Purpose: This study aimed to identify the professional development needs of academics in Hong Kong higher education for the use of educational technology. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was conducted in 2017, which involved 374 academics from Hong Kong higher education institutions. The survey covered their perception and use of educational technology for professional activities and their relevant professional development needs. Findings: The results showed an overall positive perception by the academics of the usefulness of online learning with the aid of technology, which was regarded as an effective complement to face-to-face learning. However, their use of educational technology focused only on general online applications, such as document and video-sharing tools, and e-learning platforms. Among various professional development needs, those related to the use of specific educational software with sharing of practical examples were considered to be most highly desired by the academics. In addition, the academics working in lecturer positions tended to use more online applications and had a higher need for professional development, than those with more teaching experience. Originality/value: The findings contribute to identifying the current status of the use of educational technology and the professional development needs among academics in Hong Kong, as well as the differences between academics in different job positions and with different amounts of teaching experience. The results help in designing suitable professional development activities which address the specific needs of academics.
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Students from Mainland China are the largest group of non-local students for Hong Kong universities in recent years. To attract more Mainland students and smoothen their application processes, the admission policies of Hong Kong universities are becoming increasingly more compatible for students from Mainland by recognizing various qualifications and standard examinations (e.g., Joint Entrance Exam For Universities in PRC, College English Test and Test for English Majors). However, the quick increasing amount of Mainland students in Hong Kong universities has brought various social issues concerning arguments about the medium of instructions, Hong Kong-mainland contradictions and so on. To understand how the various policy text, this essay reviews the admission policies of Hong Kong universities and related issues from three aspects: institution categories, programme levels, and place of origin. Furthermore, research questions such as what broader politics surround the policy issue, which institutions/actors are involved in the policy process and what the outcomes are answered by employing the political system theories. The social problems related to the admission policies will be examined and discussed, solutions for which will also be proposed. Copyright © 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

This study was designed to explore how secondary students perceive the use of flipped classroom for learning computer programming. Specifically, it aimed to investigate the effects of flipped classroom on students’ learning and acquisition of programming knowledge and skills. Flipped classroom is known as a blended learning approach in which learning materials are delivered online, out of class for self-study in advance of classes, while homework assignments are transformed into class activities. This approach leverages technology and digital resources to support students in independent and online learning. It also enables teachers to minimize direct instruction and maximize student involvement in both teacher-student and student-student interactions. In this study, forty students from two Information and Communications Technology (ICT) classes (18 students in Secondary 4 and 22 in Secondary 5) in a Hong Kong secondary school were involved. Flipped classroom was adopted to teach students about computer programming topics (conditional, repetition and array) in both classes. Data were collected from a questionnaire and two interview sessions to explore students’ views on using flipped classroom to learn computer programming. The findings of this study indicate that students in the flipped classroom, regardless of their performance level, experienced stronger grasp of programming knowledge and higher engagement in learning programming concepts. Our findings also highlight limitations with this study that could be addressed in future work. Copyright © 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

The presented research discusses students’ perceptions, attitudes and expectations of a game-mediated vocabulary app. Throughout the development of the mobile app, continuous focus group interviews with students were held. The collected data were coded and analysed to identify common features or points mentioned by the students. The results showed that students highly value features like the story plot, graphic, vocabulary list and types of definitions for the design of vocabulary learning APPs. Based on these findings, the APP was further improved by adding synonyms, sentence contexts and extended definitions of the words. Our followed-up interviews indicated that students rated the improved version of the APP higher than the preliminary one. Such findings are consistent with Zou’s (2016, 2017) arguments that the availability of various aspects of word knowledge are conducive to effective word learning as it promotes greater degree of elaboration on the target vocabulary. Copyright © 2018 individual authors.

This study explores the influence of digital portfolio on reflective practice of prospective teachers (PTs) with the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge framework (TPACK). A total of 36 PTs studying in a teacher education course (one-year full-time) at a tertiary education institute in Hong Kong took part in the study. Blended learning approach was adopted to facilitate the completion of digital portfolio with various applications of Web services as a pedagogical tool. At the end of the course, the PTs completed the same questionnaire again as a post-test. Results showed that engaging PTs in digital portfolio integrated with different levels of Web services can increase their degree of readiness and maturation in different dimensions under the TPACK framework. The findings shed light on the development of teacher readiness for their entering of teaching profession in terms of technical, pedagogical and content knowledge individually and holistically, and further cultivated a higher degree of sustainability in reflective practice for the prospective teachers.
[Copyright © 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.]

This study aimed to explore the relationship between students’ online participation in Moodle and their learning achievement. Participants in the study were 78 undergraduate full-time students who were enrolled in a general education course entitled “Digital Citizenship” at a higher education institute in Hong Kong. They were required to choose from and participate in different types of Moodle activities including information access (e.g., reading online supplementary resources), interactive learning (e.g., running online simulations), networked learning (e.g., discussing in online forums), and materials development (e.g., writing reflective journals). The online participation of a student was measured by the number of completed activities, while the learning achievement of a student was determined by his/her essay grade. This study applied the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method to the collected data in order to identify whether there was a link between online participation and learning achievement. The results indicate that online participation in networked learning or in materials development, but not in information access nor in interactive learning, was positively and significantly related to learning achievement. This finding highlights the importance of social interaction and individual constructivism for effective online learning.
[Copyright © 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.]

This paper sketches major developmental processes of building a web for workplace professional communication through Chinese and English languages at a tertiary institution in Hong Kong. The strategic development of the web comprised three phases, namely, pre-design, design and post-design ones. In the pre-design phase, learners' needs in terms of the levels of web support and the necessary contents were assessed. Together with a comparative analysis of similar relevant webs offered by tertiary institutions in Hong Kong, the tentative assessment results were employed to generate a site plan for the web. In the design phase, when the web pages were written, a number of strategic factors were taken into consideration. In the post-design phase, the web was tested, modified and finalized through an evaluation survey. Eventually, new research issues relating to online distance learning and its further web advancement will be briefly addressed.
[Copyright of Hong Kong Teachers' Centre Journal is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Centre at http://www.edb.org.hk/hktc]