New Learning Hub Bolsters HKUST Support for Pedagogical Innovation

The demand for active, technology-enhanced teaching is reshaping expectations for learning spaces, according to Dr. Sean McMINN, Director of the Center for Education Innovation (CEI). 

As teaching practices evolve, faculty and students increasingly require more flexible environments for collaboration, experimentation, and experiential learning, Dr. McMinn added.

To meet these needs and reinforce HKUST’s role in educational innovation, a new facility has been launched as a shared space within CEI for examining how students learn amid the growth of AI and emerging technologies.

Advance Learning Hub (ALH) brings together teaching innovation, evidence-building, and partnership pathways in one integrated cycle. This allows promising ideas to move from prototype to proof to wider adoption with clearer ownership and momentum.

To achieve these goals, the Hub comprises four distinct facilities, each designed to support innovative teaching practices:

• Learning Forum: A central “living lab” for developing, testing, documenting, and sharing teaching ideas. Equipped with standard HKUST audiovisual systems, flexible furniture, and interactive displays, the space supports hands-on, human-centred active learning and real-time collaboration across in-person, digital, and hybrid formats. Practices developed in the Forum are intended to be transferable and scalable to regular classrooms.

• Future Playground: A low-risk prototyping area where faculty can iterate on new learning approaches using XR/AR/VR and AI before formal evaluation and broader adoption. The space includes a large LED wall, high-end workstations for XR development and AI operations, full-body 3D motion capture, and VR headsets for designing and refining immersive learning experiences.

• Data Lab: A dedicated space for evidence-building through learning analytics and evaluation design, translating pilot results into actionable insights. Findings are intended to inform pedagogy, curriculum redesign, and assessments of emerging teaching and learning technologies at HKUST.

• Media Studios: Professional studios designed for faculty without prior production experience. Equipped with advanced cameras, chromakey, studio lighting, and pedagogy teleprompters, the studios support recording and post-production, including editing, digital teaching formats, and AI avatar creation.

Dr. McMinn said ALH is supported by an expanded funding framework. Enhanced triennium funding will provide faculty with more opportunities to develop, refine, and evaluate innovative approaches before scaling them across the University. 

Faculty and teaching staff can use the ALH to design, pilot, and assess teaching practices in authentic classroom contexts, supported by shared spaces and technology tools, he added.

Overall, ALH is a welcome addition to the portfolio of pedagogical initiatives at HKUST aimed at integrating advanced technologies within the teaching curriculum and thereby advancing learning and knowledge through teaching and research.

For more information on CEI and ALH, please visit their website.