School name: Hong Kong Metropolitan University

Type of school: Government-established self-financing university

School locale: Hong Kong, China

Is your role mostly in-person, hybrid, online (synchronous or asynchronous)? In-person

How many years have you taught psychology? 6 years

Classes you teach: Psychology of Language, Cyberpsychology, Lifespan Developmental Psychology, Rehabilitation Psychology, Mental Health First Aid, Applied Research Project, Psychology Honors Thesis, Practicum and Experiential Learning Seminars

Specialization (if applicable): Music cognition, psycholinguistics, cognitive psychology

What size classes do you teach? About 30-100 students for lectures, 30 students for tutorials, and 1-2 students for research-related courses

What do you know now about teaching that you wish you knew when you were starting? Organizing teaching materials (e.g., topics with PowerPoint slides) into manageable chunks, ideally every 30 minutes to an hour, would be beneficial. This approach can help sustain students' attention and interest. In addition, incorporating interactive or surprising elements within each chunk can enhance engagement. For instance, while discussing executive function and inhibition, students could participate in a few trials of the flanker task in class. This hands-on experience will help them remember the learning materials, with a specific example.

Briefly tell us about your favorite lecture topic or course to teach.  My favorite course to teach is Psychology of Language. This course refers to the study of psychological processes involved in language, such as visual word recognition, language comprehension, language production, bilingualism and multilingualism, etc. This subject represents my passion for psychology upon graduation from my Bachelor’s degree. Teaching this course allows me to revisit many tiny yet happy moments that guided me in navigating the field. At the same time, it shows students the diversity and vibrancy of various subfields in psychology.

Briefly describe a favorite assignment or in-class activity.  One of my favorite in-class activities is asking students to step into the role of key opinion leaders (KOLs) and design a quick livestreaming e-commerce session to promote and sell a product. This signature activity is a highlight of the topic ‘Consumer cyberpsychology’ in the Cyberpsychology course, offered to senior-year psychology students as an elective.

In this class, I bring a selection of products for the students, such as fragrance, paper clips, etc. They first form groups and participate in a lucky draw to select one of the products. Each group then has 10 minutes to develop strategies to promote and sell their product as key opinion leaders (KOLs) in a livestreaming e-commerce session. When time is up, they present their strategies and "sell" their product in front of the class.

In general, I observe many creative and inspirational strategies to boost sales during the presentations, such as offering professional tips in selecting suitable fragrance etc. Afterward, we compile the common sales strategies proposed by all groups and compare them with existing research. This allows us to examine whether and how the students' strategies align with findings from previous studies. Through this approach, students gain a deeper understanding of the research by engaging in hands-on, experiential learning experience.

What’s your dream course if you had the time and resources to teach it?  My dream course to teach is Music Psychology, the field I studied in my PhD. This course explores how humans interact with music through various psychological processes. Possible topics include music reading, music therapy, musical perception, memory, aesthetics, training, and performance, etc. In particular, students will be able to gain hands-on experience in psychological research in music cognition. Proposing this course aligns with my teaching philosophy of showcasing the diversity and vibrancy of various subfields in psychology. In particular, I aim to foster the growth of music psychology, as an emerging and comparatively new subfield in psychology, through teaching as a form of advocacy.

What are three words that best describe your teaching style? Student-centered, experiential, experimental

What is your teaching philosophy in 8 words or fewer? Learning by doing in applied contexts

What’s your workspace like? My workspace is a cozy room at the University. A corkboard on the wall showcases a big cartoon world map that I brought from South Korea, which always reflects upon my journey in life. In addition, I posted notes and memos that students and colleagues gave me. There are some postcards that I received or brought from other places in the world. The two magazine pages ‘Art and the Mind’ were from the APA’s Monitor on Psychology, reminding me of my goal to contribute more to art and aesthetics.  On the table, there are three awards, which are the President’s Awards for Excellence in Inspirational Teaching 2022-2024, from the HKMU. The recognition motivates me to keep up with the good work and passion in teaching.

What is something you are currently focused on improving or changing in your teaching?  I am now trying to foster students’ research competency through classroom-based teaching. This idea stemmed from my observation that many students need guidance to develop their research skills but often lack the opportunity to explore research in structured settings. Thus, I incorporate lab-based sessions in my course, Psychology of Language. Students were introduced to online experiments related to the topics covered during tutorials. For example, in visual word processing, students work on a lexical decision task, which is a behavioral task that requires participants to judge whether a word stimulus is a real word or a non-word on a computer. This first-hand experience allows students to understand how an online experiment works.  In addition, my assignment design also aims to help students develop some possible research ideas. For example, students are asked to observe some daily scenarios related to the psychology of language, and develop a research question and a short proposal under guidance. This approach aims to enhance students’ research competency and highlight the application values of the psychology of language in real life.

What is something your students would be surprised to learn about you?  I am a big fan of maps and map reading. I enjoy navigating a city through maps, both in paper and digital form. It symbolizes and visualizes a journey of exploration to the unknown.

What are you currently reading for pleasure?  Atomic Habits by James Clear. My leisure reading is pretty much about psychology and personal growth. I am amazed by how Clear explains why tiny changes make a big difference in the four laws. This is definitely a recommendation for my students too.