The purpose of this study was to examine whether a child-centred play training model, filial play therapy, enhances child–teacher relationship and thereby reduces children's internalising problems (such as anxiety/depression and withdrawal) and externalising problems (such as aggressive and destructive behaviour). Sixty teachers (n = 60) and 60 children (n = 60) in six kindergartens were invited to participate in the study. In Phase One, 30 of these teachers (n = 30) were randomly assigned a child with either internalising problems or externalising problems. A 10-week Child-Centred play training model was used to reduce the children's problems and promote the quality of the child–teacher relationship. The other 30 teachers and 30 children with either internalising problems or externalising problems were placed in the control group. In Phase Two, the teachers and children in the control group received the same 10-week play training. It was found that child–teacher relationship was enhanced through an increase in communication of acceptance, that is, allowing the child to lead and becoming involved in play with the child. Children's internalising and externalising problems—especially aggressive behaviour—were reduced after ten sessions of child-centred play.
[Copyright © Springer Netherlands].

This paper reports the experiences of using a pedagogical framework for creative practices (PFCP) to support preschool teachers in fostering children's creativity in their classrooms. The PFCP includes five pedagogical components: 1) motivation; 2) a divergent process of generating possibilities; 3) a convergent process of selecting ideas; 4) putting ideas into practice; and 5) evaluation. Eighteen teachers from six Hong Kong preschools participated in the study. According to the PFCP, each teacher developed six creative practices and implemented them in their classrooms. Individual semi-structured interviews were used elicit teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of the PFCP and the changes of teachers' teaching pedagogy. The observations used as a source of evidence to illustrate teachers' actual teaching behaviours and children's creative performance. The results suggest that the PFCP was perceived as being effective in helping teachers improve their lesson planning and pedagogy. Positive effects such as enhancing teachers' knowledge and skills, infusing creativity into the various learning domains and shifting teaching practices from being strongly teacher centred to being more child centred were documented. This paper discusses the implications and suggests that the PFCP could serve as a starting point for teachers to explore their own creative-practice methods. Finally, the study should lead to further inquiry on effective creative practice teaching strategies.
[Copyright © Pergamon Press].

This paper is primarily based on a research project on blended teaching and learning. This emerging teaching and learning mode is gaining popularity in tertiary institutions because the new technologies have integrated the classroom and online teaching and learning into a potentially productive environment. The research project adopts a discourse analysis approach and intends to investigate the discourse features of blended teaching and learning in the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd). The paper starts with the development of an analytical framework for classroom face-to-face (FTF) interaction and online computer-mediated communication (CMC), followed by discourse data analysis of a number of FTF and CMC teaching and learning sessions. The paper concludes by exploring the implications of the blended teaching and learning discourse analysis for the teachers and students in Hong Kong.
[Copyright © 2009 Formatex.]

Creating ICT-enriched learner-centred environments requires a holistic approach that calls for changes at three levels — teacher, schooling environment and learning activities. Fundamentally, however, it is teachers who, with support from parents, administrators and policy makers, can optimise the benefits of ICT-enriched environments to make learner-centred learning a reality. This chapter therefore pays due attention to the salient issues confronted by teachers in the creation of ICT-enriched learner-centred environments, by using Hong Kong as an example to highlight the myths, gaps and challenges. Reviewed in the chapter are three myths that many educators in Hong Kong subscribe to, including ICT having limited values, ICT being a panacea to learning problems and technical knowledge of ICT being paramount. Highlighted are the gaps that can be observed in the field, of which include gaps in perception; the theory and practice of teaching every student; team-building; and the desire to use ICT. The challenges discussed include teachers encouraging students to become active participants; teachers assisting students to understand their weaknesses and strengths; changing classroom dynamics; leadership in existence; and teachers having an individual sense of how they are able to successfully influence student learning. In the discussion, literature is reviewed and practical solutions are offered.
[Copyright © 2006 Springer.]

With the rapid development of the Internet, blended learning (online learning plus face-to-face learning) has become a model that more and more higher education institutions are intending to adopt. This chapter first compares various forms and expressions of blended learning adopted by different institutions around the world, and then reports on how blended learning has been implemented and promoted in the English Department at the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) using a variety of approaches. Here, a number of projects have been carried out over the past seven years, focusing on the conversion of traditional face-to-face modules into partly face-to-face, partly online modules. In addressing these developments, the Blackboard online learning management system, which has been adopted as the main platform for the delivery of blended learning at HKIEd, is first examined. Then the design of a series of subject-specific Web sites to supplement the Blackboard system and facilitate blended learning is introduced. Finally, the implementation of innovative Wikibook projects is illustrated and discussed. Such Wikibook projects, where students are required to work in groups to write an academic textbook collaboratively online, are highly effective in promoting not only autonomous yet collaborative online academic reading and writing, but also online peer editing. This adds a new dimension to blended learning. Feedback from students shows that they greatly enjoyed the experience of collaborative academic writing through the Wikibook projects, and found that the wiki technology made peer editing much more efficient and effective. All the evidence suggests that blended learning has great potential as a vehicle for teaching and learning and is a notable current trend in higher education.
[Copyright © 2010 IGI Global.]