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得獎人  Tessa Stewart女士  聯合書院 「對萬事萬物抱有疑問，包括所學的；反省自己所作的，尋求恆久的解答。」 Tessa Stewart女士於愛爾蘭都柏林大學聖三一學院取得社會研究學士學位，又於加拿大英屬哥倫比亞大學取得社會工作學碩士學位。她的研究重點為「人類如何受生活和工作環境背後的文化及體系影響」。Stewart女士教學經驗豐富，曾任教的科目有組織行為、實驗管理學培訓及跨文化溝通。

Stewart女士現於香港中文大學、香港浸會大學及香港理工大學講授通識教育及持續進修課程，包括人際及專業技巧訓練、跨文化溝通。這些課程均以學生的主動學習過程為學術評估基礎。

自1999年起，Stewart女士開始教授聯合書院通識教育課程中的領袖課程 — GEU2012
「領袖英語訓練計劃」。她將自己設計的課程內容，透過非形式學習過程，融入讀書、日常生活及工作環境。她讓學生先從宏觀的角度，思考擔當領袖時或會遇到的處境，接著再以個別訓練的形式，教授學生領導與溝通、社交網絡及自我管理的細節技巧。這個課程實行小班教學，學生人數一般不超過15人。

Stewart女士的教學方法以體驗教育為本。她認為因應不同的教學目標，教學方式也應隨之改變。傳統的授課和訓練往往以知識及技術的傳授為主，並不著重個人成長及潛能發展。體驗教育能因應個人風格、喜好、長處及志向而調整，較諸傳統按本子訓練或教學的方法，更能啟導學生正面的情緒，明顯增強他們的自信、自重、自尊，以及個人的價值和志向的追求。

Stewart女士以學生的背景及現實生活經歷，取代課本範文，作為學習的根據。課程聚焦於學生如何把自身經歷帶進課堂討論，又把在課堂學到的應用到日常生活中。譬如，課堂上的角色扮演練習，就是希望透過生活的實例，發展學生的人際技巧，提升他們的能力，因應不同情況正確使用英語。課程完結前，學生需要在家完成試卷。試卷包括三個部分：一、自我反思，學生需要詳細說明修課後，自己在學習及發展上的得著；二、應用，學生要以現實生活為例，說明如何實踐從課程所學的自我管理技巧；三、個案研究，學生要分析現實生活的情境，然後從個案中的經理或管理人員的角度作出判斷。

在課程上，Stewart女士對學生作持續和即時的評核。每節角色扮演後，Stewart女士會就學生的表現給予意見，同時也鼓勵同學互相評估。除檢討同學的表現外，學生也有機會自我反思。每節課完結時，學生需要填寫自我評估問卷，指出上課後自信心及正確使用英語能力的進度。

Stewart女士深信通識教育十分重要，因為只有教學方式取得平衡，方能讓學生發展為成熟有自信的人。通識教育推崇跨學科及全人教育，鼓勵學生主動學習，老師也能針對學生的個人潛能和學習模式，配合周遭環境的需要。通識教育也為老師提供園地，嘗試有別於傳統教學活動、情境及過程的多樣教學方式。

Awardee

 Ms. Tessa Stewart
 United College

"Question everything, including everything you are taught.
Reflect on all that you do, and search for lasting solutions."

Ms. Tessa Stewart obtained a Bachelor of Social Sciences in Social Studies from Trinity College Dublin in Ireland, and a Master's Degree in Social Work from The University of British Columbia in Canada. Her area of research is how people are impacted by the cultures and systems in which they live and work. She has experience in teaching organizational behaviour, experiential management training, and cross-cultural communication.

Currently, she is teaching General Education and Continuing Education courses at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The courses cover training in interpersonal and professional skills, and cross-cultural communication, with academic assessment based on active learning processes.

Since 1999, Ms. Stewart has been teaching a leadership course, GEU2012 'English for Leadership', for the United College General Education programme. She has designed the course, which builds on informal learning processes that occur in study, everyday life, and work life. She first invites students to reflect on their leadership situations from a macro perspective. Then, the students are trained individually in the micro skills that are needed for leadership and communication, social networking, and self-management. The course is conducted in small classes, usually with a maximum of 15 students per class.

Ms. Stewart's teaching method is based on experiential education. She believes that different types of education are required for different purposes. Conventional teaching and training are based mainly on the transfer of knowledge or skills, a process that does not address individual growth and potential particularly well. Experiential learning is adaptable to individual styles, preferences, strengths, and directions. This approach is more likely than conventional prescribed training or teaching to produce positive emotional effects, notably increased confidence, assertiveness, self-esteem, and a sense of personal value and purpose.

Instead of relying on texts, Ms. Stewart makes use of the students' backgrounds and real-life experiences as a basis for learning. The focus is on how students bring their experiences into the classroom and then apply what is learned into the world outside the classroom, into their everyday lives. For example, role-play exercises are designed to mirror real-life situations so as to develop the students' interpersonal skills and enhance their ability to use English appropriately in context. At the end of the course, there is a take-home exam paper with three different components: a self-reflective part in which students are asked to detail their personal learning and development as a result of taking the course; an application part in which students should use a real-world example to demonstrate how they have been putting their new self-management skills into action; and the last part, which is based on case studies that the students should analyse and make a judgement of what to do if they were the manager or supervisor in a real-world situation.

In Ms. Stewart's class, assessments are ongoing and immediate. Useful feedback, including peer assessments, are given on the students' individual performance in each class after the role-plays. Students are provided with chances for self-reflection. A self-evaluation questionnaire is administered at the end of each class. Students are required to indicate to what extent they have increased their confidence and ability to use English appropriately as a result of taking the course.

Ms. Stewart believes that general education is very important because a balance of teaching approaches can do much to help the individual grow into a confident and mature person. General education fosters an interdisciplinary approach and emphasizes whole person education, allowing students to engage in active learning. Teachers can thus focus on individual potential and learning styles, as well as on the needs of the surrounding system. General education also gives teachers a place to try different teaching approaches other than traditional class teaching activities, situations, and processes.