SELASIA+ Educator SEL Program

Under the guidance of Principal Investigator and Lab Director Prof. Juyeon Lee, SELASIA+ has recently developed a social and emotional learning (SEL) program designed specifically for the East Asian context. Over five topics, you’ll learn more about the importance of SEL for yourself and your students, and some practical strategies to integrate SEL into your classrooms.

We’re now recruiting educators from Hong Kong to take part in a free, five- to ten-week pilot trial of our English and Cantonese language programs.

What is the Educator SEL Program?

Our Educator SEL program was adapted from materials kindly provided by UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center from their Greater Good in Education resource hub. All course materials were developed and translated by our team of Hong Kong, Mainland Chinese, and South Korean researchers and educators.

The SELASIA+ Educator SEL Program covers five topics:

Caring for Ourselves
Teaching for Social, Emotional, and Academic Growth
Cultivating Belonging and Equity in Classrooms
Supporting Student Well-Being
Strengthening Social Connections

Each week, you’ll work through short videos created by members of our research team. You’ll also have access to a professional learning toolkit, and two course-specific AI agents designed to help you reflect on and consolidate your learning.

What’s involved?

Format: Short videos and reflection questions, all online
Duration: Five weeks (weekly release) or ten weeks (bi-weekly release)
Pace: Each topic takes approximately 2 hours, do it when it suits you
Access: Works on any device, phone, tablet, or computer

Apart from completing the course, you may additionally choose to attend up to five focus group sessions to reflect on your learning and provide feedback on that week's topic.

No in-person sessions. No prior experience or training in SEL required.

Teachers who complete 100% of the online course will receive a certificate of completion and monetary compensation in the local currency. Teachers who further participate in at least 80% of focus group interview sessions will receive additional monetary compensation in the local currency.

If you change your mind about participating in the research, you can withdraw at any time, at any point in the program. If you withdraw from the research, you may still complete the course and receive a certificate of completion upon 100% completion of the program materials. However, no further monetary compensation would be given.

Who can participate?

Currently a pre-service or in-service teacher at the kindergarten, primary school, or secondary school levels
Teaching in Hong Kong
Be aged 18 years or older
Can read and understand English or Cantonese / Traditional Chinese
Have access to a device with internet connection to complete the online questionnaires and the online training program, and optionally the online focus group interviews

Ready to take part?

If you are interested in participating, please contact our team directly at selasia.hku@gmail.com. Our team will then provide you with a link to the online consent form and pre-course survey.

About the pilot study

This is a pilot trial. Its purpose is to test the feasibility, acceptability, and initial user experience of the Educator SEL program, and gather the evidence needed to support a future large-scale randomized controlled trial.

This study has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the University of Hong Kong (HREC No. EA260160)