An urgent need for a relatively large number of qualified Putonghua language teachers in Hong Kong has led the Open University of Hong Kong to establish a distance education programme for in-service language teachers, most of whom are non-native speakers. The programme designed by the university involves distance study coupled with regular face-to-face tutorials, and is designed to enable the in-service teachers to apply their learned knowledge directly in their daily teaching. The article explains how evaluation of the first presentation of the course in 1996 showed that the course alone could not fully address the actual deficiencies in the teachers' Putonghua listening and speaking skills while, additionally, there was also a need to restructure the teaching methodology component of the course. The basis upon which these judgements were made is explained, and the steps taken to strengthen the course to meet these perceived deficiencies, while not adding to the students' workload, are outlined.
[Copyright of Open Learning is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/026805100115434]

With healthcare staff called upon to use ever more sophisticated medical techniques and computer technology, there has been an increasing importance placed upon Continuing Nursing Education (CNE). In response to this, we decided to investigate whether recent developments in Internet technology might provide an innovative way to design and develop a cost effective, flexible, multilingual, CNE system to help staff learn specialist knowledge required to work within our Department of Neurosurgery. This was the basis for our Nursing Intranet Learning System (NILS). This paper discusses the issues involved in developing and delivering courses via this new medium. It will also describe some of the significant advantages of web-based learning over traditional computer based learning systems, as well as highlight some of the difficulties encountered in utilizing this rapidly evolving technology. Finally, future work for the system will be mentioned.
[Copyright of Innovations in Education & Teaching International is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14703290110074939]

The development and evaluation of science students' metacognition, learning processes and self-efficacy are important for improving science education. This paper reports on the development of an empirical self-report instrument for providing a measure of students' metacognition, self-efficacy and constructivist science learning processes. A review of the range of literature related to metacognition, self-regulation and constructivist learning processes resulted in the development of an initial bilingual (English and traditional Chinese) instrument composed of 72 items. This instrument was completed by 465 Hong Kong high school students. The data collected were subjected to exploratory factor analysis and Rasch analysis. The subsequent refinement process resulted in a final version of the Self-Efficacy and Metacognition Learning Inventory—Science (SEMLI-S) consisting of 30 items that can be used for either analysing and focusing on any or all of its dimensions or for assigning scores to individuals that enable comparison between them in relation to their metacognitive science learning orientations.
[Copyright of International Journal of Science Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500690701482493]

Hong Kong students outperform their counterparts in most other countries in mathematics in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study Repeat (TIMSS-R) project, while their science performance is marginally above the international average. In order to probe below the surface of these achievement results, secondary analysis of the TIMSS-R Hong Kong data was performed to identify factors that affect student achievement. Results of the secondary analysis relating to curriculum provision, teacher characteristics, and classroom conditions and climate are reported in this paper. Based on the results, some recommendations are proposed to meet the need for quality education in the new era.
[Copyright of Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics, & Technology Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02783190009554009 ]