Embracing AI-assisted VR Innovation for Public Speaking Training

In large university classes, it is quite common for students, particularly those who are naturally shy, to remain quiet and refrain from active participation. Many of these students experience anxiety when it comes to delivering speeches or presentations to a large audience, often feeling overwhelmed by the dynamic and intimidating atmosphere of the lecture hall. Despite these challenges, mastering oral communication and presentation skills is a key competency for university students today. These abilities are not only essential soft skills but are also highly sought after in the professional world, particularly for new graduates stepping into the workforce. 

Plan Master AI – A GPS for Lesson Design

A common challenge for pre-service teachers is the difficulty of integrating theory into practice, often resulting in discrepancies between their instructional ideas and actual classroom outcomes. Many pre-service teachers (PSTs) find themselves being “over-ambitious” setting objectives that are too difficult without providing appropriate scaffolding for their students. 

“Plan Master AI acts like a “GPS for Lesson Design”: while the teacher remains the driver of the classroom, the AI provides a reliable map that flags missed turns in logic and ensures the “educational vehicle” is properly equipped to reach every student, regardless of the terrain.” Prof. Elizabeth Loh from the Faculty of Education.

Empowering Confident Clinical Communication using AI-Enhanced VR Simulation

Effective clinical handovers are vital for seamless patient care and strong teamwork in healthcare. 

To build essential skills, competence and confidence, Nursing students benefit greatly from realistic, interactive practice. The AI-Enhanced Virtual Reality Simulation System in Nursing practice, co-created by the innovative team led by Dr. Maggie Chan*, Dr. Benney Wong, Mr. Abraham Wan at the School of Nursing, and Dr. Carson Hung and Mr. Ziv Tai at TALIC, were designed to prepare nursing students for professional nursing communications through cutting edge simulation technology.

AI is Transforming Education Design

The landscape of educational technology is fast evolving in the age of Artificial Intelligence, invigorating the emergent trend of human-AI collaboration in instructional design. The human-AI collaborative approach leverages AI’s capabilities to supplement instructor productivity and creativity, transforming how teachers and instructional designers create and curate contents in the intelligent immersive learning environment.

Artificial intelligence is well suited to address teachers’ diverse needs by supporting individual students’ learning progress, delivering timely feedback on students’ work, gaining insights from student analytics to enhance interactivity, as well as generating content tailored to specific learning contexts and scenarios to improve students’ learning experiences (Wen et al., 2025).  

Immersive Academic English Learning for Year 1 Students on CAES1001 VR Platform

HKU’s CAES1001 virtual reality (VR) platform offers interactive learning by seamlessly connecting CAES, HKUL, and TALIC materials to engage students in self-learning and build academic literacies through digital innovation.

CAES1001 VR Platform

Interactive learning on a VR platform to familiarize new students with CAES resources

CAES1001, a first-year Academic English course, is working with the University of HongKong Libraries (HKUL) and the Teaching and Learning Innovation Centre (TALIC) to launch a virtual reality (VR) self-learning platform. This innovative project aims to enhance learning for first-year undergraduates by offering engaging and interactive experiences. Through the platform, students can develop essential skills such as writing, speaking, digital, visual, and AI literacy, with resources tailored to HKU’s diverse student community. 

Examples of How Colleagues at HKU Integrate AI and Manage Associated Risks

In the 2024 to 2025 academic year, many HKU teachers have integrated some form of generative AI technology and learning activities in their classrooms. On the one hand, teachers are proactively exploring ways to harness the benefits of GenAI technology; on the other hand, teachers seek ways to manage the ethical challenges the technology presents.

AI Ethics Video Series

TALIC invited colleagues in the T&L community to share and show examples of how they integrate AI technology and manage associated risks in a series of videos.

Stay tuned for the next episode of the AI Ethics Video Series!

Read the full story on TALIC

Empower Postgraduates: An Innovative, Inclusive Online Course to Bridge Sociology Gaps

Welcome to Sociology for Postgraduate Students is a pre-sessional online course launched by HKU’s Department of Sociology in collaboration with TALIC. It aims to empower incoming postgraduate students, especially those without prior backgrounds in sociology, by bridging their knowledge gaps. The course engages students through expert-led videos, visual storytelling, and interactive discussions and fieldwork, familiarizing them with postgraduate teaching methods and activities. 

Read the full story on TALIC

Future Readiness: Online Learning for Student Societies

To help students embrace learning outside the classroom and create a dynamic and inclusive experience, CEDARS LEAF collaborates with TALIC to transform face-to-face Student Society Orientation training into flexible, multimodal Online Learning Modules, allowing students to learn anytime, anywhere, and at their own pace. The online modules address a key challenge in student training. The courses are intended for students to complete before they organise their orientation activities in the summer. However, many students have packed summer schedules due to internships, exchange programs, or other commitments, making attendance at fixed face-to-face training sessions difficult, as our previous experience has shown.

Read the full story on TALIC

Beyond Gaming, DISCORD for Student Learning

In today’s dynamic learning environment, effective collaboration and communication among students and faculty is crucial. Space, time, student mobility, class size, and classroom settings are prime factors to consider when conducting collaborative group activities in a traditional classroom. Integrating technology is a great way to address these factors and create an active and collaborative learning space in the modern classroom. 

This blog post explores the potential of Discord, a platform initially known for gaming communities, as a powerful tool for fostering collaborative learning and discussion within higher education settings. We will examine its features and demonstrate its applicability for various academic activities, drawing on specific examples to highlight its effectiveness.

Read the full story on TALIC

Future-Ready Education: Prompt Engineering, an Emerging Competency

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping numerous aspects of our lives, and higher education is no exception. The generation of students entering universities today will witness more technological change than ever before. Yet, how can we help our teachers —the guides of this generation— be better prepared for this evolving landscape? To this aim, HKU TALIC presented a series of edTech and AI workshops on emerging technologies with a focus on practical strategies and resources. The workshops were created to provide teachers and the university community more options to enhance student learning, and to cultivate AI literacy and ICT skills. The first workshop held in Spring 2024 focused on the power of prompt engineering, as well as providing tactics and practical examples in AI prompting for teaching practice.

HKU ITS provides staff and students with the ChatGPT and DALL∙E web apps (https://chatgpt.hku.hk/), which are powered by Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI services to improve teaching and learning effectiveness, productivity, and the overall educational experience.

Read the full story on TALIC