History Department Response to Student Feedback
HSTY2621 - Greater China (2007)

Unit Coordinator: Dr John Wong

The course dealt with the emergence of Greater China, encompassing the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and the overseas Chinese. Student comments have been overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic:

• "A fascinating presentation of the concept of Greater China; an area of significant proportion to an understanding of a very initial area of research. China is too often little understood or studied but its importance for Australia and even global relations in the future bears better understand".
• "Really enjoyed the class. Skillful presentation of lecturer, captivating, interesting, unpredictable, rewarding, and I learnt a lot about things I was really interested in. Thank you very much."
• "Dr Wong is a great teacher. He made the unit engaging and interesting. He has a great depth of knowledge and seemed very keen to help students not only in this unit but in education in general."
• "Dr Wong was excellent in providing feedback and was understanding to student needs."
• "Wong effectively promotes skills which will be extremely useful"
• "This course was demanding but very beneficial"
• "I greatly admire Wong's dedication and perseverance. It is a pleasure to learn from someone so enthusiastic about his subject after so many years of teaching. He is a true champion of education"
• "This is the best unit of study I have undertaken thus far. I personally publicly challenge the University to model future courses on Wong's Greater China unit".

One student has offered some advice to those who may be thinking of taking this course in the future: "Dr Wong was tough". In what way was Wong tough? He would not pass students who did not answer the question, however many high-sounding words they might have used in their essays. He would not pass students who had not done the amount of work necessary to pass, however flowery their language might have been. He would not give out everything on a plate to students, but wanted them to read beyond his lectures and reading lists in order to excel now and later in the real world.

Students have also made suggestions for improvement:

• "The only thing I would recommend is a clearer course outline underlining the focus of the course."
• "The quality of the teaching and the content of this course have been outstanding. If possible, could it please be made clearer earlier in the semester the referencing system to be used and how this differs from the HSTY guidelines"

Both suggestions have been gratefully accepted and will be acted upon.