Future Readiness Online Courses
These online courses have been designed to help Year One students successfully transition to university life!
Preparation for University: Essentials for Success and Introduction to Research Methods will provide you with the foundational skills needed to excel in your academic journey, and set you on a path toward academic success.
No prior knowledge is needed for either course. First year students have already been pre-enrolled: simply login to your HKU Portal, and you can start building the skills you need to thrive at HKU!
Completion of each course will earn you one out-of-classroom academic credit.
*BONUS* Students who complete both courses by October 31 will be eligible for a free HKU T-shirt.
Preparation for University:
Essentials for Success
This course introduces you to some important knowledge and skills which can help you at the University of Hong Kong. This course will help you move from learning at secondary school to successful learning at university.
There are four units in this course:- You will explore strategies for adapting to university culture and developing some essential skills such as academic reading.
- You will learn about the importance of good communication and collaboration with your peers and professors at university.
- You will explore productivity and time management skills and learn about the importance of maintaining focus while studying.
- You will practice identifying digital tools, services and people to help you achieve your academic goals.
Course Learning Hours – 20 hours
Out of classroom experience activity pre-approval no. OOC-2223-PA019
Introduction to Research Methods
Course description
Coping with our current world with so much information and data all around us, how do we navigate, analyse, come to appropriate conclusions and learn new things? What you need are research skills! This course prepares students from diverse academic backgrounds to develop their research skills, to conduct research using different methodologies, and to communicate their research to a wide range of audiences.
Course objectives
This course will enable incoming undergraduate students from any discipline across all ten faculties at the University of Hong Kong to develop the skills to critically appraise research studies using methodologies from different disciplines, conduct some quantitative and qualitative data analyses, and communicate their analyses meaningfully. Following the online courses, there will be a set of training focusing on the quantitative methods, accompanied by step-by-step practical exercise.
No prior knowledge about statistical modelling is needed for this course.
Course learning outcomes
By the end of the course, students should be able to achieve the following:
- How to differentiate between different types of research methods
- When to use specific research methods for research questions
- Understand the contexts in which certain methods are used
- Learn the benefits, drawbacks and ethical implications involved in particular methods
- Adopt critical perspectives on quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques
- Analyse published research critically in terms of research methods
