The experience of a two-year project to promote the use of Web-based teaching and learning at XXX University was presented. A total of 68 courses over two semesters were included in the study. Surveys of students and teachers suggested that the quality of learning and teaching were improved. Over 80% of the students had used Web-based teaching and satisfied with its results and a majority of them would continue to use WebCT in the future. It was found that students developed a more favourable attitude toward the subjects and the teachers in the process. Teachers were delighted with the results and appreciated the support made available to them through the project team. Some even volunteered to be "mentors" for future novice teachers in this endeavour. Reservation and resistance offered by a few university administrators were noted and their concern would provide future challenges and targets for improvement. It is concluded based on the case study at XXX University, Web-enhanced/based teaching and learning is a trend that cannot be overlooked and should be seriously considered for adoption by tertiary institutions.
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

Background: Beginning Teachers are confronted with numerous challenges especially in their first year of teaching. Without ample induction support, the beginning teachers could merely develop their capacity on their own. Therefore, some nations implement the policy of internship so as to increase effectiveness of .the beginning teachers. In Hong Kong, the Advisory Committee on Teacher Education and Qualifications (ACTEQ) introduced the proposal of internship and registration for beginning teachers in 2003; however, the proposal is still not carried out.
Focus of discussion: This paper attempts to examine the proposal in an international perspective. In order to understand the direction and design of the proposal in Hong Kong, it is going to identify the proposal through text analysis. In addition, the controversies of the issue will be presented and defended.
Arguments: The paper mainly explores the controversies of the internship from four sections, they include, nature of mentoring relationship, workload of mentoring, evaluation of mentoring and prospect of teaching profession. In order to deal with the challenges of induction year, whole-school approach to mentoring is suggested. It is argued that the internship of beginning teachers should be introduced as a way of improving teacher development of Hong Kong at both individual and school levels.
Conclusion: By exploring related research, implementation of internship through mentoring for beginning teachers is beneficial to develop teacher effectiveness and school effectiveness. Nevertheless, the proposal should be improved before it is carried out in near future.
背景：首年入職為新任教師帶來重大衝擊。倘若入職支援不足，新任教師便只有獨自面對困難。有見及此，不少國家實施新任教師的見習制度，以求提升新任教師的效能。二零零三年，師訓與師資諮詢委員會，亦倡議在香港推行新任教師的見習與註冊制度；然而直至目前為止，仍未落實有關政策。
討論焦點：本文嘗試借鑒國際經驗，從文獻分析於香港推行新任教師見習制度的方向與重點。此外，探討有關政策衍生的爭議，並且作出釋疑。
論點：本文主要從四個層面，探討師徒式新任教師見習制度引起的爭議，包括師徒關係的本質、師徒式的承當、師徒式的評量與教師專業前景。文中建議實施全校參予師徒式，以幫助新入職教師面對衝擊。本文提出師徒式新任教師見習制度對個人層面及學校層面的價值。

Background: Many of the agent-based products available to education today have been largely confined to games and instructional media that are often produced commercially by non-instructional professionals. Most of them lack customizability and are difficult to integrate into individual subject curriculum. With more agent authoring tools available and the proliferation of client-end computing, classroom teachers can now author their own agents pedagogically to produce learning environments that meet their predetermined objectives.
Aims: To experiment the use of agent technology with a class of pre-service teachers (aka trainee teachers). It hopes to achieve two objectives: (1) to understand how well the agent technology is accepted by the trainee teachers, and (2) to reveal any difficulty in designing the agent-based learning environment.
Sample: 16 pre-service teachers took part in this study. All of them were trainees from an educational technology module that had a main component in designing learning environment. They were second year students doing a Diploma-in-Education course in their own field of specialization.
Method: Pre-service teachers were to design agent-based learning environments on their own. A questionnaire was used to obtain summative assessment from the participants at the end of the course. The score from the questionnaire was used to gauge the trainee teachers' acceptance for their learning experience. Trainee teachers' weekly self-reporting Weblog was used as a formative assessment on their learning processes and difficulties.
Results: This study found that agent technology was well received by the trainee teachers albeit concerns for support by schools and the need to learn programming skills. Generally, trainee teachers were enthused by the use of scenes to support their lessons. They regarded their learning experience as positive and meaningful. They also believed that such technology would be helpful in promoting interest

Background: Information and communications technologies (ICT) are often characterized as offering new and exciting possibilities for changing and enhancing the way people work and play. Similarly, ICT-based learning environments offer opportunities for new types of learning and cognitive activity that have not been previously available in formal educational settings. Lessons from business reveal that technology can be a powerful accelerator of change, however it must be focused on productive applications.
Focus of discussion: In education, there have been calls to more closely examine some of the claims for ICT and to re-think the ways it has been used to date. This paper argues that at the school-level, the form ICT will take and the functions it will serve for teaching and learning are still yet to be determined.
Argument: It is clear from studies of highly successful organizations that that they think differently about technology and work hard to develop thoughtful and creative applications. The continuing challenge for Hong Kong schools is to demonstrate that ICT has a credible place in the development of collaborative learning environments that emphasize knowledge production over knowledge reproduction.
Conclusion: The educational leadership that is required for the new millennium is to look for smart uses of technology that are designed to foster knowledge creation and productive learning.
眾所周知，資訊與通訊技術給人們帶來新的機遇，並且改變著人們工作與休閒的方式。同樣，基於資訊通訊科技的學習系統也向人們提供了傳統教育所無法提供的新的學習與認知方式。實踐經驗表明，技術可以成為促使改善認知方式的強有力的催化劑，但是選擇技術時必須注意這種技術是否的確可以提高效率。已經有人呼籲要密切關注資訊通訊技術在教育領域的應用方式。筆者認為在中小學階段，資訊通訊技術服務於教學的方式還有待於研究。香港中小學目前所面臨的挑戰是如何證明在開發側重於知識開發的協作學習環境時，資訊通訊科技佔有重要的地位。我們對一些在這個領域內取得成功的機構作分析的結果顯示，這些機構對技術的認識與其他機構有所不同，並且這些機構致力於開發出富有創新的應用系統。教育領域領導階層需要尋求合理利用技術來服務於知識獲取及高效率學習的新方法。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

Teacher culture is widely regarded as a factor affecting the success of school improvement efforts. Descriptions of teacher cultures in the literature are often rooted in particular historical, geographical and socio-political contexts, which may limit the wider applicability of these models. This paper goes beyond a simplistic comparison of schools against pre-defined models of culture. It provides a rare insight into one of Hong Kong's international primary schools and describes the centrality of collegial support in teachers' day-to-day lives. The evidence confirms that transformational forms of leadership are central to building a supportive school culture, but high expectations of teachers and strong collegial support do not create rigorous development of practice and may in fact work against it. This paper contributes to our knowledge of teacher cultures in a way which can help stimulate discussion of Hong Kong’s diversity of school types in more than simple structural terms.
老師文化被廣泛認為是影響學校成功改善的因素之一。文獻中描述的教師文化模式，多植根於歷史、地理及社會政治因素，因而限制了更廣泛地應用這些模式。這篇文章超越了簡單地把學校與既定文化模式作對比，對一所香港的國際小學提出精闢的見解，同時描繪老師日常生活互相支持的核心要素。研究數據證實，要建立學校支援文化，最重要的是轉化型的領導才能；此外，老師過高的期望和強有力的同儕支持，卻不能在實踐上產生精確的發展，甚至會造成反效果。這篇文章加深我們對教師文化模式的認識，從而激發我們對香港不同類型學校作深入探討，而不僅是依據簡化的系統作研究。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

Background: Students in Hong Kong often lack creativity when writing compositions. Based on the dual coding theory and the Multidimensional Interactive Creative Imagination Imagery Model, imagery training may help students to write more creatively.
Aims: This study is to investigate the effectiveness of the imagery teaching method imagery as a creative thinking skill.
Sample: 2 classes of students (37 and 36) participated in this pre-test, intervention, post-test writing study. One class received imagery training while the other class did not.
Method: Using hierarchical regressions, path analyses and a structural equation model, their compositions were evaluated in 4 ways: fluency, uniqueness, content, and grammar/convention.
Results: Students receiving imagery training performed better than the other students in the areas of fluency, uniqueness and content, but not grammar. Furthermore, girls were more likely to do well on the content part in the post-test than boys.
Conclusion: Imagery training is useful in enhancing students' creativity in Chinese Composition. Further research is suggested in the following two areas: training program and the process of creative writing by dual-coding theory.
香港的學生在寫作時一般都被認為欠缺創意，基於the dual coding theory 和the multidimensional interactive creative imagination imagery model，意象教學相信有助學生寫出更有創意的文章。本研究請來兩班各有37 及36 名學生，參與了包括預先測試、介入教學及培訓結束考核的寫作教學研究，其中一班受過意象教學訓練，另外一班則未有受訓。透過等級制度的回歸、軌道分析及 結構性的 方程式模型 ，們的作文會就以下四方面得到評核：流暢性、獨特性、內容及語法。結果顯示，受過意象教學訓練的一班學生在流暢性、獨特性、內容等方面的表現均比沒有受過意象教學訓練的一班較佳，但在語法上則沒有影響；同時，在培訓結束考核中，女生在語法的表現亦較男生為佳。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

The professional development of kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong appears to be limited by their inability to extend thinking beyond their own personal concerns so that the needs of the children were not the major determinant of their classroom practice (Li, 2000a). Professional development of a teacher involves cognitive development, a change of the practitioner's perception of teaching and learning as well as a change in their coping strategies (Li, 2001). To facilitate the change, the key is cognitive structuring/advancement through the process of assisted performance taking place within the zone of proximal development (ZPD) (Tharp and Gallimore 1988) of individual teachers. Peer coaching and expert consultation, presumably in a collaborative school culture, are important elements in the process of cognitive development. This study is to compare the teaching and belief of teachers before, during and after the provision of peer coaching and expert consultation in a school-based staff development project. Data were obtained by recording vignettes of practice, listening to teachers' conversations in workshops and commentary in the video. The findings of the study suggest that assisted performance and case-based training hold some promise for teachers' learning process of professional development.
本港幼稚園教師的專業發展受其個人想法限制，使得她們在課堂教學時不能以兒童的需要為依歸(Li, 2000a)。教師的專業發展涉及認知發展的轉變，就是想法的轉變、以及對教學策略上的轉變(Li, 2001)。要促使這個轉變，關鍵在於個體教師在周邊發展的範圍內，透過建構的過程，將以兒童的需要為教學依歸的認知過程結構化或提昇化(Tharp and Gallimore 1988)。在學校文化的配合下，朋輩指導和專家諮詢是認知發展過程的重要原素。是次研究旨在比較教師們在朋輩指導和專家諮詢的提供前、後和期間的教學和想法的轉變，並透過錄音、聆聽教師的意見、工作坊的會談和錄影片段的旁白而搜集資料。研究結果顯示朋輩指導和個案培訓有助教師們的專業發展。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

This is a study on the evolution of primary education in Hong Kong as reflected in the various designs of primary schools since 1945. This study also shows the relationship between different designs of school building and the conceptualizations of education that underpin them. Six basic primary school designs or prototypes have been identified since 1945. The rooftop primary schools built in the 1950s set a pattern for decades to come relating to the provision of primary education in Hong Kong. Finally this study contrasts the differences in primary education between the British colonial government and the new Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong Government after 1997 when China resumed her sovereignty over Hong Kong.
本研究乃從1945 年起之香港小學校舍設計進行研究，反思戰後迄今之小學教育發展。本文顯示，不同時期校舍設計以及作為設計根基之教育概念，當中兩者關係。本文將1945 年後之校舍設計或標準，分辦成六種類型。過去五十年，香港小學建校模式可追溯至1950 年代天臺學校。文章最後，比較英國殖民地政府時期及1997 年成立香港特別行政區政府後，在小學教育建設方面之差異。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

This paper details the development and validation of the multiple-choice cloze test for the Hong Kong SAR Government's English language benchmarking initiative. The paper briefly describes the background to and rationale behind the benchmarking initiative. It then discusses how well the test worked and the suitability of a cloze test for use with teachers in a high-stakes examination context. The paper describes two cloze tests, set within the Reading Test component of the test battery, which were destined to be used as specimen benchmark test material and prepared for trailing, together with an established anchor test with known values. Efforts were made to include item types which tapped more than mere lexical / grammatical features, e.g., features of discourse and cohesion. The means which emerged on the two cloze tests would appear to indicate that the difficulty levels of the cloze tests trailed for use with teachers are appropriate. Item discrimination figures were also high, indicating that item types generally worked well and that the cloze test is able to differentiate teachers of differing abilities effectively.
本文詳述由香港特別行政區政府倡議的英語基準試中的多項選擇填空測驗(Multiple-choice clozetest) 的發展與成效。文中先簡介基準試的背景及其理論基礎，然後討論這個測驗運用上的適切性。本文論述的兩個填空測驗是屬於閱讀理解組內的測試類別，是預定作為基準試的測試材料樣本，同時更與一已建立信度的測驗一併使用。在測試項目的揀選方面，已盡量包括各項不同的類別，不僅側重詞匯及語法，還有其他如篇章結構等之特點。而這兩個填空測驗所得出的平均值正好標示上述測驗之程度是適合的，且各項目間的數據區分亦高，由此可見測試的項目大體上是運用成功的。填空測驗確能有效地辨別教師的不同能力。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

Hong Kong schools experience an era of educational change in the 1990s. The major change items fall into the categories of school management (SMI - School Management Initiative and SBM - School Based Management); curriculum (TOC - Target Oriented Curriculum and curriculum adaptation); medium of instruction (EMI and CMI - English or Chinese Medium Instruction schools); educational technology (SAMs and information technology in teaching) and funding system (Quality Education Fund). To further enhance the quality of school education, the Education Commission Report No.7 recommends the setting up of (1) a framework for raising the professional standards of principals and teachers and (2) quality indicators for school performance. These changes denote a demand for professional development programmes for teachers so that they can better meet changing needs and difficulties. The purpose of this study is to look into the issue of staff development programmes in local schools and see how the professional needs of teachers and schools are met.
在一九九零年代，香的中、小學校經歷了不少教育方面的轉變，當中主要的類別，包括了學校管理、課程、教學語言、教育科技及撥款制度等。為了提升優質教育，教統會第7 號報告書更建議(1)提升校長及教師的專業水準，(2)制訂學校的表現指標，面對種種轉變，學校有需要提升教職員的專業能力和水準，本文的目的，是就香學校對教職員發展計劃，作一些初步的探討和報導。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]