There is a global trend in the increased adoption of e-assessment in school classrooms to enhance learning. Teachers, as classroom-based assessment designers and implementers, play a vital role in such assessment change. However, little is known about school teachers' classroom-based e-assessment practices and the underlying reasons. To address this research gap, this study identified the factors influencing Hong Kong primary school teachers' e-assessment practices underpinned by the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). A large-scale survey was issued to 878 teachers via Qualtrics. Structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis shows that primary school teachers' intentions of using e-assessment and perceived behavioural control of it were the two strongest factors predicting their e-assessment practices in a general way. Specifically, teachers' intentions outweighed perceived behavioural control in determining their use of alternative e-assessment tasks and e-feedback, but this reversed for e-tests/exercises. The impact of perceived behavioural control was consistent across the three types of e-assessment practices. Furthermore, teachers' attitudes significantly influenced their intentions to use alternative e-assessment tasks, while subject norms primarily predicted their intentions to use e-feedback. The findings have implications for primary schools to take countermeasures to facilitate the successful implementation of e-assessment at the classroom level.Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic E-assessment has the potential to influence learning. E-assessment has often been used in a controlled environment with a relatively small sample size. The past 3 years have seen a surge in discussions and research around using e-assessment in classroom settings, mostly in higher education. What this paper adds Primary school teachers used more e-tests or exercises than alternative e-assessment tasks and e-feedback in their daily teaching. Teachers' intentions

Few studies have explored primary school teachers’ classroom-based online assessment practices and underlying reasons. To fill this research gap, this study interviewed 48 Hong Kong primary school teachers to understand their online assessment practices and influencing factors when they were obliged to use it in their daily instruction under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings revealed that the participants tended to use online tests/exercises for formative purposes instead of summative purposes. In addition, they tried online alternative assessment tasks, such as video or audio recordings, peer assessment and projects, and gave online feedback to students but less frequently than online tests/exercises. The school examination culture and the participants’ perceived limited control over online test fairness may have restricted their summative use of online tests/exercises. Meanwhile, the participants’ perceived positive usage norms, along with their favourable attitudes towards and confidence in using online tests/exercises probably enhanced their formative use of them. In addition, the participants’ perceived neutral usage norms and limited external control of online alternative assessment tasks and feedback seemed to impede their use of them in classrooms. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s).

Successful implementation of formative assessment in classrooms relies on teachers’ formative assessment literacy, which is typically supported by professional development programs. This study reports on the impact of a professional development program on a group of in-service primary teachers in Hong Kong. The authors investigated the effectiveness of the program in developing teachers’ formative assessment literacy and how far the program assisted them in addressing the challenges they faced when implementing formative assessment in classrooms. With a mixed-method design, quantitative data were collected with a pre- and post-program survey (N = 27); qualitative data were collected with open-ended survey questions and a focus group with six participating teachers. The results provide evidence of the program’s success in developing teachers’ formative assessment literacy and equipping them with the necessary skills to address the challenges in implementation. The features of professional learning communities embedded in the program contributed to the positive impact of the program. Copyright © 2023 Teacher Development.

Few studies have empirically explored the specific elements of schoolteachers’ feedback literacy in spite of its crucial role in supporting student learning in classrooms. To address this research gap, individual interviews were conducted with 20 teacher educators in Hong Kong. The interviewees were asked to explicate the mind maps of schoolteacher feedback literacy that they had previously drawn. Data analysis revealed that the participants perceived schoolteacher feedback literacy as a three-dimensional concept, comprising knowledge, competence and disposition with specifications. In addition, the participants believed that schoolteacher feedback literacy was gradually evolving from a qualified level to a fully professional level over time. In their views, understanding subject content knowledge and developing positive feedback dispositions were prerequisites for developing feedback competencies. The findings of this study enhance the understanding of schoolteacher feedback literacy from the perspective of teacher educators and offer guidance for providing effective feedback training in teacher education programmes. Copyright © 2022 Edith Cowan University. All rights reserved.

Few studies have explored primary school teachers’ e-assessment practices in conditions of emergency remote teaching caused by the COVID-19 lockdowns. This study explored Hong Kong primary school teachers’ e-assessment practices during the fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic from late January to March 2022, when all primary schools were closed and transitioned rapidly to online teaching. 48 teachers from different schools were individually interviewed. The participants reported a variety of e-assessment practices, which were categorised into three types: e-tests/exercises, alternative e-assessments and e-teacher feedback. It was found that participants cautiously approached e-tests for summative purposes but majorly for formative purposes. It was also found that the participants less frequently used alternative e-assessments and tried out e-feedback. The participants’ e-assessment practices were influenced by their own conceptions of the usefulness of e-assessment, others’ attitudes towards its use, and perceived behavioural control. Crises such as pandemics and climate disasters will inevitably disrupt education again in the future. The findings of this study encourage policy makers, researchers and teachers to rethink the purposes and process of e-assessment in primary classrooms, thus sustaining, deepening and focusing on learning in the ‘new normal’. COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to break away from content-heavy summative assessment and to make effective use of technology to enhance formative assessment. Copyright © 2023 ICLT.

The effects of teachers' audio feedback on students' project-based learning and its influencing factors have seldom been empirically explored in the higher education context. To address this research gap, a group of Hong Kong freshmen (18-23 years old) and their teachers were involved in this study. Data were collected from students' retrospective journals, post-journal interviews and teacher interviews after the participants experienced audio feedback during their group projects in a General Education course. The findings demonstrated that teachers' audio feedback enhanced students' learning engagement, critical thinking and project output. The students also reported that audio feedback provided convenience, timeliness, rich information, asynchronous discussion and social presence. Other factors including the features of audio feedback, communication between student and teacher on the received feedback and their learning motivation were also crucial in determining the effects of audio feedback on student project-based learning. Copyright © 2022 Routledge.

Recent discussions on student feedback literacy have been primarily conceptual and framed from the perspectives of scholars and educators. Few empirical studies have explored what and how college students conceive of student feedback literacy. To address this research gap, we explored Hong Kong college students’ conceptions of student feedback literacy. Fifteen Bachelor of Education students were individually interviewed to elaborate on the mind maps they had drawn about student feedback literacy. The data analysis revealed that the participants depicted several feedback competencies required for students to elicit and process feedback but paid scant attention to the competencies needed to enact feedback. Meanwhile, they believed that a feedback-literate student should appreciate the values of feedback and be active, modest and committed in the feedback process. The participants’ conceptions of student feedback literacy were ecologically influenced by Chinese cultural values, the university learning setting, their prior feedback experiences, and course learning. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s).

Online peer assessment has been proposed as an effective strategy for cultivating critical thinkers in higher education, but there is a dearth of relevant studies in a Confucian heritage context. This study investigated the effects of online peer assessment in a General Education course on the development of critical thinking among Hong Kong undergraduates, with a design characterised by six elements (i.e. online peer assessment training, provision of guiding questions, peer feedback requirements, anonymity, student evaluation of the usefulness of peer feedback and summative use of online peer assessment). Analysis of the participants' e-journal entries revealed a significant improvement in critical thinking in the experimental groups. Individual follow-up interviews indicated that the participants acknowledged online peer assessment design with the consideration of cultural influence and at the same time made some suggestions for refinement. This study highlights the need to adopt a culturally embedded approach to design online peer assessment to cultivate students' critical thinking in non-western contexts. Copyright © 2021 Routledge.

Prior studies have highlighted the importance of General Education in reinvigorating higher education. In spite of the significant contribution of General Education, students' engagement in the course is also frequently negative. Formative e-assessment is supposed to enhance undergraduates' learning engagement due to the nature of formative assessment and the relative affordability of technology. A formative e-assessment intervention was included in General Education foundation course tutorials which used Kahoot, Mentimeter and Google+. This study adopted a quasi-experimental design to demonstrate the effectiveness of formative e-assessment intervention on student tutorial engagement in terms of cognition, emotion and behavior. At the end of one-term tutorial, two experimental groups and one control group completed a survey on course engagement and eight students from experimental groups attended two focus group interviews. The findings reveal that in general, formative e-assessment increased students' course engagement but not in a significant way. The significant change in course engagement only exists in students' sense of belonging to their group and their effort in assignments. The participants preferred Kahoot and Mentimeter to Google+ and reported some inhibiting factors in using Google+ including their unfamiliarity with it, examination-oriented learning attitudes, low course learning motivation, and time constraints. Copyright © 2020 International Conference on Learning and Teaching.

This study adopted a researcher-generated framework to analyze STEM activities demonstrated in primary students' science projects in an annual extracurricular event held in Hong Kong. Ten students' project reports were randomly selected from each of the three groups of 24 outstanding, 45 merit, and 68 consolation awarded projects. Content analysis was conducted to code the activities in each project. The coded information was then changed into numerical data for quantitative analysis. The results showed that, in general, more engineering and science activities than technology and mathematics activities were adopted by the primary students in their projects. More projects with the Outstanding Award conducted STEM activities than those projects with Merit and Consolation Awards, and significant group differences existed in the science and mathematics activities. Besides, science activities significantly positively related to engineering and mathematics activities. Furthermore, STEM-related content knowledge of discipline core ideas and crosscutting concepts were reported. This study sheds light on the pattern of STEM activities in students' science projects, and has implications for promoting STEM integration in primary education.
[Copyright © 2017 Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan.]