A SCERTS model-based intervention with different durations (5-month vs. 10-month) was provided to 122 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (age = 53.43 ± 9.05 months) in Hong Kong. Before and after the intervention, the children were assessed with the Chinese Psychoeducational Profile-Third Edition (CPEP-3) and the Developmental Assessment Chart (DAC). Educators and parents expressed their views toward the intervention in focus groups. Results showed that participating children improved significantly in their social communication and emotional behavior after the intervention, as measured by DAC and CPEP-3. Likewise, educators and parents had positive views toward the intervention and noted the children’s improvement. The results suggest that a SCERTS model-based intervention can improve social communication, emotional regulation, and other skills in children with ASD.
[Copyright of Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders is the property of Springer New York LLC. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3649-z]

Partial fraction decomposition is a useful technique often taught at senior secondary or undergraduate levels to handle integrations, inverse Laplace transforms or linear ordinary differential equations, etc. In recent years, an improved Heaviside's approach to partial fraction decomposition was introduced and developed by the author. An important feature of this approach is that there is no need to solve a system of linear equations or to use differentiations to find the unknown coefficients of the partial fractions. In order to study its potential application in mathematics education at the undergraduate level, a pilot study of tryout at the Hong Kong Institute of Education has been conducted. The data are collected via quizzes, questionnaires and face-to-face interviews. In this article, the results and implications will be discussed. In general, according to the responses and feedbacks from the instructors and students concerned, the improved Heaviside approach is suitable to be introduced at the undergraduate level, as an alternative to the method of undetermined coefficients described in common undergraduate mathematics textbooks.
[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/10.1080/0020739X.2012.662292]

This paper reports the progress of a pilot project exploring the integration of a collaborative virtual learning environment (Second Life) with the instruction of English courses at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. An educational partnership was developed with two TESOL teacher-training courses at Texas A&M University in the US. The project enrolled over 200 participants, with about half from each participating university. Coordination of online activities was done using the Moodle learning management system. A large non-traditional language learning facility was developed in the Second Life virtual environment in the style of a 1950's American diner on a private island, complete with Cadillac booths, traditional diner booths and tables, and outdoor campfire settings to facilitate conversational groupings. Both IM typed chat and VOIP voice interactions were explored inside the virtual environment. Student behavior observed during the study indicates the conditions which result in the most productive interactions, and also highlights several key problem areas which must be addressed before successful interactions can be achieved. This paper presents a process which has been developed and trialed, and the plans at Lingnan University to adopt it on a wider scale to support the development of language skills.
[Copyright of Electronic Journal of E-Learning is the property of Academic Conferences Ltd.
Access via Directory of Open Access Journals: http://www.ejel.org/main.html]

As learning technologies increasingly facilitate the internationalisation of subject offerings, it becomes correspondingly important to try and ensure that the needs of diverse student groups are met, and to provide for ongoing improvement of their learning experiences. A variety of evaluation procedures is valuable in this respect, but particularly those that illuminate these experiences. This kind of information provides a rich source of data for teachers to use as a basis for reflective practice to inform the continuing refinement of teaching and learning approaches, and curriculum development. The nature of reflective practice also allows for its inclusion in the students' learning processes, thus simultaneously providing a means for improving the quality of their learning and contributing to their future professional lives, whilst offering a further set of perspectives to inform subject development.
This paper describes the use of reflective practice as a practical means of converging a range of non-positivist approaches to inform the teaching of a core undergraduate accounting subject; offered in Australia to on-campus students, distance education students and Victorian Year 13 school students, as well as to overseas students in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. It also shows that demands by the accounting profession for universities to improve learning to cope with the ambiguity and uncertainty inherent within professional life can be met, in part, by reflective practice.
[Copyright of Australian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ascilite) at http://www.ascilite.org.au]

The present study was aimed at investigating the perception of teaching and learning of kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong. Despite the philosophical vision of early childhood education, a firm traditional kind of instruction, with emphasis on planning, preparation and external judgment, was perceived as an important indicator for good teaching. Moreover, teachers tended to focus on and describe their own actions as teachers rather than the actions of pupils. There was a shift from children's agenda to the teacher's agenda. A very different role of the teacher, in contrast to the philosophy of early childhood education, was recorded. The vision of developmentally appropriate early childhood education has not been well acknowledged by kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong. It is argued that challenge to their prior beliefs on teaching and learning will facilitate their future professional development.
[Copyright of Early Child Development and Care is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0300443022000022396]

The field experience component in a teacher education programme serves both a gate-keeping function and a formative purpose that supports student teacher development. The authors were members of a research team which took care of the re-design of the assessment instrument for the field experience component of a teacher education programme, as well as conducting a pilot implementation test. The new assessment instrument, referred to as a Professional Development Progress Map, was developed with reference to the professional standards formulated by an official teacher education policy advisory body. This paper looks into the comments of the users, that is the supervisors and the student teachers (or participants, as in-service teachers were involved in the pilot implementation test) after the pilot implementation test. Findings suggest difficulties in using the Progress Map as a summative assessment instrument regarding the determination of grades and levels, making judgements based on observable performance and collection of evidence, and difficulty in assessing the domain 'Involvement in Education Community'. The discussion highlights the dilemma related to the use of professional standards as summative assessment instruments, and how users may be re-orientated to enhance the formative purpose. The paper concludes with suggestions on prudent use of the Progress Map.
[Copyright of Teacher Development is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13664530802259289]

Recent reform in the Hong Kong senior secondary education has awakened the need for a balanced and comprehensive learning experience in the academic, vocational, organizational, social service, arts and sports domains to prepare students for employment, for learning and for life. Following on from its recommendation, the Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) launched a programme—the Career-Oriented Diversified Curriculum (CODC) in 2003, renamed the Career-Oriented Curriculum (COC) in early 2004, with the purpose of providing students with the opportunity to explore their possible directions for further study, and to fulfil their career aspirations. This study attempts to examine the effectiveness of, and the issues involved in, the first phase of implementing a CODC programme in a class of 32 senior Secondary 4¹ students from 19 different schools. The results suggest that providing a diversified career-oriented curriculum is an alternative way to widen a student's learning horizon. Course providers and students agreed that the participants enjoyed the CODC pilot programme more than they did mainstream subjects. They also found that the programme was useful and relevant for future employment.
[Copyright of Journal of Vocational Education and Training is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13636820600591529]