This paper is a report of a cross-cultural online collaboration between two cohorts of pre-service teachers in Hong Kong, China and an American university in St. Paul, Minnesota. It explicates the pedagogical design and implementation of online tools for group collaboration and students' perceptions of the benefits and challenges. Multiple web-based tools (e.g. Slack, Zoom) were selected and recommended to the students to facilitate resource sharing, communication, and artefact construction. Overall, students valued the experience of collaborating in a global virtual team in spite of some challenges encountered. Findings from this study indicated that the merits and perils of cross-cultural online collaboration coexisted and centered on three aspects: cross-cultural communication, group collaboration, and technological tools. The students greatly appreciated the values of online tools and manifested the ability to appropriate the tools to fulfill the needs of group work. The implications for pedagogical design are also discussed and technological tools supporting cross-cultural online collaboration are recommended. Copyright © 2021 Springer.

In recent years, research using learning analytics to predict learning outcomes has begun to increase. This emerging field of research advocates the use of readily-available data to inform teaching and learning. The current case study adopts a learning analytics approach to evaluate the online learning package of an academic English course in a university in Hong Kong. This study aims to (1) explore the completion pattern of use of the online learning package by students in a generic undergraduate academic skills course; and (2) predict student outcomes based on their online behaviour patterns. Over three academic years, the study examined usage logs for 7000+ students that were available on the university's learning management system. Student assessment component scores, online activity completion rates, and online behavioural patterns were identified and examined using descriptive analysis, bivariate correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis. The findings reveal insights into different online learning behavioural patterns that would benefit blended course designers. For instance, some students started using the online learning package early in the semester but fulfilled only the minimum required online work, whereas others greatly exceeded the basic requirement and continued doing activities in the online package even after the semester had finished. The relationship between learning activities in the online package and assessment component grades was found to be weak but meaningful. A regression model was developed drawing on the completion rates to predict overall student scores, and this model successfully identified several specific factors, such as total number of attempts and performance in individual online learning activities, as predictors of the final course grade.
[Copyright of Electronic Journal of e-Learning is the property of Academic Conferences and Publishing International Ltd.]

As one of the essential skills for success in work and studies, English communication is often made a key component in the GE curriculum of tertiary study programmes. In addition to the provision of required English proficiency courses, many tertiary institutions have established English centres of some description to promote English learning on campus. Yet from students' perspective, what kinds of programmes and activities should be offered, and how they feel about these initiatives is not very widely discussed in the existing literature. This paper aims to address these questions with practical experiences gained from a project to establish an English language enhancement centre by one self-financing tertiary institution in Hong Kong. Funded by the Quality Enhancement Support Scheme (QESS), the centre, titled the Centre for Academic and Professional Language Enhancement (CAPLE), was set up in March 2016. Cognizant of the benefits of life-wide learning, independent learning and collaborative peer learning, CAPLE offers a series of workshops and various kinds of English and culture learning activities that adopt these pedagogical approaches. Centre usage figures and user feedback were continuously collected for evaluative purposes. Data collected through student diaries, online surveys, usage records of the online programmes and other resources and a focus group interview showed varying levels of popularity of different types of workshops/activities, suggesting there is a need for programme designers to have a more realistic view about students' actual English learning needs and learning motivation. Recommendations are made accordingly for more economical use of resources.
[Copyright of English Language Teaching is the property of Canadian Center of Science and Education]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report the design and evaluation of an inter-university collaborative project entitled "Blended learning for building student-teachers' capacity to learn and teach science-related interdisciplinary subjects." The project is a response of the science education faculty of three Hong Kong tertiary institutes to the challenge of catering to the diversity of academic backgrounds among student-teachers. Design/methodology/approach: E-learning modules have been produced covering four content domains of science. These modules are designed based on the 5E learning model and are delivered to students using the learning management system provided by Moodle. The design of the modules is iterative, based on the evaluation of three consecutive rounds of trials through student surveys, and focus group interviews with students and course lecturers. Findings: The evaluation findings indicate positive outcomes for certain attributes such as conceptual understanding, eagerness and confidence in learning science, and metacognitive reflection on students' own learning. There are challenges to be met in relation to instructional design to cater for the diversity of student abilities, and enhance motivation in self-directed learning. Practical implications: The project indicates the ways to develop students' basic science knowledge in a mixed-ability setting through the design of self-directed e-learning modules blended with their major courses and possible measures to address the limitations of such design. Originality/value: The study represents a conscious effort for the science teacher education faculty of different universities to pull together to tackle a perennial teaching and learning problem. The findings provide important insights into possible ways to blend e-learning with face-to-face learning approaches to better cater to the needs of science learners with mixed abilities to prepare them for interdisciplinary teaching.
[Copyright ©

This paper aims to examine how Lesson Study of an initial teacher education course develops the instructional design competency of pre-service teachers in Hong Kong. Lesson Study is a collaborative action research approach for developing teacher professional competency. This study assesses the effectiveness of the Lesson Study course conducted in a teacher education institute that based on a quasi-experimental design. There were 341 pre-service teachers participated to a questionnaire survey. Confirmatory factor analysis and reliability test were used to confirm the constructed validity and reliability of the survey instrument. Canonical correlation was applied to explore the relationship between the approaches of their learning process and their learning outcomes. Results show that action research tutorials and collaborative practice are predictors of their instructional design skills and teaching competency. This paper discusses the critical success factors and the potential for using Lesson Study as a model to help pre-service teachers develop their teaching competency.
[Copyright © Time Taylor Academic Journals].

We are presenting the fruit of our collaboration in the context of the T&T Project --- a publicly-funded inter-institutional collaborative initiative for all academic and professional staff in Hong Kong’s HE institutions. Project mission is to pull together human and instructional resources from all institutions in a collaborative effort in promoting, fostering and advancing quality teaching and learning. We are going to share with conference participants the following: · Designing and conducting sessions on IT in teaching and learning for academic and professional staff from all tertiary institutions in Hong Kong, in particular on: · formatting and layout of text · digital graphics · perfecting presentation skills · other digital media for enhancing teaching and learning · Designing and producing for colleagues’ use self-instructional multimedia packages for enabling IT self-sufficiency (in CD-ROM format) · Initiating audio and video streaming for the “T&T Project Website” and related on-line multimedia packages.
[Copyright © 2000 The Association for Advancement of Computing in Education]

This paper presents an evaluation study of an innovative and theory-based initial teacher education course entitled Learning Study, the aim of which is to develop the instructional design and teaching competency of pre-service teachers in Hong Kong. The Learning Study course is offered to all second year students as part of the Bachelor of Education programme of the biggest teacher education institute in Hong Kong. The course comprises a series of theory-based tutorials, supportive consultation meetings, and a research lesson practicum. To assess the effectiveness of the course, a framework of representation, decomposition, and approximation of practices was adopted to describe and analyse the teaching of practice. A total of 341 pre-service teachers participated in a quasi-experimental design questionnaire survey. A structural equation model was applied to explore the relationship between the activities of their learning process and their learning outcomes. Theory-based tutorials, consultative support, and research practicums are confirmed to be the predictors of learning outcomes which include instructional design skills, teaching competency, and clinical experience. This paper proposes Learning Study as a model to help pre-service teachers develop their instructional design skills and teaching competency.
[Copyright of Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1359866X.2013.869546]

How can transnational education (TNE) programs be made more effective? According to the literature, no one is in a better position to comment on this question than the students themselves. At the same time, there is a recognized scarcity in the literature of student input into the issue of transnational program effectiveness. In consideration of this need, a research study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of TNE programs from the student perspective. To this end, transnational students' views on the various dimensions of the TNE context were used as a key indicator of the effectiveness of transnational programs. The evaluated dimensions included student, instructor, curriculum and instruction design, interaction, evaluation and assessment, technology, and program management, and organisational support. Data for the study was collected from approximately five hundred transnational students participating in eight transnational undergraduate computing programs offered by four Australian universities in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. Overall, students from the eight different programs considered in this study were in agreement as to the factors they perceived as most important to the effectiveness of transnational programs. As anticipated and confirmed by the literature, students were of the view that their own motivation, self-discipline, and the ability to work independently, as well as in a team, was a pre-condition of an effective program. With respect to instructors, students attached the greatest importance to the instructors' ability to understand program requirements and student needs, use communication skills effectively, and be well prepared and organized. They were also in agreement regarding the importance of instructors' experience with technology- based programs and their ability to provide well-designed syllabus and presentation outlines. The relevance of the curriculum to job and career was perceived as the most important aspect of