Hong Kong universities taking the chance to innovate and upskill as Covid-19 drives online and mixed-mode learning
- Nicole Tavares, programme director of the Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages won the 2020 HKU Teaching Innovation Award
- One of EduHK’s flagship programmes is the Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence and Educational Technology, whose programme director is Dr Yanjie Song
It doesn’t matter how much the world changes through technological developments or global pandemics – society will always need teachers. But to remain effective, education institutions must constantly evolve and adapt to the ever-evolving world – regardless of the subject matter being taught.
This is especially true when it comes to professional education programmes, which are responsible for instilling this mindset in future educators. During the Covid-19 pandemic, higher education institutions have had the challenge of not only delivering to students the world-class education they are accustomed to, but also constantly updating and modernising their curricula.
But like great organisations always do, Hong Kong’s universities have taken what seems to be an obstacle or challenge – in this case the current pandemic – and turned it into an opportunity.
Nicole Tavares, programme director of the Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages [MA(TESOL)] programme at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), is a leader in the Covid-19 education space, having published a leading research study entitled The Technology Cart and the Pedagogy Horse in Online Teaching in the English Teaching & Learning journal alongside her colleague Amy Tsui in February.
“Far from being seen as being disruptive, Covid is a huge catalyst to the team’s pedagogical and professional growth,” says Tavares, who won the 2020 HKU Teaching Innovation Award. “Teachers have been working hand in hand to upskill themselves with knowledge and skills for online teaching and learning, widened their repertoire of e-learning tools and techniques, learnt to master the affordances of technology, adjusted their course content and assessment tasks within a short period of time.”
The MA(TESOL) degree is designed to equip students with a thorough grounding in current research, teaching theory, principles and practices in English language education, applicable in schools, universities and other educational institutions in Asia and elsewhere. It is targeted primarily, but not exclusively, at teachers of English to speakers of others language – something that is especially important in an increasingly modernised world.
