Dr. Kenneth LEUNG Honored in Common Core Teaching Excellence Award 2021

Dr. Kenneth LEUNG, Senior Lecturer of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, received the HKUST Common Core Teaching Excellence Award 2021, recognizing his substantial contribution made in designing and teaching exemplary common core courses, and in promoting the course to the students in the University community. The winning course he teaches - COMP 2711 Discrete Mathematical Tools for Computer Science - creates an inspiring learning environment where difficult and abstract knowledge is made accessible and enjoyable.

"Happy classes make happy students. Many students find me friendly, caring, and approachable, and this makes the acquisition of knowledge fun," said Prof. Leung. "To make COMP 2711 even more interesting, a gamification system is developed for students not only to answer questions, but also to design their own questions for the course. Designing questions requires students to have a good understanding of the knowledge and concepts covered in class. This makes the learning process engaging because students are more than willing to answer interesting questions from their peers."

Apart from gamifying the teaching process, Prof. Leung also uses teaser questions to stimulate students' critical thinking, build collaborative learning, and sustain their learning enthusiasm. By adopting the "try-it-before-we-explain" approach, he demonstrates the importance of learning the theoretical concepts through introducing real-life issues. Moreover, students also noted in particular the effectiveness of the cloud-based instant messaging channel set up by him, which enables them to discuss and raise questions on course topics and beyond. Prof. Leung's innovative pedagogy successfully motivates students to become passionate, proactive, and happy learners, and has fostered in students a lasting appreciation of discrete math and related areas.

Previously, Prof. Leung was recognized with an Honorary Mention of the Common Core Teaching Excellence Award in 2019 for teaching the course COMP 1001.

Congratulations to Dr. Kenneth Leung!

Dr. Kenneth Leung's interview article: It's a Numbers Game

Dr. Kenneth LEUNG has been awarded the HKUST 2021 Common Core Teaching Excellence Award