Bulletin No. 2, 2020

Coming Closer at a Distance: Snapshots of CUHK in the pandemic 17 Such good response from the students surprised us all. Our teachers have really done an exceptional job.’ Her eyes got dewy while saying this, and I could feel her heart swell. ‘Every time I mention this, I grow proud of our teachers once more.’ Poon is a champion of technology for education. The past 11 months have taught her that technology plays an important role in university education. Every five years CUHK would formulate a strategic plan for its next stage of development. Starting from this year, the University would introduce a hybrid mode of teaching in some courses as well as offer new online courses, and consider how to make corresponding changes to lab work, internship and final year projects to make the curriculum more flexible. She said that out of the nearly 10,000 comments received in the surveys of the second term of 2019–20, many were concerned with the lack of teacher-student interaction but at the same time an equal number had affirmed such interactions online. ‘The opinions are divided. Where interactions were thought to have improved between the students and the teachers, it might be due to the fact that the teachers had given more thought to make the lessons more engaging. Our job is to make such good practices known to more teachers and equip them with greater confidence in online teaching.’ In looking ahead, Poon has not forgotten to look back. ‘The IT and the supporting system need to be enhanced,’ she said. ‘We were in a battle mode. Now that the first battle has been won, we need to put our mind to how to do it better.’