Under the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 worldwide, students were forced to switch from face-to-face to online learning. This study reports the experience of Hong Kong students in higher education concerning the challenges they faced, the strategies they used and the support they needed in their online learning during the period. An online questionnaire was used to invite students to answer open-ended questions about these three aspects. 145 students from two higher education institutions completed the questionnaire and their comments were coded using thematic analysis. The study has discovered that socio-economic factors may have presented difficulties to students' online learning concerning their study environment and access to equipment. Students were emotionally distressed by online learning, particularly by the quality of feedback and clarity of course arrangement, so support for these aspects should be given. Self-regulated learning strategies were found to have been deployed by students to facilitate their learning, in which the use of time management apps and lecture videos highlights the increasing importance of technology to self study. These socio-economic, technological and emotional factors will be further discussed and corresponding suggestions will be made to help teachers and university policy makers examine the conditions that can help improve and promote online learning for higher education students under COVID-19. Copyright ©2021 Springer.

For performing arts education, Sage on the stage and Learn from the Masters were halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and so did everything else. All lectures, tutorials and other face-to-face skill-based training sections were cancelled and were replaced by the online model. Such a model was only seen as one of the supplementary components for performing arts education in the past. From January 2020, this online pedagogy was inevitably placed to surmount the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The social distancing measures demanded the blended pedagogy into a new online approach, in which the traditional face-to-face teaching to be replaced by synchronous online learning (facilitated by technologies such as Zoom, Cisco Webex, Google Class, Panopto etc.). Meanwhile, to offer opportunities for cognitive participation which allows students to process the learning and be reflective, webinar and innovative performance projects were launched from the concept of ‘flipped classroom and outcome-based education.’ This mixed approach (blended learning, flipped classroom, and outcome-based education) is described as ‘hybrid learning’ in this study.The ‘hybrid learning’ pedagogy is implemented at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) for all teaching activities in the 2nd semester 2020/2021 to overcome the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. A questionnaire survey about how it affected the performing arts education, and how the new pedagogy was implemented took place in July 2020. The survey results from both the teachers (76) and students (163) share lessons, insights, and new understandings on teaching and learning online. Hybrid learning has been widely investigated and researched, yet study on hybrid learning in performing arts such as creative art, theatre art and music, remains insufficient. This study fills the research gap. Copyright © 2021 Springer Nature B.V.

With the advancement of technology, eLearning is increasingly adopted as an instructional method in a wide range of educational settings and has opened up new possibilities in teaching and learning practices. However, there is insufficient empirical evidence to illustrate how eLearning benefits teaching and learning practice in its real-world applications. Therefore, an important question is raised--How can eLearning technology facilitate pedagogical advancement practically in the classroom? In this study, we focus on constructivist pedagogies, emphasizing the dramatic educational reform from teacher-centered pedagogy to a student-centered, constructivist approach. Based on observations of 79 eLearning classes in eight primary schools, four secondary schools, and two special education schools in Hong Kong, this study illustrates how eLearning technology can advance at least five constructivist pedagogies: 1) active learning, 2) student-centered learning, 3) peer learning, 4) personalized learning, and 5) differentiated learning. We illustrate that the interactive, self-paced, repetitious, and customizable features of eLearning systems facilitate the implementation of these five constructivist pedagogies. Successful examples from classroom observations are drawn to illustrate how teachers make practical use of eLearning technology. This article serves to stimulate further discussion on how eLearning can be applied across various settings to advance the effectiveness of constructivist pedagogies and to encourage practitioners to consider how to make use of eLearning technology in the classroom. Copyright © 2021 Springer.

The current paper examined the effects of A Balanced Reading Approach for Children Always Designed to Achieve Best Results for All (ABRA), a web-based literacy programme developed by the the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (CSLP) at Concordia University, on primary school children in Hong Kong. The participants were 249 Primary 1 students from two low social economic status schools in Hong Kong and the two schools were well-matched on many demographic characteristics. All participating students were pre-tested in the fall and post-tested in the following spring. After adjusting for pretest differences, the treatment school scored significantly higher than the controls on three of the six outcome measures at post-tests: phoneme-grapheme correspondence (ES = +0.22, p < 0.05), phoneme segmentation (ES = +0.46, p < 0.00), and nonsense word fluency (ES = +0.22, p < 0.06). Both treatment and control students scored similarly on word reading, listening comprehension, and initial sound fluency. The outcomes of the study provides some promising evidence of the effects of ABRA on Chinese primary students in Hong Kong, especially on the enhancement of phonological skills, thus leading to early success in the formative years of learning English as a Second Language (ESL). Practical implications are discussed.
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Peer teaching and learning are learner-centred approaches with great potential for promoting effective learning, and the fast development of Web 2.0 technology has opened new doors for promoting peer teaching and learning. In this study, we aim to establish peer teaching and learning among students by employing a Wikibook project in the course 'Introduction to Linguistics' in the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Students were asked to work in groups to write an academic book online, and the Wikibook technology allows students to peer-edit and peer-comment on each other's academic works online. Peer teaching sessions were arranged as well based on the content of the Wikibook. To determine students' perceptions on peer teaching and learning occurring in the course, two surveys and follow-up interviews were conducted. The findings suggest that the Wikibook project is an effective way to promote peer teaching and learning in higher education.
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