Computer scientist kicks off UQ’s Teaching and Learning Week

Ricky Kwok’s laptop technological know-how research career “accidentally” swerved into educational leadership, however, the mixture of expertise now makes him one of the international’s top e-gaining knowledge of specialists.

On Monday week (28 October), the University of Hong Kong’s Associate Vice-President (Teaching & Learning) will deliver the keynote address at The University of Queensland’s 2019 Teaching and Learning Week.

“After 20 years of teaching I ‘converted’ to e-getting to know and reinvented myself,” Professor Kwok stated.

Professor Kwok said his cope with at UQ next week – titled Learning starts at the end of your consolation quarter – could provide perception into his e-mastering experiences, and into applying technology in pedagogy.

“I’ll take a look at topics like on line interplay, school room sports and embracing artificial intelligence (AI),” he said.

“All people teachers need to be assisting our students higher equip themselves in their AI-proliferated global,” he said.

Professor Kwok stated in widespread, the worldwide better training area changed into no longer adapting well to the “virtual revolution”.

“The inertia is simply too big. We’re now not seeing sufficient innovation on the teaching-research nexus that surely treats students’ gaining knowledge of because of the absolute top priority,” he said.

“Too regularly it’s far simply window-dressing or lip service to e-mastering.”

Professor Kwok stated developing teachers’ virtual literacy becomes as crucial as growing those talents in college students.

Asked approximately how his transition from computer science teacher to university executive befell, Professor Kwok says: “I changed into too talkative or vocal in a meeting with the previous Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (T&L) on some learning records interpretations!”

“A couple of months later she ‘invited’ (examine: ‘dragged’) me into some of her committees/operating-businesses related to e-mastering,” Professor Kwok said.

“I endured to be talkative/vocal for a couple of years and, sooner or later, even after she stepped down in 2014, the Provost requested me to chair a MOOC committee.

“Later, when a brand new VP and PVC (T&L) assumed duty in January 2015, he ‘invited’ (study: dragged) me to paintings along him as the Associate Vice-President (T&L), with one unmarried mandate – e-learning.”

“As to the ‘why’, I quote Forrest Gump: ‘… I figured, because I’d long past this a way, I would possibly as nicely just … maintain right on going!’ “

Professor Kwok earned his Master’s degree in 1994 and his Ph.D. in 1997, both in Computer Science from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He had completed his Bachelor of Science at the University of Hong Kong in 1991.

Before returning to the UHK in 1998 as an assistant professor, Professor Kwok spent a yr as a touring scholar at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

He also worked as a traveling Associate Professor inside the Internet and Grid Computing Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering-Systems at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, wherein he researched Internet protection issues consisting of DDoS defense and traceback, trojan horse containment and signature era.

From 2007 to 2009, he became an Associate Professor within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Colorado State University, in which he taught publications and performed research within the regions of wireless sensor networks, excessive-overall performance pc structure, reconfigurable computing systems, and heterogeneous computing.

Ironically Professor Kwok’s “accidental” profession alternate opened a large location of exciting laptop gadget studies problems “with very meaningful utility in education”.

“All my Ph.D. college students are running on e-learning associated laptop systems troubles,” he said. “I’m proud to mention our group’s paintings have generated an effect, doubtlessly leading to international cultural exchange.”

Asked usually approximately the most important issues in teaching today, Professor Kwok has no hesitation before responding: