'Learning & Teaching Expo 2017' to showcase innovative teaching and learning strategies for future learning

HONG KONG, Nov. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Learning & Teaching Expo (LTE), an annual educational event jointly organised by Hong Kong Education City (HKEdCity) and Diversified Communications Hong Kong, and supported by the Education Bureau of the HKSAR, will return on 13-15 December 2017 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre for its eighth year. With the achievements gained in the past 7 years, LTE has grown to become an Asia's leading education expo. Last year, LTE recorded a great success with a record-high attendance of over 11,400 visitors, of which over 30% were from overseas, exploring the educational trends, and discovering the latest educational technology as well as innovative learning and teaching resources.

The global community is constantly evolving, while education should respond to the fast-changing world by developing competencies framework that equips students with dynamic skills for success. Students are expected to be geared up for forthcoming challenges with foundational literacies such as literacy and scientific literacy which has long been promoted in the past years, as well as competencies including critical thinking and communication. Character qualities like curiosity, adaptability have recently been added to the framework, which are essential for students to become lifelong learners. In view of this, LTE 2017 will focus on tomorrow's learning today, leading educational professionals, experienced educators, exhibitors from around the globe, and strategic partners, to present their visions along with the latest learning and teaching strategies.

The media luncheon of LTE 2017 was concluded today as a prelude to kicking off this year's event. With 'Learning for the Future' as its theme, the hosts highlighted the features of the show, followed by speakers of LTE 2017 to share their insights into innovative learning and teaching.

During his speech, Mr Victor Cheng Pat-leung, Executive Director of Hong Kong Education City, said, 'Hong Kong has more than 19 years of experience in eLearning implementation. With the Fourth IT in Education Strategy (ITE4) and the first Report on Promotion of STEM Education by the Government released in 2015 and 2016 respectively, a large scale of education innovation is expected.  LTE is an international platform with world-renowned educators to showcase their research and practical experience, including the worldwide authority on educational reform, Professor Michael Fullan and Professor Cheng Kai-ming discussing the necessary skills students should acquire in today's world;  Dr David Osher and Dr David Gleason illustrating the importance of social emotional learning and well-being; Professor Tsui Lap-chee and Professor Michael Jacobson exploring the most latest trend of STEM education. The sharing of education experts from around the globe will complement the innovative teaching strategies and resources which foster the cooperation among the Government, industry and schools, and lead Hong Kong to be in line with the international standards, thus strengthen students' competence to prepare for the future development.'

Mr Stuart Bailey, Managing Director of Diversified Communications Hong Kong said, "We are pleased to partner with Hong Kong Education City to organise LTE again. LTE has been an influential platform for the education community to exchange inspiring ideas and valuable experience, as well as to demonstrate the latest education solutions. This year, we will continue to have over 190 presentations, seminars and workshops taking place on the show floor, covering everything important in the 21st Century education. Besides, there will be over 300 exhibition booths featuring educational suppliers coming from different parts of the world, including Hong Kong, mainland China, Australia, Finland, France, Germany, South Korea, Poland, Singapore, the UK and the US. With the exhibition floor expanding by 25% compared to 2016, it is expected that visitors will see more diverse educational resources at this year's LTE."

As to help educational sectors prepare for future learning, and to equip students with 21st Century skills, education should be reformed and move towards the future modes of learning and teaching. Professor Christina Hong, President, Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, representing Hong Kong Vocational Training Council (VTC), a new strategic partner of this annual endeavour, said, "Jobs across all industries are being transformed by technology. The changing nature of work has reinforced the importance of employability skills. We should look into the examples of educational innovation initiatives from Hong Kong and other parts of the globe that aim to support students from post-school and tertiary level education in preparing for the future world of work."Apart from this, a new Australia Pavilion is established in LTE 2017, and the representative from Australian Trade and Investment Commission shared their insights into the development trends of educational technology in Australia and how do they think about the education market in Asia.

Character and citizenship education has been increasingly emphasised globally, and the community looks forward to more innovative teaching strategies which strengthen students' competencies and qualities in an all-round manner. In the media luncheon, LTE 2017 guest speaker Ms Sylvia Chan May-kuen, Principal of Ma On Shan Ling Liang Primary School, was invited to share her recent visit to education institutions and welfare departments in Finland. Being inspired by the social emotional learning support that Finnish schools had for their students, she has started to plan for adopting similar gamified learning programmes in her school.

STEM education is another mostly-discussed education trend among Hong Kong schools and the global education community, which aims at cultivating students' 21st Century skills such as creativity, computational thinking, as well as problem solving skills. STEM resources and innovative teaching ideas will be there at LTE 2017. Mr Andy Lifrom PLK Dr. Jimmy Wong Chi-Ho (Tin Sum Valley) Primary School and Mr Stephen Ng Sze-ho from St. Stephen's College, shared how to make the most of teachers' expertise and interest, along with easy-to-use tools to integrate STEM into the curriculum; how to lead students to implement STEM projects to solve real life problems, where students can be trained up and become a self-directed learner.

The three-day 'LTE 2017' features a series of keynote presentations, seminars and forums, including 'Keynote Presentations at Main Stage', '21st  Century Classroom', 'SEN Theatre' etc. Teachers and students are invited to 'InnoSTEMer' to share their valuable experience in implementing STEM and Maker projects in school. A series of school visits will also be arranged to facilitate the exchange of ideas among schools on learning and teaching via lesson observation, teaching demonstration and sharing.

For details about Learning & Teaching Expo 2017 and the full schedule of the seminar programmes, please visit: www.LTExpo.com.hk.

About Hong Kong Education City

Hong Kong Education City (www.hkedcity.net), a wholly owned company of the Government of HKSAR, operates one-stop professional educational portal in Hong Kong. The portal incorporates information, resources, interactive communities and online services, and promotes the use of information technology (I.T.) in improving the effectiveness of learning and teaching.

About Diversified Communications Hong Kong

Diversified Communications Hong Kong (www.divcom.com.hk), headquartered in the United States, provides information and market access every year through 100 face-to-face events, publications and online platforms since 1970. These serve various industries including: fitness, healthcare, business management, construction, manufacturing, investments and franchising. Diversified Communications operates divisions in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK, Canada and Thailand.

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