Welcome to the e-bulletin of Communities of Practice (CoPs), where you will be able to catch up with our most updated events and information of the five CoPs in PolyU.

A one-day symposium, "Towards Effective Academic Advising", was successfully held by the Office of General University Requirements (OGUR) on 20 April 2015. The symposium aimed to gather academic advisors from PolyU and other local universities to draw upon best practices and experience in Academic Advising. It was well received with an attendance of over than 80 participants from PolyU and other local universities.

The symposium comprised of 2 keynote presentations and 4 thematic presentations. Prof. Daniel Shek, Associate Vice President of Undergraduate Programme of PolyU delivered his keynote speech on "Collaborative process of academic advising for young people", and  Dr. Andrew Siu, Head of OGUR of PolyU and Facilitator of Academic Advising CoP, shared his experience on "Advising for student success and career/life planning".
It was followed by presentationss of distinguished speakers including:

- Prof. Ben Chan, Associate Director of the Center for Engineering Education Innovation (E2I), School of Engineering, HKUST
- Prof. W. K. Chan, Associate Dean (Student Affairs) of Faculty of Science, HKU
- Prof. Pakwo Leung, Associate Dean of Science and Director of the Office of Academic Advising and Support of School of Science, HKUST
- Dr. Zenobia Chan, Assistant Professor of School of Nursing, PolyU
- Dr. Kin Cheung, Associate Professor of School of Nursing, PolyU
- Dr. Joanne Yip, Assistant Professor of Institute of Textiles and Clothing, PolyU
- Ms. Rhonda Cheung, Academic Counsellor of OGUR, PolyU
- Ms. Selina Yu, Academic Counsellor of OGUR, PolyU

For more information, please visit http://www.polyu.edu.hk/ogur/news-updates/180-towards-effective-academic-advising-academic-advising-symposium-2015.

In collaboration with BME Students' Society and the Interdisciplinary Division of Biomedical Engineering (BME), one of the six funded projects successfully organised an academic advising activity, "BME Annual Dinner 2015", on 17 April 2015. The objective of this activity was to enhance students' sense of belonging and prepare students for their future career.

Around 100 Industrial and clinical guests, alumni, academic staff and BME undergraduate students participated in the annual dinner. Through the activity, students could network with their potential future employers and gain a deeper understanding that they are interested in developing their career.

For further information, please visit http://www.polyu.edu.hk/CoP/academic_advising/new_events.php.

Two rounds of Academic Advising surveys funded by Academic Advising CoP were conducted by OGUR in 2013/2014. The surveys aimed to identify students': 1) Current engagement with academic advisors in the departments and with the OGUR counsellors; 2) Views and expectations about advising; 3) Preference of style of advising (prescriptive vs. developmental); and 4) Needs of advising.

A total of 1,303 students participated in the surveys. The first round was conducted with Year 2 students admitted to the University in 2012. The second around was conducted with Year 1 students from the second cohort (2013/14) under the new 4-Year curriculum.

Results showed that both groups of students agreed that academic advising helped them understand their study options and graduation requirements. They placed "acquiring information about the career aspect of their programme of study" as their most important need in academic advising. Both groups of students showed a significant preference for developmental advising. Suggestions for further research and future practice in academic advising were also collected.

The online full-version of the AA survey report is available for download from the CoP-AA ’s website, and hardcopies can be requested via email to Ms. Bonnie Chim (bonnie.chim@polyu.edu.hk).

With Dr Robert Wright as the facilitator, three distinguished panelists, Dr Kevin Chan (APSS), Dr Jiang Yuwei (MM) and Ms Hennie Yip (EDC) were invited to the Roundtable session to share their interesting perspectives about using classroom for research on 21 April. In their practice, they encouraged their students to take part in the research. This process provides teachers with a deeper insight about what students think about the theories.

On 28 April, a sharing session was conducted by Ms Chloe Lau (SHTM), Dr Alan Wong (SHTM) and a team of award-winning teachers who are experienced in conducting service-learning subjects with very positive results. In this sharing session, the following issues were being addressed:
- Designing a subject to help students achieve the intended learning outcomes;
- Building positive relationships with community stakeholders;
- Seeing the subject through the eyes of the student; and
- Sharing success factors.

The University has announced another call for proposals for credit-bearing service-learning subjects for the 4-year curriculum. A seminar was conducted by Dr Grace Ngai (COMP), core member of the Service-Learning CoP and Dr Josie Csete (EDC), co-facilitators of the Service-Learning CoP, on 4 May to explain:

- what service-learning means at PolyU,
- what qualifies as a service-learning subject,
- how to develop a good service-learning proposal that benefits the students and the community,
- an alternative model for developing and delivering service-learning subjects in collaboration with the Office of Service Learning, and
- the support available in developing service learning. 

Post-seminar consultation sessions were also offered to interested colleagues on request.

Date:	14 - 15 December 2015
Venue:	The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Keynote Speakers:	Prof. Terry Myers Zawacki, George Mason University, USA Prof. Rainer Glaser, University of Missouri, USA Dr. Ursula Wingate, King’s College London, UK

As an extension of the CoP on Enhancing Students' English Abilities, Dr. Julia Chen, the CoP facilitator received a UGC competitive Learning & Teaching fund to lead an inter-institution project on Professional Development in Enhancing English Across the Curriculum, and the project now is in effect. This December, an international conference on English Across the Curriculum will be held here in PolyU.

The International Conference on English Across the Curriculum 2015 is a two-day conference that aims to bring together academics from different disciplines and language teaching units to explore ways to enhance students’ English in discipline content subjects. For further information of the Conference, please click here.