PolyU team wins distinguished award at QS Reimagine Education Awards 2023 by integrating technologies in teaching and learning

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) places a strong focus on technology in education and is committed to driving initiatives on teaching and learning innovations by developing interactive pedagogies. A cross-departmental PolyU team has won a Silver Award in the Asia Region at the QS Reimagine Awards 2023 with the project “Immersive Learning on the Run: Student-Staff Partnership for Technology-Facilitated Ubiquitous Learning”. PolyU is the only institution in Hong Kong to have won the Regional Award for Asia across all categories.

The team was led by Dr Rodney CHU, Senior Lecturer of the Department of Applied Social Sciences, and included members from the Department and the Educational Development Centre. Last year, the team adopted an innovative Cave-cum-Studio Device into the PolyU General University Requirements subject “From Gloom to Bloom: Global New Urbanism”. With the provision of an immersive virtual environment and digital production studio, and the embedding of a student-staff partnership approach, students and teachers are empowered to co-design teaching and learning content and method that is tailored to students’ needs and interests. For instance, they have co-created videos spanning topics relating to intangible cultural heritage, urban landmarks, suburbs and markets, and then showcased them on HiVE at the University’s Industrial Centre, the first large-scale X-Reality hybrid classroom in Hong Kong. This approach allows students to assess sustainable development goals and enhances their learning experience.

Dr Rodney Chu is honoured to have received this prestigious award, and said, “The advancement of technology has accelerated the digital transformation of various industries. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks for PolyU’s support and the efforts of our team members in fostering teaching innovation in class. Our award-winning project encourages students to understand local district development socially, economically and environmentally by leveraging the power of technology. It also helps teachers embrace interaction and participation in the teaching process, brings innovation to drive teaching and learning, and strengthens the competitiveness of our students. These features were key to enabling the team to stand out in the QS Reimagine Awards.”

Known as the Oscars in the education sector, the Reimagine Education Awards are a global contest co-organised by Quacquarelli Symonds, compiler of the QS World University Rankings, and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. The Awards aim to reward institutions of higher education that have created and implemented outstanding new approaches to teaching and learning. This year, there were more than 1,200 applications from all over the world.

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