Introduction

The Advanced Learning Hub (ALH) is CEI’s shared innovation space for designing, testing, and scaling advanced learning experiences. It brings together teaching innovation, evidence-building, and partnership pathways in one integrated cycle, so promising ideas can move from prototype to proof to wider adoption with clearer ownership and momentum.

AHL also supports holistic professional development in learning and teaching. It is a place where faculty and students learn with, and from, each other through hands-on design, experimentation, and reflection, building a sustained community of inquiry around what effective, ethical, and scalable education looks like in practice.

 

Vision

Our vision is for the ALH to function as a living laboratory for learning: a place where educational ideas are not only imagined, but trialled in authentic contexts, measured with rigour, refined through feedback, and scaled with confidence.

This vision aligns to a broader “Living-Lab loop” that connects (1) pedagogy innovation, (2) scholarship and evaluation, and (3) institution/industry collaboration.

 

Mission

The mission of the ALH is to enable HKUST faculty to design and pilot pedagogical innovations in authentic educational contexts, evaluate their effects using appropriate evidence, refine them through iterative feedback, and disseminate validated practices across courses and programmes.

In doing so, AHL advances continuous professional learning by supporting faculty to strengthen course design, assessment, and teaching practice, and to develop responsible and effective approaches to the use of emerging technologies, grounded in exemplars, collegial exchange, and evidence from implementation.

AHL will also serve as a home base for CEI-funded projects, providing Principal Investigators with a dedicated environment to experiment, study, and showcase their work, and to translate insights into scalable practice.

 

Community of Inquiry

AHL is deliberately structured as a community of inquiry involving both faculty and students, embedded in a hybrid learning ecosystem that links the physical Hub with HKUST’s digital education strategy and professional development pathways so evidence-informed practices can scale beyond a single pilot.

The Spaces

Learning Forum The Future Playground The Data Lab Media Studios Hallway

Learning Forum

The Learning Forum is a central space within the ALH where pedagogical ideas are explored, tested, and shared as part of the Hub’s living-lab cycle. Designed for hands-on experimentation, it enables faculty to develop human-centred, active learning approaches in authentic teaching contexts using flexible layouts and commonly available AV infrastructure. Supporting collaborative, hybrid, and technology-enabled learning, the Forum helps translate teaching innovation into practical, transferable, and scalable practice through collegial exchange and shared inquiry.

 

The Future Playground

The Future Playground is an exploration and experimentation space within the ALH where emerging pedagogical ideas and immersive technologies are explored, tested, and prototyped. It provides a low-risk environment for faculty and students to play, experience, and refine learning designs using tools such as XR, AR, VR, and artificial intelligence. Supporting experiential and scenario-based learning, the Playground enables early-stage ideas to be developed and prepared for evidence-informed evaluation and wider adoption.

 

The Data Lab

The Data Lab serves as a space for evidence-building, focusing on learning analytics exploration, evaluation design, and turning pilot data into actionable insight. This will inform pedagogy, curriculum redesign, and the feasibility of emerging technologies for teaching and learning at HKUST.

 

Media Studios

The Media Studio offers instructors a professional, accessible environment for producing high-quality instructional videos. Two mini studios are equipped with cutting-edge camera systems, chromakey technology, studio lighting, and teleprompters to support various video-based pedagogical approaches, including blended and online learning, and MOOCs. Designed for ease of use, the studios require no prior video production experience, enabling instructors to focus on teaching. These facilities are multipurpose, supporting both recording and post-production. Instructors can edit videos, explore digital teaching formats, or create AI avatars for innovative learning materials.

 

Hallway

The hallway functions as an idea flow pathway connecting the different zones of the ALH. Designed to encourage people to slow down rather than rush through, it features curved seating, natural materials, and greenery that support informal conversations and moments of reflection. This in-between space enables ideas to flow, connect, and take shape through everyday interaction.