Course Structure and Assessment

Course structure

The summer school comprises three learning sections: lectures in the morning, reading time after lunch, and seminars in the afternoon.

  1. Lecture: Students will attend two lectures with opportunities for questions in the morning, from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm.

  2. Reading time: After lunch, students will have a period of reading time, when they can review course contents and read relevant texts for discussions in seminars.

  3. Seminar: A one-hour seminar will be held in the afternoon, led by tutors with expertise in relevant subjects. Students will be divided into groups of eight, participating in discussions about lectures and readings of each day.

     

    Expectation and assessment

    Students are expected to submit at least three forum posts during the summer school, participate in seminar discussions throughout the courses, and complete a 10-minute group presentation on the final day of summer school on Sunday, August 12th.

    Blog posts and group presentations will be assessed by an academic panel including seminar tutors, students with best performance will receive relevant awards.

    Students should post under at least three themes on the discussion forum, presenting reflections on the course theme (50 – 800 words) or responding to others’ posts. For each theme, one “Best forum posting” award will be offered to the best posting, which shows critical engagement of course themes and critical thinking skills.

    Group presentations will be assessed by an academic panel with the following criteria: presentation style, critical engagement with the material, creativity, and team work. In addition, there will be an award “Most well-received by the audience” based on students’ votes: each student will have one vote for his/her favourite presentation (excluding one’s own presentation), and the group with most votes will win the award. Overall, there are five awards for group presentations:

     

  1. Best style of presentation

  2. Best critical engagement with the material

  3. Most creative presentation

  4. Most evidence of team working

  5. Most well-received by the audience

     

    Instructions for group presentations

  1. Group presentations will be conducted in groups of four to five students (ten groups of four and two groups of five). Students will be assigned to a group on the orientation day.

  2. Topics of the group presentation must be relevant to the course contents. Students are encouraged to draw from topics covered in lectures, readings, and seminars. Students can also make comparisons with Chinese materials.

  3. Creativity is highly encouraged for blog posting and group presentations. Particularly for group presentations, students are encouraged to explore and experiment with different styles and formats of presentation, such as acting out a play (for instance for the topic on Shakespeare), doing a role play (for instance acting out a short historical event), or making a video blog in Ashmolean museum for the theme of Impressionism, etc.

  4. Presentations must be completed by all group members. All members must be present and participate in the presentation on the final day.

  5. Students can use PowerPoint or other means to facilitate presentations.

  6. Presentations should be in English.

  7. Presentations should be 8 to 10 minutes. Please practice and time your presentation well.

  8. Students should post the topic of their presentation on Weblearn forum before Friday, 10th August.

  9. Students can talk to lecturers and seminar leaders for advice on presentations.