The initiatives for educational effectiveness experienced 3 waves of movements. Each wave had its own paradigm in conceptualizing the nature of education and its effectiveness and formulating related initiatives for improvement of educational practice in the classroom. This article aims to discuss how the conceptualization and characteristics of the effective classroom are changed with the paradigm shift from the traditional site-bounded paradigm toward the new Contextualized Multiple Intelligences (CMI)-triplization paradigm. With the support of empirical data, the profiles of effective and ineffective classrooms in the 1st and 3rd waves are mapped and discussed, and some implications are drawn for research and development of a new type of classroom effectiveness.
[Copyright of School Effectiveness and School Improvement is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09243450802535174]

Using multivariate discriminant analysis and the data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 1999, this paper made 5 individual comparisons between the U.S. middle school system and 5 Asian middle school systems, which have typically been top ranked in mathematics and science achievement scores. The discriminant analysis was based on variables related to school and classroom environment as well as students' out-of-school life, home background, and self-perceptions about mathematics and science. The results reveal significant differences between American schools and their Asian counterparts. The author explains these differences in terms of the societal difference in the position of schooling in the lives of American adolescents versus the more central position of schooling in the lives of their East Asian counterparts.
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Self-access centres are sometimes portrayed as being at the forefront of pedagogical innovation. They are also said to be technology-rich language learning environments. In practice, however, the application of technology in a self-access environment has proven to be a challenge. This article focuses on 10 self-access centres that were found to be the most intensive users of technology out of a total of 45 centres investigated worldwide. The article describes the range of technologies used by these centres and the types of administrative procedures and student learning supported. It also compares these centres with the other 35 in the study to identify how they differ in the way they make use of technology.
[Copyright of Computer Assisted Language Learning is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09588220701331428]

Traditional studies of teacher commitment often ignore the effect of interactions between personal characteristics and school environment and the implications of their findings are inevitably limited. Responding to this research gap, the present study aims to investigate the contingency relationship of school organizational health to teacher commitment with multi-level statistical analysis. The study was a survey involving 20 aided primary schools and 423 teachers in Hong Kong. The findings suggest that three school organizational health factors such as morale, consideration and institutional integrity are related to teacher commitment through interactions with the teacher personal characteristics such as position, marital status, and length of service in the school. The result supports that the relationship between school organizational health and teacher commitment is contingent upon teacher characteristics. The interesting findings can provide implications for school improvement and future research.
[Copyright of Educational Research & Evaluation is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1076/edre.5.3.249.3883]

This paper reports on a study which investigates the implementation of a synchronous e-learning system (Interwise) for online tutorials on an information technology related course offered by the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK). It examines a set of interview data related to students' and tutors' views on the use of the system. Issues concerning students' participation in online tutorials, opportunities for interaction in using the system, and tutors' roles in real-time conferences are discussed. The findings suggest that both the students and tutors are positive about the use of Interwise for online tutorials in general. Some students, however, indicate dissatisfaction with the one-way communication and teacher-control functionalities of the system. The results also indicate that the tutors are concerned about the workload involved in using Interwise in terms of managing the functionalities of the system and the different learning tasks. Implications are then drawn for supporting synchronous online learning both in the OUHK and a wider academic context.
[Copyright of International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning is the property of Athabasca University.
Access via Directory of Open Access Journals: http://www.irrodl.org]

The growing popularity of e-learning may pose one of the greatest challenges currently facing traditional educational institutions. The questions often asked are how, rather than whether, to embrace this new form of instructional delivery and how to create an appropriate learning environment for the learners. Educational institutions in Hong Kong have the option of adopting programmes or learning materials developed in other parts of the world for local learners, or not. Such an approach of acquiring learning materials is not without risks in terms of the suitability of materials embedded with cultural contents 'foreign' to local learners, or in terms of the suitability of assumptions in the communication context. What are the issues involved in the globalization of education through e-learning? This paper explores - from a critical-dialectical perspective - the implications of globalization on educational policy through cross-border delivery of educational programmes by e-learning, with particular attention given to the threat of cultural imperialism. The paper concludes that Hong Kong seems to be coping with 'cultural imperialism' rather well because of its unique history of being a cross-road for East and West, and also with some recommendations to e-learning providers to mitigate the potential damage of cross-cultural delivery of e-learning.
[Copyright of International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning is the property of Athabasca University.
Access via Directory of Open Access Journals: http://www.irrodl.org]

This study outlines what 29 part-time adult learners perceive as effective teacher (tutor/instructor/lecturer) practice in supporting their learning. The positive characteristics of teacher support from the students' perspective are first examined, and then what they found to be disappointing. Finally, the underlying themes that emerge are considered and the data is subjected to a holistic interpretation. Overall, the study confirmed the usefulness of a framework developed from a consideration of literature on learner-centred education and students' conceptions of learning. The investigation was able to reveal both key differences between and key similarities among the groups of students. The differences relate to conceptions of the roles and responsibilities of both students and teachers, while the similarities relate to the relationships between the parties in the teaching and learning environment. The implications for tutors/lecturers in improving their support to their students are highly significant. However, the most challenging task in establishing a learner-centred context is to influence students' learning conceptions and help them take a more active role in their learning.
[Copyright of International Journal of Lifelong Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02601370210156754]