Strategic Development Fund Project

Sixty elderly graduates receive certificates for joining second phase of HKBU’s Inter-generational Community of Practice project

浸大跨代、跨學科「學習社群」項目舉行畢業禮 六十位參與第二階段活動長者獲頒證書

 

 

Sixty older adults who joined the second phase of the Inter-generational Community of Practice project launched by the Faculty of Social Sciences of Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) donned graduation gowns and received their certificates at a ceremony held yesterday (14 July). The elderly graduates are from Kowloon City Baptist Church Neighbourhood Elderly Centre (Lok Fu) and Hong Kong SKH Lok Man Alice Kwok Integrated Service Centre.
 
Also attending the ceremony were 33 HKBU students who organised the activities for the older adults, 18 students from Lee Kau Yan Memorial School who assisted in running the activities as well as HKBU scholars and professionals who guided students in organising the activities.
 
Officiating guests included Professor Allan Chan, Associate Vice-President, HKBU, Professor Atara Sivan, Associate Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, HKBU, Ms Helen Yiu, Supervisor, Kowloon City Baptist Church Neighbourhood Elderly Centre (Lok Fu), Ms Law Kit-ying, District Director, H.K.S.K.H. Welfare Council Ltd, and Mr Jonathan Lai, Principal, Lee Kau Yan Memorial School.
 
In his speech, Professor Chan said this year’s activities were the fruit of collaboration between university students, secondary school students and older adults. The activities also provided HKBU students with an opportunity to give back to society. The graduation ceremony embodied the spirit of the old and the young having fun together. Ms Yiu said she saw the beauty of harmony in the activities and beautiful things being passed from the older generation to the young. Ms Law said the activities gave the older adults and the youngsters a chance to understand and enrich one another’s lives. Mr Lai thanked HKBU for its trust in their teachers and students and the opportunity given to their students to learn outside the classroom. Professor Sivan expressed gratitude to all participating organisations and individuals for contributing to the smooth running of the activities.
 
At the ceremony, HKBU students, Lee Kau Yan Memorial School students and elderly graduates gave piano, dancing and singing performances as well as shared their experiences in participating in the activities. Older adult Ms Lau thanked the students for organising activities such as physical exercise, healthy eating tips and bag making. She said she liked the environment-friendly bag that students taught her to embellish, saying that it could not be bought with money. Ms Lau cherished the bag very much as it reminded her of the happy time she spent with the teachers and students. HKBU student Fiona said the older adults were very involved in the activities. She learned to have a positive learning attitude from them. Lee Kau Yan Memorial School student Tsz-ying said she had a good time with the older adults and thanked them for treating students with love. Dr Lobo Louie from the Department of Physical Education encouraged the older adults and students to continue doing exercise.
 
Last year, HKBU launched a three-year Inter-generational Community of Practice project to provide a platform for university teaching staff, professionals, university students, secondary school students and older adults to interact with and learn from one another. With the support of university teaching staff and professionals, HKBU students take the initiative to plan and organise community care activities, thus enhancing students’ whole person development. The project also enables teaching staff to transfer their academic and professional expertise to university students, and then to secondary school students and the community at large through outreach community learning activities. This has the potential to bring about changes and improvements to the community.
 
A unique characteristic of the second phase of the project was that HKBU students invited secondary school students and four older adults who participated in last year’s activities to join them in planning this year’s programmes to ensure that they were of interest to elderly people. This year, two activity series were launched with new elements such as environmental protection and healthy eating.
 
The transdisciplinary multi-layered Community of Practice project is led by Professor Atara Sivan. Its members comprise teaching staff from the Department of Education Studies (Professor Vicky Tam, Mr Yeung Siu-wing, Dr Kwan Yee-wan, Mr Eugene Tam and Mr Michael Ho), the Department of Physical Education (Dr Lobo Louie), the Department of Social Work (Professor Petrus Ng, Mr Ng Siu-hung and Dr Esther Cho) and the Department of Sociology (Dr Odalia Wong). HKBU students joining the project come from various Faculties, Schools and Departments. 

 

香港浸會大學社會科學院的跨代、跨學科「學習社群」項目 (Inter-generational Community of Practice) 第二階段於昨天 (7月14日) 舉行畢業禮，參與活動的60 位長者穿上畢業袍，上台接受證書。他們來自九龍城浸信會長者鄰舍中心 (樂富) 和香港聖公會樂民郭鳳軒綜合服務中心。出席者包括為長者籌辦活動的33位浸大同學和協助活動進行的18位李求恩紀念中學同學，以及指導同學組織活動的浸大老師及專業人士。

畢業禮的主禮嘉賓包括浸大協理副校長陳潔光教授、浸大社會科學院副院長蘇秀冠教授、九龍城浸信會長者鄰舍中心 (樂富) 督導主任姚鳳女士、香港聖公會福利協會有限公司分區總監羅潔瑩女士和李求恩紀念中學校長賴炳華先生。
 
陳教授在致辭時表示，今次活動是大學生、中學生和長者三方合作的成果，並讓浸大同學有機會回饋社會，而畢業禮亦體現了長幼同樂的精神。姚女士說活動讓她看到共融之美，上一代將美麗之事承傳至大、中學生。羅女士表示活動讓長者及青少年人能互相了解，豐富彼此的生命。賴校長感謝浸大信任他們的老師及同學，讓同學有課堂以外的學習機會。蘇教授則多謝所有參與的機構及人士，令活動順利進行。
 
在畢業禮上，浸大同學、李求恩紀念中學同學和長者畢業生分別表演鋼琴演奏、舞蹈和歌唱，並同時分享他們參與活動的經驗。其中一位長者劉婆婆感謝同學悉心為他們籌辦活動，如健康人生操、健康飲食、袋袋相傳、反老還童等。她很喜歡同學教她美化平凡的環保袋，表示非金錢所能買，故十分珍惜，亦令她回想起師生與他們歡度的快樂時光。浸大黃同學表示老友記們非常投入活動，從他們身上學到積極學習的態度。李求恩紀念中學李同學表示很開心與老友記們度過幾天，又感謝他們真心善待同學。體育學系雷雄德博士則勉勵長者及同學要繼續做運動。
 
浸大去年推出為期三年的「學習社群」計劃，目的是為大學教學人員、專業人士、大學生、中學生和長者提供一個互相交流和學習的平台。浸大學生在教學人員和專業人士支援下，自發組織一些關心社會的活動，讓他們互相學習，達至全人發展。該項目亦讓教學人員的學術成果藉著知識轉移傳遞至大學生，並經他們的外展服務傳遞至中學生及社群，從而造福社會。
 
第二階段活動的特色是浸大同學邀請了中學生及四位去年曾參加活動的長者與他們一起籌辦活動，務求令活動更精彩及切合長者的興趣。今年舉辦了「長幼活力  環保共創」和「長幼健康  細味人生」兩個活動系列，並新增環保與健康飲食的元素。

跨代、跨學科「學習社群」項目由蘇秀冠教授領導，籌劃成員來自教育學系 (譚肖芸教授、楊少榮先生、關綺雲博士、譚淳翁先生和何兆軒先生)、體育學系 (雷雄德博士)、社會工作系 (吳日嵐教授、吳兆雄先生、曹嬿妮博士) 和社會學系 (黃何明雄博士)，而參與的同學來自不同的院系。