Prof. CHEN Li

Professor
Department of Computer Science

Since joining the Department of Computer Science in 2009, Prof. Chen Li has consistently demonstrated her exceptional dedication to teaching and curriculum development. She has significantly enriched the educational experience for students across undergraduate, master’s, and PhD levels. She has developed six new courses and taught a total of 14 different courses, covering a broad range of topics. These include human-computer interaction, recommender systems, data analysis and management, research methods in computer science, intelligent decision support systems, and software engineering.

Prof. Chen is widely praised for her excellence in teaching, earning a reputation among students as a dedicated, patient, and approachable teacher with a strong passion for education. Her philosophy in teaching is founded on three core objectives: equipping students with accurate system development skills, ensuring they stay abreast of cutting-edge knowledge, and nurturing their creativity. She brings this philosophy to life through learner-centred pedagogies such as research-led, problem-based, and service learning, fostering an interactive atmosphere that encourages active learning and critical thinking.

Amid the rapidly changing technological landscape, Prof. Chen integrates frontier research findings into her teaching. In her HCI course, she presented an experiment which tracked users' eye movements as they interacted with a variety of interface designs, resulting in heat maps that vividly illustrated how effective category design can enhance user focus. By analysing these heat maps and reflecting on their own design choices, students benefit from a critical mindset about user-centred design decisions.

To bridge theory and practice, Prof. Chen provides extensive hands-on practice through lab sessions, tutorials, assignments, and group projects. She introduces students to popular software and open-source tools, fostering a deeper understanding of concepts and encouraging creativity and collaboration. Additionally, by involving industry professionals in courses and events like hackathons, she sparks engaging discussions and inspires students. When experts share their experiences, students are encouraged to apply class methodologies to their projects, equipping them for their future career development.

Prof. Chen’s commitment to service learning is evident in her efforts to integrate meaningful community service into her teaching. For example, she and her colleague transformed the HCI course with service-learning components, whereby students design app interfaces for older adults. By conducting surveys and evaluations to understand the challenges elderly users face, students have deepened their understanding of user-centred design and emphasised empathy in technology. 

In addition to her classroom teaching, Prof. Chen has played a pivotal role in developing new interdisciplinary programmes, such as the Bachelor of Science concentration in “Data and Media Communication” and the Master of Science programme in “AI and Digital Media.” Her contributions extend to the research postgraduate programme, where she has promoted the PhD programme and organised seminars, fostering a stimulating learning environment.

Overall, Prof. Chen has unquestionably proven her acumen as an outstanding educator whose innovative teaching methods, dedication to student success, and contributions to curriculum development have significantly impacted the educational experience at HKBU. Undoubtedly, she is a worthy recipient of the President's Award for Outstanding Performance in Teaching (Individual).