From left: Dr Staci Ford, Professor Gina Marchetti,
Dr Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park
“When people think about Hong Kong, a lot of them think about Hong Kong films,” says Professor Gina Marchetti of the Department of Comparative Literature. So what better way to showcase both this art form and HKU’s scholarship than by launching a MOOC on the subject?
MOOCs – which stand for “massive open online courses” offered usually by universities – have mushroomed around the world. HKU has four MOOCs, all free of charge, including “Humanity and Nature in Chinese Thought” by Chad Hansen, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, as well as courses developed by the Faculties of Architecture and Medicine and the Journalism and Media Studies Centre. When it was decided this year to add more such courses, Professor Marchetti did not hesitate.
“I begged to do it,” she said. “One of the things we do extraordinarily well here at HKU is Hong Kong film, another is cultural globalisation from an Asian perspective, particularly taking into account Chinese culture. I feel this MOOC really showcases that about HKU and we have an obligation as an institution to share it with the rest of the world.”
The MOOC, which will be launched next autumn, is building on a Common Core course called “Hong Kong Cinema through a Global Lens,” which invites guest speakers from the industry to class and includes live demonstrations of swordplay by the Department of Comparative Literature’s Dr Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park so students can analyse the quality of fight scenes in films.
These things are all being filmed for the MOOC, which will be a joint offering by Professor Marchetti, Dr Magnan-Park and Dr Stacilee Ford of the Department of History and the American Studies Programme. They are still preparing the course and assessment materials and plan to have a strong element of feedback mechanisms so students can seek clarification and learn from each other.
“There can be an impression of dumbing-down with MOOCs,” Dr Ford said. “I signed on because of the professionalism of the HKU E-learning Pedagogical Support Unit, which coordinates the development of the University’s MOOCs, and the determination by Gina and Aaron to keep the intellectual engagement at a good level.”
The MOOC is not Professor Marchetti’s only online project. Earlier this year she launched the Hong Kong Women Filmmakers website, which was developed from her GRF-funded project on Hong Kong women filmmakers from 1997 to the present day.
“The website wasn’t part of the grant but I thought it would be a good way to display all the material that had been collected,” she said. The website contains detailed profiles of more than 45 Hong Kong women filmmakers, a special section on women filmmakers of the Umbrella Movement, a select (but extensive) bibliography and other materials.
Professor Marchetti said some of the filmmakers told her they were looking at their own work in new ways after seeing it in relation to other women filmmakers in Hong Kong. “They don’t get the recognition they deserve and I hope this will be a place where they can network and contact other women in the industry,” she said. “I also hope it will inspire younger filmmakers to see there are opportunities for women in Hong Kong film culture.”
Hong Kong Women Filmmakers is at https://hkwomenfilmmakers.wordpress.com/
HKUx (HKU MOOCs) is at http://tl.hku.hk/hkuxonline/
See the original article in Arts Faculty Newsletter Winter 2015.
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