KE Spotlight - Community Engagement - HKU Knowledge Exchange

HKU uses App to help elderly with swallowing difficulties

HKU Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences joined hands with charitable organisation Sik Sik Yuen to help elderly people improve their swallowing ability via speech therapy from a mobile App “Keep on Talking & Eating [KOTE]” designed by HKU. 93 elderly people from Sik Sik Yuen completed the training programme from October to December to train their muscles used for swallowing, with 72% recorded an improvement in their tongue and throat muscles, which increased their swallowing safety. Dr Karen Chan, Assistant Professor and Director of Swallowing Research Laboratory of HKU, hoped more care facilities for the elderly can put swallowing training as part of the routine and hire speech therapists so that elderly people can receive proper training.

Faculty Knowledge Exchange Awards 2018

The annual Faculty Knowledge Exchange (KE) Awards recognise each Faculty’s outstanding KE accomplishment that has made demonstrable economic, social or cultural impacts to benefit the community, business/industry, or partner organisations. Results of the 2018 Faculty KE Awards are now available.

Knowledge Exchange Awards 2017

The annual Faculty Knowledge Exchange (KE) Awards recognise each Faculty’s outstanding KE accomplishment that has made demonstrable economic, social or cultural impacts to benefit the community, business/industry, or partner organisations. Results of the 2017 Faculty KE Awards are now available.

HKU Faculty of Education launches new book on Cantonese operatic singing art

Since 2006, the Centre for Advancement of Chinese Language Education and Research (CACLER) of the Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), has been working together with partnering schools, under the HKU Cantonese Opera Education and Research Project, to integrate Cantonese Opera into the secondary school curriculum and on related researches. In 2015, the Lord Wilson Heritage Trust funded the research team led by Dr Dorothy Ng Fung-ping to implement the Publication Project of Cantonese Operatic Singing Art of Leung Yi-chung and Leung So-kam. This new publication records the artistic achievements of Mr Leung Yi-chung and Ms Leung So-kam and gives an account of the Cantonese operatic singing art of the latter.

Knowledge Exchange Awards 2016

The annual Faculty Knowledge Exchange (KE) Awards recognize each Faculty's outstanding KE accomplishment that has made demonstrable economic, social or cultural impacts to benefit the community, business/industry, or partner organizations. The KE Award (Non-Faculty Unit) was introduced with the same objective for the independent centres, institutes and units of the University. Results of the 2016 KE Awards are now available.

HKU disseminates findings on "Swallowing difficulties in visually impaired elderly population"

From December 2015 to June 2016, the research team of the HKU Swallowing Research Laboratory of the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences and The Hong Kong Society for the Blind (HKSB) Residential Services visited 4 branches of the HKSB Residential Services for the elderly. Out of a total of 398 residents in the four nursing homes, 61% of the residents were documented to have some level of swallowing difficulties. In terms of mealtime assistance, 70% of the residents required special food processing and 24% of the elderly required assistance with feeding during mealtimes. The research team conducted face-to-face clinical assessments with 109 elderly residents to further investigate the nature of their swallowing difficulties. Over 60% of the elderly with swallowing difficulties were not aware of their swallowing problems. The team recommends that additional care should be taken when looking after elderly people who are at high risk for swallowing difficulties, and regular education for the elderly and their carers be provided to increase their awareness in swallowing difficulties and the consequences.

HKU education research reveals "Reading Battle" e-quiz platform effective in motivating students to read

The e-quiz platform "Reading Battle" was released by the HKU Centre for Information Technology in Education in 2014 to motivate primary and kindergarten students to read more by engaging them in e-quizzes about the content and applying various game mechanics (points, e-badges, levels) in its design. More than 5,000 students in over 50 schools/libraries have used the platform. Students from Taiwan, Mainland China and the US also joined the scheme. Principal investigator Dr Samuel Chu said many students have seen their reading abilities improve quickly and easily. The top seven students read and answered about or over 300 books (one read over 400 books) and achieved an average score of 82 - 97 out of 100.