This study investigates how the online behaviors of students can be associated with student outcomes via a learning analytics approach. The objective of this study is to examine whether online behaviors of students can predict student success in an English course. Also, this study aims to examine whether some machine learning techniques performed better than others. Learners in this study were students in an English for Academic Purposes course at a university in Hong Kong. Other than face-to-face teaching, this course included a mandatory multimodal language learning package first introduced in 2012. The research team retrieved a mega-dataset from all learners who took the course from 2012 to 2019 (n = 17,968). Using the Classification Tree technique, Logistical Regression, and Artificial Neural Networks, the research team derived three predictive algorithms to associate various online engagement variables (e.g., start day, first attempt scores, and number of attempts) with course success. Results suggest that Classification Tree performed better in predictive accuracy and F1 ratio. The chapter provides useful insights for adaptive design. The study also discusses several useful suggestions on how practitioners can adopt these algorithms for better adaptive design. Copyright © 2024 selection and editorial matter, Patsy D. Moskal, Charles D. Dziuban, and Anthony G. Picciano; individual chapters, the contributors.

The use of educational apps in teaching the humanities in higher education is increasingly widespread and commonplace. Understanding the efficacy of using such apps, however, presents a challenge due to the proliferation of countless different apps, each with unique and overlapping functions, often used in courses with very different content and objectives. The PICRAT model provides a framework to compare the educational efficacy of integrating various education apps, even when used in a variety of different courses. This paper presents the results of a project conducted at the Faculty of Humanities at a Hong Kong university. The objective was to develop examples of effective technology-enhanced teaching in the humanities that could be shared as models with other instructors teaching in the humanities. The PICRAT framework focuses on the students’ and teachers’ roles in using technology. All the project courses aimed to change the students’ role from one of more passive to more active and ultimately more creative engagement; and to advance the teachers’ use of technology from merely replacing traditional pedagogy to providing a more amplified and, whenever possible, transformative approach to its use. Examples from three of the twelve project case studies will be described; teacher and student perspectives of the efficacy of using the apps will be analyzed; and the PICRAT model will be used to analyze the overall conclusions that can be drawn from the range of diverse exemplars developed in the project. Copyright © 2023 ICLT.

Interdisciplinary collaboration is one important development direction in Chinese teaching and teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Against the background, in 2018-19, the Department of Chinese Language Studies of the Education University of Hong Kong, together with the Department of Science and Environmental Studies, Department of Psychology, designed a course -- named "STEM and its Application on Language Acquisition and Communication" --for learning Chinese Language through STEM elements combined with psychological theories. The author is one of the three designers of this course. The students who take this course are mostly prospective teachers of Teaching Chinese as a foreign language and Chinese Language. This interdisciplinary course offers participants the opportunities to understand and experience the major approaches in STEM, namely scientific inquiry and engineering design cycle, in solving cross-disciplinary problems in language acquisition and communication. Through the course, participants first identify a problem related to language acquisition and communication, then develop a solution by applying scientific inquiry and engineering design cycle, and finally reflect on the impacts, feasibility, cultural and socio-economic implications of the problem and the proposed solution using an interdisciplinary approach. Participants are required to disseminate their ideas, findings or products to experts in different areas, and are thus encouraged to integrate discipline-based knowledge in problem identification, solution development, dissemination and reflection, facilitating analyses from multi-disciplinary perspectives. Based on the theory of interdisciplinary language learning, this report aims to analyze the learning and teaching achievements of students and teachers in this course, as well as the problems encountered, and discuss the future development of the course. Copyright © 2023 The Eighth International Conference on Teaching Chinese as a Second Language

Despite the rapid growth of English Medium Instruction (EMI) programmes around the globe, the language goals in such programmes have not been clearly defined, making it difficult to evaluate their success. Accordingly, our paper reports on a study that attempted to identify the language goals, operationalised as the vocabulary expected of learners, by investigating the under-explored area of EMI assessment. We sampled a corpus of 16 sets of examination papers in two subject areas, namely, Biology and Geography, spanning eight years in Hong Kong. The examination papers, analysed for their vocabulary profiles, indicated that students were expected to learn beyond the K3 level (the most frequent 3,000 words in English) and master mid-frequency words (K4−K8) as well as academic words. Our findings suggest that the less frequent words were not often shared by the two subjects. Analysing academic words also enabled us to showcase how some words were common across the two subjects while others were more subject-specific. Pedagogical implications are discussed, highlighting the need for teachers and students to attend to target language goals in EMI, and to consider the subject-specific nature of vocabulary items in EMI. Copyright © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This study evaluated a conceptual model with which to explore the influence of parental financial socialization in a sample of Hong Kong adolescent students and to evaluate how school financial education impacted the model's results. Baseline data, collected before the financial intervention, revealed that parental financial socialization positively influenced adolescent financial behaviors as mediated by financial learning outcomes and psychological transformation, in sequence. Model results based on follow-up tests suggested that the positive link between parental financial norms and adolescents’ financial attitudes was stronger in the experimental group than in the control (no financial intervention) group, but the positive link between direct parental teaching and self-control in financial behaviors was weaker in the experimental group compared to that in the control group. Neither differential direct pathways linking financial learning outcomes to financial behaviors nor differential indirect pathways mediated by psychological transformation were identified. These findings improve the understanding of parental financial socialization in the context of school education. The results produce multiple research questions to be considered in future studies. Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Growing evidence indicates that early exposure to music and movement (M&M) positively impacts young children’s self-regulation. However, little attention has been paid to what kindergarten teachers know and believe about the relationship between M&M and self-regulation, and even less to how teachers’ background in M&M relates to their knowledge and beliefs. This study investigates these topics using survey data from 306 Hong Kong kindergarten classroom teachers. Descriptive, correlation, and independent sample t-tests were conducted. Most teachers believed they possessed a high level of understanding on the topic, particularly those with M&M background. These participants held stronger beliefs that M&M fosters children’s self-regulation, specifically motor-coordination skills, impulse control, and emotional management. We conclude that kindergarten teachers’ knowledge of, and beliefs in the role of M&M to support children’s self-regulation are influenced by their own M&M background. Indeed, the more M&M activities teachers have been exposed to, the deeper their understandings on how M&M contributes to children’s self-regulatory skills. The main implication is the need to further expose kindergarten teachers to M&M learning experiences, be it formally or informally. Copyright © 2023 Authors.