Hong Kong Teaching Excellence Alliance (HKTEA)

Initial Strategic and Action Plan for October 2019 to September 2021

Date: 10 October 2019

I. Background and Planning Context

Initiated and funded by the UGC, the Hong Kong Teaching Excellence Alliance (HKTEA) was established to enable all UGC Teaching Award Fellows to collectively play a sustained role in promoting teaching excellence in and beyond the UGC sector.

A Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) was set up in February 2019 to plan the establishment of the HKTEA and make suggestions for its further development. A Stakeholder Survey was conducted between June and August 2019 to collect views from members of UGC-funded universities. The results helped PrepCom to formulate this Initial Strategic and Action Plan, which sets out a road map for the work of the HKTEA in the next two years.

An Executive Committee (ExCom) was established upon the formal launch of the HKTEA on 10 October 2019 to succeed the work of PrepCom and lead the implementation of this Initial Strategic and Action Plan. ExCom is well prepared to reflect on and implement suggestions by members and stakeholders for refining and updating the Initial Plan.

II. Five-Year Vision

To become a well-recognised community whose core members, UGC Teaching Award Fellows, collectively play a sustained role in promoting teaching excellence and enhancing student learning in the UGC sector.

III. Mission

To promote good teaching practices, nurture academic leaders with the capability and commitment needed to enhance teaching and learning, and foster a culture of recognising good teaching in the UGC sector.

IV. Strategy and Action Items

Strategy 1: To make good use of technology to cultivate an active network with UGC Teaching Awardees and Finalists as its core members

1.1 To launch a website for the HKTEA
1.2 To design a mechanism for compiling and maintaining an up-to-date database of Members
1.3 To establish a Members’ Sharing Corner on the HKTEA website and encourage Members to post and update sharing messages
1.4 To gradually develop the professional development resources contributed by Members in the Members’ Sharing Corner on the HKTEA website

Measures of Success:

  • The comprehensiveness and relevance of the database of Members (e.g., how up-to-date it is)
  • The quantity and quality of the resources uploaded to the Members’ Sharing Corner on the HKTEA website
  • The number of visits to the HKTEA website

Strategy 2: To engage in events and activities expected to be sustainable and affordable in terms of the workload of Members and other participants

2.1 To work with each year’s UGC Teaching Awardees and their respective universities to organise events and/or activities open to members of all universities
2.2 To capitalise on opportunities to scale up and extend the impact of the network (e.g., through sector-wide theme-based events, collaboration with other local and non-local education sectors)
2.3 To engage Members of the HKTEA in leading a CoP or Virtual CoP (VCoP)

Measures of Success:

  • The total number of participants in the events and activities organised by the HKTEA
  • The number of CoPs and/or VCoPs established, and the number of participants in these communities
  • Feedback provided by event and activity participants

Strategy 3: To identify and promote the implementation of pragmatic measures that foster a culture of recognising good teaching

3.1 To conduct a focused study/survey to seek views from stakeholders
3.2 To compile a checklist of measures that universities have adopted to recognise good teaching 
3.3 To organise small-scale activities to demonstrate peer support and recognition for the good work of HKTEA Members

Measures of Success:

  • The findings of the focused study/survey
  • The successful compilation of a checklist of good practices
  • The number of participants in small-scale activities that demonstrate peer support and recognition for HKTEA Members

Strategy 4: To adopt an evidence-based, self-reflective and continuous approach to evaluating success and planning future development   

4.1 To develop a user-friendly system for collecting instant feedback from the participants in each HKTEA event and activity
4.2 To plan and implement the effective use of analytics to inform development
4.3 To administer an annual Stakeholder Survey with HKTEA Members as the target respondents
4.4 To compile an evidence-based annual report 
4.5 To formulate and launch short- and medium-term Strategic and Action Plans

  • Initial Strategic and Action Plan: to be launched in October 2019
  • Second Strategic and Action Plan: to be launched in autumn 2021
  • Will explore the feasibility and suitability of enhancing the inclusiveness of HKTEA membership
  • Will explore the feasibility and suitability of extending the HKTEA’s impact to the non-UGC sector  

Measures of Success:

  • The findings of the annual Stakeholder Survey
  • The quality of the annual report as evidenced by the satisfaction of stakeholders
  • The quality of the Strategic and Action Plans as evidenced by the success of their implementation

V. Timeline