News

We are glad to announce that Dr Hussein Haruna, our PhD graduate, has won the 2020 ProQuest Doctoral Dissertation Award. The award is bestowed by The Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), an international association for those in the field of information science and technology established in 1937.

The award recognises outstanding recent doctoral candidates whose research contributes significantly to an understanding of some aspect of information science. It is intended to encourage participation of new PhDs in the activities of a professional association by providing a forum for the presentation of their research and assisting them with some travel support.

Dr Haruna was selected as this year’s winner from among a pool of outstanding candidates who were judged based on the following criteria: 1) importance of the topic to theory development and/or practical applications in information science; 2) soundness of methodology; 3) organisation and clarity of the presentation; and 4) quality of data (when applicable). His dissertation, titled “Improving Sexual Health Education for Adolescent Students Using Game-Based Learning and Gamification”, can be accessed through the HKU library here.

Dr Haruna was primarily supervised by Dr Hu Xiao, Associate Professor in the Faculty’s Academic Unit of Human Communication, Development, and Information Sciences, and co-supervised by Dr Samuel Chu, Associate Professor in the Academic Unit of Teacher Education and Learning Leadership. Dr Haruna is currently Post-Doctoral Researcher (Educational Research & Innovation) at the Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico. He will receive his award at the 2020 meeting of the ASIS&T, a flagship meeting in the field of Information Science, which will be held virtually from October 25-29, 2020.

Many congratulations to Dr Haruna on his great achievement!

We are delighted to announce the results of the Faculty Research Awards 2019-20.

Among all the exceptional nominations, Dr Jim Chan, Assistant Professor in the Academic Unit of Teacher Education and Learning Leadership, was selected for the Faculty Outstanding Young Researcher Award, which recognises the outstanding research accomplishments of young academic and research staff.

Dr Timothy Hew, Associate Dean (Research Higher Degrees), won the Faculty Outstanding Research Student Supervisor Award for the highly effective supervisory guidance he provides to his research postgraduate students.

Congratulations to Dr Chan and Dr Hew!

We are pleased to share with you that Dr Susan Bridges, Associate Professor, Academic Unit of Social Contexts and Policies of Education of the Faculty, has been appointed Director of CETL of HKU for three years from July 1, 2020.

CETL is a service-oriented and research-led centre that supports the University to achieve its strategic teaching and learning aims. It is committed to delivering high-quality professional learning programmes, to engaging in scholarship and conducting research in support of university-wide teaching and learning developments. CETL also supports a student-centred teaching agenda and strives to ensure that all of their activities contribute to the enhancement of teaching and learning at HKU.

On June 20, 2020, the Faculty arranged for a KE seminar entitled “Play Education & Treasure Hunt”. The session was presented via ZOOM to share the application of play education principles in daily life to help young children learn social skills and behaviours through games. The seminar was delivered by Dr Yuen Man Tak, Associate Professor in the Faculty’s Academic Unit of Teacher Education and Learning Leadership, and Dr Sylvia Liu, Director of the Jockey Club “Play n Gain” Project.

During the seminar, participants learnt practical skills and tips on how to discover the “treasure” (positive characteristics) of children, thus enhancing the parent-child relationship and strengthening children’s social and emotional competencies through interactive play.

The seminar was attended by nearly 170 participants—including parents, teachers, students and social workers. The session was well received by the different groups. Many attendees enthusiastically participated in the Q&A session, and most participants looked forward to joining similar seminars organised by the Faculty in the future.

The PowerPoint slides and video of the seminar can be found at https://web.edu.hku.hk/event/detail-page/ke-seminar-on-play-education-and-treasure-hunt.

The Long Service Awards 2020 was given out on June 12, 2020. Professor Xiang Zhang, the President and Vice-Chancellor, congratulated the awardees. Nine Faculty colleagues were honoured.

40 years of service:

Ms Ellie Leung, Senior Secretary

35 years of service:

Mr Benz Li, Technician

25 years of service:

Mr Lam Sun Hou, Office Attendant In-charge

Professor Edwin Yiu, Professor, Academic Unit of Human Communication, Development, and Information Sciences (CDIS)

Ms Elaine Yu, Senior Clerk (Programmes)

15 years of service:

Dr Daniel Churchill, Associate Professor, Academic Unit of Teacher Education and Learning Leadership

Dr Estella Ma, Associate Professor, CDIS

Professor Stephanie Stokes, Professor and Head of CDIS

Miss Jo Wong, Multimedia Developer, e-Learning Team

The Faculty appreciates colleagues’ long and dedicated service, commitment and loyalty to the Faculty/University.

Warmest congratulations and a big thank you to everyone!

Ms Tanya Kempston, Lecturer, Academic Unit of Teacher Education and Learning Leadership of the Faculty, successfully organised Hear This!, a virtual festival of radio drama for secondary school students in May 2020. In collaboration with our Faculty’s student mentors, the event featured 56 participants from the Hong Kong Management Association David Li Kwok Po College.

Ms Kempston believed that even in the worst circumstances, making drama is a powerful way of creating community and togetherness, as well as lifting spirits. As such, the event was organised with the philosophy of “the show must go on(line)”.

The project was divided into three phases, in which every activity was conducted online. In the first phase, the student mentors from our Faculty received training from Ms Kempston, so as to understand more about the nature of performance, and the challenges and opportunities.

In the second phase, the student mentors guided the secondary school students after school from May 18 to 22, 2020. They worked together in small groups to facilitate the production of two-minute radio dramas, which would be performed in the online showcase.

The final phase was the Grand Performance that took place on May 23, 2020. Thirteen groups performed their radio dramas, and received formative feedback from Ms Kempston and student mentors.

The event was beneficial both to our students and the participants. For our students, it was a valuable experience to lead students in a performance-making process via online teaching and learning. The event also offered a great opportunity to secondary school students to exercise their creativity and work with classmates, as well as using English speaking and listening skills in a fun and exciting way to create radio drama after many months of school suspension. Even though the event was not a competition, it offered Certificates of Participation and several spot prizes to encourage the participants and recognise their effort.

We hope everyone has enjoyed the event. Please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbnqjA9-dtM to watch the summary of the festival.

The Faculty of Education is launching the Faculty Interview Series – Inspiring Dialogues with Distinguished Scholars, which features a series of short videotaped interviews with distinguished scholars around the world.

In the Series, professors talk about their biggest achievements, key pieces of advice for life and their time with the Faculty. The interviewees include:

• Professor Stephen Andrews, Professor (2007-2017); Dean (2010-2017), Faculty of Education, HKU
• Professor James Banks, Kerry and Linda Killinger Endowed Chair in Diversity Studies Emeritus, University of Washington, USA
• Professor Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education Emeritus, Graduate School of Education, Stanford University, USA; President and CEO, Learning Policy Institute, USA
• Professor Low Ee Ling, Dean, Teacher Education, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• Professor Lee Shulman, President Emeritus, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Stanford University, USA

You may watch the videos at http://bit.ly/FacultyInterviewSeries and see what some of the biggest names in the education field have to share! There will be more interviews to come in the near future. Please stay tuned!

We are pleased to announce that Mr Lin Cong, Jason, a PhD student in the Faculty’s Academic Unit of Social Contexts and Policies of Education, has been selected for a Fulbright-RGC Hong Kong Research Scholar Award 2020-21. Jason is the second student from our Faculty who has gained the award this year: a remarkable achievement given the keen competition.

The award is offered by the Research Grants Council, in collaboration with the US Consulate-General in Hong Kong, and is funded by the RGC in partnership with private donors. As a Fulbright-RGC Visiting Student Scholar, Jason will conduct research on multiculturalism and Chinese identity formation in Chinese societies, and issues of the Chinese diaspora in the United States regarding their Chineseness. He will be placed at Harvard Graduate School of Education, USA for 10 months starting in 2021, with the grant funded by the RGC.

Please join us in congratulating Jason on his marvellous achievement!

We are delighted to announce that Mr Lee Man Kit, Stephen, a PhD student in the Faculty’s Academic Unit of Human Communication, Development, and Information Sciences, has been selected for a Fulbright-RGC Hong Kong Research Scholar Award 2020-21 after keen competition. Stephen has recently published his first manuscript as first-author. The paper, entitled Spelling in Developmental Dyslexia in Chinese: Evidence of Deficits in Statistical Learning and Over-Reliance on Phonology, appeared in the prestigious journal Cognitive Neuropsychology.

The award is offered by the Research Grants Council, in collaboration with the US Consulate-General in Hong Kong, and is funded by RGC in partnership with private donors. As a Fulbright-Lee Hysan Visiting Student Scholar, Stephen will conduct research on interventions for children with developmental dyslexia at the Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, USA, for six months starting in 2021, with the grant funded by the Lee Hysan Foundation.

Congratulations to Stephen on his excellent achievement!

The Faculty is launching the “LIVE to LEARN, LOVE to SERVE” Campaign to showcase our students’ meaningful contributions to the community and what they have learnt through participating in different activities coordinated by the School-University Partnerships Office amid the pandemic.

The campaign features our students’ good work and contributions in the following activities:

a) Video Series of “Top Tips for HKDSE English Exam”

b) “Physics Teaching Package” for Secondary School Physics Teachers

c) “Real-time Online Tutoring” Programme for HKDSE Candidates 

d) “Schools Online Teaching Support” Programme

e) Workshop on “Unleash Your Creativity at Home”

f) Video Series of “Stay Home Science Experiments: Primary School”

During this period, schools’ leadership, teachers’ pedagogies and students’ learning habits are evolving. To prepare our student teachers to adapt their teaching to changing contexts, keeping up the learning momentum played a key role. This campaign reflects our students’ enthusiasm in lifelong learning and serving the community. Not only does it synergise the importance of teachers’ professional development, it also shows that our students are inquisitive, generous and kind at the same time. When our students serve the others in the community, they put love into their actions.

Professor A. Lin Goodwin, Dean of the Faculty said, “There is a saying: ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going.’ This exemplifies our student teachers who have demonstrated their strength of character and dedication to the teaching profession by continuing to serve students and support mentor teachers despite the many challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. I know you will be as impressed as I am of their enthusiastic embrace of e-learning, and the many creative lessons, activities and materials they have developed to enrich the learning of children and youth in Hong Kong.”

Dr Gary Harfitt, Associate Dean (Learning and Teaching) also remarked, “A characteristic of all effective educators is that they are able to adapt their teaching to changing contexts. The ongoing school suspension brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak has meant that schools and universities have had to reimagine the teaching practicum that we have all come to take for granted. We are proud of our student teachers’ readiness to adjust to change, and this campaign allows you to enjoy some of their most creative contributions to teaching and learning in the local community during what has become our ‘e-practicum’.”

We will roll out more content via different online platforms in due course. Please stay tuned to our social media platforms and the Faculty website (https://web.edu.hku.hk/community/school-university-partnerships/others)!