Date: 13 September 2023, Wednesday
Time: 12:30 – 1:30 pm
Venue: QR610 & Online via Zoom

Workshop speakers:

1. Dr Max Diaz, Department of English and Communication, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
2. Dr Rickey Lu, Department of English and Communication, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

About the workshop

New to PolyU? Want to know if PolyU allows the use of ChatGPT? Interested in learning what GenAI is and how to use it ethically? Find out in this workshop!

Target Audience: Undergraduate and Postgraduate ENGL students as well as interested ENGL teaching staff

Aim: The Digital Workshop on Generative AI aims to help students gain an understanding of the ethical implications of the usage of Generative AI tools in teaching/learning, focusing on the newest versions of GenAI.

By attending these workshops, students will become familiar with a range of AI tools,
construct prompts to develop useful content from AI, cite AI generated content and present it without plagiarizing, and know how to integrate AI generative tools into their studies and work in order to use them effectively.

About the speakers

Dr Max Diaz is a Teaching Fellow and the Undergraduate Programme Leader of the Department of English and Communication at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Dr Diaz focuses on educational technology and the incorporation of technology in language learning environments from the perspective of the teacher. Recently, he has looked at how both language learners and educators can make better use of new innovations in technology, such as Generative AI, which is radically altering the types of learner and teacher motivation necessary to succeed in the classroom.

Dr Rickey Lu is a Teaching Fellow at the Department of English and Communication at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He teaches a variety of courses at the university, including general education courses and courses within the department’s undergraduate and postgraduate programs. His research interests lie in discourse analytical and experimental approaches to computer-mediated communication

Date: 23 June 2023, Friday
Time: 2:30 – 4 pm
Venue: BC404, 4/F, Core B

Workshop speakers:

1. Dr Anne Schluter, Department of English and Communication, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
2. Miss Po Lam Cheung, Department of English and Communication, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

About the workshop

This workshop will facilitate students’ critical examination of arguments by focusing on both key micro-level aspects (such as lexical components) as well as discourse-level aspects (such as logical organization) to persuade different audiences. With the aim of discouraging students from reflexively internalizing and sharing inflammatory media they consume, this workshop will focus in particular on fostering the skills to identify emotional arguments designed to resonate with a specific audience. In this way, students will develop the critical distance necessary to avoid manipulation through commonly used emotions.

Larger aims of this workshop include enhancing digital identity and wellbeing, as participants will become savvier in terms of identifying the biases that shape perceptions and consumption of media. It will address information data and media literacies as well as digital learning and development.

About the speakers

CHEUNG Po Lam is the debate coach of the newly established English Debate Club. Prior to her appointment, she was a student in the English Department at PolyU, where she learned to analyze communication at macro and micro-levels, informing her development as an effective communicator. During her university life, she was also a decorated member of the debate team, which allowed her to hone her abilities of persuasion. Since her graduation in 2020, she has served as an assistant to ENGL’s CAR subject dedicated to debate. In this capacity, she has provided students with debate tips that both capture the fun of debate and engage their logical thinking skills.

SCHLUTER Anne Ambler is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English and Communication at PolyU. Her research addresses language and communication in society, including the examination of different types of arguments and discourses that persuade given audiences. These dual foci foreground her approach to teaching the elective course, Aspects of European Public Discourse and the CAR subject, The Art of Debate. Together with CHEUNG Po Lam, Dr Schluter has developed modules that help students to discern bias and evaluate evidence, thereby enhancing their ability to consume media in informed ways.