l1 course overview

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Department of Social Work & Social Administration

The University of Hong Kong

The Last Dance Understanding Death & Dying

CCHU9024 – Lecture 1

THE LAST DANCE:

UNDERSTANDING DEATH & DYING

2015 – 2016 Course Overview

CCHU9024

Professor Cecilia L.W. CHANSi Yuan Professor in Health and Social Work,

Professor, Department of Social Work and Social Administration,

Founding Director, Centre on Behavioral Health,

The University of Hong Kong.





Course Overview





What is this course about?

• Aims:

1. Provide you with basic knowledge on death, dying and bereavement (thanatology studies) as well as issues concerning mortality, spirituality and meaning of life.

2. Develop your awareness on the social, cultural and political impact of death and loss among different ethnic groups with a particular focused on the Chinese experience.

3. Enhance your understandings and practical-skills for working with individuals, families and communities facing the challenges of death, dying and bereavement.

4. Enhance your self-reflection on their personal beliefs, attitudes and experiences with death and loss to create a more profound appreciation of life and personhood.





What you will learn?

• Understand more on issues related to death and dying and become aware of any cultural implications

• Become more aware of the cultural implications of death, dying and bereavement

• Reflect on your own values, make positive preparation for death and develop a positive attitude towards life





Course Details

• Date: 2 Sept 2015 – 25 Nov 2015

• Lecture (11x)• Time: 16:30 – 18:20 (every Wed)

• Venue: KB223 (Knowles Building)

• Tutorial (4x each group)• Time 18:30 – 20:20 (every alternate Wed for each group)

• Venue: tba

• Assessment• 2x Reflective Log,

• 1x Group Project,

• 1x Group Project Report

• 1x Exam

• Website: HKU Moodle System





Textbook

• Required: Chan, CLW & Chow, AYM (eds.) (2006) Death, Dying and Bereavement: A Hong Kong Chinese Experience. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press

• Recommended: The Last Dance: Encountering Death and Dying 9th Edition by Lynne Ann DeSpelder & Albert Lee Strickland

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List of Teachers & TutorsRole Lectures

Course conveyer* &

teacher

Prof Cecilia Chan L1, L2, L3, L4, L6, L7, L8, L9, L10, L11

Teacher Dr. David Palmer L5

Teacher Dr. Thomas Abraham L7

Guest speaker Dr. Andy Ho L9

Guest Speaker (HKCF) Ms. Amy Yan L2

Guest Speaker (CCF) Ms. Keynes Wong L4

Tutor Ms. Iris Lo Group 1-2

Tutor Mr. Johnny Chan Group 3-4

Tutor Mr. Fung Yat Lui Group 5-6

Course admin* & tutor Ms. Michelle Tam Group 7-8

Tutor Dr. Lau Hi Po Group 9-10





Course ScheduleDate Topic

2/9 L01 Death and its Impact on Individuals and Families

9/9 L02 Death Systems in Contemporary Societies (Guest Sharing)

16/9 L03 The Historical and Evolving Perspectives on Mortality

23/9 L04 Children and Death: Theory and Interventions (Guest Sharing)

30/9 L05Vision of the Afterlife and the Function of Death Rituals across

Cultures & Religions

7/10 L06 Understanding Shameful and Horrendous Deaths

14/10 * Fieldtrip (Compulsory)





Course ScheduleDate Topic

21/10

- Public holiday (Cheung Yeung)

HW Submission of Reflective Log 1 (23:59)

28/10 L07 Death in the News and Popular Media

4/11 L08 Bereavement and Grief: Overview & Interventions

11/11 L09 Cultural Issues

18/11 L10 Controversial Issues in Death & Dying (I)

25/11L11 Controversial Issues in Death & Dying (II)

HW Submission of Reflective Log 2 (23:59)

26/11 HW Submission of Creative Group Featured Article

2/12 Exam Online Examination





Tutorial groups

• Each group required to attend 4 tutorials on every other Wednesdays starting from 16th September, 2015.

• Tutorials are 2-hours long and are held after the lecture from 18:30 to 20:20.

• The tutorial list released on Moodle by 15 Sept (T1 starts at 16 Sept).

• Group switching is not allowed without prior approval from your assigned tutor (For example…).





Tutorial groups

Group Tutor Tutorial Dates (2015) Venue

1 Iris Lo 16th Sept 30th Sept 28th Oct 11th Nov CPD-LG.64

2 Iris Lo 23rd Sept 7th Oct 4th Nov 18th Nov CPD-LG.64

3 Johnny Chan 16th Sept 30th Sept 28th Oct 11th Nov CPD-LG.60

4 Johnny Chan 23rd Sept 7th Oct 4th Nov 18th Nov CPD-LG.60

5 Fung Yat Lui 16th Sept 30th Sept 28th Oct 11th Nov CPD-LG.46

6 Fung Yat Lui 23rd Sept 7th Oct 4th Nov 18th Nov CPD-LG.46

7 Michelle Tam 16th Sept 30th Sept 28th Oct 11th Nov CPD-LG.61

8 Michelle Tam 23rd Sept 7th Oct 4th Nov 18th Nov CPD-LG.61

9 Lau Hi Po 16th Sept 30th Sept 28th Oct 11th Nov CPD-LG.36

10 Lau Hi Po 23rd Sept 7th Oct 4th Nov 18th Nov CPD-LG.36





Fieldtrip

• Attendance is compulsory.

• A site visit to a local funeral home (Tung WahCoffin Home) has been arranged to take place on October 14th, 2015(Reading Week) at 13:30 to 15:45.

• The guided tour complements the course objectives and serve as an essential part of the tutorial learning process

• Free shuttle pick up and drop off from HKU will be provided, and travel details will be provided in the due course.

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Assessment





Attendance Requirement

• 80% for lectures and 100% for Tutorials

• Attendance in Field Visit is compulsory.

• Students who fail to comply with the attendance requirements will not be permitted to sit for the year-end examination and would not be able to complete the course.





Assessment Ratio

Assessment Tasks / Activities Ratio

Individual Reflective Log & Participation 20%

Creative Group Project - Speech 25%

Creative Group Project - Written Report 25%

Final Written Examination 30%





AT1 – Reflective Log & Participation

• Students are required to keep two individual reflective log to ruminate upon their own beliefs, values and attitudes on the various topics on death and dying covered in this course

• Specifically, two written response (between 500-750 words) are required from every student (a total of 2 reflective log entries per student).

• Student are required to submit their log entries through the Moodle System.

• Tutors are expected to grade their own groups of students and provide feedback (assessment sheets will be provided).





AT1 – Reflective Log & Participation

• Deadline for • Log 1 : 21st Oct 2015 [23:55]

• Log 2 : 25th Nov 2015 [23:55]

• Reflective logs assessment criteria: • Knowledge of concepts

• Synthesis of ideas

• Personal insight

• Clarity in Presentations





AT2 – Creative Group Speech

• Format – Students will work together in groups of 6 persons to deliver a persuasive speech (Max. 8 minute “show time”). The speech will be video recorded in the classroom.

• Purpose – Present a credible and convincing argument to advocate for community or government action in tackling an existing phenomenon or controversial topic or a certain group of people related to death and dying in the context of Hong Kong.

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• Topic –Should be an issue that is not only timely and controversial, but also can be connected back to the teachings in the course.

• Delivery –The format is flexible, it would be a speech, a video, or a performance.

Example: 13’19’’

Dr. Peter Saul “Let’s Talk about Dying”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkvKGafoyIY






• Students are encouraged to be creative in their mode of delivery.

• Please note time lost to initial technical setup and technical errors count towards the 8-minute time limit!

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Conceptualization & Application of TheoriesAbility to understand and conceptualize the topic/issue/phenomenon with a relevant theory on death, dying and bereavement embedded in argument.

25%

Interdisciplinary Perspectives Ability to consider the topic/phenomenon/issue from multiple angles and make use of cross-disciplinary knowledge (e.g. medicine, law, business, architecture etc) to enhance persuasiveness.

25%

Creativity and innovation Being creative in the way of presenting the topic and argument, and the use of innovate means to cultivate good delivery.

25%

Mode of Delivery Clear articulation of arguments and effective communication skillsAbility to respond to opposing evidence with well-explained arguments.

25%

Extra credit – Most Persuasive Speech (total 2 teams)* 5%

*Voted by fellow students





AT3 – Creative Group Writing

• Each group is required to submit a group writing tasks of 3,000-5,000 words. This creative group writing could be a featured story, a proposal on social actions and/or public education, or a policy paper on a topic of choice.

• If you choose to write a featured story, they are review or overview papers, or tutorial articles. The primary goal of a review feature is to provide an overview or survey of a topic, describing the state of the art, citing examples from several sources, and your own perspective (i.e. your “angle”).






• If you choose to write a proposal. The goal of this proposal is to provide a clear outline so that whoever will be reading your work will understand your scope of concern, identifies with your passion to tackle the social issue and eventually motivated to support your projects.

• Your proposal include:• Background & current state of art.

• Service or action gaps will be highlighted,

• Group(s) of stakeholders involved

• Proposed plan of action.

• Budget and resources needed.

• Expected outcome or social impact






• The report has to follow academic writing style (e.g. APA), with full referencing and comprehensive review of the updated literature on the topic of discussion.

• Deadline of submission of feature article is 23:55 of 26th November, 2015 (via Moodl).

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Literature Review and conceptualization Understanding and analysis of the topic/issue/phenomenon by reviewing evidence in the current literatureAbility to conceptualize the topic/issue/phenomenon with relevant theoriesCoverage of relevant literatures

30%

Critical thinking and analysis of interdisciplinary impactCritical, reflective, and/or original thoughtCultural integration, understanding of local situation

20%

Originality and Personal Connectedness Reflective use of and ability to relate leaning to everyday life experiences 20%

Clarity, logic and structure of presentation Adherence to a commonly accepted logical presentation 10%

Use of Language and Referencing Accuracy and clarity of languageAdherence to a commonly accepted academic reference system (e.g. APA)

10%

Teamwork*Ability to work effectively as a team in ensuring delivery of coursework 10%

*By fellow teammates by end of semester





AT4 – Online Examination

• The exam will cover all assigned readings as well as notes from all lectures and tutorials.

• It will comprise a variety of questions including multiple choice, true/false and matching types. Each question is worth 0.5 marks, totaling up to a total score of 30.

• The exam is open-book, and is accessible online via Moodle on 2nd December 2015 from 2pm – 5pm.





AT4 – Online Examination

• Once an exam attempt is started (by clicking the “attempt quiz now” button), each student will be allowed 120 minutes to complete the exam (a countdown time will be shown in the navigation block).

• When the time has run out, the exam will be submitted automatically with whatever answer have been filled in so far.





Important Dates

Submission Deadline

Group project name list End of tutorial 2

Reflective Logs (AT1) via Moodle Log 1 : 21st Oct 2015 [23:55]

Log 2 : 25th Nov 2015 [23:55]

Creative Speech (AT2) Lecture 10: 18th Nov 2015

Lecture 11: 25th Nov 2015

Creative Featured Article (AT3) via

Moodle

26th Nov 2015 (23:55)

Online Exam (AT4) via Moodle 11th Dec 2015 (gateway open 1-5pm)

Field trip 14th Oct 2015





Understanding Death :A Self Journey

If life is a school, loss is a major part of the curriculum.

Elisabeth Kübler–Ross

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Open yourself. Participate in the learning process.

Be aware of your own well-being. This is a pathway to self-understanding.

You can choose to observe and listen to the sharing from others in a non‐judgmental manner.

Respect your own reflections and emotions, as well as your values and beliefs.

Use your most comfortable means to express your feelings.

All observed or communicated information, whether obtained formally

or informally, is to be considered completely confidential.

Boundaries must be respected.

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You are encouraged to check in and seek further help when you encounter any difficulties during the course and the group.





Housekeeping





In cases of absence

1. All absence (except medical ones) are subject to approval at least 3 days beforehand (ie. if tutorial is on Wed, student must notify tutor latest by Sunday)

2. For medical related causes, copy of medical cert needs to be provided

3. Compensatory work (CW) is required to ensure learning (each students cannot submit more than 2 CW each term).





In cases of late submission

Late for % of marks to be deducted

1 day 10%

2 days 20%

3 days 30%

4 days 40%

5 days 50%

6 days 60%

7 days 70%

More than 7 days No mark will be given





Any questions or concerns about the course?

[email protected]

l1 course overview

Documents

challenges of death

understanding death

cultural implications

political impact of

hong kong university

hong kong chinese experience

group venue

group time