The teaching and learning of architectural heritage can play a vital role in engaging students in envisioning the past and nurturing their cultural identity. However, this endeavour often faces challenges stemming from limited access to heritage sites and varying levels of student interest in the subject matter. This project introduces an augmented reality (AR) book design that seamlessly integrates pop-up three-dimensional models with a dedicated mobile app, effectively illustrating the architectural designs of educational heritages in Hong Kong Central and Western District. An evaluative study was conducted to assess the usability of the AR book for architectural heritage education, which employed a mixed-methods design comprising questionnaire survey with heritage education undergraduate students (N = 80) and semi-structured interviews with a subset of the participants. The results revealed a favourable response to the use of AR technology for virtual representations of cultural heritage, alongside participants’ positive attitudes towards the virtual learning experience facilitated by the AR book. The findings of this study underscore the feasibility and potential benefits of integrating AR technology into architectural heritage education. This integration can offer digitally mediated learning experiences that actively engage young learners in the exploration and preservation of cultural heritage. Copyright © 2024 by the owner/author(s).

Information and communication technologies have been rapidly developing and are currently adopted in many aspects of people’s contemporary lives. With the goals to enhance students’ interest and motivation in learning as well as their academic performance, the field of education has also been attempting to utilize various forms of modern technologies in and outside of classrooms. Among different forms of technology, interactive technologies, such as AR technology, have been one of the fastest growing and most popular forms, owing to the high level of interaction and the brand-new experiences that can be provided. AR technologies provide the feature of 3D visualization of virtual objects which is highly applicable to high school education in geology and geography.This study explores using an AR sandbox, an AR technology device designed to help create topography models with sand. In real-time, augmentation can be done to visualize contour lines, simulated water, and elevations to help create physical features within the device. Current studies that explore the use of AR sandbox have focused mainly on the practical applications of the device in terms of design, execution, and implementation, and the effectiveness of the device in enhancing students’ learning performance and outcomes has rarely been studied. To measure students' performance, a pre-test and post-test assessment analysis, a questionnaire survey, and a semi-structured group interview were conducted to collect the relevant data. A total of 126 students from 7 local secondary schools were recruited to participate in the study. Students were randomly allocated to classes in two formats and two geographical topics, including a traditional class and an AR sandbox class to compare the traditional and interactive technology approaches in teaching. The two geographical topics were map reading and farming. To further understand how the device may improve students’ performance in class, the potential determinants of

Amid the imperative call for using digital artwork images and e-learning activities in planning and delivering the art curriculum heightened by rapid technological development and COVID-19, we propose a visual arts teacher–curator pedagogy and investigate its effectiveness in Hong Kong’s primary and secondary schools. The pedagogy is set out to empower visual arts teachers to assume the role of “digital museum curators” and to facilitate student learning using virtual exhibitions. Design-based research was the methodology adopted for the study. Six teachers and 331 students participated in the study in the 2021–2022 academic year. The study, which examined the effectiveness of the proposed pedagogy, revealed a substantial improvement in student learning, including (1) motivating students toward self-directed and active learning, (2) stimulating artmaking ideas and skills, and (3) enhancing students’ confidence through peer learning. Copyright © 2024 National Art Education Association.

This study aims to investigate whether the flexible-learning approach may or may not foster student engagement in learning music history at the tertiary level. This approach provides students with a certain degree of autonomy in terms of deciding what to learn and how that learning should be assessed. Hence, it is highly learner-centred and deemed effective in cultivating students’ learning interests. The flexible-learning approach has received global attention in recent years, particularly in Europe, where both policymakers and teachers in higher education have borrowed it for the purposes of curriculum planning and course design. To determine the impact of the flexible-learning approach on music history education, this study employed a retrospective post-pre survey in order to measure students’ learning engagement. The results demonstrate that a flexible-learning approach can effectively enhance students’ motivation in learning, implying that a single music history course does not need to stick to the traditional linear design, but should provide multiple trajectories for students to learn according to their interests and abilities. Copyright © 2023 The Education University of Hong Kong.

This study aimed at using a mixture of direct observations and interviews to investigate kindergarten teachers' knowledge and pedagogical approaches to visual arts. An adapted version of the Early Childhood Teacher Behaviour Observation (ECTBO) instrument was used to investigate the possible reasons for teachers' current behaviours in Hong Kong visual arts classrooms. In an observation study, a total of 18 classrooms with 76 children in two local kindergartens in Hong Kong were observed during a 30-min visual arts activity. Altogether, 540 min of video data were recorded and analysed using field notes and a time sampling strategy. In addition, 18 class teachers from the observed classrooms were invited to give post-observation interviews, and 810 min of data were recorded. The interview participants supported the importance of non-directive early childhood arts. However, the observation findings revealed that they still relied heavily on directive teaching in implementing early visual arts teaching. Thus, a discrepancy was found between the teachers’ subject matter knowledge in visual arts and the integration of their pedagogies in their actual classroom practice. The findings of this study in a local setting have the potential to significantly change the way in which early childhood visual arts teaching is conceptualised and discussed in international contexts. Copyright © 2023 Elsevier.

Although visual arts teachers have free access to high quality online artwork images offering them immense teaching resources, making meaningful use of them remains a pedagogical challenge. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the transition from face-to-face to online teaching caused an immediate need for teachers to enhance their digital competencies and technological capability for planning and delivering a blended art curriculum. Herein, I propose a ‘teacher-curator pedagogy’ via a study in six primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong to assess its effectiveness. The study took place in the academic year of 2021-22 with 331 student participants. The proposed pedagogy puts visual arts teachers in the role of ‘digital curators’ who create virtual exhibitions for teaching art appreciation and artmaking. This paper addresses the theoretical framework, implementation strategies, and the results of the study highlighting its effectiveness, impact and limitations on teaching when using teacher-curated virtual exhibitions in both physical and virtual learning contexts. It was found that the technological capacity and confidence of the teacher participants was enhanced through the use of online resources and virtual exhibition tools. Making use of the 3D presentation of exhibits in themes and context through digital content curation, the teachers engaged students with deep interaction through the blending of online and face-to-face teaching. However, the proposed pedagogy was limited by the high demand of training and preparation work, hardware and software support, and difficulties in assessing and monitoring learning beyond class. Copyright © 2023 The Authors.

Adopting the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this sequential mixed-methods research investigates Hong Kong kindergarten teachers’ reported beliefs and practices regarding early visual arts education (EVAE). The qualitative part (Phase 1) is an interview study of 19 kindergarten teachers in two focus groups, aiming to develop a conceptual structure of teachers’ behavioural, normative and control beliefs. The quantitative part (Phase 2) is a survey study of 243 teachers from the randomly sampled 21 kindergartens regarding their EVAE beliefs and practices. Most teachers believe in child-centred teaching while practising teacher-directed instruction and support creativity while delivering closed-ended instruction. Four influential factors are identified to account for this gap: (1) practising child-centred pedagogies as a result of behavioural beliefs; (2) undervaluing visual arts as a result of normative beliefs; (3) instructing children directly as a result of normative beliefs; and (4) delivering subject knowledge in studio teaching as a result of control beliefs. These findings imply that Hong Kong kindergarten teachers struggle between two approaches and suffer from a lack of support from educational authorities and society. There is an urgent need to develop appropriate practices for visual arts education in Hong Kong kindergartens. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This study analysed the content of 30 in-service primary school music teachers’ lesson plans for mobile music creation during a 5-week professional development course from 2019 to 2022 in Hong Kong. During the course, the teachers were taught by the researcher on how to use the mobile application GarageBand in their instructional design for classroom music teaching. Various mobile learning pedagogies were discussed during the course to facilitate listening, performing and creating in music teaching and learning. As a learning outcome of this course, the teachers were asked to upload their lesson plans to the Knowledge Transfer website to exchange ideas for further discussion and professional sharing with other in-service teachers from their respective schools. The purpose of this study was to provide an analysis of their teaching plans based on previously published research on mobile learning and motivation. This study aimed to a) deepen the understanding of music lessons in mobile music creation, and b) analysing the lesson plans and suggesting how different teaching strategies and approaches can be used in classroom teaching. Based on the results of the study, a pedagogical model is proposed as a reference point for knowledge exchange in the research and practice of music education. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s).

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed challenges to education systems around the world, resulting in a ‘new normal’ for school music education in which teaching and learning can no longer rely only on conventional classroom practices. Concerns have also been raised over music teachers’ digital competencies, given the perceived importance of the use of technology within the new educational landscape. This article presents the results of a study that examined the challenges and experiences associated with the digital competencies of music teachers during the pandemic period. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with full-time music teachers (N = 18), all of whom taught music as a subject at mainstream primary or secondary schools in Hong Kong. The findings revealed challenges and upskilling of music teachers during the lockdown period, including the technological constraints imposed by the school and the online environment, how they made use of technology to teach music online, and the different ways they developed their digital competencies. Alongside with the catalyst effect of the pandemic that stimulated their upskilling, curriculum changes in teacher training programmes are necessary to better prepare music teachers for the digital transformation of music education and future challenges under the post-pandemic ‘new normal’ situation. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s).