Secondary Schools in Hong Kong See Benefits of e-Learning

Technology enabled learning is making a difference beyond the confines of tertiary education with a growing number of secondary schools recognizing its value and implementing it, where possible, across their curriculum.

“The deployment of e-learning has become crucial for secondary schools as students are increasingly using the internet to carry out their school projects,” said Mr Gyver Lau, Assistant Principal of the Assembly of God Hebron Secondary School in Tai Po, with a population of 1,082 students and 72 teachers.

“With web behaviour now such an integral part of students’ lives, schools stand to benefit from incorporating virtual technology into their teaching,” he added.

The school currently uses a range of technological tools including Word Press, blogs, web pages and multimedia mediums to facilitate its teaching. More recently, the school started to use EdBlog, an electronic tool offered by HKEdCity (www.hkedcity.net), a one-stop education portal incorporating information, resources, interactive communities and online services, to promote the use of IT in improving the effectiveness of teaching and learning.

EdBlog, launched only in May 2008, is a platform that facilitates the use of blogging in teaching and learning. EdBlog allows teachers to share teaching experiences and practices with their peers and/or students. Access rights of viewing, posting and commenting according to different groups and class levels within or between schools are adjusted based on a teacher’s preferences.

“The use of EdBlog has improved the teacher-student relationship. There is now more interaction between teachers and students in and outside of the classroom because they have an additional topic of discussion,” he said.

The secondary school is currently piloting the new education product. Eight teachers at the school have begun using EdBlog in their classes with the plan to further expand its reach over the long term.

The school has meanwhile played a significant role in advocating the government’s Student Learning Profile (SLP) initiative for secondary schools with the rollout of the New Senior Secondary Curriculum Reform (commonly known as the 334 reform) in September this year.

The Assembly of God Hebron Secondary School had earlier introduced, on a smaller scale, the e-learning profile to students, focusing only on their voluntary service activities.

“An e-profile helps to inculcate students’ study habits by systematically recording and documenting all that they have achieved,” he said.

Under the new senior secondary academic framework, maintaining a Student Learning Profile will be mandatory for every student as a way of motivating their academic work and extra-curricular activities, and to act as a chronicle of accomplishments to show universities, vocational institutions and employers in the future.

With the government giving each secondary school full autonomy in interpreting and implementing the scope of the e-learning profiles, forward thinking schools like the Assembly of God Hebron Secondary School will most likely push for an interactive approach that includes the participation of teachers.

“Our current e-profile model is not wholly one dimensional,” he said. “Students are required to get the endorsement and feedback of teachers which makes the entire process more interactive.”

Mr Lau encourages students to use their own social networking tools like blogs, Facebook or photos on Flickr, to act as a springboard to generate ideas to make e-learning profiles more insightful and meaningful. Without the proper engagement of students and teachers in these tools, these will appear dull and become a passive list tallying up an individual’s achievements.

An interesting e-profile made up of various multimedia components including audio and video clips as well as photographs not only boosts the attractiveness of the tool, but can also help stimulate class discussion.

“The idea is one of continuation. The student learning profile that a student keeps during his or her school years will be further developed into an e-Portfolio when they join the City University of Hong Kong (CityU). This is deeper and more reflective than the profile, and is designed to record goals and learning outcomes in significantly more details. Students can then adapt the tool to different uses whether they are applying for a job or for further studies,” said Professor Lilian Vrijmoed, CityU’s Advisor to the Vice-President (Student Affairs) on Student Learning.

Though secondary schools have already incorporated a gamut of learning components into their classrooms, many adjustments still need to be addressed if the benefits of e-learning are to be fully maximized. These changes will begin with secondary school teachers altering their mindsets and behaviors to adapt to this new teaching approach.

“Secondary school teachers are very busy people, so they do not have that much time for training. Consequently, the software secondary schools choose to use must be as user-friendly as possible,” explained Mr Lau.