The Review 2009

20 The Review 2009 • Teaching “In the classroom we focus on theory and calculations and understanding concepts. This project was a chance to apply what we learned.” Testing the satellite e-learning system “I felt very sad for her and I talked about the case with my supervisor. He advised me to put aside the formal worker-client relationship and try to relate to her as a friend and volunteer. I wrote her a letter and gave her some encouragement and talked about my grandfather who had passed away, to share some of my grieving. A few days later she wrote back and gave me more details about her family and her sister. “I found that children grieve differently from adults. They won’t show their emotions and they’ll smile and do things as before, so it can be difficult evaluating their feelings. The girl gave me three photos when I left of when she was a baby, in kindergarten and in recent times. I tried to give them back but she asked me to bring them to Hong Kong and remember her. She wrote me another letter and said even though she lost a sister, now she had a brother.” A Green and Modern Reconstruction Engineering students are required to undertake industry training for their degree. An opportunity to do that in Sichuan meant they could help others while learning a few lessons about being flexible. The students equipped a primary school in Denyang with advanced technologies in a project led by the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Over three intensive days, they installed a solar-powered, multi-media satellite e-learning system, taught local teachers how to use the new equipment and recorded the project on video. Students from the Faculties of Education, Medicine, Business and Economics, Law, Architecture and Social Sciences were also involved in other aspects of the project. It was not all smooth sailing, which made it a valuable learning experience because the students had to deal with problems that did not have clear- cut solutions, according to Dr Wilton Fok, the Principal Investigator of the project, which was funded by HKU's 512 Earthquake Roundtable Fund. Luk Chuen-kit, a third-year computer engineering student, was part of a team that installed a high-speed data network. “At first the network wasn’t stable and the connection would suddenly disconnect, which would have been embarrassing when it came time for the school to use it. We found the problem was in the software, not the network, so we changed the software and it worked. It showed us that it’s good to have backup solutions. “I also learned management skills and how to run a group of people. I was the team leader in my group and I found everyone had a different way to solve problems and I had to figure out how to follow their ways. Some of them were also less eager to work than others, so I had to take that into account when there were jobs to do.” Au Yeung Hoi-hang, a third-year electronic and communications engineering student who helped to organise the first Sichuan-Hong Kong online interactive class, said coping when things went wrong was a valuable lesson in perseverance. “We had a technical difficulty that we weren’t able to solve until the last minute. We learned to stay calm and work as a team to sort it out.” Fanny Yeung Hiu-fan, a third-year electronic and communications engineering student who worked alongside Chuen-kit and also helped to organise a memorial for the earthquake victims, added: “In the classroom we focus on theory and calculations and understanding concepts. This project was a chance to apply what we learned.” 21 The Review 2009 • Teaching Beefing up Language Skills The Faculty of Education has been involved for several years in helping Tibetans in Qinghai province to develop their educational system. Language needs are a concern because the children are required to learn in Putonghua but the learning materials do not relate to their daily lives and the teachers may be from outside the region. While scholars have been working with teacher trainers and officials on addressing these problems, they are also using their involvement in the region to broaden students’ understanding of education issues in China. Small groups of undergraduates have been taken to Qinghai for short visits to observe classrooms, teaching styles and the local culture. Connie Choy Sau-chi went in 2008 as a second-year education student. “The children use their own dialect to communicate with their parents, but at school they need to use Putonghua to communicate with their teachers and peers. Some of the teachers may not speak their language or their Putonghua isn’t very good. They also don’t have a lot of equipment.” Youde Liu Yiu-tak, also a second- year student, said the use of old- fashioned teaching methods came as a surprise and the visit heightened his awareness of the need to make learning interesting to students and relevant to modern times. “They had no computers. Instead they would ask students to read the text aloud and write things on the board. That teaching methodology is very boring for the students, and it is totally different from what we do in Hong Kong. The parents and principals and society here wouldn’t allow us to do that, we’re expected to prepare a lot of material and power point presentations. Our teaching emphasises critical thinking,” he said. “This visit helped me to learn more about different teaching issues in other places. We need to not only focus on the situation in Hong Kong, but also on what is happening in China.” “This visit helped me to learn more about different teaching issues in other places. We need to not only focus on the situation in Hong Kong, but also on what is happening in China.” Classroom learning Qinghai-style