42 / / 43 curriculum-based approach in its programmes to provide experiential learning for undergraduate students wi th a set of competencies and an assessment system to ensure that students meet the requirements of communi ty educat ion by graduation. As an essential part of UM’s community education, the RCs have the core educational purpose of spurr ing students’ interests and enhancing their abilities in various areas through systematically planned learning opportunities via courses, projects, and other experiential learning activities on and off campus. The f ive target competencies of RC education are, namely, healthy lifestyle, interpersonal relationships and teamwork, leadership and service, cultural engagement, and citizenship with a global perspective. The learning requirements of the RC community education consist of three dimensions. The first is to achieve the general requirements of RC education; the second is to meet the special requirements specific to each RC; and the last is to attain the goals for students’ personal development. To assess whether or not students have achieved a satisfactory level of the community education, the RCs have developed three types of assessments, namely, self-assessment, peer assessment and teacher assessment. All these assessments are formative rather than competitive, and assessment is continual throughout the four years of the student’s affiliation with a RC. Considering the uniqueness of each student, the RCs do not use a single yardstick and assessments of students’ learning outcomes are not based on competition, but rather on the students’ own development. In addition, soft skills such as the five competencies in the RC educat ion are general ly assessed qualitatively, and quantitative methods are rarely used. As outcome assessments aim to individually analyse each student’s improvement over their university years, the student e-portfolio platform, which is used to record the activities each student joins and their reflections, has become an important self-assessment tool. The university also conducts regular questionnaire surveys to track development of students. RCs’ academic staff, too, interact with the students regularly to observe their progress. Peer reviews in the forms of individual comments or group discussion also serve the purpose of evaluation.
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