The Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) provides training to students who wish to pursue their career in teaching. The authors, computer literacy lecturers, would like to find out if there is any difference between the expectation and perception of the computer knowledge students should possess in order to be competent junior secondary computer subject teacher. The authors would also compare the computer knowledge required with the present Computer Literacy curriculum and suggest amendment if necessary. A questionnaire was distributed to student teachers of Northcote Campus before and after teaching practice in 1996. The questions were grouped under basic computer knowledge, Logo programming, computer applications and others. Student teachers regarded all the computer knowledge as important. They gave highest regards to Logo programming, followed by computer applications, basic computer knowledge and others before teaching practice. However, after teaching practice, student teachers gave lower regards to all categories of computer knowledge except for the topics included in the"others" categories. It might be due to the anxiety they had before teaching practice and they found the reality was not so demanding. Student teachers found that computer applications were more important than the knowledge of Logo programming after teaching practice. The importance of other computer knowledge remained unchanged. It could be due to the fact that not all schools required student teachers to teach Logo programming to their junior form secondary school students. Although the importance for most topics in the"others" category had decreased, there was a slight increase of importance in the topic of artificial intelligence, computer organization, database programming, objected oriented programming language, operating systems and systems analysis and design. The present HKIEd curriculum has covered all the topics in basic computer knowledge, Logo programming and computer applications

Internet resources are useful for teachers, but few people pay attention to assisting primary mathematics teachers to find relevant resources via Internet. Although a general search engine can help us locate related curriculum resources on the Internet, it is very time-consuming to inspect every possible web sites. The major purpose of this paper is to describe a potential vortal site for helping primary mathematics teachers to search useful teaching resources effectively via linking relevant web sites. This paper attempts to describe the rationales of developing this vortal site. Hence some important principles for designing vortal site are recommended for readers' reference.

In Hong Kong, teachers usually use highly complicated software packages to do simple tasks. This phenomenon is largely due to the habitual use of pirated software and the lack of suitable software for teachers. This article investigates the proper strategies fro producing simple computer tools for local teachers, in order to make daily teaching tasks easier and student demonstrations more effective.

In Hong Kong, the coming New Senior Secondary Information and Communication Technology (NSS ICT) curriculum highly emphasizes the complex thinking processes like creativity, critical thinking and problem solving. In this paper, we attempt to use two detailed examples to illustrate how to infuse problem solving skills into computer lessons. It means that classroom time can be spent on the thinking skill as well as on the curriculum content.
[Copyright of ACM SIGCSE Bulletin is the property of Association for Computing Machinery, Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education.]

Outcome Based Learning (OBL) is an initiative from the University Grant Committee which emphasizes learning outcomes of university graduates. In view of such a requirement, the information and communication technology (ICT) educators reviewed relevant literature and came up with a list of desirable attributes of graduates who will teach ICT or related subjects at primary or secondary schools. A questionnaire was developed according to the attributes and the generic outcomes that represent the expectations of the Institute's graduates and also the distinctive attributes and qualities for ICT teachers in the primary and secondary education sectors. Since it is very important to know the desired expectation from the stakeholders, the questionnaires were sent randomly to teachers of schools, pre-service ICT teachers and related colleagues at the HKIEd. It was found that the respondents gave the highest scores to "graduates should be able to demonstrate responsible and positive attitudes towards the use of ICT" and the lowest to "graduates should apply pedagogies suitable for teaching the whole class and are not required to cater to individual needs". A chosen course outline has been revised to reflect the expectations of our stakeholders. Finally, the assessment methods and mind set of both educators and learners must also be changed.
[Copyright of International Journal of Learning is the property of Common Ground Publishing.]

This paper examines teachers' experiences of autonomy as they undertook Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in the form of Teacher Learning Communities (TLCs) to develop Assessment for Learning (AfL). Participant teacher interview data were used from two parallel TLC projects, one in Hong Kong and one in London, UK. Autonomy was defined in terms of taking initiatives, acting independently and making critical inquiries. Links between autonomy and effective CPD were argued and the findings indicated that some teachers in both the projects experienced limited autonomy in terms of taking initiatives and being critical, although several described a new sense of professional independence as they attended TLCs. Their limited autonomy looked likely to inhibit the long-lasting impact of the projects, although one TLC in London seemed likely to shape teachers' AfL principles and practices more profoundly because attendance was voluntary and egalitarian.
[Copyright of Teacher Development is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13664530.2012.748686]