The learning tasks, educational resources and collaborative communities I build allow me to be in open dialogue with thousands of academics, educators and students across the globe. I drive educational innovation as a key facilitator in knowledge and skill exchange and alongside important comparable projects such as HASTAC, The Thesis Whisperer and Hybrid Pedagogy. I have given keynotes and workshops on learning initiatives at institutions including: Duke University; the Australian National University; University College London. I have externally examined online/low residency course models for institutions including Emily Carr University of Art and Design. I have twice been invited to speak on digital technology and collaborative learning at the College Art Association Annual conference – including at their inaugural panel on the digital humanities. My work in education has been featured in Chronicle of Higher Education, the Guardian and Inside Higher Ed and the South China Morning Post. In November 2015 I was made a fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts in recognition of my work in digital pedagogy and immersive and collaborative learning and was nominated for a City University of Hong Kong Teaching Excellence Award.
I am currently PI on ‘Social Writing Strategies with Academic Writing Month’ which is funded by a City University Teaching Development Grant (HK$I79,815). The project will establish a gameified approach to developing successful writing habits through workshops and an app. I am also co-I on the collaborative and inter-university Collaborative Learning through Immersion Project (CLIP) funded by the University Grants Committee (HK$13,950,000). CLIP will explore uses of immersive visualisation systems to design and implement interactive real-world scenarios through virtual classrooms to develop students’ problem-solving and lateral thinking, and provide settings for rich cognitive expansion using interactive digital tools. I lead the team working on collaboration and interactivity. I have also been tasked with co-ordinating the CityU Academic Development Proposal 2016-2019 performance indicator: ‘to offer MOOCs in selected areas with internationally benchmarked characteristics by 2017’ for the School of Creative Media.
I am a pro-active mentor with a focus on women – turning every task into an opportunity for analysis, growth, and empowerment. I have studied Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Neuro Linguistic Programming and read countless books on modelling success and the way working environments diminish the potential of female employees. I take the approach of establishing a multi-tiered flexible mentoring process through key mentoring areas, namely: Peer Mentoring, Academic Mentoring and Professional Development Mentoring. This enables me to identify what the mentees most want to learn along with what may best help support their development and I design our collaborations accordingly. The process provides a level of flexibility which allows me to also observe what skills are lacking and create opportunities for the mentees to work on and further develop these skills, encouraging a process of capacity building and greater professional and individual self-confidence.
For example, Intern A, who I was Professional Development Mentoring, wanted experience in writing online content – preferably from a creative angle. After having gone through all the basics of her role and having her work on what was really needed, I coached her through writing a series of blog posts in a chatty web-style vernacular appropriate to the project. During this process, it became clear that Intern A was nervous in group settings and not comfortable with taking initiative. Therefore, I adjusted mentoring process in order to provide occasions where she had to take a lead role in explaining and training others – at times giving her my role in presenting projects to new interns.
My online resources are holistically designed with learning built into every stage of their production and operation. For example academics who volunteer as managing editors for PhD2Published can target the publishing issues most pertinent to them and discover how to progress and develop a publishing strategy with an advisory network of thousands of experts. By writing across a range of social media platforms they develop transferable skills in communicating on different platforms with different audiences. And through the experience of running the site and the training and Peer Mentorship I offer, they experience how to run a public research resource in the age of social media, engage in networked research activities, marketing and public relations. Again, I allow for flexibility in the way the resource is run so that participants can be provided with appropriate opportunities for professional growth.
In addition to this, I network people across projects and platforms so that they can share experiences and find connections in spite of different specialisms or goals. This enables me to consider and connect people I have worked with after they have finished their direct association with me. And as part of the overall process, I provide regular opportunities for mentees to reflect and take stock of their life and work experiences and realign their goals accordingly.