This paper discusses the pedagogical strategies of blended learning to teach Hong Kong school teachers mixed methods research. The authors examine the implications of blending traditional teaching and more updated learning strategies with e-Learning, small group work, peer interaction, and role plays, to increase student comprehension and execution of mixed methods research. The authors utilise a case study to illustrate the blended approach in teaching mixed methods research.

This case study examines how blended learning professional development for teaching staff is driven and implemented in the Faculty of Education and Human Development (FEHD) at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK). Professional development at EdUHK was first implemented by equipping teaching staff with the technical knowhow to incorporate blended learning into their teaching practices. This Institute-based attempt resulted in a growing number of teaching staff using blended learning. The technology-driven professional development approach was rethought to encourage more teaching staff to adopt blended learning in their courses. Based on strategies identified from the literature, a faculty-driven approach for professional development was developed in the FEHD. This approach included pedagogically focused capacity building strategies that aimed to enhance learning engagement and outcomes and scale up blended learning practices in the faculty. Concerted efforts have also been made at both the institutional and faculty levels to create an environment conducive to supporting blended learning. Based on the challenges identified, future directions are discussed in this paper.
[Copyright © 2016 UNESCO.]

The book "ICT in Primary Education" within the IITE Analytical Surveys series has been out of print. This is the first publication in the framework of the UNESCO IITE three-year project "ICTs in primary education". It explores the origins, settings and initiatives of effective integration of up-to-date innovative technologies in primary school and accumulates the best practices of ICT incorporation gathered from the project sample primary schools across the globe. The analytical study was elaborated by a team of experts built by IITE from different institutions, networks and representing various regions of the world (Chile, Hong Kong, Hungary, Slovak Republic, South Africa, Russia, UAE and UK). The book contains a research literature review, a brief overview of the nine sample primary schools, an international review of ICTs in primary strategies, as well as the international collection of inspiring projects and initiatives. The publication is designed for teachers, educators, headmasters, school policy decision-makers, parents and everybody who cares about modern education for primary stage children.
[Copyright © 2012 UNESCO.]

The rapid advancement of technologies and their ubiquitous use in our daily lives have dramatically changed the way knowledge is created and disseminated. As a technology-enhanced pedagogical approach, blended learning – the deliberate combination of online learning with face-to-face classroom-based learning – provides higher education institutions (HEIs) with the opportunities to enhance the quality of teaching and learning. While many of these opportunities have been well-documented in the literature, implementing and scaling up blended learning courses pose enormous challenges for HEIs in the Asia-Pacific region. To address these challenges, UNESCO Bangkok in partnership with The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) launched a two-year project to build the capacity of HEIs for blended learning. One of the outcomes of the project was this book by a team of blended learning experts and leaders in the region. Blended Learning for Quality Higher Education presents a framework and self-assessment tool developed from a holistic view of building institutional capacity to drive, sustain, and scale up blended learning. It incorporates case studies from experienced HEIs in the region to demonstrate how the framework and its dimensions could be operationalised, and how the gaps identified in the self-assessment exercise could be addressed.
[Copyright © 2016 UNESCO.]

The paper aims to gain better understandings of preservice teachers’ social media integrations with various pedagogic strategies towards constructivist orientation for teaching practicum. A qualitative study of a group of preservice teachers integrating the social media for teaching in early childhood, primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong was conducted. A framework of pedagogy was integrated in the literature for exploration of preservice teachers’ teaching practices. The results reveal that YouTube social media was regarded as preservice teachers’ (1) common practices as part of initial pedagogic development; (2) social media integrations of various pedagogic strategies mainly towards didactic-oriented teaching instead of constructive-oriented one; and (3) preparedness in constructivist-oriented teaching with the YouTube social media integrations is needed. Implications for teacher educators and schools are discussed.
[Copyright © 2016 The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology.]

Field experience at the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) is viewed as a central aspect to our programmes. The proposed chapter will discuss a project that aimed to enhance student teachers' professional development in FE by adopting mobile technology and cloud services. Also, the use of digital forms of FE documents such as TP supervision forms, FE portfolios, and reflective journals enables student teachers and Institute supervisors to build their own e-portfolio for further sharing of their professional practices within and outside the Institute.
[Copyright © 2016, IGI Global.]

In its latest IT in Education Strategy, the government of Hong Kong is committed to develop an online resource bank of curriculum-based digital resources for supporting learning and teaching in school education. The study reported herein aimed to conceptualize the framework for developing such online resource bank in Hong Kong. For collecting solid information from a wide spectrum of relevant stakeholders, 12 sessions of focus group discussions were conducted with school leaders, teachers of major subjects, students, parents, government officials, and educational publishers in the school education sector in Hong Kong. The results found that teachers in Hong Kong were experienced in using digital resources, in particular PowerPoint, video and animation, for supporting subject teaching and learning. The results also asserted the need of an online resource bank in Hong Kong for teachers to accurately access curriculum-based learning and teaching resources. Based on the expectations identified in this study, three options are recommended for the development of the target online resource bank. The first option suggests the compilation of digital entities, such as electronic texts, presentation slides, images, videos and animations, for curriculum delivery. The second option suggests the organization of the digital resources into teaching schemes for delivering subject curricula, especially for those subjects with limited textbooks available in the market. The third options suggests the compilation of learning materials, such as guiding worksheets, with digital resources for students, especially those with average and high learning motivation, to conduct theme-based or project-based self-regulated learning.

Smartphones could be the fastest spreading technology in human history. These mobile devices change the way we communicate and enable mobile and ubiquitous learning at a different level. This study evaluated the use of mobile instant messaging tools to support teaching and learning in higher education. A total of 61 undergraduate students enrolled at a teacher-training institute in Hong Kong who have smartphones with WhatsApp were assigned into experimental and control groups. Besides the traditional classroom learning for both groups, the experimental group was also supported with bite-sized multimedia materials and teacher-student interaction via WhatsApp outside school hours. The participants of the control group used WhatsApp only for academic communication. Pre-test scores were used as the covariate. The marginal means on the post-test scores showed that the participants in the experimental group performed better than those in the control group. The intervention of WhatsApp improved the learning achievement of the participants. The strength of the intervention between the two groups was medium to large. A questionnaire designed by the author was administered at the end of the study. The participants showed positive perception and acceptance of the use of WhatsApp for teaching and learning. The participants slightly rejected the view that receiving instructional materials and questions outside school hours could interfere with their private lives. The typical usability issues on mobile learning were found to be valid. The experience learnt in this research was discussed.
[Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc.]