Previous research suggested that bring your own device (BYOD) initiatives can potentially promote student engagement in learning and lead to improvements in learning achievement. However, there has been limited studies looking at how to design and implement BYOD to realise its full potential, especially in blended classroom settings. The present study was designed to fill this gap by adapting the community of inquiry (CoI) framework to support and analyse the implementation of BYOD for blended English as Foreign Language (EFL) learning in a Hong Kong university. Findings from lesson videos, course assessments, focus group interviews and student reflection are reported and discussed. This study can contribute to understanding how BYOD could benefit student learning through affording different types of presence in the CoI framework. It can also provide insights into possible ways of using BYOD to promote meaningful learning in the blended classroom. Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

This article reports on an exploratory study on developing and adopting a ‘Virtual Go Mode’ feature embedded in a mobile vocabulary learning app, VocabGo, to enhance students’ vocabulary learning engagement. Distinguished from other virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) applications, the Virtual Go Mode is designed for students to practice and consolidate their newly learned words via virtual location-based tasks with 360° Google Street View or pre-photographed panoramas. Google Cloud Vision, using an AI model, is embedded to identify objects and their corresponding tasks for students. A total of 15 primary students in Hong Kong participated in this exploratory study for one week. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed. The results showed that students’ vocabulary learning engagement was high when using the Virtual Go Mode. It is suggested that future research focus on empirical studies when designing and implementing virtual location-based tasks supported by VR technologies in class to provide opportunities for students to practice and consolidate newly learned words and enhance their learning engagement after the COVID-19 pandemic. Copyright © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Collaborative lesson planning (CLP) is a key component of teachers’ professional development that responds to students’ ever-increasing learning needs. This study aimed to develop and validate an instrument to evaluate teachers’ CLP practices. Guided by the SECI (socialisation, externalisation, combination, and internalisation) knowledge-creation model of Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995), items assessing CLP practices were developed. To validate the CLP scale, we analysed data from 540 primary and secondary school teachers in Hong Kong. Exploratory factor analysis on a random half of the sample suggests a four-factor solution that supports the SECI model. A confirmatory factor analysis and multidimensional Rasch analysis on the remaining half of the sample confirmed the four-factor structure. Both analyses support the dimensionality of the four-factor model, rating scale effectiveness, and item fit statistics. The final version of the CLPS has 21 items that assess teachers’ CLP practices under the four SECI processes. This instrument has practical value in assessing, monitoring, and promoting collaborative teaching practices in school. The study's limitations and implications are discussed. Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Liberal Studies has been established as a mandatory senior secondary school curriculum in Hong Kong since 2009. As one of university-entrance required subjects that aims at developing students informed understanding and decision-making, Liberal Studies requires teachers to adopt critical thinking training and multiple perspectives in teaching and learning. Since then, Liberal Studies teachers and their students inquire into controversial issues about Hong Kong, modern China and globalization. This innovative and inquiry school curriculum, however, has been criticized as one of the culprits of making Hong Kong’s youths active participants in unconventional civic participation. In recent years, the pressures from the pro-establishment camp of the legislature have argued for either changing it from mandatory to elective curriculum, lessening the examination requirements, or relegating it from graded to non-graded assessment status. All these, if carried out, will possibly make Liberal Studies exist in name only, not to mention already causing uncertainties and bewilderment among teachers and students. This paper shall review the development and debates surrounding this innovative and inquiry curriculum. It will possibly shed some lights on how an invisible climate of authoritarianism can exert impacts on a school curriculum. Copyright © 2020 Charles University.

This paper attempts to explore into teacher perception of using information technology (IT) in education by examining four major domains, namely, teacher perception of their computer training, computer facilities and assistance available, their confidence and comfortability in using computer in daily lessons, and their perception of their roles in using IT in classrooms. On one hand, a semi-structured survey revealed that there were positive impacts of teacher perception on the usage of computer in classrooms and highlighted teachers' preferences of adopting teachercentered approach in teaching with IT. On the other hand, a semi-structured interview reflected that the teaching staff members worked harmoniously and school administration was supportive. However, cross-subject or cross-curricular collaborative projects among teachers were rare. Finally, some recommendations are made to promote the use of IT in teaching concerning school-based collaborative culture, conceptual and strategic issues in e-leadership and inter-regional / intraregional resource bank for teaching and learning. Copyright © 2005 The authors. All rights reserved.

The potential of digital fabrication technology (DFT) in education has attracted the attention of many educational stakeholders over the last decade. However, there is scant literature on how in-service teachers take part in teacher professional development (TPD) to equip themselves with necessary DFT skills and knowledge. In response, this qualitative exploratory study aimed to identify characteristics of effective DFT-related TPD and the current status of the implementation of DFT in K–12 education in Hong Kong through interviews with local teachers and stakeholders. The findings reveal that DFT-related TPDs have had positive effects on teachers’ skills and knowledge overall, but they were found to lack in-depth hands-on training and guidance on pedagogical aspects with practical class models. Teachers flexibly adopted formal and informal TPD depending on their own backgrounds, competencies, and needs. In addition, the following barriers to applying TPD learning outcomes to classroom practices were identified: limited hardware availability and access as well as a lack of open-learning classrooms, technical support and sustained professional development for teachers, technology integration into different subjects, and government-provided guidelines and frameworks. However, these limitations were found to afford new opportunities with respect to student-centered and collaborative teaching and learning environments. Copyright © 2021 International Council for Educational Media.

This chapter presents two case studies on e-Learning policy and implementation in universities dedicated to teacher education in Hong Kong and Beijing. The case studies provide an overview of e-Learning in teacher education in the two cities in China; introduce strategies of the university-specific policy on e-Learning in teacher education; share examples of the policy-informed practice for e-Learning in teacher education and then discuss issues for the successful implementation of e-Learning in teacher education. In the case study from Hong Kong, the university-specific policy concerns the development of both e-Learning competency and digital competency to empower student-teachers to be lifelong learners who are active, constructive, interactive and reflective in their learning and professional life. The strategies for e-Learning are implemented to engage student-teachers in blended learning in course delivery, mobile technology-supported learning hub, online assessment-submission platform with plagiarism check and digital portfolio. The strategies for digital competency are implemented to nurture student-teachers with coding, app development, 3D printing, STEM/STEAM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics/science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) literacy and artificial intelligence literacy to groom creativity and innovation for their competitiveness in the digitalised society. In the case study from Beijing, the university-specific policy aims to develop student-teachers’ digital literacy and the capability of design, development and utilisation of digital learning resources and to develop the ability of ICT-based instructional design. The e-Learning strategies are implemented through engaging student-teachers in learning in technology-rich environments (such as smart classrooms, MOOCs [massive open online courses] or SPOCs [small private online courses]), and through the compulsory course of ‘Introduction to Modern Educational Technology’

Background: STEM education and research are increasingly emphasized by governments worldwide to foster national development and productivity, economic competitiveness and societal wellbeing. There is no exception in Hong Kong, with its desire to promote STEM education and to strengthen Innovation and Technology development in the future. Purpose: This study aimed to explore the STEM activities employed in primary students' STEM projects under the theme 'Living in a Smart City', and to identify what and how computation technologies were generally used and to examine the differences of computation technology used among project types and award levels. Sample: 168 project reports were collected from a STEM Fair with the following areas of content: the origins of the inquiry idea; scientific/STEM theories employed; inquiry process and testing methods implemented; findings and results obtained; difficulties encountered; and students' reflections. Design and methods: Content analysis on project reports and students' reflections was performed. The qualitative data were coded for statistical analysis, to explore the differences in the association of the STEM activities in the projects. Analyses were supported by students' reflections in the reports to explore students' computation experiences. Results: Most students worked on new device projects, and projects producing new devices were more likely to integrate technological activities. On the whole, science, engineering and mathematics activities complemented each other well, with less evidence of integration with respect to technology activities. Students gained valuable knowledge and got a sense of achievement from the STEM project work. Conclusion: It is encouraging to find that students were capable of integrating STEM activities to different extents into STEM projects. It is noticed that more emphasis should be laid on promoting the infusion of computation technological activities. More attention should also be paid on providing

Critical thinking, as a highly valued generic skill, lies at the heart of education worldwide. Although research suggests a close relationship between language and thinking, the integration of critical thinking into second language acquisition is under-investigated. This study therefore explores the viability of exploratory talk and WebQuests for critical-thinking development in learners of English as a second language. The study constitutes an exploratory cycle of a 'design research' project conducted in a primary school in Hong Kong. The project as a whole collected data from five different sources (i.e. tests of critical thinking, audio-recordings of group discussions, classroom observations, students' written work, and interviews with teachers) and had 125 Primary Five student participants (aged 11-12) and five English teacher participants. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative findings on classroom dialogue, this study reveals the participating students to have displayed critical thinking through the use of explicit reasoning and exploratory talk in group discussions. The findings have pedagogical implications, offer suggestions for critical-thinking cultivation in the English-as-a-second-language context and contribute to scholarly understanding of the need to integrate instructional strategies for critical thinking into language classrooms. Copyright ©2021 Elsevier .