Interview on RTHK

Dr. Grace Ngai and myself, representing the Service-Learning and Leadership Office, were interviewed live on Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) Channel 31 last evening, Wednesday, December 16, 2020, in the program 《日常8點半》.  The interview, conducted in Cantonese, lasted about 12 minutes and appeared between sometime after 9 PM. 

We shared about the vision of service-learning at PolyU, how we continued to carry out service-learning projects throughout covid-19, and the impact on the students.  

We explained how students learn to service the community, and in the process, learn to be good citizens.  Covid-19 canceled person-to-person contacts.  So almost everything have to be online.  Yet we try hard to use many methods to make the experience interactive and tangible.  We use robot kits, do-it-yourself science kits, 360 degree photos, inexpensive virtual reality glasses, inexpensive microscopes, …  We have to do a lot of work, of course, to send these equipment and material to the clients, and create a lot of the content.  But the results is very impressive.  Not only do we continue to offer service-learning courses, and carry on service-learning projects, the students actually learn just as much as before.  And the clients continue to benefit.  

In fact, going online with tangible interactions open up new possibilities.  We can do it for clients in Hong Kong.  The same can be done with clients in Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Rwanda, …  The changes forced by the pandemic actually stimulate us to be more creative, to explore new opportunities.  Necessity is the mother of creativity!

Just a few days ago we had an opportunity to discuss with a professor from Stanford University how they do service-learning in the face of the pandemic.  It turns out they face very similar challenges, encounter similar difficulties, and deal with them using similar methods.  

Service-Learning is an experiential pedagogy that puts our students in touch with people, the ultimate beneficiary of the knowledge and technology created and learning in university.  In a regular academic course conducted on campus, the students tackle make-believe problems created by the professor.  In service-learning they see first hand how people are affected by the knowledge and technology.

That is why we are believers of service-leaning.  We are so glad that we have a chance to tell the story on television.