doing so. This is particularly the case in learning how to communicate effectively.

Professor Chan Yui Bun, Ben (Minerva course taught: USTM1002QR Formal Analyses)
Prof Ben Chan is currently an Associate Professor of Engineering Education (CIVL) and the Associate Director of the Center for Engineering Education Innovation. Ben has worked extensively in Engineering Education related areas, including academic advising, experiential learning and teaching pedagogies investigation. He received 3 teaching awards from different levels over the past 2 years, including the School of Engineering Teaching Excellence Appreciation Award in 2016; the Common Core Teaching Excellence Award 2016 (Honorary Mention) and the Nomination for the 2017 UGC Teaching Award. He also accumulated over $20M education related grants as a PI and has over 50 journal and conference papers published between 2011 and 2017.

James Bishop from Koru Consulting is a HK-based learning experience designer, with a wealth of experience and a bucket load of tools at his disposal. James works extensively in the corporate sector across the globe and has also designed and delivered a wide range of workshops and initiatives for the education sector. His unique specialty is games and simulations in the learning space, as well as designing gamification strategies tailored to the intrinsic motivations of learners. A world-class facilitator, James will ensure you are engaged, stretched and learning … you will also have lots of fun.