A distinguished academic advisor, composer, and educator, Professor Keyes Christopher Jay began teaching at the Department of Music in 1994. Through an enormous wealth of experiences in the composition of acoustic and electro-acoustic media, post-tonal music theory, analysis and performance, his teaching approaches comprise interesting and stimulating contents with many innovative electronic learning materials. He has developed purpose-built and course-specific desktop and mobile apps for his classes to improve students’ learning, a strategy that has been emulated to other courses in the University, as well as various UGC-funded universities.

“Professor Keyes has developed various apps that cater to music students’ needs for understanding complex concepts in simpler terms.” Year-4 student

To facilitate students’ comprehension of course contents, Professor Keyes’ apps are media rich and contains a high degree of interactive content that can be used for study anytime, anywhere, including while commuting.

“Through the app’s interactive functions, I understood many complicated theories easily.” Year-2 student

Responded to his student needs and requests to help prepare them for a listening examination he developed a ‘20th Century Music Guide’ mobile app. Its effectiveness is evident by the remarkable difference between test scores before and after introducing the app.

“The apps Prof. Keyes has invented (20th Century Music, ALMS, etc.) make learning much more convenient and exciting for students.” Year-2 student

Professor Keyes is a firm believer in the effectiveness of learning by encouraging interactions and discussions, rather than the conventional lectures. Techniques he now uses include flipped classrooms, peer instruction, and peer evaluation. With students having already studied materials in advance, more class time can be devoted to answering and discussing questions that they have. He also takes the opportunity to stress how the material will directly and practically benefit them, and share real life stories to create resonances so that materials have greater recall potential.

Many of Professor Keyes’ students have commended on his ability to inspire their creativity in projects, ranging from sharing former students’ works in class, to encouraging his class to try everything they want freely. Peer evaluation is often a key part of this creative process that allows students to help each other and become inspired by their peers. Students have commented that they are not just assessed on their knowledge but also on their application of that knowledge, a great advantage of a university education they found lacking in many other courses.

Largely with funding from the UGC his team at the HKBU Apps Resource Centre have developed 38 apps to date for many disciplines at HKBU and other UGC-funded institutes in Hong Kong. They have been downloaded over 350,000 times worldwide.

With Professor Keyes’ impressive experiences, achievements, as well as imaginative and inspiring pedagogies, the Selection Committee firmly believes him a worthy recipient of the President’s Award for Outstanding Performance in Individual Teaching.