This paper discusses the pedagogical strategies of blended learning to teach Hong Kong school teachers mixed methods research. The authors examine the implications of blending traditional teaching and more updated learning strategies with e-Learning, small group work, peer interaction, and role plays, to increase student comprehension and execution of mixed methods research. The authors utilise a case study to illustrate the blended approach in teaching mixed methods research.

This chapter examines eduplay, an educational form of play with Chinese characteristics, as a means of promoting social competence and play-based counselling in early childhood. Although the policies of the Hong Kong government increasingly require a play-based curriculum, many teachers and parents believe that play will detract from academics. However, the term "eduplay" was first introduced in Rao's article (2009), a form of play-based education with "Chinese characteristics" which captures the beliefs of teachers and parents about what should happen and occurs in Chinese early childhood settings (Rao & Li, 2009). Eduplay is a method of learning by playing, an approach that may be more acceptable to teachers and parents in Hong Kong. Results from an experimental study of preschools are presented, showing that eduplay was successful in reducing two problem behaviours, namely clinging and demanding attention. These results have implications for incorporating meaningful play into a play-based curriculum.
[Copyright © 2016 Taylor and Francis.]

This case study examines how blended learning professional development for teaching staff is driven and implemented in the Faculty of Education and Human Development (FEHD) at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK). Professional development at EdUHK was first implemented by equipping teaching staff with the technical knowhow to incorporate blended learning into their teaching practices. This Institute-based attempt resulted in a growing number of teaching staff using blended learning. The technology-driven professional development approach was rethought to encourage more teaching staff to adopt blended learning in their courses. Based on strategies identified from the literature, a faculty-driven approach for professional development was developed in the FEHD. This approach included pedagogically focused capacity building strategies that aimed to enhance learning engagement and outcomes and scale up blended learning practices in the faculty. Concerted efforts have also been made at both the institutional and faculty levels to create an environment conducive to supporting blended learning. Based on the challenges identified, future directions are discussed in this paper.
[Copyright © 2016 UNESCO.]

The book "ICT in Primary Education" within the IITE Analytical Surveys series has been out of print. This is the first publication in the framework of the UNESCO IITE three-year project "ICTs in primary education". It explores the origins, settings and initiatives of effective integration of up-to-date innovative technologies in primary school and accumulates the best practices of ICT incorporation gathered from the project sample primary schools across the globe. The analytical study was elaborated by a team of experts built by IITE from different institutions, networks and representing various regions of the world (Chile, Hong Kong, Hungary, Slovak Republic, South Africa, Russia, UAE and UK). The book contains a research literature review, a brief overview of the nine sample primary schools, an international review of ICTs in primary strategies, as well as the international collection of inspiring projects and initiatives. The publication is designed for teachers, educators, headmasters, school policy decision-makers, parents and everybody who cares about modern education for primary stage children.
[Copyright © 2012 UNESCO.]

The rapid advancement of technologies and their ubiquitous use in our daily lives have dramatically changed the way knowledge is created and disseminated. As a technology-enhanced pedagogical approach, blended learning – the deliberate combination of online learning with face-to-face classroom-based learning – provides higher education institutions (HEIs) with the opportunities to enhance the quality of teaching and learning. While many of these opportunities have been well-documented in the literature, implementing and scaling up blended learning courses pose enormous challenges for HEIs in the Asia-Pacific region. To address these challenges, UNESCO Bangkok in partnership with The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) launched a two-year project to build the capacity of HEIs for blended learning. One of the outcomes of the project was this book by a team of blended learning experts and leaders in the region. Blended Learning for Quality Higher Education presents a framework and self-assessment tool developed from a holistic view of building institutional capacity to drive, sustain, and scale up blended learning. It incorporates case studies from experienced HEIs in the region to demonstrate how the framework and its dimensions could be operationalised, and how the gaps identified in the self-assessment exercise could be addressed.
[Copyright © 2016 UNESCO.]

The paper aims to gain better understandings of preservice teachers’ social media integrations with various pedagogic strategies towards constructivist orientation for teaching practicum. A qualitative study of a group of preservice teachers integrating the social media for teaching in early childhood, primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong was conducted. A framework of pedagogy was integrated in the literature for exploration of preservice teachers’ teaching practices. The results reveal that YouTube social media was regarded as preservice teachers’ (1) common practices as part of initial pedagogic development; (2) social media integrations of various pedagogic strategies mainly towards didactic-oriented teaching instead of constructive-oriented one; and (3) preparedness in constructivist-oriented teaching with the YouTube social media integrations is needed. Implications for teacher educators and schools are discussed.
[Copyright © 2016 The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology.]

Based on the recognized status of the Hong Kong school system indicated in international studies, facilitating students with quality Integrated Learning (IL) is the crucial pedagogy for a new subject entitled Liberal Studies (LS) which has been implemented in secondary education in Hong Kong since 2009. This study uses case studies and semi-structured interviews of novice and experienced teachers to investigate the concerns and work of teachers in Small-Class Teaching (SCT) for IL in LS and explores how teacher leadership may help in terms of classroom context, learning community, improved practice, and outcome achievement. The findings reveal the common and diversified ideas and practices regarding SCT for IL in LS, which may provide valuable insights into teacher leadership for teachers and policy makers across the world.
[Copyright © 2016 SCHOLINK INC.]

The General Education Consolidation Course (GECC) is a capstone course in the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) which requires students approaching the end of their undergraduate studies both to reflect critically on their experience – within general education, in their disciplinary, professional and co-curricular studies, and in their lives beyond the classroom – and to develop an integrated view of how and where they position themselves in relation to their future goals, plans, and aspirations. The course is designed to help students to synthesize their learning experiences, by reflecting critically on the value and significance of what they have learned in their university years, making connections to their lives, and imagining their own futures. As a new course in its early stage of development, a high degree of flexibility and autonomy is allowed and indeed required of the GECC tutors to experiment with different learning and teaching strategies with the students to facilitate achievement of the course objectives. The structure of the GECC involves a number of experimental and innovative elements, including a strong student-centered orientation, guided group and independent learning, and the development of a comprehensive e-portfolio as the main assessment component. The authors of this paper have participated in the pilot run of this GECC in early 2015, before its full scale implementation in the fall of the same year. In this paper, we will reflect on our experiences in preparing and conducting the course, with particular focus on the uses of narrative learning and teaching strategies with the students. Our reflection and evaluation will be based on and substantiated by concrete examples of our students’ works and performance. We will also explore the potentials of adopting the reciprocal learning framework in the further development of this and other similar courses with strong student-centered orientation in higher education.

Reciprocal learning values the cooperative learning abilities of students. Learning takes place in different occasions when students help each other and receive immediate feedback from others. In doing so, it also helps the teacher to get a good sense of where students are with the lesson. Learning strategies it employs include student forming structured-learning teams, assigning roles, and using team building activities, etc. The core principle of such learning thus comes from peer teaching and coaching theories. This paper reports an attempt of using reciprocal learning in the higher education in Hong Kong. The discussion starts first from a review of the rationale of reciprocal learning, its effect and application in teacher education. Second, its effect and use in higher education in form of a case study in Hong Kong. Then, implications are made for teacher education in general. The course under investigation takes into consideration of reciprocal learning principles throughout the teaching and learning design. The learning concepts are incorporated into the construction of the classroom activities and assessment modes. Classroom activities using reciprocal ideas include personal storytelling and giving feedback. Students are encouraged to reflect on their past, share their experiences, and tell their life stories in class. Audiences respond by writing individual feedback to the storytellers. This allows for peer learning to take place among the students. When they are telling and listening the stories, they are at the same time learning from each other, performing both roles of learning and coaching at the same time. As one of the assignments, students are asked to write weekly journals throughout the course. An on-line learning platform is created for students to write the journal entries once a week and read their classmates’ journal entries and give feedback to each other.