Dr Ngai, a graduate of PolyU, launched her academic career at her alma mater in 2012. She has pioneered the implementation, development and enhancement of computerised simulation for physiotherapy training in Hong Kong.

A remarkably determined young university teacher, Dr Ngai not only achieves excellence in teaching and research but is also committed to nurturing students to become critically minded and competent clinicians who are capable of serving the community effectively.

Students’ learning needs and outcomes are always Dr Ngai’s first priority in teaching. To bridge the gap between clinical placement and classroom training, she designs various innovative pedagogical methods, such as blended learning, the flipped-classroom approach and computerised medical simulation. As Prof. Gabriel Ng, Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, put it, “Dr Ngai’s efforts in introducing simulation learning have placed PolyU’s physiotherapy teaching on a par with leading overseas counterparts”.

Commenting on such learning experience, one of her students said, “there was a clinician and an academic staff member to evaluate our performance. This helped relate our simulation practice to actual practice in a clinical setting and to reduce the discrepancy between learning in a university and a clinical setting. That kind of feedback will help us to do better”.

Bearing in mind her motto “Growing up step by step with my students”, this humble outstanding teacher is eager to learn from others through collaborative projects and experience exchange, both within and across disciplines. She always hopes to enhance her knowledge and skills with the aim of improving her teaching for the benefit of her students.

• Service-Learning transformers