Dr David M POMFRET

Recipient of 2012 UGC Teaching Award

Affiliation at the time of the award
Associate Professor, School of Humanities (History), The University of Hong Kong

Award Citation
Dr Pomfret is a noted historian of youth - which is a very young field. His scholarly interest in the changing nature of youth has led to a radical reimagining of the history curriculum, and of the learning process.

Dr Pomfret has demonstrated a powerfully compelling use of new technologies in education that integrate students and teachers into a real partnership of teachers and learners. He introduced RIVAL - "Realtime Interactive Video and Lecture", in which teaching takes the form of interaction between teachers and students, and among students, employing videos, movies, graphs, stills, music, text, etc. The "realtime interactive" part is realized by getting students to respond to images and videos presented on the spot. His students also get their fingernails dirty. To do Hong Kong history, they go on scavenger hunts, finding the material history of Hong Kong's past amid the glitter of its present. Dr Pomfret has a record of sustained contribution through his intellectual leadership at a programme, faculty and institutional level. In his many leadership roles, he has championed, and been a model for, the importance of quality teaching.

Dr Pomfret plans to use the award grant to engage teachers and students in a project exploring the needs of the rising generation of students, including how technology is changing students' approaches to learning, and how teachers can use technology to at least keep up with their students and, ideally, to challenge them in new ways.

Video on Teaching Philosophies