Web 3.0時代帶來了幼兒園教師培養與培訓方式的變革。本文對香港大學教育學院基於魔燈（Moodle）2.0平台構建的PBL²課程模式作了較詳細介紹，並剖析了這一課程模式所蘊含的幼兒園教師培養與培訓的變革意義。這一課程模式對內地開展幼兒園教師培訓有一定借鑒意義。 The Web 3.0 era has brought up with many revolutions in early childhood teacher education. This article aims to introduce the Moodle-based PBL2 Model used by Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong and analyzes its significance for early childhood teachers’ cultivation and training. This model also has its educational implication for the reform of teacher training in Mainland China. Copyright © 2014 浙江教育報刊社.

The literature on how to develop competence in giving academic presentations (AP) (e.g. Zappa-Hollman, 2007) shows that apart from basic communication skills (i.e. the ability to speak accurately, fluently and appropriately), university students are expected to perform specific roles and develop advanced skills for intellectual exchange and the construction of new knowledge (e.g. skill in expressing their personal voice through evaluation). However, these advanced speaking skills are often neglected by English as a Second Language (ESL)/English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in Asian contexts, such as Hong Kong, as generally observed by English for Academic Purposes' (EAP) instructors (e.g. Bankowski, 2010). Although there has been some discussion on factors that potentially inhibit the development of ESL/EFL learners (e.g. Confucian education values and an exam-dominated culture), more research is needed on the design of EAP courses to cater for learners' needs. To fill this gap, this article reports the results of a needs analysis of a group of undergraduates (N=81) in Hong Kong. The study was based on a triangulation of data which included sources, and included questionnaires administered to both students and the course instructors of their major subject disciplines to identify the perceived importance of specific AP skills/features and learning needs, semi-structured follow-up interviews, and a diagnosis of students' AP competence using a research-based assessment rubric. The findings reveal gaps in students' understanding of their required roles and performance in both EAP and content courses, gaps in expectations between the students and their content course instructors, and gaps in their AP competence (e.g. ability to use linguistic and discourse features to structure interpretations and facilitate the audience's understanding of the information they present). An EAP instruction course design framework is then proposed to develop ESL/EFL learner competence

Classroom instructions in Hong Kong secondary school context often involve code-switching/code-mixing, with textbooks in English yet the lessons being taught in Cantonese (A variety of spoken Chinese) or a Cantonese/English mix. The code-switching/code-mixing instruction has been a common practice in Hong Kong classroom teaching. However, the Education Commission of Hong Kong considered code-switching/code-mixing instruction as the primary reason for students’ inadequate levels of English and Chinese. Therefore, the Government adopted the policy of ‘mother-tongue teaching’ to promote Chinese-medium instruction so as to reduce code-switching/code-mixing instruction. In this paper, firstly, a summary of the historical background of the Hong Kong language polices will be introduced. Secondly, the role of code-switching/code-mixing instruction in classroom teaching will be discussed by illustrating examples from a case study in a Hong Kong secondary school. Finally, the reasons behind using mixed code and its impact on student learning will be analyzed and discussed. A number of research methods were employed: questionnaire survey, student focus group interviews and classroom discourse analysis. The research findings show that students in the case study school found the use of mixed code beneficial even though the school language policy does not encourage code-switching/code-mixing instruction. We anticipate that this study will shed some light on the study of code-switching/code-mixing. Copyright © 2019 GRDS Publishing.

Given the increasing awareness of oral communication in this era of globalized collaborative learning trends, there is an imminent need to inform language educators of ways in which the under-researched oral interactional strategies are related to first language (L1) teaching. However, no consensus has yet been reached on the relationship between interactional strategy use and oral language proficiency. This study investigates the effect of oral interactional strategy use on group discussion performance in L1 Chinese for Primary 5 students (N = 140) in Hong Kong. Based on ANOVA and regression analyses of the data on group discussion performance, five strategies have been identified: expressing actively, asking for opinion, expressing attitude, giving clarification and non-verbal language. They all significantly predicted students’ group discussion performance, with overall strategies explaining 55.5% of total variation of the performance, where higher-proficiency students tended to use more strategies that enable comprehension and elaboration in the group discussions. The patterns of strategy use among students with different levels of discussion performance have also been identified. Implications of the findings are discussed with reference to the roles individuals play in the overall performance of group discussion. Copyright © 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.

This work-in-progress poster discusses our preliminary work on exploring the possibility of harnessing spherical video-based immersive virtual reality (SV-IVR) in learning and teaching of Physical Geography. In particular, it focuses on delineating (i) the rationale behind our initiative, and (ii) the proposed direction of how to adopt SV-IVR in the context of formal schooling in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2019 Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.

Until the reforms of the late 1990s, the music curriculum for Hong Kong primary schools focused largely on singing, instrumental playing and listening. Musical creativity, on the other hand, had been largely neglected. In 1997, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China announced that Hong Kong would be transformed to become a ‘knowledge-based’ society. The old school curriculum deemed to be deficient in terms of the intended policy initiatives. A reform of the education system took place with nine generic skills, in which creativity is regarded as one of the main foci, being introduced.Undoubtedly influenced by a large body of research findings that support the contention that Information Technology is a powerful tool for assisting students to learn to compose music, fourteen primary schools in Hong Kong have been set up with computer-based music rooms with the financial support of the Quality Education Fund (QEF). Of these fourteen schools, twelve have focused on the application of technology on musical creativity and teachers in these schools employ various forms of information technology to promote learning through creative music activities. Some methods have proven successful while others have been less so.This paper discusses the implementation of technology-based teaching of musical creativity and analyses the teaching strategies used by the twelve QEF-supported schools. The paper concludes by proposing alternative technology-based strategies — derived from the experience of other countries — that may have the potential to increase the effectiveness of teaching for musical creativity in Hong Kong schools. Copyright © 2005 School of Music, University of Washington.

This paper discusses how IT changes the way of teaching and learning of music composition at school. Four music teachers in Hong Kong took part in a series of semi-structured interviews. They described how they had employed IT in teaching music composition and what types of musical products their students were able to create. It was found that the teachers were simply substituting IT for paper and pencil to notate musical pieces, and they were using a rather traditional “practice and drill” approach to teach music composition. A teaching framework, called Pedagogical Framework for Music Composition with Information Technology (PFMCIT), was thus formulated. The purpose of the framework is to promote the more effective student-centered approach in teaching music composition. It is hoped that the framework can help to improve pre-service and in-service music teachers’ knowledge and skills in the area of IT-assisted music composition education, and to establish a better technological environment for teachers to develop students’ creativity. Copyright © 2012 International Society for Music Education (ISME).

This research aims to explore a pedagogical strategy for the optimal use of free e-resources for supporting Chinese learners in Hong Kong to learn primary English grammar. Through a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, this research will progressively design, evaluate and then establish an effective pedagogical strategy that optimizes the use of free e-resources for learning primary English grammar. A twofold documentary analysis will be conducted for the design of a potential pedagogical strategy. To evaluate the effectiveness of the designed pedagogical strategy in the real classroom environment, two classes of local Primary 4 students will be subsequently invited to a one-month trial teaching. Students in the experimental group will learn primary English grammar under the designed pedagogical strategy; whereas their counterparts in the control group will receive no treatment during the trial teaching period. These two groups of students will sit for a pair of identical pre-test and post-test before and after the trial teaching, respectively, to investigate the impact of the designed pedagogical strategy on the learning achievement of students. Students in the experimental group will be asked to complete a questionnaire survey after the trial teaching to indicate their perceptions of the designed pedagogical strategy. One-fifth of the students in the experimental group will be further invited to attend individual interviews to share more in-depth opinions on the designed pedagogical strategy. This research will finally advise a model of the pedagogical use of free e-resources that optimizes the learning of primary English grammar among Chinese learners in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2010 The authors.

In this paper, we proposed a productive failure instructional design (Kapur, 2008) to enhance Hong Kong secondary students’ English grammar learning and collaborative problem-solving skills in a MCSCL environment. It is believed that the pedagogical implications of this study will make contributions to the technology-enhanced language learning field. In addition, insight gained from this study will hopefully extend to investigating the impact of productive failure pedagogical design on listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills in the L2 acquisition. Copyright © 2019 Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.

A study was conducted for creating digital classrooms to support students to learn subject knowledge and develop information literacy competency as well as critical thinking skills. A total of 144 students in four Secondary 1 classes in a secondary school in Hong Kong were invited to participate in the study. In the 12 trial lessons, every three students shared a Tablet PC for learning the topic “Air Pollution Problems in Hong Kong” in the Integrated Humanities subject. After the trial teaching, the students and teachers were interviewed about their perception of the support from the designed digital classrooms. The study found that the students and teachers positively perceived the support from the designed digital classrooms on developing subject knowledge, information literacy competency and critical thinking skills. Three recommendations are made for enhancing the pedagogical designs in digital classrooms that emphasize the use of mobile technology. Copyright © 2012 Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.