Public Talks

Public Talk 1: What is the essential outcome for GE?

27 June 2017 (Tuesday) 4:30pm-6:30pm

LT1, Esther Lee Building, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Ashley FINLEY, Dominican University of California

  


In this talk, we will be led through a reflective journey. Among the many facets of GE, which is (are) the essential one(s)? When we say GE is for the well-being of students, what do we mean by well-being?

 

Public Talk 2: Back to the Basics: Reading as THE Foundational Skill

29 June 2017 (Thursday) 4:30pm-6:30pm

LT1, Esther Lee Building, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Deborah MARTINSEN, Columbia University & Karin BECK, Kean University

In this talk, we will argue that critical reading is the basis for critical thinking, critical writing, and scientific reasoning. By critical reading we mean a slow, careful, and analytical approach to texts. We always want our students to think about what a text is trying to achieve and how it goes about doing so. Skill centered education requires that we not only focus on the skills themselves but also on their transfer and applications – while skills transfer, we must not assume that they transfer easily from poetry to journalism, for example. In sum, we propose a return to the roots of education and a radical re-appropriation of critical reading as the foundational skill.