Tai Kwun and PMQ in Central, Blue House in Wan Chai and Mei Ho House in Sham Shui Po are just a few examples among the many revitalised historical architectures in Hong Kong. Visiting these historical sites connects future generations with our city’s colonial past and unique stories, without a comprehensive understanding of which, they cannot undertake any sensible inquiry into political, social, or moral issues in our society. Since these heritages scatter over the territory, site visits present realistic logistic issues to teachers coping with a crammed curriculum. While the advent of VR is promising a revolution in teaching and learning, the lack of training and support to school teachers in developing and customising VR teaching materials presents a bottleneck.

The team aims at training teachers to produce and tailor VR teaching materials on Hong Kong colonial architecture, for instance, adding narration and drama elements. Trained teachers then conduct workshops for their own students while designing assignments to examine students’ learning outcomes. The immersive and dynamic experience allows students to explore the locations in greater detail and at their own pace, that they are encouraged to discover their preferred way of learning. In addition, teachers may obtain audio feedback recorded real-time while individual students “visit” the heritage, proven to be more in-depth than those obtained via post-trip worksheets. Materials developed by teachers can also be repeatedly used and even mutually shared with other schools.

The project enables the younger generation to better understand colonial architecture’s significance in Hong Kong’s history, architectural style, conservation approach and role in tourism development. Individualised learning with an immersive environment leads to enriched learning experience and results. Trained teachers may produce more VR tours of Hong Kong’s heritage for future teaching and create a student-centred approach which embraces multiple learning styles and preferences.

– 3000 primary and secondary school students– 200 primary and secondary school teachers

2019

Cultural Tech, Education, Sustainability