News

The Research Grants Council (RGC) has announced the results for the General Research Fund (GRF) and Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme (HSSPFS) exercises for 2021/22. Congratulations to all our colleagues who have been successful in this year's exercises!

The lists of successful GRF and HSSPFS projects are as follows:

GRF

Dr Gaowei Chen, Associate Professor, Academic Unit of Human Communication, Development, and Information Sciences (CDIS)

A Video-Visualization Online Professional Development Approach for Teachers: Promoting Productive Classroom Talk and Student Learning

Dr Jessica Leung, Assistant Professor, Academic Unit of Teacher Education and Learning Leadership (TELL)

A practice turn in learning about science: Promoting the use and perceived value of nature of science understanding in evaluating socioscientific news

Dr Yuen Yi Lo, Associate Dean (Learning & Teaching); Associate Professor, TELL

Conceptualising assessment literacy of teachers in Content and Language Integrated Learning programmes

Dr Guang Ouyang, Assistant Professor, CDIS

Developing an EEG-based Instantaneous Neural Feedback System for Neuroadaptive Research

Professor Nirmala Rao, Chair Professor of Child Development and Education, CDIS

Enhancing Early Childhood Development in China and India:   Understanding the Contributions of Maternal Education and Policy Variations 

Dr Shelley Tong, Associate Professor, CDIS

Neurophysiological and Behavioural Metalinguistic Correlates of Reading Comprehension Development and Difficulties in Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children: A Three-year Longitudinal Study

Professor Edwin Yiu, Professor, CDIS

Comparing the use of whole body vibration and localized neck vibration for teachers to prevent and alleviate vocal fatigue: Green Voice Gymnastic Program

Dr Xiao Zhang, Associate Professor, CDIS

The Longitudinal Interplay between Mother-child and Father-child Numeracy Activities and Young Children's Symbolic and Nonsymbolic Number Skills

HSSPFS

Professor David Carless, Professor & Unit Head, Academic Unit of Social Contexts and Policies of Education

Feedback literacy for lifelong learning: new pathways for research and practice

The Faculty successfully organised the Knowledge Exchange workshop entitled “Strengths and Weaknesses of Autistic Children’s Language Communication” on June 26, 2021 via ZOOM Webinar. The workshop was delivered by Dr Carol To, Associate Professor of the Faculty’s Academic Unit of Human Communication, Development, and Information Science. The workshop received enthusiastic response, and was well attended by more than 430 participants including parents, teachers, speech therapists, social workers, counsellors and students. 

At the workshop, Dr To used many examples to demonstrate the weakness and strengths of autistic children and gave practical advice to the participants on how to improve the learning and performance of these children. The participants also raised many questions and enthusiastically interacted with Dr To in the Q&A session.  

Many participants found that the speaker was well prepared for the workshop, and her presentation was very clear and interesting.  They also commented that the workshop was very informative and practical, and would like to join similar workshops organised by the Faculty in the future. 

The recording and presentation slides are now available on our website:  https://web.edu.hku.hk/event/detail-page/keworkshop-autism. 
 

The Long Service Awards Presentation Ceremony 2021 was held on June 16, 2021. Professor Xiang Zhang, the President and Vice-Chancellor, The University of Hong Kong, officiated at the ceremony and presented awards to long-serving staff members of the University. Seven Faculty colleagues were honoured.

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the following colleagues for their long and dedicated service, commitment and loyalty to the Faculty/University:

25 years of service:

Mr Dave Ho, Senior System Administrator, Technology and Infrastructure Development Office

Professor Wing Wah Law, Professor, Academic Unit of Social Contexts and Policies of Education (SCAPE)

15 years of service:

Professor David Carless, Professor and Head of SCAPE

Dr Karen Chan, Associate Professor, Academic Unit of Human Communication, Development, and Information Sciences (CDIS)

Dr Samuel Chu, Associate Professor, Academic Unit of Teacher Education and Learning Leadership

Dr Alvin Kwan, Lecturer, CDIS

Mr Peter Warning, Lecturer, CDIS

Warmest congratulations and a big thank you to everyone!

We are delighted to announce the results of the Faculty Research Awards for Outstanding Researchers 2020-21.

Among all the exceptional nominations, Dr Shelley Tong, Associate Professor in the Academic Unit of Human Communication, Development, and Information Sciences (CDIS) of the Faculty, was selected for the Faculty Outstanding Researcher Award for her outstanding research accomplishments.

Dr Gaowei Chen, Associate Professor from the Faculty’s Academic Unit of CDIS, received the Faculty Outstanding Young Researcher Award, which recognises the outstanding research accomplishments of young academic and research staff.

Dr Yongyan Li, Associate Professor in the Academic Unit of Social Contexts and Policies of Education, won the Faculty Outstanding Research Student Supervisor Award for the highly effective supervisory guidance she provides to her research postgraduate students.

Congratulations to all the awardees!

The Faculty successfully organised the Knowledge Exchange workshop entitled “Parent-child Dictation is FUN” on June 12, 2021 via ZOOM Webinar. The workshop was delivered by Dr Loh Ka Yee, Elizabeth Assistant Dean (Knowledge Exchange), Faculty of Education, HKU and Mr Chan Shui Leung, Principal of Po Leung Kuk Wong Wing Shu Primary School. The workshop received overwhelming response. It was well attended by more 400 participants including parents, teachers and students.

At the workshop, Dr Loh and Principal Chan used many examples from school materials to demonstrate some innovative methods to enhance children’s interest in learning Chinese, and shared the fun and practical strategies on doing Chinese revision with the audience. The workshop was also conducted in an interactive way by including questions and surveys for the audience to respond to.  

In addition, the participants enthusiastically raised their questions to the two speakers. Many of them found the workshop interesting and practical, and most of them would like to joining similar workshops organised by the Faculty in the future.

The recording and presentation slides are now available on our website:  https://web.edu.hku.hk/event/detail-page/keworkshop-dictation.

Preschool children between the ages of three and six develop rapidly in language, emotional and social aspects, but at the same time, they encounter varying degrees of difficulties and challenges. When children have learning, behavioural, emotional or social developmental problems, parents often feel helpless. In view of this, the Faculty of Education at The University of Hong Kong has launched a series of Knowledge Exchange videos to share practical tips and skills of parenting with the public, as well as to help parents understand the needs of their children's growth and establish a good parent-child relationship in a simple and interesting way.

The topics and speakers include: 
    •   How to enhance children’s EQ through games and rewards? (Mrs Kit Chan)
    •   How can parents help children in K3 improve their writing ability? (Dr Diana Lee)
    •   How to enhance parent-child connectedness? (Dr Yuen Man Tak)
    •   How to facilitate children’s hearing and language development through hearing aids? (Professor Lena Wong)
    •   How to use wordless picture book to help children learn Chinese? (Dr Diana Lee)
    •   How to enhance the language skills of children with language developmental delay? (Dr Anita Wong)

The videos are uploaded onto the Faculty’s YouTube Channel. Please watch them at https://www.youtube.com/edukehku (in Chinese only). We hope these videos are helpful in nurturing your beloved kids!

Dr Vincent Wong, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty’s Academic Unit of Social Contexts and Policies of Education, was invited by the Global Liver Institute (GLI) to serve as an international expert panellist in medical curriculum and innovative leadership for global government policy-makers, medical schools and medical providers on the 2021 International NASH Day. He is the only expert from the Asian region and from non-medical field, among 27 other speakers from the medical field around the world. The event was broadcast on June 10, 2021 in five languages and was supported by 25 global medical organisations. GLI has been an impactful medical organisation in transforming health policy of the USA and the globe by advocating the cutting-edge medical innovation, practice and policy for liver patients. For more details, please visit https://hopin.com/events/international-nash-day

It is the third time of Dr Wong’s serving as an expert panelist in medical curriculum and innovative leadership. In November 2020, Dr Wong was invited by the Bau Institute of Medical and Health Sciences Education, LKS Faculty of Medicine, HKU to share his expertise with the staff from the Faculty of Medicine and other business experts. In May 2019, he was invited by the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, LKS Faculty of Medicine, HKU to share his expertise on medical leadership competence to pharmacists who were reading the Master of Clinical Pharmacy programme.

We are pleased to announce that 12 students from our Faculty and the Faculty of Social Sciences have performed well in the OM regional tournament and the subsequent Virtual US World Finals.

The students took the course entitled “Fostering 4Cs (Creativity, Complex Problem-Solving Skills, Communication and Collaboration skills) through Engaging STEM/STEAM-related Activities”, which is a Gallant Ho Funded Experiential Learning (EL) Course since 2019, coordinated by Ms Promail Leung, Director of the School-University Partnerships Office and Senior Lecturer of the Faculty’s Academic Unit of Teacher Education and Learning Leadership. It aims to enhance interdisciplinary HKU students' STEM literacy and 21^st century skills by offering innovative solutions to the OM Long Term problems in an international competition setting.

The 12 students formed two teams to join the virtual OM competition. They first won the OM regional tournament championship in April 2021 and were qualified to represent Hong Kong to compete in Division IV of the Virtual US World Finals in May 2021. One of the teams had won 4^th place in Problem 2 (Virtual Odyssey), and another team won 3^rd place in Problem 3 (OMER and the Beanstalk) in the World Finals. The teams’ performances can be watched at https://youtu.be/thUl0sfp_j0 and https://youtu.be/iy1S9YKtBII respectively.

The OM has been the world's greatest creative problem-solving programme since its beginning in 1978. It has grown into a world-wide programme that has reached multiple generations, allowing students to learn, develop and employ skills related to teamwork, resource management, designing and making, divergent thinking and so on. It provides students with a place to learn today's creative problem-solving skills while having fun. For more details of this year’s competition, please visit https://omworldfinals.com/virtual/.

Congratulations to our students!

We are very pleased to have achieved the highest percentage of 4-star (“world-leading”) ratings for the Education Panel in the RAE results announced by the University Grants Committee (UGC) on May 24, 2021.

With the 100% 4-star rating for the “environment” sub-profile, the results also provide due recognition for the Faculty environment that is conducive to producing research of world-leading quality, in terms of its vitality and sustainability.

The Faculty is deeply grateful for the inspirations and contributions from our global and community partners, as well as the dedication and enthusiasm by our staff, in our continuous striving for research excellence.

The Faculty successfully organised the 17^th Education Seminar entitled “Double Management: Management of Young Children to Facilitate Self-management” on May 15, 2021 via ZOOM Webinar. The seminar was delivered by Dr Rhoda Wang, Lecturer, and Ms Rita Ng, Assistant Lecturer, from the Faculty’s Academic Unit of Teacher Education and Learning Leadership. The seminar received overwhelming response. It was well attended by 415 participants including parents, teachers and students.

During the seminar, the participants learnt some practical skills and tips to help young children develop self-management skills and their executive functions at home, as well as the appropriate ways of using digital devices to facilitate young children’s learning.

In the Q&A session, the participants enthusiastically interacted with the two speakers. Many of the participants said they gained fresh ideas of managing young children from the seminar and most of them looked forward to joining similar seminars organised by the Faculty in the future.

The recording and presentation slides are now available on our website: https://web.edu.hku.hk/event/detail-page/17th-education-seminar?fbclid=IwAR06AY_TroVlQZNwAU3azNEX_L70xYksatQwdEy9YhjZmSUj720AU8x-Y38.