Kar-Tin Lee

Online Learning in Primary Schools: Designing for School Culture Change.

This study explores how an online integrated learning environment (ILE) to cater for individual learning differences is used by teachers in two primary schools in Hong Kong. The findings reveal a positive change in both perception and pedagogy of the participants. The results indicate that scaffolding activities led to an enhanced ability to engage in independent learning. Principals and teachers were prepared to alter systemic structures to support the use of the ILE. During the 3‐year period teachers developed coping strategies which led to ICT‐enriched learning, provision of extended learning opportunities and development of study units for online delivery. Evidence also suggests that adoption of the ILE allowed teachers to pay fresh attention to the need to engage students, to respond to them properly and efficiently and to ensure that at each step of the way the students fully understand the work they are doing and that the work set is at an appropriate level. L’apprentissage en ligne dans les écoles primaires : concevoir pour changer la culture scolaire Cette étude examine la façon dont les enseignants de deux écoles primaires de Hong Kong utilisent un environnement intégré en ligne (ILE) pour répondre aux différences individuelles dans l’apprentissage. Les observations font apparaître un changement positif à la fois dans la perception et dans la pédagogie des participants. Les résultats indiquent que les activités d’étayage ont conduit à une plus grande capacité à entreprendre un apprentissage autonome. Les chefs d’établissements et les professeurs ont été prêts à changer les structures du système pour faciliter l’emploi de l’ILE. Pendant cette période de 3 ans, les enseignants ont mis au point des stratégies complémentaires qui ont conduit à un apprentissage enrichi par les TIC, à une offre étendue d’occasions d’apprentissage et à l’élaboration d’unités d’étude destinées à être transmises en ligne. Les résultats indiquent aussi que l’adoption de l’ILE a permis aux professeurs de prêter une attention nouvelle à la nécessité de communiquer avec les élèves, de leur apporter des réponses adaptées et efficaces et de s’assurer qu’à chaque étape du processus ces élèves comprennent pleinement le travail qu’ils sont en train de faire et que ce travail est bien situé au niveau qui leur convient. Online‐Lernen in Grundschulen: Entwürfe für eine Änderung der Schulkultur Diese Studie erkundet wie eine Online‐integrierte Lernumgebung (ILE), die ursprünglich für das Beheben individueller Lernunterschiede gedacht war, von Lehrern zweier Grundschulen in Hongkong verwendet wird. Die Befunde zeigen eine positive Änderung sowohl in der Wahrnehmung als auch der Pädagogik der Teilnehmer. Die Ergebnisse ergaben, dass Stützaktivitäten zu einer verbesserten Fähigkeit führen, selbständiges Lernen zu praktizieren. Schulleitung und Lehrer waren bereit, systemische Strukturen zur Unterstützung des Gebrauchs von ILE umzubauen. Während der dreijährigen Laufzeit des Versuchs entwickelten Lehrer erfolgreiche Anwendungsstrategien zum Einsatz verstärkter ICT‐Nutzung beim Lernen, Vorsorge zur Anwendung erweiterter Lernmöglichkeiten und zum Erarbeiten von Studieneinheiten für Online‐Belieferung führten. Es war auch evident, dass die Einbeziehung von ILE es den Lehrern erleichterte, der Notwendigkeit von Engagementbildung der Schüler neue Aufmerksamkeit entgegenzubringen, passend und effektiv auf ihre Bedürfnisse zu reagieren und sicherzustellen, dass die Schüler an jedem Punkt des Lernweges wussten, was sie arbeiteten und dass die Arbeitsmenge sich auf einem angemessenen Niveau befand.

Retooling Asian-Pacific Teachers to Promote Creativity, Innovation and Problem Solving in Science Classrooms

This paper reports on a Professional Learning Programme undertaken by primary school teachers in China that aimed to facilitate the development of ‘adaptive expertise’ in using technology to facilitate innovative science teaching and learning such as that envisaged by the Chinese Ministry of Education’s (2010–2020) education reforms. The study found that the participants made substantial progress towards the development of adaptive expertise manifested not only by advances in the participants’ repertoires of pedagogical content knowledge but also in changes to their levels of confidence and identities as teachers. By the end of the programme, the participants had coalesced into a professional learning community that readily engaged in the sharing, peer review, reuse and adaption, and collaborative design of innovative science learning and assessment activities. The findings from the study indicate that those engaged in the development of Professional Learning Programmes in Asia-Pacific nations need to take cognizance of certain cultural factors and traditions idiosyncratic to the educational systems. This is reflected in the amended set of principles to inform the design and implementation of professional learning programmes presented in the concluding sections of the paper.

How Do We Know E-Learning Works? Or Does It?

E-learning is an accepted and commonly used component in tertiary education. However, success would appear to remain variable. Effective e-learning is a concept which sometimes eludes even the most reputable of online educators. It is an issue which plagues both the corporate and education fields and which is frequently aggravated by the numerous, often contradictory, studies on the subject. This article seeks to yield the merits of these studies in order to decipher some of the better means of effectively evaluating, designing and managing e-learning programmes and to accurately envisage what the future may hold for the development of online education in the tertiary education sector. It attempts to merge the experiences of the business and education sectors into an effective approach to be used in the design of such programmes and to present guidelines concerning the future of e-learning in tertiary education.

Teachers Using an Integrated Learning Environment to Cater for Individual Learning Differences in Hong Kong Primary Classrooms

Abstract This article reports on a project which involved enabling teachers in Hong Kong primary schools to use an online integrated learning environment (ILE) to design lesson plans to cater for students with different learning abilities. Teachers explored ways of using technology to enhance student learning. A case-study approach was used to collect data on individual teacher developments and document evolving classroom teaching strategies. The findings revealed that when using the ILE teachers were able to: 1. effectively design and create lessons which catered for different ability groups within the class; 2. employ varied teaching strategies to cater for different learning needs of students in the class; 3. shift from more traditional pedagogical approaches to embracing learner-centred principles which achieve a higher degree of classroom interaction; and 4. collaborate with others, discuss their feelings more honestly, evaluate and reflect on their own practice.

Digital Learning in Schools: Conceptualizing the Challenges and Influences on Teacher Practice

Digital technologies are an important requirement for curriculum expectations, including general ICT capability and STEM education. These technologies are also positioned as mechanisms for educational reform via transformation of teacher practice. It seems, however, that wide-scale transformation of teacher practice and digital learning remain unrealized. This is commonly attributed to a range of challenges associated with extrinsic and intrinsic influences, which while acknowledged, are not well conceptualized. Using evidence from a case study of teachers working to transform their practice with digital technologies, this paper presents a tri-theory framework that was used to conceptualize these challenges. Activity Theory provided a mechanism for teachers to identify extrinsic influences in activity systems then contextualize and reduce the perceived significance of challenging contradictions. System 1 and System 2 Thinking Theory was used by the teachers to explore the role of routine, attitudes, and beliefs in their practice and con-ceptualize discomfort associated with changes in practice. Transformative Learning Theory is presented as a mechanism to explain the interaction between extrinsic and intrinsic influences during the teachers’ collaborative attempts to consciously transform their practice. As a common language for discourse, the tri-theory framework allowed the teachers to collaboratively contextualize challenges of realizing digital learning.