KE Spotlight - Community Engagement - HKU Knowledge Exchange

HKU longitudinal study finds screen readers improve learning efficiency in students with visual impairment

A two-year study by HKU Faculty of Education found screen readers effectively assist people with visual impairment to learn. A total of 50 participants including primary and secondary school students as well as adults with visual impairment were recruited. It found these students mainly used screen readers in language classes at school, which could replace Braille textbooks and help to reduce the weight of their school bags and increase their reading speed; adult users also found screen readers useful for helping them to cope with difficulties in their daily lives. Dr Allan Yuen, Deputy Director of the HKU Centre for Information Technology in Education, called for programme developers to consider the compatibility between screen-reading software when developing software, to provide more software for use by people who are visually impaired. He also recommended schools to provide sufficient computers to students with visual impairment for classroom and after school learning.

HKU scholar receives 2018 Top Ten Healthy Mobile Phone / Tablet Apps Award for developing bilingual news glossary App “Newssary”

“Newssary”, a free Chinese-English news glossary App developed by Dr Eva Ng of the HKU Faculty of Arts has been named one of the 2018 Top Ten Healthy Mobile Phone / Tablet Apps in the “2018 Healthy Mobile Phone / Tablet Apps Contest” organised by the Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration (OFNAA) of the HKSAR government. “Newssary” builds on the extensive bilingual news and current affairs glossary of nearly 9,000 entries created by Dr Ng and her team as a central feature of her website “Resources for Interpreting”. The glossary also includes buzzwords and slang.

‘HKcBirds: Common Birds of Hong Kong’ was awarded the 2018 Top Ten Healthy Mobile Phone/Tablet Apps

The mobile app ‘HKcBirds: Common Birds of Hong Kong’, developed by Dr Yip Chi Lap, Beta and Dr Wong Ka Yan, Ivy of the Department of Computer Science, was awarded as one of the top 10 winning apps at the "2018 Meritorious Websites Contest and Healthy Mobile Phone/Tablet Apps Contest". The contest, organised by the Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration (OFNAA), aims to encourage the youth to browse healthy websites and develop good surfing habit. The App "HKcBirds: Common Birds of Hong Kong" is jointly developed by HKU Department of Computer Science and The Hong Kong Bird Watching Society since 2014. It was under the KE Impact Project 2013/14 titled "Birds of Hong Kong in Your Hands".

HKU Engineering students achieve the best ever result of Hong Kong teams in AIAA unmanned aircraft competition

The “Design, Build and Fly” Team of HKU Department of Mechanical Engineering participated in the “23rd AIAA Design Build Fly Competition” in the U.S. and ranked 13th among 104 eligible teams, achieving the best ever result of Hong Kong teams since 2013, and the best result in East Asia. The team of five students, supervised by Dr C.K. Chan, took part in a 4-day competition and successfully completed all three missions under the theme of “Aircraft Carrier Operations”, ranking 13th in the competition.

HKU launches Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) Strategy Paper

The Centre for Innovation in Construction & Infrastructure Development (CICID) of HKU launched a Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) Strategy Paper, elaborating 10 strategies of MiC policy scenarios in the short, mid and long term for successful adoption of MiC in Hong Kong. The HKU paper proposed the government to build hostels, hotels, staff quarters and public housing in the New Territories with MiC as short-term strategy, before adopting it for private buildings in the long term.

HKU organises STEM competition to raise public awareness of light pollution

The “Dark-sky-friendly Lighting Fixture STEM Competition” was co-organised by HKU Department of Physics, HKU Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Ho Koon Nature Education cum Astronomical Centre (Sponsored by Sik Sik Yuen), in association with the Hong Kong Space Museum, to raise public awareness of the severe light pollution problem in Hong Kong. Entries from 8 teams were received. Each team is required to submit an outdoor lighting fixture (real size or scaled model) which can minimise light pollution for demonstration, along with a written technical report. The winning entry came from Fanling Kau Yan College. The team visited Sheung Shui Wai and learnt how residents there suffered from light trespass originated from lamp posts and created a smart sensing street lamp array with adjustable light intensity based on the flow of pedestrian traffic, thus leading to a reduction in the intensity and the number of lighting fixtures required.

HKU and ATEC jointly organises “Musical Instrument Design Competition” to spark the interest of STEAM in the young generation

The “Musical Instrument Design Competition” was jointly organised by HKU Faculty of Engineering and the Arts & Technology Education Centre (ATEC), under the project titled “Science & Engineering of Music”, which was supported by the Knowledge Exchange Fund of the University Grant Committee. The project aims to enhance the knowledge of and interest in the engineering of creating artifacts for humanistic expressions among the young generation. It also encourages the use of innovative technologies and creative design ideas. Over 400 participants from primary, secondary and international schools ranging from Primary 2 to Secondary 6 joined the competition. The students showed off their musical skills by performing with the musical instruments they designed in a live session. The teams from Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School awarded the Champions in both Primary and Secondary School categories. Pui Kiu Primary School and St. Teresa Secondary School were awarded the Champions of Outstanding Performance Award of Primary and Secondary School category respectively.