CHER PING LIM

Lim Cher Ping is a Chair Professor of Learning Technologies and Innovation at The Education University of Hong Kong and a Visiting Professor in the UNESCO Centre for Higher Education Innovations at the Southern University of Science and Technology. He is the Editor-in-Chief of The Internet and Higher Education that is ranked number 1 in E-learning (Latest SCImago Journal Ranking) and number 3 in Education and Educational Research (Latest Journal Citation Report). He was a Professor of Education and Director of the Asia-Pacific Centre of Excellence for Teacher Education and Innovations in Western Australia before joining the university in Hong Kong. Over the last two decades, he has engaged major education stakeholders at the national and international levels as his research and development partners for enhancing education equity, quality and efficiency enabled by information and communication technologies.

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened the progress that countries have made towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 of “inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. Physical school closure has shifted face-to-face lessons to online and remote lessons; the latter requiring an ecosystem of infrastructure, digital devices, and home environment and support. Students from vulnerable groups (special learning needs, low socioeconomic income families, remote locations, ethnic minorities, and girls) often do not have access to such an ecosystem. Based on case studies in South-East Asia, this presentation explains the pivotal role of the education workforce for inclusive and equitable quality education (online, face-to-face or blended) and discusses how their capacity could be built by designing their professional development for scale, and localising for inclusion.