In the knowledge economy, many companies are well aware of the vital need to maintain the professional expertise of their workers at a high level. Though there have been a lot of research studies in the areas of professional expertise and workplace learning, few examined the learning pathways novice workers went through to become experts in their professions. Most of the research studies on expertise focused on the nature of expertise and few on its development. As for workplace learning research, most studies focused on the learning resources and methods workers used and the affordances of the workplace in making learning possible. Based on the accounts of expertise development collected from individual information technology (IT) workers in Hong Kong, this paper proposes a four-phase model of professional expertise development in the workplace and discusses its similarities to and differences from extant theories of expertise and skill development.
Copyright of Studies in Continuing Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0158037X.2014.967347

The ability to solve problems with people of diverse backgrounds is essential for engineering graduates. A course on engineering grand challenges was designed to promote collaborative problem-solving (CPS) skills. One unique component is that students need to work both within their own team and collaborate with the other team to tackle engineering challenges. It is found that the course facilitates the development in CPS skills and that the process, in which two teams develop arguments and integrate the initial ideas to generate a final solution, is a critical component. The value of CPS skills in tackling engineering problems has also been demonstrated. Appropriate scaffolding, explicit training and constant feedback on collaborative processes are found as important for the skill development.
Copyright of Innovations in Education & Teaching International is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2013.866591

This paper is a record about the tryout of the application of Information Technology (IT) teaching in a Hong Kong primary school by a lecturer in a local education institute. The paper discussed the preparation for the IT teaching, the problems encountered and the limitations faced during the tryout. The implication of IT teaching is discussed and projected to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government's policy on IT teaching in primary schools. The paper is presented along with a 7-minute documentary video about the experience of IT teaching of the lecturer in a primary school classroom. In-depth interview is conducted on her expectation, problems encountered and her opinions on IT Teaching.

This paper is dual in purpose. First, it describes what a professional learning community is and how it develops in schools in Hong Kong. A professional learning – 1012 – community is one where teachers relate their own professional learning to the improvement of their students' learning; take collaborative responsibility for students' learning; and work together to maximize their learning. Learning Study, which is premised on a conceptual framework that builds on three types of variation, is employed as the key agent in the development of such community. The three types of variation are: variation in students' understanding of a specific object of learning (V1); variation in teachers' understanding and ways of handling the object (V2); and the use of patterns of variation based on the Theory of Variation (V3). By focusing on the three types of variation in a specific object of learning, teachers in the professional learning communities are able to learn from their students, from each other and from researchers what should be worthwhile for their students to learn, how they can help students learn better and find out if each child is learning. Dissemination through public presentations is also an integral part of the participating teachers' professional learning, as they reflect and prepare a presentation on the results of the Learning Study. Each teacher's personal professional development thus contributes to a collective knowledge base. Second, this papers draws on the data of a Learning Study about the teaching of Three states of water at Primary 3 level to illustrate how teachers' learning can be enhanced through engaging in the study that permits a professional dialogue among colleagues; enhances collaboration with tertiary institution; encourages teachers taking inquiry stance; opens opportunities for multiple means of dissemination; opens opportunities for teachers to reflect on their own practices in a more systematic way.

Learning is the focus of attention for any educational enterprise. Consequently, the quality of assessment of the extent to which learning has occurred is of crucial importance. Assessment plays an important role in education in Hong Kong as in other places. Nevertheless, how to design an assessment that is of high quality, or how to fully utilize the results of the assessment to understand more deeply about the ability of our students is a demanding task for most teachers. It is not uncommon for teachers to assume that those students who cannot get good assessment results are weak students or that they have learning problems. Teachers rarely question the quality of assessment items to be the source of problems. In other words, teachers seldom consider the possibilities that the items may be too difficult, or unsuitable for the students' levels. In fact, it is worth investigating both the students' and items' performances for the assessments in order to understand more about the ability of our students. Under such circumstances, Rasch Measurement Model is a tool that teachers may consider to assist them for interpreting and analyzing the alignment between student ability and assessment item difficulty. In Rasch modelling, the data are checked, using a set of procedures and criteria, for the extent to which they match with the theoretical model. In particular, the point-measure correlations, and the INFIT and OUTFIT statistics are used to assess the goodness of fit between model and data. This study aims to illustrate how teachers can make use of these statistics from Rasch modelling to support them in the implementation of learning oriented assessment. The study will be based on assessment data obtained from two classes of Primary Three Students in a local school in July 2006. In the study, we will focus on the implication of misfit persons and items by using Rasch Measurement Model so as to discuss ways for understanding our students and improving the items and setting