HKU Bulletin June 2013 (Vol. 14 No. 3)

From left: Professor Edward Lo Chin-man, Dr Peter Tsang Chiu-shun, Dr Susan Margaret Bridges (Leader), Dr Rory Munro Watt, Professor Cynthia Yiu Kar-yung, Dr Michael George Botelho, Dr Yang Yanqi and Miss Jessica Wong Wai 8 * ) # + ! 5 % & 0 $ ! " ! 2 5 The Faculty of Dentistry has long been a leader in problem-based learning (PBL) at the University. The Faculty takes a student-centred, problem-based approach to dental education and its teachers employ innovative ways to support that goal, including increasing use of new technology in the classroom. Heightened visualisations and technological interactivity engage students and deepen their understanding. For example, in PBL tutorial rooms new interactive whiteboards have been installed on which students can move models around, make notes and diagrams and highlight key points. All of that is shared and accessible to everyone in the session. “We are looking at e-learning and how we can engage our students in a 21 st century environment through new materials,” team leader Dr Bridges said. Students said the technology helped to improve their learning. In anatomy, for example, rather than reading definitions of complex medical terms aloud, they now access various definitions and diagrams through the interactive whiteboards. Self-learning has also been enhanced by uploading more materials that students can access from anywhere, so learning continues beyond the classroom. OutstandingTeachingAward From left: Dr Edmund Lam Yin-mun, Dr Hayden So Kwok-hay (Leader) and Dr Kenneth Wong Kin-yip 0 $ 1 * 2 ! 3 $ ! % & / + $ ) ! 2 " ) * + * ( / + $ ) ! 2 % " ) / 7 " $ $ 2 " 7 The field of electrical and electronic engineering (EEE) has expanded over the years to cover a wide range of new disciplines including optical systems, distributed computing, biomedical engineering and renewable energy. Opening students’ minds to what EEE is about had become quite a challenge and the traditional approach of simply analysing electrical components and circuits was not only boring them but not showing them how wide and interesting the field has become. “To be an engineer you need to be creative and we wanted to create something fun for the students,” said team leader Dr So, adding that they wanted to enthuse the students and to inspire them to pass on their knowledge to others. Along with major all-round curriculum reforms, the EEE department team paid particular attention to the development of a new first-year introductory course that is open to all engineering students. The team fostered an active learning environment in the laboratory, and assigned students to work with new partners each week on the open-ended Rube Goldberg machine project. The work is challenging and demands close collaboration and good communication. Individual Award TeamAward Miss Alice Lee Suet-ching 0 $ 1 * 2 ! 3 $ ! % & 9 * : Miss Lee believes that teaching and learning are two sides of the same coin and that students need to be actively engaged in a subject if they are going to remember it effectively. Her two subjects are Land Law and Intellectual Property Law and she revels in finding real examples in everyday life to explain complicated principles and to spark her students’ imaginations. Miss Lee also believes that building mutual respect and trust is important and takes an interactive approach by having informal chats with students outside of lesson time to find out what really makes them tick. When supervising research students, knowing them well as individuals also aids in identifying a research path that is most suitable for them. “I am concerned about the students’ whole-person development… and I find it rewarding and encouraging when former students of mine share with me their passion for the subject – ‘A life- long interest,’ as one of them put it.” Mr Mathew Robert Pryor 0 $ 1 * 2 ! 3 $ ! % & 4 2 ) - " ! $ ) ! # 2 $ Eight years of teaching have taught Mr Pryor many things, one of the most important lessons being the realisation that he achieved far greater success by teaching through practice – that is taking students outside standard classroom and lecture settings and into practical contexts and real-life scenarios. Mr Pryor said, “Get [students] to work on projects that involve their own environment, their own life. Base it in their own district so they can actually see that the projects they do and the information they learn has immediate relevance to them.” More than straightforward experiential learning, Mr Pryor takes his students to everyday physical environments “where the landscape itself becomes a teaching tool, enabling them to experience the practice of landscape architecture and to interact directly with practitioners.” Dr Robert Shannan Peckham . ) - % % + % & , # 3 * " ! " $ ; , " ! % 2 5 < Dr Peckham’s pioneering approach to teaching encourages his students to question received ideas, to think creatively about issues, and, above all, to keep asking questions. As a historian of science and medicines in the School of Humanities he is rethinking the concept of interdisciplinarity and using it as a way to encourage mental agility. “I believe it is crucial for arts students to engage with the issues raised by science, technology and biomedicine,” he said. “Reciprocally, students from science and medicine can benefit greatly from reflection on the social and cultural dimensions of their own practices.” This crossdisciplinary approach is at the heart of the Centre for the Humanities and Medicine, a joint initiative that Dr Peckham has been heavily involved in since its founding in 2009. Said Dr Peckham: “The Humanities nurture vital critical capacities and nurture new ways of thinking about the world, which is a pre-condition for solving problems.” June 2013 31 The University of Hong Kong Bulletin Teaching, Research and Knowledge Exchange Awards