Perceptions of a university subject on leadership and intrapersonal development: reflections of the scholarship recipients

Daniel T.L. Shek; Florence K.Y. Wu; Moon Y.M. Law

doi:10.1515/ijdhd-2014-0340

Article

Perceptions of a university subject on leadership and intrapersonal development: reflections of the scholarship recipients

Daniel T.L. Shek , Florence K.Y. Wu and Moon Y.M. Law

Published/Copyright: August 5, 2014

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From the journal International Journal on Disability and Human Development Volume 13 Issue 4

Abstract

Under the new 4-year undergraduate curriculum, students admitted to The Hong Kong Polytechnic University have to take a course on “Leadership and Intra-personal Development”. A subject entitled “Tomorrow’s Leaders” was developed to help students satisfy this requirement. In the second piloting exercise, five outstanding students taking this subject were invited to write reflective journals. Several common themes from these reflections are highlighted from the analyses. First, students believed there was a need for this subject. Second, the students liked the course, and they identified many positive attributes in the subject and its implementation. Third, the instructors were appreciated by the students. Fourth, the subject was seen by the students to be beneficial to their development. Finally, some suggestions for improvement were noted. When the present findings are integrated with other evaluation findings, it can be concluded that the subject is able to promote psychosocial competencies in university students taking this subject.

Keywords: case studies; Chinese university students; Hong Kong; positive youth development; qualitative evaluation

Corresponding author: Daniel T.L. Shek, PhD, FHKPS, BBS, SBS, JP, Chair Professor of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Room HJ407, Core H, Hunghom, Hong Kong, China, E-mail: daniel.shek@polyu.edu.hk Centre for Innovative Programmes for Adolescents and Families, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China; Department of Social Work, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China; Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau, Macau, China; and Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Kentucky Children’s Hospital, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, KY, USA

Acknowledgments

The development of the course entitled “Tomorrow’s Leaders” and the evaluation study were financially supported by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University via the Teaching Development Grant and the funding for the 3-3-4 new curriculum. We would also like to thank the Wofoo Foundation for the establishment of several scholarships for those outstanding students taking the course. Members of the curriculum development team include Daniel Shek, Rachel Sun, Yat Hung Chui, Yida Chung, Yammy Chak, Pik Fong Tsui, Ceci Ma, Lu Yu, Moon Law, and Winnie Fung.

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Received: 2013-8-18

Accepted: 2013-9-18

Published Online: 2014-8-5

Published in Print: 2014-11-1

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https://doi.org/10.1515/ijdhd-2014-0340

Keywords for this article

case studies; Chinese university students; Hong Kong; positive youth development; qualitative evaluation