Assessment is now identified as a powerful tool which can he used to influence the educational process positively. Underlying this view is a revolutionary shift in thinking of what assessment is about - from a 'testing' paradigm to a 'educational assessment' paradigm. The HKAL Biology Teacher Assessment Scheme (TAS) introduced in 1993 embodies such a shift in thinking. This paper draws on evidence from a naturalistic study of teachers' classroom practices in the TAS to illustrate that assessment innovation is certainly a necessary, but not a sufficient mechanism for changes within our educational system. It should be undertaken with full regard to problems of teacher interpretation and mediation at the classroom level. Otherwise, this will ruin the best intentions behind the assessment innovation.

Originating from medical education, problem-based learning is increasingly used in other types of professional education. Tempted by the many successful experiences elsewhere, we have taken a bold step to try out this teaching approach in a course on apparel merchandising. We started with a pilot project with the objective to enhance students' experience so as to to encourage lifelong learning and benefit the apparel business as a whole. This paper describes in details the reasons behind our decision to adopt this teaching strategy. Various factors like students' prior learning experience and the availability of resources in the planning of a hybrid PBL course structure are also discussed. Based on the planned course structure, problem cases are identified and developed with reference to various PBL concepts and experiences. The guidelines and concept maps, which determine the contents of the problem cases, are outlined.

The Hong Kong University Master of Social Work programme is designed to be a socially sensitive and responsive programme to train competent and continuously developing professional social workers who can make contributions both to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and internationally. The values, knowledge and skills conveyed in the programme should enable social workers so trained to deliver social services to individuals, groups and the community in an appropriate, competent, ethical and humane manner, and be committed to self- directed life-long learning to maintain the high standards achieved upon graduation. In view of rapid changes in modern societies and the increasing complexity involved in helping people to survive psychosocial challenges, there should be corresponding adjustments in professional training to keep up the necessary performance standard. This paper reports on the efforts made by a team of enthusiastic social work teachers over the summer of 1999 to change an established Master of Social Work programme into problem-based learning mode and includes some initial feedback from the staff and students concerned. Certain useful strategies as well as some points for improvement will also be discussed.

本文從通識教育理念、通識課程目標與設置、課程教學與管理等方面，對中國大陸和香港、臺灣地區高等學校的通識課程進行了比較分析，探討了中國大陸高校通識課程存在的問題與不足。作者認為，中國大陸高等教育對通識教育的理解尚停留於表面，只是注重文理交叉等學科知識層面，沒有深入到人格養成、情感陶冶等層面；通識課程的設置也隨意性較大，缺乏統一課程理念的指導；通識課程的教學有待於提高品質，管理也需要進一步加以改進。