The present study is the first empirical research in Hong Kong to evaluate a peer career counselling programme consisting of a 3.5-day training and a school-based service project. Using a quasi-experimental design, the evaluation was based on the Career Readiness Scales ratings at three waves of data collection. Results showed that the programme was effective in enhancing peer counsellors' career readiness. The effect came mainly from the training and less from the service project.

The curriculum for journalism is being forced to change because the traditional print-based and broadcast modes are being challenged by wide and easy access to online mass communication. Primarily, students need to develop proficiency in writing, editing and publishing. However, they are also expected to be skilled in the Web medium as they venture into their careers, and weblogs offer a dynamic platform to develop these skills. Based on a statistical summary of student comments on the performance criteria for a blog project, a focus group interview and survey results, this paper will discuss the findings from the introduction of a course-based blog to an undergraduate course in Hong Kong, including: (1) the technical challenge of making Web features; (2) the perception of proficiency in online publishing; (3) the evaluative skills developed through a peer-review process; and (4) the development of a learning community through writing in blogs.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02602930903229868]

The Research Assessment Exercises (RAEs) in hugely expanded universities in Britain and Hong Kong attempt mammoth scale ratings of "quality of research." If peer review on that scale is feasible for "quality of research," is it less so for "quality of teaching"? The lessons of the Hong Kong Teaching and Learning Quality Process Reviews (TLQPRs), of recent studies on the influence of grade expectation and workload on student ratings, of attempts to employ agency theory both to improve teaching quality and raise student ratings, and of institutional attempts to refine the peer review process, all suggest that we can "put teaching on the same footing as research" and include professional regard for teaching content and objectives, as well as student ratings of effectiveness and personality appeal, in the process.
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Access via Directory of Open Access Journals: http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/]

This paper focuses on peer feedback in relation to assessment processes. It examines the rationale for peer feedback, emphasizing its potential for enhanced student learning. We draw on relevant literature to argue that the dominance of peer assessment processes using grades can undermine the potential of peer feedback for improving student learning. The paper throws further light on the issue by drawing on a large-scale questionnaire survey of tertiary students (1740) and academics (460) in Hong Kong, supplemented by interview data. The findings indicate that a significant number of academics and students resist peer assessment using grades and that the majority report that students never or rarely grade each other in assessment activities. This paper explores why there is resistance, in particular, by academics to peer assessment and argues the case for a peer feedback process as an end in itself or as a precursor to peer assessment insolving the awarding of marks, It also recommends some strategies for promoting peer feedback, through engaging students with criteria and for embedding peer involvement within normal course processes.
[Copyright of Teaching in Higher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13562510600680582]

A number of studies have examined the process and product of writing instruction under different conditions. Fewer studies have investigated the development of knowledge and its relationship to writing performance. While some writers may be able to draw upon knowledge of text in their writing, others do not possess this knowledge and yet others may possess the knowledge but fail to draw on it. This study explores the development of and relationship between declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge among a group of 36 Hong Kong Chinese ESL learners in a three-month university writing course. The interaction of awareness of writing effectiveness with writing performance was investigated. Subjects of high and low English proficiency were put in either self- or peer-editing groups. They wrote reflective journals demonstrating their awareness of effective writing of short paragraphs and complete essays. Results suggested that both awareness of and ability in effective writing were enhanced after the course. High proficiency students and peer-editing groups demonstrated greater awareness and performed better in the writing tasks. Knowing and doing in ESL writing were found to be significantly related among proficient and peer-editing groups.
[Copyright of Language Awareness is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.2167/la365/0]