Last year, he established Sallux Education, making full use of modern technology to alleviate the learning difficulties of SEN students, as a major step to fulfill both his ambitions and the requirements of his postgraduate programme. Knowing first-hand SEN students’ difficulties in concentrating and understanding abstract ideas, Iain and his team introduced Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR) to attract their attention and explain concepts in interactive ways. These inventive approaches have been working well: students ask questions proactively, showing a genuine interest in class. VR technology can also bring the kids on virtual trips, both local and overseas, which broaden their horizons. Demonstrating innovative use of technology and entrepreneurial potential, Iain was awarded the Chinachem PrimeMovership Scholarship in HKUST earlier this year.
Seeing SEN education as a mission more than a business, Iain adopts a “helping others comes first, rewards come next” business model. “Making profit isn’t my ultimate objective. If someone’s life is changed for the better because of me, this is far more rewarding,” said Iain with a big smile. “I hope all students, regardless of their abilities to learn, can forge ahead. No one is left behind.”
Looking ahead, his team plans to launch Asia-Pacific’s first metaverse SEN educational platform within three years. No dream is too big, and this is especially true when technology can step in to expand the impact of one’s aspiration.
“I could neither understand teachers’ instructions nor utter a complete sentence grammatically.” Feeling inferior at school, Iain could not get along well with classmates and even became a victim of bullying. The turning point came when he met a teacher in F.3 who brightened his student life with love and care. “The teacher kept me company and tried to understand me. That meant a lot to me.” With greater self-confidence, Iain studied hard and was eventually admitted to The University of Hong Kong to study Spanish and Portuguese.
