M2L Research TEAM

Current

I'm a Senior Lecturer at the Teaching and Learning Innovation Centre at HKU. I primarily train postgraduate teaching assistants how to teach, and provide training to incoming teaching staff at HKU. I completed a PhD in Applied Mathematics (2014, Waterloo, Control Theory) but have since shifted my research efforts to education.

Research Interests
- Mathematics and science education in secondary and tertiary education,
- Students' self-efficacy and interest in science and mathematics, and how motivation interplays with ongoing performance,
- Learning experiences: classroom and online,
- Postgraduate teaching assistant training, and

- Use of quantitative methods (Variable-centred analyses: structure equation modelling, latent curve analysis, Person-centred analyses: latent profile/class, latent profile/class transition analysis).

Current Projects
- Feeding Formative Feedback Forward in Mathematics (Secondary schools and Higher Education): Providing regular quizzes to students on mobile phones, and supporting students in making goals, self-efficacy in mathematics courses, and mathematics interest development.
- Getting Interested: Developing and managing an online tactile tool for students to report their interest

Supervision

I'm currently looking to supervise prospective EdD students who are interested in pursuing research projects related to Motivation and/or Teaching & Learning Strategies in STEM fields. Interested? Drop me an e-mail!

Contact: +852 3917 4958
E-mail: alexshum@hku.hk

Dr. Alex Shum

I'm a software developer. Currently, I’m working at the Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in HKU to develop the new version of "Getting Interested".

Enid Lam

I’m currently an EdD student at HKU. My research interests include:

-Students’ interest and self-efficacy

-Educational technology (e.g., gamification)

-English language education

Current projects:

Investigating the effects of badges and leaderboards on students’ interest, self-efficacy, and academic performance in a secondary English language learning course
The use of badges in education: A systematic review

Recently Completed Projects:

Utilising gamified formative assessment to support English language learning in schools: A scoping review.

- The playing motivations of male and female gamers and the effects of stereotypes on their motivations in Honor of Kings.

The use of leaderboards in education: A systematic review
Hubei University of Technology [book chapter in Student Engagement Across Pacific Asia: Steps toward a Shared Framework]

Contact: +86 15797783592 or +852 93621191

E-mail: chunqili@connect.hku.hk

Chunqi Li

I am currently pursuing a PhD in educational psychology at HKU. I completed my bachelor’s degree at Renmin University of China and my master’s degree at Teachers College, Columbia University. My current project focuses on interest and motivation development and its (tech-assisted) application in real educational settings.

Current projects

Interest, relevance and motivation (for adolescents):

· Utilizing Generative-AI to assist middle school students to establish meaningful personal relevance to math

· A systematic review on interventions to enhance secondary school students’ STEM motivational outcomes

· A longitudinal-SEM study examining the relationships among three types of perceived personal relevance and physiology class interest in the middle school setting

· A longitudinal-SEM study examining the relationships among three types of perceived personal relevance and English class interest in the middle school setting

Recently completed projects

Interest, relevance and motivation (for adolescents):

· A scoping review on six types of most frequently studied situational interest sources in educational settings

· The development and validation of three types of personal relevance measure

· A longitudinal-SEM study examining the relationships among three types of perceived personal relevance and math class interest in the middle school setting

Email: u3007937@connect.hku.hk

Zhixing Guo

Lishi Liang

I am currently pursuing a PhD in education at HKU. I completed my bachelor's degree in Psychology at Wuhan University and my master's degree in Human Development at The University of Pennsylvania. My research interests include:

- the normal acquisition of reading,

- primary school students' language development, and

- phonological-based instruction.

Current Projects
Review study

- The effectiveness of phonological-based instruction in improving East Asian EFL learners’ reading ability: A scoping review

Book chapter

- Quality assurance in higher education in Asia-Pacific region

E-mail: lsliang@connect.hku.hk

Yuchun Zhong

E-mail: sunnyzhong33@connect.hku.hk

Mobile Phone: +852 52246406

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yuchun-Zhong-2

Google scholar: https://shorturl.at/gjHVW

About me

Following the submission and acceptance of Ph.D. thesis (August, 2024), I began year as a HKU Ph.D. Fellow in the Faculty of Education, working in the Motivation to Learn Lab. Prior to this, I completed my MPhil at the University of Cambridge and earned my MA and BA degrees from Nanjing University of Science and Technology. Between these academic experiences, I worked in managerial roles at various educational institutions, where I was deeply committed to fostering environments conducive to student learning. In these roles, I led initiatives aimed at curriculum development, pedagogical innovation, and the integration of technology to enhance interactive learning experiences.

My research interests included:

Generic skills/ social emotional competence,

transfer of learning,

learning interest & motivation,

technology-assisted learning (e.g., esports, AI tools, and virtual reality )

Current Projects

1. A comparative study of interest trajectories between competitive sandbox game environment and teacher-

led classroom

2. The continuum of engagement: How students interact in esports gaming over time?

3. More than just fun: can esports promote 21st century skills development?

4. Beyond entertainment: unlocking the potential of leveraging esports for developing 4Cs competence in

competitive sandbox game-based experiential learning

5. From gaming to reality: effectiveness of skills transfer from competitive sandbox gaming environment to

near and far contexts

Pregistration 2025
Zhong, Y., Fryer, L. K., Ginns, P., & Huang, W. (2025). Cognitive load in game-based learning environments: A systematic review and meta-analysis [Preregistration]. OSF. https://osf.io/nezxk/

Poster accepted 2025
Zhong, Y., Li, C., Jiang, J., Fryer, L. K., & Shum, A. (2025, August). Umbrella review: Evidence on the effectiveness of integrating virtual reality in education [Poster presentation]. SIG 07 - Technology-Enhanced Learning and Instruction, EARLI Conference, Graz, Austria.

Zhong, Y., Fryer, L. K., Zheng, S., Shum, A., & Chu, S. K. W. (2025, April). Investigating the effectiveness of competitive sandbox gaming environment in the cultivation of 4Cs competencies (Poster 16) [Poster presentation]. Instructional Technology SIG Poster Presentations, SIG-Instructional Technology, American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Denver, CO.

Paper accepted 2025
Zhong, Y., Fryer, L. K., Zheng, S., Shum, A., & Chu, S. K. W. (2025, in press). The power of play: Integrating competitive sandbox game for experiential learning to foster 21st century skills. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education

Zhong, Y., Fryer, L. K., Zheng, S., Shum, A., & Chu, S. K. W. (2025). From gaming to reality: effectiveness of skills transfer from competitive sandbox gaming environment to near and far contexts. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 22(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-024-00500-2

Weijiao Huang

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Teaching and Learning Innovation Centre at HKU. I primarily work on university-wide research projects on the use of technology to support teaching and learning practices. I received my PhD from the Faculty of Education, HKU, in November 2023. Before joining TALIC, I worked as a project manager and research assistant for internal and external projects at HKU. I also had experience in teaching postgraduate courses and supervising HKU master students in capstone projects and publishing papers at international conferences.

Research Interests

Technology-supported learning (mainly using chatbots)
Online and blended learning
Student engagement and motivation

Current Projects

Chatbots and student motivation: Synthesizing current evidence and conducting experiments to answer the question – can and how chatbots motivate students
Conversational AI in language learning (CoALL): Identifying research trends, implications for language learning, and teacher-AI collaboration
Engaging students using chatbots: Developing and evaluating chatbots that support student learning with domain-specific, immediate feedback

E-mail: wjhuang1@connect.hku.hk

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Weijiao-Huang

Google scholar: https://bit.ly/4gexh5p

ALUMNI

Dr. Patricia Simon

I’m a Research Assistant Professor, Academy of Wellness and Human Development, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Department of Education Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University. She has a PhD in Clinical Psychology from De La Salle University and is a licensed psychologist from the Philippines. As a PhD student, she was involved in social development research on vulnerable populations. She has contributed to the design and evaluation of a remote and manualized psychological intervention for children who have been victims of online sexual abuse and exploitation. She uses both quantitative and qualitative methods in her work. As a postdoctoral fellow at The University of Hong Kong, she has worked on large scale qualitative studies and review articles on educational technologies (e.g., adaptive learning, learning management systems, and augmented reality). Her other research interests include perfectionism among students, mental health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations, student engagement in physical and virtual classrooms, socio-emotional competencies in higher education, psychological and educational interventions, and climate education. As some of her personal interests include theater and movement, she is exploring the possibility of applying these creative pedagogies in teaching climate change concepts, and in developing students’ character and socio-emotional competencies across educational levels.

Current Projects

- Assessment of class participation in online and offline learning environments: A qualitative investigation of teachers’ best practices and challenges

- Scoping review and bibliometric analysis of research on augmented reality in environmental education

Completed Projects

- Assessing Class Participation in Physical and Virtual Spaces: Current Approaches and Issues

- Behind the scenes of adaptive learning: A scoping review of teachers’ perspectives on the use of adaptive learning technologies

- Measurement of higher education students’ and teachers’ experiences in learning management systems: A scoping review

- A systematic review of student engagement research in adaptive learning platforms

- Quality assurance in higher education in Asia-Pacific region

- An assessment of Moodle use across different faculties in a Hong Kong university: Perspectives from teachers and students

-Capturing students' LMS experience: Measurement invariance across Chinese and English versions

- Climate change discussion with family and friends and media exposure’s influence on support for decarbonization policies in Hong Kong: The mediating role of climate worry

Email: psimon@hku.hk

Dr. Juming Jiang

I am a Research Associate at HKMU. My research interests include supporting students' learning motivation and interest in offline and online learning environments, with extended reality (i.e., virtual/augmented/mixed reality) and artificial intelligence technologies.

Current Projects

Review studies

-Systematic review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of simulation learning

-Systematic review of multi-user extended reality learning

-Scoping review of built-in social tools in MOOCS

-Scoping review of effects of chatbot on learning motivation

Empirical studies

-The effects of extended reality (XR) on students' learning motivation and skill acquisition in architecture

-The effects of virtual reality laboratory on interest, self-efficacy and knowledge acquisition in pharmaceutical chemistry

-The effects of entertainment rewards and growth rewards on students' needs satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, engagement and self-efficacy towards learning

-The effects of pseudo-synchronous social experience on belongingness, interest, persistence and achievement in MOOCs

Recently Completed Projects

Book chapters

-Jiang, J., & Fryer, L. K. (in press). Chapter 2: Model Empirical Chapter – The University of Hong Kong. In L. K. Fryer, R. B. King, & L. M. Zeng (Eds.), Student Engagement Across Pacific Asia. Springer Nature.

-Jiang, J., Lo, D. F. Y., Chen, J., & Fryer, L. K. (in press). Chapter 3: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In L. K. Fryer, R. B. King, & L. M. Zeng (Eds.), Student Engagement Across Pacific Asia. Springer Nature.

-Jiao, D., Duan, X., Sun, N., You, Y., Shi, S., & Jiang, J. (in press). Chapter 6: Henan University of Science and Technology. In L. K. Fryer, R. B. King, & L. M. Zeng (Eds.), Student Engagement Across Pacific Asia. Springer Nature.

-Wang, W., Jiang, J., Qi, F., & Li Y. (in press). Chapter 9: Henan University. In L. K. Fryer, R. B. King, & L. M. Zeng (Eds.), Student Engagement Across Pacific Asia. Springer Nature.

Peer-reviewed journal articles

-Jiang, J., & Fryer, L. K. (2023). The effect of virtual reality learning on students' motivation: A scoping review. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning,1–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12885

-Simon, P. D., Jiang, J., & Fryer, L. K. (2023). Measurement of higher education students’ and teachers’ experiences in learning management systems: a scoping review, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 1-12. DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2023.2266154

-Jiang, J., Lai. C., Ho, T., Hung, Y., Yu, S., Lee, J., Tsang, K., Yeung, W., Yan, W., & Chan, Y. (under review). Effects of augmented reality intervention on knowledge acquisition, empathy and learning experience of medical students in learning vision symptoms of eye diseases: A quasi-experimental study. Journal of Medical Internet Research.

-Hung, Y., Chu, W., Jiang, J., Yeung, W., Yan, W., Kowk, K., & Chan, Y. (under review). Augmented Reality (AR)-based health education program for educating elderly population the visual symptoms of common age-related eye diseases. Journal of Medical Internet Research.

-Simon, P. D., Jiang, J., & Fryer, L. K. (under review). An assessment of Moodle use across different faculties in a Hong Kong university: Perspectives from teachers and students. Technology, Knowledge and Learning.

-Jiang, J., Simon, P. D., & Fryer, L. K. (under review). Capturing students’ LMS experience: Measurement invariance across Chinese and English versions. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology.

-Jiang, J., Goepel, G., Crolla, K., & Fryer, L. K. (in submission). Impact of extended reality on students’ interest, self-efficacy and performance in architecture education: A mixed-methods research. Advanced Engineering Informatics.

-Jiang, J., Shum, A., & Fryer, L. K. (in submission). The effects of readiness and content repetition on interest and its development within social tasks in higher education foundation courses. Higher Education.

-Jiang, J., & Tanaka, A. (in submission). Students’ perception of autonomy support from artificial intelligence and its' effect on intrinsic motivation. Computers & Education.

-Ikeda, K., Jiang, J., & Tanaka, A. (in submission). Expecting to satisfying interest for future learning increases judgments of learning. Learning and Instruction.

Email:jiangjuming@live.cn