This is a University-School Support Programme funded by Education Bureau. This is a 19 months (2017-2019) project. This project targets at the upper primary (P.4-6) and lower secondary (S1-3) levels in Hong Kong schools. It aims to provide support to teachers for developing their capacity to adopt self-directed learning (SDL) as a strategy to promote STEM education so as to strengthen students’ ability to integrate and apply knowledge and skills across different subject disciplines to unleash their innovation and nurture their entrepreneurial spirit.

The 21st century is commonly referred to as the knowledge age because of the phenomenal and escalating pace at which new knowledge is generated, impacting deeply all aspects of human life. The rapid development of ICT and its integration into the fabric of all human activities have played a critical role in these changes. Policy-makers around the world have recognized the importance of a high quality workforce and the citizenry’s preparedness for lifelong learning to the economic and social well-being of the nation or system that they serve. Hence, many education reform policies, often in conjunction with system-wide masterplans/strategies on ICT integration to support formal/informal/lifelong learning have been launched since the 1990s, including Hong Kong.

The Centre for Information Technology in Education, Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong is funded by the Public Policy Research Funding Scheme of the Central Policy Unit of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government to conduct a policy research project entitled “e-Learning in Formal, Informal and Open Learning Contexts: A Study of Global Trends, Policy Options and Their Implications for Sustainable Development in Hong Kong”. The project comprised a wide-ranging literature review and document analysis, followed by a Policy Delphi study involving key stakeholders including government officials, teachers, principals, parents, NGOs, businesses and researchers. It aims to provide policy recommendations on strategic implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) in formal, informal and open learning based on an in-depth analysis of Hong Kong’s current state and positioning within a global context.

In 2010, the HKSAR Government launched an e-Learning Pilot Scheme involving 21 projects in 61 schools. The aim of this research is to study how the system and school level factors and their interactions may affect the further development and sustainability of the e-Learning innovations after the Pilot Scheme comes to an end. The research design is underpinned by an ecosystem model of change in which the sustainability of the new species (innovation) depends on the mutual adaptation between the new species and the environmental conditions.

This is a University-School Support Programme funded by Education Bureau. This is a three-year (2014-2017) project. This project aims to provide support to teachers and schools to implement self-directed learning (SDL) in the Science KLA in the upper primary (P.4-6) General Studies and lower secondary (S1-3) Integrated Science subject in Hong Kong schools. Throughout the project period, there will be 40 schools participating in this project.

The capacity building support for SDL encompasses three core areas:

1. learning and assessment design and implementation for integrating SDL components in the science KLA;
2. e-Learning support for students’ learning and teachers’ pedagogical design activities for scientific inquiry, and
3. leadership for organizational change and development for pedagogical and assessment innovation.

The ultimate, overarching goal is to nurture and develop student’s self-directed learning ability and equip them to become confident and capable life-long learners in the 21st century so as to improve students’ self-efficacy and achieve smooth transition from primary to secondary school education in the science KLA.

HKTLA has helped in the project planning phase tremendously. With inputs gathered from its members, the project team was able to consolidate all the inputs and put together this meaningful project. Moreover, HKTLA has also supported throughout the project development stage, and helped us promote the project to primary schools in HK.

The Centre for Information Technology in Education, the University of Hong Kong (CITE) has been commissioned by the Education Bureau (EDB) to conduct a research project on “Provision of Services for Conducting the Research Study on the Pilot Scheme on e-Learning in Schools”. The project duration is over three years starting from 22 September 2011 until 31 December 2014. Details of the pilot scheme and the 21 funded projects can be found from the EDB website: http://edbsdited.fwg.hk/e-Learning.

The Centre for Information Technology in Education, the University of Hong Kong (CITE) has been commissioned by Po Leung Kuk Chee Jing Yin Primary School and Xianggang Putonghua Yanxishe Primary School of Science And Creativity to conduct an evaluation project on their e-learning pilot project. The project duration is three years starting from 1 September 2011.

Education Bureau (EDB) has commissioned the Centre for Information Technology in Education (CITE), University of Hong Kong to conduct a one year project on “Development of Evaluation Tools for Assessing Students’ Information Literacy and Promoting Information Literacy among Students”.

This project aims to develop self-evaluation tools for assessing students’ Information Literacy skills in Science at levels from Primary 1 to Secondary 3 and to work with front line teachers including those who are members of the Information Literacy Focus Working Group (ILFWG).

The following research questions are addressed in this study:

1. What are the strategies that can enhance students’ information literacy skills?
2. What changes, if any, can be observed in student’s IL skills through the project process?
3. What recommendations can be made with regard to the development of a coherent strategy to integrate the development of IL skills in different KLAs based on the experience in this project on involving teachers in pedagogical and assessment design and implementation in this project?
4. What changes can be observed in teachers’ knowledge of IL before and after the implementation of this project?

This project is funded by the Education Bureau and it aimed at supporting schools on developing and scaling up knowledge building pedagogy, sustaining teacher professional growth, and improving student learning through a knowledge building teacher network (KBTN).

Since September 2008, this project becomes part of the University-School Support Project (USP) under the School-based support services (SBSS) titled "Professional Development Network for Knowledge Building in Schools". A team of expert knowledge-building teachers are seconded to CITE to assist participating teachers in implementing the knowledge building approach together with the project team from CITE, HKU.

In the academic year 2009/10, one teacher consultant, five half-time seconded teachers (STs) and more than 60 participating teachers from 29 schools (12 primary schools, 15 secondary schools, 2 special school) participated in this project. Knowledge Forum®, which is hosted at CITE (http://kf.cite.hku.hk), is used by teachers and students in the project to facilitate their collaborative knowledge building activities. Please refer to the project website at http://kbtn.cite.hku.hk/ for more details.

In the academic year 2010/11, one teacher consultant, three half-time seconded teachers (STs), ten part-time teacher associates (TAs) and more than 80 participating teachers from 36 schools (10 primary schools, 24 secondary schools, 2 special schools) participated in this project. Knowledge Forum®, which is hosted at CITE (http://kf48.cite.hku.hk), is used by teachers and students in the project to facilitate their collaborative knowledge building activities.