University closures due to the pandemic have taken learning and teaching from the confines of the physical campus to virtual spaces enabled by digital technologies. In order to ensure the quality of higher education learning and teaching, teaching staff need to be supported with quality professional development (PD) for building their capacity to plan for and implement online learning. It is crucial for universities to design and implement customised PD to address the professional learning needs of the teaching staff. This chapter examines how a faculty-based learning innovation team at a university in Hong Kong has adopted an experiential learning approach to design customised PD programmes for teaching staff to build their capacity to enhance the quality of online learning and teaching. Copyright © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Kevin Wai Ho Yung and Huixuan Xu; individual chapters, the contributors.

Based on a case study of an undergraduate course for a teacher education program at a university in Hong Kong, this chapter examines how technology-enabled case-based learning engages pre-service teachers behaviorally, cognitively, and emotionally and prepares them for teaching in schools. Qualitative data obtained from individual interviews with four pre-service teachers and online discussion threads were analyzed using a content analysis approach. This chapter describes how the use of 360-degree panoramic videos and asynchronous discussion forums supports the development of pre-service teachers’ problem-solving skills in tackling school students’ undesirable classroom behaviors, enhancing their reflective skills, and consolidating their content knowledge in classroom management. This study sheds light on how technology-enabled case-based learning may contribute to teacher education programs and prepare pre-service teachers for effective classroom management. Copyright © 2022 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Based on a case study of a faculty at a university in Hong Kong, this chapter examines how a grassroots approach to professional development enhances the capacity of the teaching staff for blended learning. Professional development plays a pivotal role in supporting the teaching staff to adopt blended learning in their courses to enhance the quality of learning and teaching. However, professional development policies and practices do not always meet the professional learning needs of staff, and many of them do not feel supported in their blended learning practices after attending the professional development sessions. This chapter first discusses how the grassroots approach to professional development in blended learning was developed and implemented in the faculty. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analysed to document the impact of the professional development on staff’s adoption of blended learning in their courses. Based on the key findings from this set of data from the faculty, the grassroots approach is refined and customised for each faculty at the university as part of the scaling-up process. Copyright © 2021 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Purpose: A growing body of research has focused on the topic of inclusive education for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. At the same time, few scholars have explored the role technology can play in enhancing inclusivity within the context of quality education. This study examines how the differentiated use of technology that takes into account disparities in prior knowledge can benefit students of different learning backgrounds.Design/Approach/Methods: This study adopted an experimental design to investigate how content-specific and content-neutral technologies can be strategically used to support the classroom discussions of Chinese and ethnic minority students' learning Chinese language and mathematics. One hundred and twenty-one secondary school students participated in the study. Each student was randomly assigned to a condition, in a 2 (ethnicity: Chinese vs. ethnic minority) × 2 (content: content-specific first vs. content-neutral first) design.Findings: The study found that (a) for Chinese language lessons, ethnic minority students preferred to learn with content-neutral and content-specific technologies in prediscussion and postdiscussion activities, respectively; whereas the Chinese students' preferences were the opposite and (b) for mathematics lessons, both groups of students performed better when content-specific and content-neutral technologies were used in prediscussion and postdiscussion activities, respectively.Originality/Value: The study presents five practical suggestions for the strategic use of technology in inclusive classrooms in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2020 The Author(s).

E-portfolios have been adopted by higher education institutions as assessment for learning tools to develop students' reflective thinking and their ownership of learning. This paper examines how e-portfolios are integrated in an undergraduate course at a Hong Kong university to develop students' reflective thinking. Based on the qualitative data collected and analysed from both the teacher and students in the course, this paper first discusses the different levels of reflective thinking that the students developed as they were working on their e-portfolios. It then identifies the factors that facilitate and hinder students' development of reflective thinking, how the facilitating factors are enabled and what the hindering factors need to be addressed. These key findings highlight the pivotal role of the teacher as a learning facilitator and guide, the scaffolding role of the toolkit to support both teachers and students, and the necessity of the technical capacity building and support in the implementation of e-portfolios in higher education. Copyright © 2020 Springer Nature.

This paper seeks to identify the factors supporting or hindering students' development of reflective thinking or reflection through working on e-portfolios at a higher education institution in Hong Kong. Six students were selected to participate in the study from one of the groups of GECC (General Education Consolidation Course) based on their scores in first reflective essay. Two in-depth interviews with each of the selected six students, totaling 12 in-depth interviews were carried out. The focus of the first in-depth interview was to understand what supported or constrained their reflective thinking from their perspectives. The second in-depth interview was carried out for some clarification purpose from the first interview and also to have more detailed information. The first interview was conducted after students had received scores for their first reflective essay. The second interview was conducted after students had finished their course work and submitted their e-portfolios to the supervisor. In addition, students' individual consultations with their supervisor were observed. Furthermore, all six students' e-portfolios were analyzed and each student's two reflective essays totaling twelve reflective essays were critically analyzed. The study found supporting factors such as support or training from the university; support from supervisor; peer feedback, to name a few. On the other hand the study also found hindering factors such as technical skills; limitation of the platform of e-portfolios; language skills, to name a few. The paper provides a detailed account of how all different factors interacted with students' development of reflective thinking.

e-Portfolios are a form of authentic assessment with formative functions that include showcasing and sharing learning artifacts, documenting reflective learning processes, connecting learning across various stages and enabling frequent feedback for improvements. This paper examines how e-portfolios take up these formative roles to support productive learning. Qualitative findings from interviews with selected first-year undergraduate students at a higher education institution in Hong Kong are reported concerning students' experiences of constructing e-portfolios as assessment tasks. As part of an institutional teaching and learning initiative, e-portfolios were incorporated into three core courses for first-year students. The findings reveal that several conditions necessary to foster productive learning were missing in students' experiences: strengthened formative role of e-portfolios through coherent assessment design; encouragement for students' pursuit of authentic tasks to develop learning interests; engagement of students in reflective and self-regulative learning as an essential learning process; provision of constructive feedback for sustained learning support; and support for students' autonomy through facilitation of collaborative knowledge building. By explicating how the lack of these conditions impeded students' active involvement in e-portfolio tasks and suggesting relevant strategies for teachers at the institution in question, this paper offers implications for harnessing information and communication technology (ICT) to support students' productive learning.

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.]