Two prestigious UGC Teaching Awards granted to PolyU educators
PolyU’s teaching excellence was recognised when PolyU academics won two out of three categories at theUGC Teaching Award for 2022 from the University Grants Committee (UGC). Dr Tulio Maximo, AssistantProfessor at the School of Design, took the award in the Early Career Faculty Members category, while across-university team led by Dr Julia Chen, Director of PolyU’s Educational Development Centre, receivedthe Award in the Collaborative Teams category.
Dr Julia Chen – leading a collaborative team totailor discipline-specific English support forstudents
Spearheaded by PolyU, the English Across theCurriculum (EAC) team, led by Dr Julia Chen,included experienced educators from City Universityof Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University and TheHong Kong University of Science and Technology. Dr Grace Lim, Teaching Fellow at PolyU's English Language Centre, is also one of the awardees.
The team’s EAC initiative complements standaloneEnglish courses by offering students from differentdisciplines timely and tailored English literacy supportthrough innovative pedagogies and technologies.
Dr Julia Chen said: “Our team shares a deepconviction that language is best learnt when studentssee the relevance and actively look for multiplechannels to increase their exposure to the linguisticskills they need.” To date, the team’s work hasbenefitted more than 30 departments, 60 courses,100 teachers and 10,000 students.
One of the Team’s innovations is Capstone Ninja – aninteractive mobile app enabling undergraduate students to access discipline-specific, customised learning materialsin real-time, while they complete their capstone projects. Learn more about Capstone Ninja, please click here.
Dr Tulio Maximo – empathy at the core of teaching
After being diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder as a child, Dr Maximo wasinspired by his own learning experience to putempathy at the core of his teaching strategy.He strives to create a people-centred learningenvironment in which students feel comfortable andsupported to develop, practise and demonstratetheir design and thinking abilities. “I believeempathy is key to forging the creative leaders oftomorrow and instilling the goal of a more equal anddiverse society,” Dr Maximo said.
He created the ‘Design Meets Disabilities’ subject,which focuses on integrating inclusive designconcepts into the design programme curriculum,and guides students to design user-friendlyproducts with an empathic approach. Read click here to read the interview with Dr Maximo.
