Purpose: This study aimed to identify the professional development needs of academics in Hong Kong higher education for the use of educational technology. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was conducted in 2017, which involved 374 academics from Hong Kong higher education institutions. The survey covered their perception and use of educational technology for professional activities and their relevant professional development needs. Findings: The results showed an overall positive perception by the academics of the usefulness of online learning with the aid of technology, which was regarded as an effective complement to face-to-face learning. However, their use of educational technology focused only on general online applications, such as document and video-sharing tools, and e-learning platforms. Among various professional development needs, those related to the use of specific educational software with sharing of practical examples were considered to be most highly desired by the academics. In addition, the academics working in lecturer positions tended to use more online applications and had a higher need for professional development, than those with more teaching experience. Originality/value: The findings contribute to identifying the current status of the use of educational technology and the professional development needs among academics in Hong Kong, as well as the differences between academics in different job positions and with different amounts of teaching experience. The results help in designing suitable professional development activities which address the specific needs of academics.
[Copyright of Interactive Technology and Smart Education is the property of Emerald Publishing Limited.]

Out-of-class exposure to and use of the target language mediated by technological resources are essential to language learning, as foreign language learners very often encounter difficulty in accessing and processing target language in the immediate physical environments. Understanding how foreign language learners' out-of-class self-directed technology-enhanced language learning experience interacts with their learning beliefs helps inform educators of how these learners could be supported to take advantage of technological resources to enrich language learning. Interview responses from 20 undergraduate foreign language learners at a university in Hong Kong were elicited to shed light on the issue. It was found that learners' language learning beliefs and technological behaviors had a two-way cyclical interaction, and the interaction was manifested in both the nature of technological resources these learners used and the way they interacted with the resources. Furthermore, the interaction between the two was context-dependent and subject to the influence of the characteristics of self-directed out-of-class technology-enhanced language learning and associated self-concept and affective factors. The study calls for a contextualized and systemic approach towards supporting foreign language learners' autonomous technology-enhanced language learning beyond the classroom.
[Copyright of Language Awareness is the property of Routledge.]

This study investigates how a class of university music students who engaged in a 'lived' experience of informal learning adopted methods and strategies to complete a self-learning 'aural copying' performance assignment in a musicianship class in Hong Kong. Data were collected from observations of the performances and the students' written reflections. The findings showed that they used the methods of intensive listening, using technology, and collaborative learning, as well as the strategies of putting their knowledge of music theory into practice, substitution of instruments, and learning a new instrument in order to emulate the sounds of various instruments. They found this an interesting task that gave them opportunities to improve their musicianship, and they became more sensitive to different voice parts.
[Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 ]

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.

An international school may make organisational choices that divide the school by curriculum, grade-level, language and location. This article explores how a school's organisational stratification impacts how the school supports changing teaching and learning practices through technology. The article draws from case data of technology integration specialists at international schools in Hong Kong. A variety of organisational sections and responses to imbalances in technological pedagogical support between sections are presented. The findings highlight how stratification may not only act as an appropriate valve for change and facilitate intercultural exchange through technology but also perpetuate existing inequalities within and between schools.
[Copyright of Globalisation, Societies & Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2014.965010]

This article presents information related to "The Science & Technology Education Conference," (STEC) that is a biennial event held in late June or early July at The Hong Kong Institute of Education. Started in 1996 as a small symposium for teacher educators and members of the Education Department (now Education and Manpower Bureau), it has since grown into a full two-day conference with keynote speakers, paper presentations, demonstrations and workshops. The conference focuses on primary and secondary science teaching as well as subjects relating to the discipline of design & technology (D&T).
[Copyright © 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers.]

This article describes the development and research process to support Hong Kong primary school pupils in constructing understanding of the motion of the Earth with integration of information technology in teaching and learning. The design of the research mainly addresses the call for further integration of information technology into the learning and teaching process as enshrined in the second Information Technology in Education strategy in Hong Kong, as well as to support teachers in the design of inquiry learning for the new General Studies lessons. A web-based learning unit is developed with consideration of inquiry learning and integrating IT in teaching and learning. Analysis of different ways of teaching with the web-based learning unit in primary classrooms is reported, and comparison of pre-lesson test and post-lesson test are conducted to study pupils' learning outcome.

Mathematics is widely perceived as an abstract subject to learn. However, information technology can be used as a tool for enhancing the students' understanding of the abstract concepts behind and also arousing their interest in learning a variety of topics of mathematics. This paper reports the design and implementation of Java and Flash programs for teaching and learning elementary number theory in the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Illustrative examples with screen dumps for topics such as Greatest Common Divisors, Eratosthenes Sieve, Prime Number Distributions and the Chinese Remainder Theorem will be provided.
[Copyright © 2001 The Association for Advancement of Computing in Education.]