Challenge
My challenge is to identify students' individual emotional needs during online learning because students have limited chances to express their feelings and it is hard for teachers to notice their emotional engagement through cameras and screens. Moreover, not many teachers in Hong Kong employ student-centred approach in online teaching (due to the cultural context of following traditional teacher-centred authority). Students generally have a lack of interaction with classmates and teachers in online classroom settings. Indeed, emotional problems could be a serious issue. It can affect learning effectiveness during lessons, lead to potential behavioural problems and mental illnesses, and even influence student social communication skills. In long term, students lack a sense of belongings to their classmates and teachers, which could damage the function of schooling in terms of interpersonal training. In addition, school policies are still being affected by COVID-19 in Hong Kong. Until Sep 2022, HK secondary schools can hold full-day in-person classes only if at least 90 percent of students have had three COVID-19 shots. There are still lots of schools which cannot satisfy the requirement and can only open half-day in-person classes. Due to the tight schedule and packed syllabus, students usually need to attend online lessons at home after the half-day classes. Many local students have been learning in online classroom settings during COVID-19 for almost three years and the time is still counting. This challenge focuses on solving the problems raised with online classrooms. Although it is initiated during the pandemic, the solutions shall be applicable to online learning in the post-pandemic era.