THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
3-Campus East Asia Programme
Comparative East Asian Studies Internship
(July 10 – August 17, 2017)
FOSS2021 Comparative East Asian Studies Internship (6 credits)
Course Outline
Course Coordinator: Mr. Ken Yau (email: [email protected])
I.
Course Aims
The Comparative East Asian Studies Internship is a 6-week full-time non-paid
credit-bearing internship programme provided by the Faculty of Social Sciences, which
highly values public service. Students are expected to examine issues (such as food waste and
human rights violations) related to strategies for promoting social innovation in local
communities, and for working effectively with practitioners and professionals from both the
public and private sectors.
At The University of Hong Kong, plagiarism is a disciplinary offence. For details please see
Section V. Plagiarism and Citation Guideline.
II.
Learning Outcomes
The Internship seeks to enhance students’ understanding of social issues through first-hand
practical experience, and through applying knowledge and skills to real-life situations. To
complete the internship, students must write an essay critically reflecting on their internship
and analyzing empirical findings and work experience gained from it. More specifically, by
completing this course, students will be able to:
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understand of social issues through first-hand practical experience working with
Community Partners in Hong Kong;
identify key issues and develop strategies to enhance social development and
promote social innovation;
apply academic knowledge (including theories and concepts), critical thinking, and
analytical skills acquired at the University to analyse real-life situations; and
develop work ethics, self-initiative, adaptation to the organizational culture, and
communication skills for successful workplace performance.
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III.
1.
Structure
Pre-internship orientation
Before undertaking the internship, students must attend a pre-internship orientation. Students
will be equipped with essential knowledge for successful completion of the internship, and
will be given guidance to complete the academic deliverables.
2.
Internship learning
2.1 Work supervision
Each student’s performance will be overseen and assessed by an on-site supervisor from the
Community Partner and an academic tutor from the Faculty.
2.2 Social Issue Brief
After the pre-internship workshop, students are required to identify a topic related to their
work organization and conduct a background research of the selected topic in order to better
conceptualise the issues and problems identified. Students are required to submit a
background research. (800 words)
3.
Post-internship evaluation
3.1 Work performance
At the end of the internship, academic tutors will undertake final evaluation of students’
performance in collaboration with the on-site supervisor. The evaluation will assess the
students’ learning and working attitude during their internship.
3.2 Integrated essay
Students are required to submit an essay at the end of their internship. The essay should be an
academic analysis of issues related to the internship and the sector in which students worked.
(3,000 words)
IV.
Assessment
Assessment is 100% coursework, and comprises the following elements:
Pre-internship workshop (pass or fail)
Social Issue Brief (pass or fail)
Work performance (50%)
Integrated essay (50%)
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The assessment criteria for each piece of assessment are as follows:
Pre-internship Workshop (Pass/Fail)
Attendance to the pre-internship workshop is compulsory, and students are expected to
participate in group discussions and activities.
Social Issue Brief (Pass/Fail)
Students are required to identify a topic related to their internship organization and conduct a
background research of the selected topic in order to better conceptualise the issues and
problems identified.
Requirements:
Maximum length of 800 words
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Double-spaced, 12-point font, 1 1/2 inch margins
APA style referencing
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The Social Issue Brief must be submitted via: Turnitin and hard copy to the respective
Academic Tutor by the deadline (TBC).
Assessment Criteria for Social Issue Brief:
a.
Ability to identify relevant information and provide an overview of the nature of the
topic under discussion
b.
Ability to analyze the major issues and debates about the topic
c.
Ability to use a wide range of resources relating to the topic (books, journal articles,
d.
government reports, viable newspaper articles, theses and dissertations etc.)
Including a minimum of five closely relevant references in the Social Issue Brief.
Work Performance (50%)
The Community Partner will be responsible for assessing your work performance (such as the
ability to examine social issues critically; the ability to identify key issues and develop
strategies to enhance social development and promote social innovation; work ethics,
self-initiative, adaptation to the organizational culture, and communication skills for
successful workplace performance).
Grade Descriptors for Assessing Work Performance
Excellent (A+ / A / A-):
Student exemplifies exceptional initiative to explore new areas and lucidly adapts to the work
culture. Student demonstrates excellence in communication with supervisor and colleagues,
showing a positive attitude and ability to work independently. Student demonstrates a very
high-level of motivation and congeniality, as well as having an outstanding ability to manage
workload and integrate supervisor’s feedback to enhance workplace performance.
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Good (B+ / B / B-):
Student exemplifies good initiative to explore new areas and is able to adapt well to the work
culture. Student demonstrates a high-level of communication with supervisor and colleagues,
showing a positive attitude and ability to work independently. Student demonstrates a
high-level of motivation and congeniality, as well as effectively managing the workload and
integrating supervisor’s feedback to enhance workplace performance.
Satisfactory (C+ / C / C-):
Student exemplifies a satisfactory initiative to explore new areas and ability to adapt to the
work culture. Student is satisfactory in the following areas: communication with supervisor
and colleagues, positive attitude, motivation, and congeniality. Student also shows an average
ability to work independently, manage workload and integrate supervisor’s feedback to
enhance workplace performance.
Less than satisfactory (D+ / D):
Student exemplifies a less than satisfactory initiative to explore new areas and has difficulty
adapting to the work culture. Student is less than satisfactory in the following areas:
communication with supervisor and colleagues, positive attitude, motivation, and congeniality.
Student shows difficulty in working independently, managing workload and integrating
supervisor’s feedback to workplace performance.
Unacceptable (F):
Student exemplifies an unacceptable level of initiative to explore new areas and has difficulty
to adapt to the work culture. Student demonstrates inability to communicate with supervisor
and colleagues, and shows a lack of positive attitude, motivation and congeniality. Student is
unable to work independently, manage workload and integrate supervisor’s feedback to
workplace performance.
Integrated Essay (50%)
The key purpose of the integrated essay is to increase students’ awareness of social and global
issues by integrating academic enquiry with practical experience gained through the
internship. This assignment is not a diary to simply capture the students’ experience or events
happened during the period of internship. The integrated essay is meant to enhance the
students’ academic initiative relating to their experiential learning. Students will demonstrate
this through developing a central argument and supporting it through both scholarly and
empirical evidence.
Requirements:
The integrated essay should not exceed 3,000 words
The format should be double-spaced, 12-point font, 1 1/2 inch margins
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APA style referencing
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The integrated essay must be submitted via: Turnitin. Deadline to be confirmed.
Assessment Criteria for Integrated Essay:
a.
Ability to integrate academic knowledge and internship experience to support the
central argument
b.
Ability to demonstrate critical analysis of topic
c.
Ability to examine the topic by accessing and analysing relevant resources
d.
Ability to write a well-structured and organized essay with appropriate citations and
referencing
IMPORTANT NOTES
For each of the pass/fail components, failure will result in a 5-mark deduction from the final
course mark. In an extreme case, if a student fails to attend the Pre-Internship Workshop and
fails to submit a Reflective Journal, a total of 10 marks will be deducted from the final course
mark.
Late submission of the Integrated Essay will be marked down by 5% for the first 24 hours late,
and 10% for every 24 hours (or part thereof) thereafter. Saturdays and public holidays count.
Failure to submit one of the academic deliverables (Reflective Journal or Integrated Essay)
will result in failure of the course.
Grade Descriptor for the Integrated Essay
Excellent (A+ / A): this is appropriate where the essay demonstrates both qualities of
originality in approach and argument and also a sound understanding of social science issues;
or where a candidate, though not especially original, has nevertheless demonstrated a very
thorough understanding of social science concepts and issues, fluently expressed, founded on
careful and critical reading of relevant materials, and demonstrating independent judgment.
The essay reaching this standard should be awarded an A+ or A.
Very Good (A-): where an examiner feels that the essay is generally very well done and has
some of the qualities required for an excellent essay, although it is less comprehensive or falls
short of overall excellence in some respect (perhaps incompletely states the social science
concepts on an issue, or misapplies them in relation to the analysis of case materials, or
perhaps incompletely deals with or even omits an issue etc.) an A- should be awarded.
Good (B+ / B): this is appropriate where the essay demonstrates better than average skill and
ability in identifying, analyzing and dealing with the main issues and displays an ability to
present persuasive arguments backed up by authority. The essay reaching this standard should
be awarded a B+ or B.
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Average Competent Essay (B-): the average, competent essay that has identified the major
issues and dealt with them satisfactorily should be awarded a B-.
Satisfactory (C+ / C): where an examiner feels that the essay broadly identifies the major
issues and displays a broad understanding of the relevant social science concepts and issues,
but contains errors or is vague or confused on an issue or in applying the social science
concepts to the facts, or omits a major issue, etc., a C+ or C should be awarded.
Borderline Satisfactory (C-): where an examiner feels that the essay identifies and broadly
deals with some of the major issues but displays a more limited understanding of the relevant
social science concepts and issues, or contains errors or is confused in stating or applying the
social science concepts to the analysis of the facts, a C-should be awarded.
Pass (D+ / D): this is appropriate where the essay demonstrates some knowledge and
recognition of social science issues, but where the issues are generally incompletely or
unclearly perceived and analyzed, or where there are a number of clear mistakes. The essay
should be awarded a D+ or D.
Fail: this is appropriate where the essay fails to identify major issues, where serious mistakes
of interpreting social science concepts or analyzing social science issues are apparent and the
handling of the question generally is significantly below par.
V.
Plagiarism and Citation Guideline
At The University of Hong Kong, plagiarism is a disciplinary offence. Any student who
commits the offence is liable to disciplinary action and the plagiarized work will receive a fail
grade. Regulation 5 of the University’s Regulations Governing Conduct and Examination
provides that:
“A candidate shall not engage in plagiarism nor employ nor seek to employ any other unfair
means at an examination or in any other form of work submitted for assessment as part of a
University examination. Plagiarism is defined as unacknowledged use, as one’s own, of work
or another person, whether or not such work has been published.”
Plagiarism will result in an automatic “fail” grade being awarded for that particular item and,
if serious enough, may result in the student failing the course. For this reason all students are
urged to read “What is Plagiarism?” via http://www.rss.hku.hk/plagiarism/, and refer to the
citation guideline via http://libguides.lib.hku.hk/content.php?pid=90943&sid=677248.
February 7, 2017
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