This report describes the adaptations made to one initial teacher education course at a Hong Kong university designed for face-to-face instruction that was required to be delivered exclusively online due to the suspension of face-to-face classes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It describes the adaptations the tutor made, and the challenges faced adapting to the new mode of delivery. It is hoped that others can learn from the author’s experience and be prepared for the suspension of face-to-face classes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic or other health emergencies. Copyright © Taylor & Francis Ltd.

Digital technology plays a crucial role in modern second/foreign language education. Enormous changes in technology and the growing emphasis on 21st century skills raise a concern about English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ competencies in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) more than ever. In response to the mounting concern, this study investigates pre-service EFL teachers’ readiness in the use of CALL in the Hong Kong context. It explores the experiences and self-efficacy of participants with respect to the evaluation of the current English teacher education curriculum for CALL at a university in Hong Kong and factors affecting the participants’ acceptance and willingness to use CALL. In-depth interviews were conducted with six pre-service EFL teachers to reveal the reality of the teachers’ attitudes, perceptions and experiences regarding the use of technology. Findings provide insights into the significance of language teacher education in CALL and ways for fostering pre-service EFL teachers’ knowledge and skills in the implementation of CALL. Practical implications are made for effective teacher training for CALL in EFL contexts.
[Copyright of Asia Pacific Journal of Education is the property of Routledge.]

There has been little effort in developing life education programmes that focus on students’ character strengths and life skills, which can help them solve present and future life challenges. In this presentation, we propose a strength-based programme focusing on positive value and life education delivered using educational technology for primary, secondary, and university students in Hong Kong. This programme aims to cultivate students’ character strengths, foster their leadership and entrepreneurship, and optimize their human functioning. To introduce and cultivate positive life values, internet technology and mobile application are the most cost-effective approaches to address students’ needs for feasibility, practicality, and sustainability. The life education programme can consist of several modules for different learning objectives, tailored to a target population, with each module focusing on a specific theme consisting of hands-on experiential learning exercises. Gamification techniques to enhance the learning experience and promote engagement in the exercises will be discussed. Through rigorous scientific methods, the effectiveness of this programme for enhancing students’ character strengths, positive life values, leadership and entrepreneurship, and life functioning can be assessed. This presentation will provide valuable insight into the development of positive value and life education programmes using educational technology in Hong Kong and beyond.關注學生性格優勢和生活技巧的生命教育課程有助於他們戰勝目前乃至未來生活中的挑戰。但在這些課程的開發方面，我們的努力還遠遠不夠。在本次簡報中，我們提出了一個「強項為本」項目。該項目致力於通過教育科技向本港大中小學生傳遞正向價值觀和推行生命教育，旨在發揮學生的性格優勢，培養領導能力和創業精神，並充分挖掘和激發他們的個人潛能。在引進和培養正向人生價值觀方面，網絡科技和手機程式因其靈活性、實用性和可持續性成為滿足學生所需最具成本效益的方法。生命教育課程由不同模塊組成，每一模塊均為特定目標群體度身打造，各有學習目標，並附設不同主題的實戰演練。此外，我們還將探討在課程中加入遊戲化技巧以加強學習體驗並提升實戰演練的參與程度。我們將採用嚴謹的科學方法對本項目在增強學生性格優勢、樹立正面人生價值觀、培養領導能力和創業能力及激發人生潛能方面的有效性進行評估。希望本次簡報能對本港乃至其他地區以教育科技推行正面價值觀和生命教育之項目有所啟發。 Copyright © 2019 Learning & Teaching Expo.

Private tutoring, or shadow education, has become a widespread phenomenon globally. Its growth can be attributed to the expansion of cram schools offering live and video tutoring. This study critically analyses students' perceptions of video-recorded classes. Specifically, it problematises students' preference for video-recorded classes by exploring their reasons for enrolment and their perspective on the benefits and shortcomings of video tutoring in a Hong Kong cram school. It adopts an exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach. Data were collected through classroom observations, student interviews and questionnaire. The findings reveal that students chose video-recorded classes mainly because of their flexibility of timeslots and locations. A critical discussion of the findings unveils students' contradictory attitude towards the presence of tutors in classrooms, their preference for passive learning and anxiety about tutor–tutee interactions. This study contributes to the growing literature of shadow education and offers implications for potential policy change in the private tutoring context. Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This study presents a systematic review of previous research on e-book-based language learning. E-book-based language learning has been increasingly investigated in the field of language education, whereas previous review studies of relevant literature were relatively low in volume and incomprehensive from aspects of research participants and research perspectives. In the present study, we identified 52 relevant journal articles on e-book-based language learning published in the recent decade, coding them from three dimensions: methodology, e-book devices and features, and research issues and findings. The results indicated that: (a) most studies on e-book-based language learning were of a large sample size and one-session investigation; (b) pre-school children and university students were the most frequently investigated sample groups; (c) computers and tablets were the most frequently used devices; (d) multimedia, feedback giving, gamification and personalisation were the four features most frequently applied in enhancing the efficiency of e-book-based language learning; (e) researchers collected and processed data mainly through pre- and post-tests and group comparisons; (f) learning outcomes, learning behaviours and learners’ psychological states were investigated in most studies, whereby the findings indicated overall positive effects of e-book on language learning. Copyright © 2020 Laboratory for Knowledge Management & E-Learning, The University of Hong Kong.

This paper aims at extending the understanding of principal leadership in support of teachers' development of robot-based pedagogy for students in a cross-school professional learning community (PLC) of Hong Kong's special education. Sixty representative teachers from over 30 special schools, that is 50% of the total number of special schools, participated in the community over the past 2 years. The teachers not only developed the pedagogy but also observed and collaborated in the schools regarding their technological, pedagogical and content knowledge. The development of robot-based learning for individual students' different special educational needs is an innovative differentiated approach to fostering socially just learning in schools. The key research question is: How could teacher professional development of robot-based pedagogies for all students build a social-justice school? We adopted a qualitative cross-case study of four schools participating in the PLC. Although the professional development did not aim at principals' and teachers' social-justice practices for all students, the case study demonstrated the principals' leadership support and the teachers' enthusiasm for learning to change their pedagogies with the use of new robotic technology for socially just differentiated teaching. Implications of the cross-school PLC for building social-justice school communities are also discussed. Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This paper examined the effect of using an online collaborative learning platform on students’ learning outcomes in higher education. An online collaborative learning platform called GMoodle was implemented at The Education University of Hong Kong. To investigate the benefits and drawbacks of online collaborative learning, students were invited to complete the pre‐test and post‐test questionnaires to evaluate their learning outcomes. The quantitative and qualitative studies of 75 undergraduate students were conducted based on the pre‐test and post‐test questionnaires and focus group interviews, and the results showed that students’ learning outcomes especially self‐management skills and collaborative skills were enhanced through the online collaborative activities. In the pilot study, training was provided for in‐service and pre‐service teachers. Most of them reflected that GMoodle is a useful platform for educators to understand students’ learning progress, promote active collaboration and facilitate team teaching across different disciplines. Not only the students but also the teachers benefited from this online learning platform for collaborative learning, fair assessment, and team teaching. Copyright © 2019 The author.

Collaboration between students is particularly important in tertiary education because most courses include group activities in which they need to work together to reach a common goal. Unlike individual learning, collaborative learning involves interaction and cooperation. However, it is difficult to assess individual contributions in a group. Teachers usually collect the final product and give the same mark to all members in the group, so this may cause unfair marking and lead to conflicts in case of uneven workload. To encourage student collaboration and provide a reliable assessment system for teachers, we proposed an online evidence-based assessment system called GMoodle (https://gmoodle.eduhk.hk) with the Teaching Development Grant (TDG-T0210) in the Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK). GMoodle provides the basic functions of Moodle plus customized features including chatroom, Wiki and real-time progress report. It is a centralized platform for students to discuss, share resources and work out the solution together. Detailed reports, such as the number of posts/replies, weekly trend of contribution, ranking in group and class, can be retrieved by both students and teachers. The objectives of this system are to promote active and collaborative learning environment through peer motivation and facilitate an evidence-based assessment for setting assessment criteria and identifying free-riders. GMoodle was launched from September 2018 to April 2019 with 337 users involving 10 courses in IT, Mathematics, English language and law in EdUHK. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from pre/post-test survey, system log and focus group interviews. The effectiveness of GMoodle on group collaboration and assessment was evaluated by statistical analysis by SPSS using ANOVA and t-test. The results showed that the improvement of problemsolving skills and collaborative skills were statistically significance. Furthermore, decision tree was used to discover interesting