Two research projects proposed by our staff members, Prof Lilian Kwan and Mr Jay Liu, have been approved by the Guangdong Academy of Education, an affiliated institute of Department of Education of Guangdong Province in July.
It is the first time that UIC's research projects in social sciences have been endorsed at the provincial level, after receiving grants from the Ministry of Education and the Zhuhai Federation of Social Sciences. As a result, UIC has expanded its funded projects in both natural and social sciences to local, provincial and national levels.
AVP Prof Lilian Kwan introduces the freshmen to e-learning in the classroom in early September
Co-conducted by Prof Kwan (Associate Vice President) and Dr K P Mark (Associate Director of ITSC), the “Effective use of personal mobile devices for student engagement and cultivation of habitual learning” examines how mobile learning can improve students’ academic productivity.
Prof Kwan first explains how the notion of “digital native” refers to people that have grown up with different forms of electronic gadgets. These “native speakers” of the digital language of computers, smartphones, videos, social media and other platforms on the internet have formed new ways of thinking and processing information in daily life.
“Redesigning teaching and learning activities to adopt e-pedagogy is the key to enhance student engagement and learning effectiveness,” she continues. “For instance, we can encourage students to use mobile phones to interact with the teacher and ask questions during and after class. In this way, we can have a handy tool to evaluate whether students have mastered the key points of the lectures.”
The other project is Mr Liu’s research, “A study on the development of Sino-foreign cooperation in running higher education institutions in Guangdong and the Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools (SFCRS) policy”. It looks at the quick development of transnational higher education (TNHE).
The Senior Administrative Assistant of the Research Office suggests the provincial approval shows that his project is a promising and important subject in the development of higher education. “TNHE represents a lesser-known aspect of the international education industry, this project allows me to go further in showing more understandings in both TNHE and SFCRS framework,” Jay says.
“UIC provides a supportive environment for me to become an educational practitioner,” Mr Liu adds. This research project is linked to his doctoral studies at the University of Glasgow.
This article is republished from MPRO's UIC Beacon Issue XVII. To view an online version of the full newsletter, please click here (WiFi network recommended); to download the original PDF file, please click here.
