Abstract
Under the new four-year undergraduate programme, a general education framework titled ‘General University Requirements’ (GUR) has been developed and implemented since 2012/2013 at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). To evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of the GUR in its first year, focus group interviews with students were carried out. In 13 focus groups, 62 first-year students from eight faculties/schools who took GUR subjects in 2012/2013 academic year were interviewed by trained researchers. Results showed that students generally had good perceptions of the GUR in terms of the subject content, teaching methods and the overall effectiveness of the subjects. The interactive teaching and learning initiatives adopted in GUR subjects were particularly appreciated, although students expressed minor concerns on the administration of GUR subjects. The results suggest that the first-year implementation of the GUR at PolyU was generally smooth and successful from the perspectives of the students.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1017-1031 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| Early online date | 1 Oct 2014 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 17 Nov 2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
This work and the ‘The Longitudinal Evaluation of the General University Requirements under the New 4-year Curriculum Project’ are financially supported by the Learning and Teaching Committee at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University under Learning and Teaching Development Funding 2012–2015. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest with any financial organisations regarding the material reported in this manuscript.Keywords
- focus group
- general education
- Hong Kong
- undergraduate education