Research reveals that generic skills are essential for supporting students to not only finish school education but also achieve transition to the workplace and adult life. However, a comprehensive literature review found limited studies have been done to develop an assessment tool for examining the generic skills of students with special educational needs (SEN). Based on two sub-studies, the current study aimed to develop a short form of the Generic Skills Teacher-Rating Scale (GSTS) to assess six generic skills (i.e., Collaboration, Communication, Problem-solving, Self-management, Information Technology, Critical thinking) of SEN students. A total of 231 Hong Kong students from six special schools (including primary and secondary levels) participated in the two studies. Both CFA and Rasch analyses support a six-factor solution of the GSTS with reasonably good model fit indices. Researchers and educators may view the GSTS as an assessment tool, adding more information on SEN students’ generic skills beyond classroom settings to understand the daily-life functioning of students in special education and inclusive education settings. Implications of the results and future directions are also discussed. Copyright © 2022 The Special Education Society of Hong Kong Ltd.

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a senior technology acceptance model (STAM) aimed at understanding the acceptance of gerontechnology by older Hong Kong Chinese people. The proposed STAM extended previous technology acceptance models and theories by adding age-related health and ability characteristics of older people. The proposed STAM was empirically tested using a cross-sectional questionnaire survey with a sample of 1012 seniors aged 55 and over in Hong Kong. The result showed that STAM was strongly supported and could explain 68% of the variance in the use of gerontechnology. For older Hong Kong Chinese, individual attributes, which include age, gender, education, gerontechnology self-efficacy and anxiety, and health and ability characteristics, as well as facilitating conditions explicitly and directly affected technology acceptance. These were better predictors of gerontechnology usage behaviour (UB) than the conventionally used attitudinal factors (usefulness and ease of use).Practitioner Summary: Previous studies have not given much consideration to age-related health and associated abilities when examining acceptance of technology by the ageing population. By encompassing conventional technology acceptance constructs together with age-related health and ability characteristics, the present study was able to identify more factors affecting gerontechnology acceptance by older Hong Kong Chinese.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2014.895855]