President's Awards

Individual Award
(Early Career Faculty Member)

Dr Prudence LAU Leung-kwok
劉亮國博士
Assistant Professor, Department of Cultural and Creative Arts

Dr Prudence Lau Leung Kwok is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cultural and Creative Arts. Her teaching philosophy emphasizes artistic enquiry and encourages students to seek answers that lead to reasoned thought. Her teaching focuses on art and heritage education, and her approach to student learning can be categorized into three areas: (1) experiential learning, (2) innovative (e-)learning, and (3) community-based learning.

Dr Lau is an architect with a background in architectural design and history. Her dedication to art and heritage education can be traced back to 2006, when the Star Ferry Pier and Queen’s Pier incidents triggered many in Hong Kong to rethink their colonial heritage and local identity. She seeks to present these issues to her students; therefore, her teaching objectives and approaches differ across her courses. Her students’ learning outcomes range from methodological skills, including historical interpretation and argumentation, to engaging in deeper analysis of, and research into, the broader contexts surrounding topics that interest them. Experiential learning is therefore a significant part of her teaching methodology, as she emphasizes the importance of out-of-class learning and field trips.

To enhance e-learning in art and heritage education, Dr Lau recently launched a mobile app, named ARchi HK for both students and the general public to appreciate the modern architectural heritage of Hong Kong. Responding the growing importance of mobile learning in today’s classrooms, she is actively designing new methods and learning environments to engage her students. The app has a GPS location function and employs augmented reality (AR) to help users appreciate and study heritage buildings in a unique way.

Dr Lau’s publications and projects enrich her community-based pedagogy and provide a bridge between research and teaching. She actively organizes seminars and workshops both at EdUHK and in local primary and secondary schools. Her recent Early Career Scheme project is connected with her General Education course on Hong Kong architectural history. Her postgraduate diploma (PGDE) programme in Early Childhood Education (ECE), set to commence soon, will enhance her and her department’s profile in studying creativity and art education in young children.