Web-based leaching opens new opportunities for international collaboration in offering courses to students. It also allows students to attend courses offered by instructors situated outside their own country. This paper presents the lessons learned from one such course offered by instructors located in Texas and Hong Kong to students residing in Shanghai studying in a collaborative Master of Social Service Management Programme (MSSM) between HKU and Fudan University. The course, titled 'Information and Communication Technology for Social Service Organizations,' was offered twice in the past two years using an Internet-based class chat room supported by a course website and other web based tools. While the offering was successful based on student evaluations, many problems and issues had to be addressed. The course background, learning outcomes, lessons learned, and future recommendations are presented. In addition, an analysis of the Shanghai student IT applications is provided to help understand the current state of human services IT in China.
[Copyright of Journal of Technology in Human Services is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J017v25n01_04]

A review of recent studies in Hong Kong suggests that possible problems in secondary school algebra may be due to the procedural paradigm orientation in the curriculum and the conventional style of teaching in the classroom which do not provide sufficient opportunities for students to develop conceptual understanding. Based on the works of a number of projects in the West, it is hypothesized that the introduction of technology in lessons which embody a cognitive model in their design and delivery will provide a viable alternative for enhancing algebraic thinking. The key features of the cognitive model are concrete preparation, cognitive conflict, construction, metacognition and bridging, imbedded in a 'mediation' style of teaching. These features are exemplified by detailed accounts of classroom episodes from a Hong Kong lesson supported by the use of graphics calculators. Results indicate that while the approach places particular demands on teachers (a tension between a transmission style of teaching and mediating) there is real potential for supporting more dynamic student constructions.
[Copyright of International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology is the property of Taylor & Francis. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/002073900412660]

The tremendous influence of today's mass media can hardly be matched by the sum of its works from the past. There are more sources of media, more types of information and entertainment, more interactive modes for consuming these messages of the mass media in a more interconnected global village available than ever before. Since many pupils spend much of their time on the media, the call for media education is urgent. This article first describes the aims and objectives of media education, then portrays the power of the media and how the education sectors have responded. Finally, it argues for the need to implement media education into the secondary curriculum in response to proposed curriculum reform in Hong Kong.
[Copyright of Curriculum Journal is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09585170110050846]

Teachers' implicit theories of creativity were elicited by requesting 204 Hong Kong primary and secondary school teachers to list the characteristics of either creative or uncreative students. Their responses, an average of about 4 to 5 creative or uncreative characteristics by each teacher, were categorized into 42 creative and 33 uncreative attributes, traits, or trait adjectives. The most frequently mentioned creative attributes were "imaginative," "always questioning," "quick in responding." "active," and "high intellectual ability," whereas the most frequently mentioned uncreative attributes were "conventional," "timid," "lack of confidence," and "conforming." Unlike results of U.S. studies, this study yielded findings that suggested that Chinese teachers regarded some characteristics of creative students as socially undesirable and other characteristics as associating highly with intellectual functioning. Cultural differences on the perception of creativity in students are discussed.
[Copyright of Creativity Research Journal is the property of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15326934crj1203_3]