ICT in Education:
A Hong Kong Perspective
OER Symposium 2012
18 April 2012
Kenneth Chen
Under Secretary for Education
Education Bureau, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Email: kenneth_chen@edb.gov.hk
Briefing Outline
1.
2.
3.
4.
ICT in Education – Where we are
Vision for the Future – Where we want to be
Game plan – How we get there
Useful Links for Follow-Up
Status at System Level
Total capital and recurrent spending (1998 – 2012): Nearly $9 billion
Infrastructure at schools:
Student : Computer ratio –
4 : 1 (secondary) 4.66 : 1 (primary)
All computers are networked and connected to the Internet via Broadband
plus wireless network
All have some kind of e-learning platform
Teachers: All trained and “retrained” on skills and pedagogy
Support: Recurrent grant to schools – $300 million per annum
2
Status at School level (general observations)
 There should be few, if any, really lagging behind schools
on IT in education, however there exist differences
amongst schools in terms of degree and sophistication of
IT in education practices
 Nearly all schools have IT in education development plan
incorporated into their school development plan in which
improving students’ learning outcome is the most
common goal
 On average, about 13% of the annual school budget is on
implementation of IT in education
 Normally schools have 3 – 4 teachers responsible for
coordinating IT in education development and 1 – 2
technicians to take care of the IT infrastructure
3
Status at School Level (practices)
Basic –
 Teaching students computer skills through formal lessons in computer
rooms and in a detached manner
 Limit students access to computers for learning
 Using IT as a presentation tool
 Characterized by having one computer rooms with training-room setting
and one desktop computer with projection device in most classrooms
 Use of computer facilities by subject teachers not facilitated
4
Status at School Level (practices)
Intermediate –
 Students acquired most of their computer skills through application of IT in
the learning of school subjects
 Students are required/encourage to access learning or revision materials
online and are required to submit some of their assignments online
 Wide application of multimedia and interactive resources for learning and
teaching as well as the Internet for information searching by students
 Computers were relatively dispersed with sufficient number in library and
other shared spaces for use by students
 Campus TV available to engage in media education
5
Status at School Level (practices)
Advanced –
 Students well versed with computer skills and are considered to be
reasonably IT-literate
 e-classes or e-courses are offered online (via e-learning platform) to
complement classroom teaching and to cater for diverse learning needs.
Students learning records are captured through the e-learning platform
 Wide application of collaborative learning tools such as blogs and wikis for
learning and teaching
 Mobile devices are used for learning outside classroom and campus
 Engage in global communication and collaboration with peers through the
Internet and/or video conferencing
6
Status at teacher level
 All teachers are competent in using IT
 Survey results (2005 – 07):
 86% primary and 71% secondary school teachers agree that use of IT
can make teaching more effective
 62% primary and 52% secondary school teachers are confident in
selecting appropriate digital resources to teach
 Just over 50% of teachers frequently use IT in class
 Difficulties cited for not using IT zeroed on the extra time required to source
appropriate digital resources and to a lesser extent technical and classroom
management problem in deploying IT in classroom teaching.
7
Status at student level
 Students embraced the use of IT to learn, the same survey mentioned in the
last slide indicated that:
 90% primary and 80% secondary school students like to use computers
to learn in class
 85% primary and 60% secondary school students like to use computers
to learn beyond school hours
 According to Government survey in 2009, 97.3% of households with a
primary or secondary school student aged 10 or above has at least one
computer at home. Among those computers, 99.1% have access to the
Internet (for all school children, the percentage is about 95)
 Concern of parents and teachers has shifted from deprivation of digital
access to the problems arise from the extensive use of the Internet
8
System-level context
Strong system performance…
… calls for more de-centralization
• PISA 2009 shows
significant system
performance in reading,
mathematics and science
• Encourage school-led
innovation and experimentation
• McKinsey’s 2010 study
characterizes HK as one
of five “great to excellent”
systems that have
achieved “sustained
improvements”
• Create additional support
mechanisms for teaching
professionals
• Cultivate peer-led learning for
teachers and principals
Sources: OECD-PISA 2009, McKinsey analysis
10
Why e-Learning in HK?
To achieve learning objectives through various learning
strategies with the aid of information technology.
The overall goal of all IT in Education initiatives is to
transform school education – from a textbook-based and
teacher-centred mode to an interactive and learnercentred mode of learning
Self-directed learning…
Catering to diversified learning needs…
Foundation for life-long learning
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Measures to be implemented
1.
Enhancement of “Depository of Curriculum-based
Learning and Teaching Resources”
2.
Extra grants for schools to experiment with e-Learning
resources
3.
Pilot Scheme on the Promotion of e-Learning in schools
4.
Building a marketplace for the e-Learning industry
12
Pilot Scheme
To look into when and how e-Learning should be
implemented in different contexts, as well as the
support measures required.
Aims

develop, try out and evaluate when and how e-Learning works best to
bring about effective interactive learning, self-directed learning, and
cater for learner diversity in different curriculum and school contexts
in Hong Kong to facilitate the charting of the way forward for wider
adoption of e-Learning in schools; and

explore commercially viable business models for the development of
e-Learning resources, to meet needs of schools, teachers and
students.
13
Pilot Scheme Projects
Participant profile
Highlights
• Total 98 project proposals
submitted
• Cross-sector collaboration
across schools, educational
publishing and IT sectors
• 21 projects selected,
representing 32 primary
schools, 18 secondary schools
and 11 special schools
• All subject domains are
covered across key learning
stages
• Average grant of $2.5 million
per project
• Diverse set of projects covering
development of resources,
learning objects and tools
across different technology
platforms
• Technology neutrality ensured
• Rigorous progress monitoring
and effectiveness assessment
Market Place
• On-Line Ed-Mall to be rolled out by Hong
Kong Education City (www.hkedcity.net)
with micro-payment and digital rights
management capabilities.
• Learning and Teaching Exposition to be
held for third consecutive year in HK in
second half of 2012.
15
Useful Links for Follow-Up
Organization
URL
E-Learning Consortium
elearning.org.hk
E-Education Alliance
e-education.hk
Association of IT Leaders in Education
www.aitle.org.hk
HK Association for Computer Education
www.hkace.org.hk
Association of Mobile Technology and
Education
www.amte.org.hk
HK Education City
www.hkedcity.net
HK Education Bureau
www.edb.gov.hk