Lingnan University joining hands with secondary schools in promoting Gerontech education boosts the elderly care sector

Funded by the Quality Education Fund, Lingnan University is now collaborating with the eight secondary schools for a two-year project – ‘Gerontechnology 360° Education’(the project) since August 2021. This project aims to offer a three-phase Life-wide experiential learning experience to secondary school students. They will be trained up as community leaders and equipped with Gerontechnology knowledge and practice. Through cross-sectoral collaboration, LU believes that this project can promote Gerontechnology and Smart Ageing development on their campuses. Besides, this project with emphasis on intergeneration collaboration aims to promote Values Education of young people and inspire them to rethink the relationship between Gerontechnology and intergenerational solidarity.

LU hosted an online kick-off event for the project on 29-Sept 2021 and facilitated idea exchange among the eight secondary schools. Prof. Mok, vice principal of LU, mentioned that the project could nurture young people with three main characteristics, including (1) to build empathy to promote an age-friendly city through values education; (2) to develop their creativity by use of Gerontechnology knowledge and practice; (3) to make use of their insight to develop relevant skills sets for the future career.

It’s an honor that LU has invited the eight secondary school teams (the list below) to participate in this project. The school representatives emphasized on combining the project element with the ‘teaching and learning’ framework, by connecting this project with the course curriculum. For instance, ‘Health Management and Social Care’, volunteer services, STEM, ‘Information and Communication Technology’, etc. By adopting the experiential learning framework, students are encouraged to have more interaction with older adults. They can also apply what they have learned in the classroom setting into responding to the community needs with Design Thinking. One Gerontech ambassador was invited to share her experience interacting with students and her views towards intergenerational harmony.