by Ornstein and Hunkins 

This commentary critiques Ornstein and Hunkins’ article “Curriculum Development”. They claim that most curriculum models can be classified as technical-scientific and nontechnical-scientific approach. They also argue that people who believe in subject matter usually favor technical approaches to curriculum develop while people who pay large attention on learners often prefer a nontechnical approach. However, I do not agree that teachers who focus on the learners often prefer a nontechnical approach. Personally, I am in favor of technical-scientific approach, but I consider that the sustention of a learner-centered classroom is also important. A learner-centered class does not need to be determined by whether it is technical-scientific approach or not.

There are some elements to form a learner-centered classroom, such as the classroom atmosphere teachers create, the way teachers perform, the interaction between teachers and students, the activities teachers carry out. Teachers, who focus on learners, should respect and care about students’ whole-person development instead of simply their academic results. If teachers not only bear in mind to encourage the creativity from students and cultivate their generic skills, but also show empathetic understanding towards their feelings, then a learner-centered class can be built. Therefore, a learner-centered class does not only depend on nontechnical-scientific approach.

During my teaching practice, I adopted Tyler Model, which belongs to technical-scientific approach, because it stresses on purpose and ensures the learning is meaningful and the activities relevant so that the educational objectives are attainable. At the same time, I maintained the class student-centered by developing task-based learning, designing different activities to cater for learners’ diversity and integrating their personal experience into learning

I attended an English Reading Club organized by ASLLC last month. There were 7 participants from different programmes and majors. We met each other in ClubIEd for two hours each week. All of us enjoyed the reading and relaxing atmosphere so much. There were two parts in each section. In the first part, we discussed the special features of different text types. For example, recipes always start with ingredients followed by procedures. Each step usually starts with a verb. As for academic writing, passive voice is more used than active voice. For newspapers, they usually start with the most important information. This helped us to know how to use the language in authentic contexts with different purposes so that we can read more efficiently. We also learnt some reading strategies and got the chances to practice them. Two of the most useful reading skills are skimming and scanning. The second part was reading aloud and sharing readings with each other. The most fantastic thing was that we could vote for the most interesting books. We read a few books together, discussed some interesting chapters and shared our opinions about the books. I would like to take part in this English activity again if possible because it helps to improve my literacy appreciation and reading skills. 

DUMMY TEXT All new academic and teaching staff are expected to develop an understanding of learning, teaching and assessment environment at HKIEd, it ensures all new staff have the and enhancing their learning outcomes.

The main learning outcomes at Year One: Students are able to create their own ePortfolio to document their learning evidences and reflective practices on selected courses.