Assistant Professor
Department of Economics and Finance
Video Format: wmv | Duration: 00:05:10 | Link to Video
My teaching philosophy
As a university teacher, one of my objectives is to help the students to develop into well-balanced professionals so that they can best contribute to society when they graduate. In view of this objective, I design my courses in such a way to help students develop the qualities of well-balanced professionals, which include three aspects:
(1) the competence in the subject area
(2) the ability to keep on learning on their own
(3) a strong sense of responsibility and honesty
Particular teaching experiences & strategies to share
One of my main achievements over my five years of academic career is that I believe I have successfully aroused the interest of the students in a subject that is highly technical and abstract. During my five years of teaching experience at City University of Hong Kong, I have been teaching courses on Econometrics at the Undergraduate, Master and Ph.D. levels. Econometrics is a subject about the application of statistics to economics and finance and is thus highly quantitative. As a result, a major challenge of teaching this course is to find a way to help the students grasp the difficult concepts while at the same time arouse the students’ interest in the subject.
To facilitate the students’ learning and interest in this subject, one strategy I employ is that I emphasize not just the technical details of the subject but also the insights and applications of the concepts. This strategy has proved to be very successful and I am encouraged by the positive feedbacks from my students, colleagues and external assessors.
Comments from students and colleagues
Citation #1: “Isabel’s teaching performance is truly impressive as she successfully stimulates the interest and motivation of the students towards the econometric courses, which are considered highly technical and abstract…….”
Dr. Kui-Wai Charles Li
Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and Finance, and Director of the APEC Study Center of the Faculty of Business
Citation #2: “I am really glad to have taken your course and I must say it's productive and useful. I used to believe econometrics is very abstract but now I feel comfortable about it after this course.”
N. Yuan from the class of Econometrics (EF5070) in 2007-08
Citation #3: “It is my pleasure to take the course EF5070. I really enjoy taking this course because I can really learn useful knowledge for my future.”
H. Wang from the class of Econometrics (EF5070) in 2007-08
Citation #4: “Thank you for bringing us a rewarding and yet interesting course. I find your lectures very understandable compared to my stats lessons in secondary school. Finally, I have cleared up some of the concepts after so many years.”
K.K. Fok from the class of Econometrics (EF5070) in 2007-08
Citation #5: “Her well-designed assignments and projects encouraged us to seek the answers and related information not only from the textbook but also from the library, Internet, and etc. Through these assignments and projects, we gradually improved our independent learning skills and fostered our interests in these tough subjects…….”
S. Yang, K. Liu, K. Yeung, C. Hau, S. Tsui, W. Li, Y. Zhang,
C. Tam, W. Kwok and M. Yip from the class of Principles of Econometrics (EF3450) in 2004-05
Comments from students and colleagues
“In relation to EF5070 (Econometrics), ….I particularly like the nature of the project assessments which are topical and, in many cases, highly relevant to the business environment of Hong Kong”
Prof. Paul Brian McGuinnes, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006-07
“EF5070 looks to be very well structured and the projects set – based upon the sample that I have seen – related to topical areas which in a number of cases are relevant to Hong Kong. This approach is clearly a good way of reinforcing the material learned in class via new and useful applications.”
Prof. Paul Brian McGuinnes, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005-06
In addition, at the end of the econometric courses, the students will work on projects to carry out analysis on economic or financial topics that interest them. Over the last two years, four projects in the M.Sc. classes were awarded the OAPS prize (“Outstanding Academic Papers by Students” prize). Their research projects will be preserved in digital format for perpetual access by members of all universities in Hong Kong.
“How to make a good choice on IPO stocks? Investigation from the perspective of corporate governance and the market effect”, (in 2007-08)
“An empirical analysis on the determination of the returns of gold, platinum and silver” (in 2007-08)
“How Does Company Information Affect the Short Selling in the Hong Kong Stock Market?” (in 2007-08)
“IPO Underpricing in Hong Kong: A Sectoral Perspective”, (in 2006-07)
The awards provide recognition of the quality of professional knowledge and writing skills of the students. It also provides a valuable experience for the students as it can enrich their portfolio for further study and future career. This can also increase the visibility of our students' works and allows other students to benefit through “learning by seeing” the quality works in different disciplines.
