In recent years, instructors have had an increasing interest in integrating Internet based technologies into their classroom as part of the learning environment. Compared to studies on other information systems, student users' behaviour towards e-portfolios have not been assessed and thoroughly understood. This article analyses the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in order to examine students' behavioural intention to use an electronic portfolio system, meaning how students use and appropriate it within the specific framework of a course. An E-Portfolio Usage Questionnaire was developed using existing scales from prior TAM instruments and modified where appropriate. Seventy-two undergraduate students enrolled in Bachelor of Education (BEd) Programmes at the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) completed the survey questionnaire measuring their responses to perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), attitudes towards usage (ATU) and behavioural intention to use (BIU) the e- portfolio system. The content of the e-portfolio for each of the four pilot courses focused on student reflections upon the artifacts uploaded to the Blackboard 9 learning management system. Students were required to upload their work which included posting video clips and assignments and capturing parts of their reflections or other evidences to justify their claims of 'improvement'. The results of the study indicated that students' perceived ease of use (PEOU) had a significant influence on attitude towards usage (ATU). Subsequently, perceived ease of use (PEOU) had the strongest significant influence on perceived usefulness (PU). The research further demonstrated that individual characteristics and technological factors may have a significant influence on instructors to adopt e-portfolios into their courses. Results suggest that TAM is a solid theoretical model where its validity can extend to an e-portfolio context.
[Copyright of Australasian Journal of Educational Technology

Despite the common belief that information and communication technology (ICT) has the potential to support certain fundamental changes in learning, few have examined ICT implementation conceptually within a wider context of educational change. Methodologically, researchers are by and large limited to building simple models that accommodate only a single dependence relationship among variables. Framing ICT implementation as a process of interactions among pedagogical and organisational factors in bringing about changes in student learning, this article used data collected from 1076 teachers in 130 primary and secondary government schools in Hong Kong to construct a structural equation model (SEM), from which the authors are able to examine multiple interrelated dependence relationships in a single model. Results indicated that from teacher perspectives, the collegial capacity of ICT implementation strategies played a central and mediating role in effecting changes in student learning, of moving away from a teacher-centred approach to one that is more student-centred. Specifically, ICT brought about these changes in the context of establishing collegiality in fostering pedagogical innovations in schools. Implications for both researchers and practitioners are discussed.
[Copyright of Australasian Journal of Educational Technology is the property of ASCILITE. Full article may be available at the publisher’s website:
http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/]

The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) framework has been adopted by many educational technologists and teacher educators for the research and development of knowledge about the pedagogical uses of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in classrooms. While the framework is potentially very important, efforts to survey teachers' TPCK efficacy has yet to identify all seven factors postulated by the framework. This study attempted to validate a TPCK efficacy survey by implementing it on an Asian group of 550 preservice teachers from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. The seven factors underlying the TPCK framework were identified which suggested the research instrument to be valid and reliable. The structural equation model proposed based on the TPCK framework supported eight out of 12 hypotheses about the relationships between TPCK constructs. The results indicate that the positive effects of the basic knowledge factors of CK, PK, and TK were indirect, occurring through the second layer of knowledge factors (TPK, TCK, and PCK). Implications for preservice teacher professional developments are discussed.
[Copyright of Australasian Journal of Educational Technology is the property of ASCILITE. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet.html]

This article adds to computer-assisted language learning by extending a study on an essay critiquing system (ECS) feedback to secondary school language learners' writing. The study compared two groups of participants' performance, namely the treatment group which received both the system feedback and teacher feedback (i.e., blended learning mode), and the control group which received teacher feedback only. The study was conducted in a secondary school in Hong Kong in the form of an extra-curricular activity after school. Fifty-three students from the ages of 16 to 17 with different argumentative writing experience participated in a series of five writing workshops once a month voluntarily. The participants were assigned to a treatment and a control group based on the stratification approach. Their scores were compared and an interview with the treatment group was conducted. Analysing the total and content and organisation scores of the two groups, it was found that both groups demonstrated statistical significant gains. Nevertheless, the treatment group's gain appears to be more meaningful than the control group's in view of its group composition. The blended learning mode contributes to the encouraging results as revealed through the treatment group's scores, high rating and positive comments on both system and teacher feedback in the survey and interviews. The analysis also implies the need to improve the system feedback on paragraph coherence, workshop design and grading criteria.
[Copyright of Computer Assisted Language Learning is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2011.630672]

A major challenge for language teacher educators working in the area of teacher language awareness (TLA) is to develop pedagogical approaches that will go beyond merely enhancing L2 teachers' knowledge about language by enabling them to make the bridge between the declarative and procedural dimensions of TLA. This paper sets out to investigate the effectiveness of using online discussion forums to develop the language awareness of a group of student-teachers of L2 English in Hong Kong. Through content analysis of the 18 discussion threads initiated by these novice teachers, the research team found that despite the different reasons they had for posting their discussion topics, most of them had used extensively the e-learning platform to request help regarding the two dimensions of TLA, and that their reflections showed a strong tendency to move from the declarative to the procedural dimension of TLA. The study, though exploratory, has enhanced our understanding of learning to teach by opening up a small window for people to understand how TLA affected the teacher behaviour of this group of student-teachers during their teaching practice. The study also shows the research potential of using online discussion forums to understand teachers' language awareness development.
[Copyright of Language Awareness is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2012.680467]