Video Format: wmv | Duration: 00:04:55 | Link to Video
About me
Hi, I am Sandy Wong, I have been teaching in City University of Hong Kong for over six years. Started as a part-time lecturer in Division of Commerce in 2002, I found myself have high devotion in teaching and strong aspiration to establish a long term career in academia. I subsequently joined the Department of Management Sciences in 2005 as a full time instructor. Prior to my teaching career, I worked as a management consultant for 15 years. I engaged in many professional training, management consulting and project management in service industries. I have gained experience in coaching clients on best practices and offered various business related advice. These experiences and achievement in the industries have helped me as a teacher to demonstrate various business related issues to my students.
My teaching philosophy
“Great teachers emerge, they touch the minds and influence the lives of their students.” I am only convinced that if students emerged from the class enjoying the learning experience, they are more likely to sustain their learning and develop interests in the subject matter or vice versa.
I believe that students are most successful when they feel valued and secured as individuals, supported, and motivated to learn. I focus my devotion and dedication in designing the curriculums that can create and maintain a pleasant and productive learning environment for my students. I have used my knowledge in the Service Operations Management discipline to develop techniques for students to simplify and clarify complex concepts and to grasp fundamental principles. I always emphasize on using story-like real life examples to illustrate and elaborate the conceptual frameworks or theories. Students reflected that it is one of the best ways to foster their effective learning.
I endeavor to build such a great learning environment for my students. I have a strong sense of commitment to the academic community and see my own efforts as a small part of a larger educational enterprise.
Particular teaching experiences & strategies to share
Teaching is an enjoyable experience that is always very exciting and rewarding and led me to choose teaching as a lifetime career. I enjoy teaching and still teach every class with excitement and enthusiasm as if I were teaching it for the first time. I tend to build a strong trust in students and believe that they all want to learn. I develop their interests in learning by encouraging them to be reflective and highly participated in the class discussions and activities.
I have been constantly asking students and myself to have reflective appraisal of our teaching and learning experience. Besides reflective practice from students’ end, I also request my peers for class observations. We exchange views about our teaching approaches and strategies, asking ourselves how best we can do to encourage students to learn deeply and remarkably.
I solicit anonymous student feedback and give comments about their learning progress as well as my teaching style, and I then implement student suggestions to improve my service delivery and their learning outcomes. I utilize small-group discussions to engage students in their own learning as well as to improve their critical thinking skills and communication skills. Students feel a strong sense of control over their learning when they are able to work collaboratively with peers. I also utilize group debates and role-play in my teaching as they enable students to realize gaps in their own understanding and reasoning abilities.
Personal interaction with my students is one of the most important aspects of my teaching. Familiarity with my students is crucial to the development of a good rapport with them. I ask for students’ feedback; stop to ask for questions and pause for a few seconds at a time to observe my students’ reactions, read their eyes and body language, and adjust my tone or tempo during lectures. I have great respect for each individual student.
Special thanks
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the supporting parties who have been giving me great support for my teaching.
They include:
Dr HP Lo, the head of MS department, who always shows his concern and give valuable comments to enhance our students’ learning experiences.
Dr Bruce Lam, the associate Head of the department who came to observe my class and gave constructive feedback about my teaching.
Dr Geoffrey Tso, the Services Operations Management Programme Leader who is my nominator for the TEA and he is always very welcome to discuss with me about students’ learning matters and support for my advice for the development of curriculum design.
Dr. KK Lam, the Principle Lecturer in the Division of Commerce who was one of my great teachers and he always shares his own interesting stories about his teaching and I learned a lot from him.
Thanks to my husband and little son who have been offering various kinds of support to me which allows me to have full dedication on my work.
Last but not the least, the students and colleagues of mine in the MS department; the QAC, EDO and all the respective departments who devoted their time and efforts to assist in producing this video with the aim of promoting the scholarship of teaching and sharing of effective teaching practices with our students.
Comments or suggestion for the university’s support and promotion of teaching.
I believe that to be a successful and effective teacher, one must create a learning environment that is welcoming, interactive and collaborative and that promotes problem-solving and critical thinking skills, accommodates a variety of learning styles and encourages students to present their opinions while respecting the opinions of others. By giving students a voice in class, they can take responsibilities for their own learning and, therefore, enhance the integration of their new knowledge into practice.
