Blended learning in higher education: professional development in a Hong Kong university

ABSTRACT

Online learning has become a ubiquitous part of the educational landscape and how teachers are supported in developing approaches to teaching online is a fundamental aspect of the students’ learning experience. Based on the implementation of a professional development course on becoming an online teacher offered in a blended learning mode at one university in Hong Kong, this article proposes that offering this type of professional development in a blended mode is very effective in facilitating enhanced usage of the university’s learning management system. In a blended mode, teachers are actively engaged with blended learning and were found to make more extensive use of features/tools in Blackboard after they attended the professional development course. Results support that offering professional development in a blended mode provides teachers with an authentic student perspective, at the same time as they take guided steps in the teacher’s role in blended learning.     

Technology's impact: symbiotic or asymbiotic impact on differing cultures?

Over the past three years or more, the authors have been examining the impact of technology interventions on students and teachers – from cultures where English is a second language. It is their hypothesis that students and teachers from non‐English speaking nations suffer severe disadvantages when technological interventions are superimposed on existing traditional pedagogical models. This paper is the latest in a series that examines extent pedagogies, primarily in Asia, and the pressures of having to re‐conceptualize what has been a tradition for centuries. It traces significant educational origins to their cultural roots and examines contemporary initiatives that, if implemented, may well disrupt. It offers possible solutions that, if approached with reconciliation as its focus, might offset catastrophic results and, in fact, achieve pedagogical symbiosis.L'impact de la technologie: symbiotique ou asymbiotique selon des cultures différentes. Durant les 3 dernières années ou plus, des auteurs ont examiné les interventions sur les étudiants et les enseignants appartenant à des cultures où l'anglais est une seconde langue. C'est une hypothèse que les étudiants et enseignants de pays non anglophones souffrent de plusieurs d´esavantages quand les interventions technologiques sont imposées sur les modèles pédagogiques traditionnels. Cet article est le plus récent d'une série qui examine plusieurs pédagogies, particulièrement en Asie, et les pressions de revoir la conceptualisation qui a été la tradition pendant des siècles. Il met les origines éducatives significatives depuis leurs racines culturelles et examine les initiatives contemporaires qui, si elles sont en oeuvre, peuvent aboutir à des ruptures. L'article offre des solutions possibles qui, si elles sont approchées dans un esprit de conciliation comme point de mire, permettent d'éviter des résultats catastrophiques et, en fait, aboutir à une symbiose pédagogique.Die Wirkung der Technik: Symbiotische oder Asymbiotic Wirkung auf unterschiedliche Kulturen? Über die letzten drei Jahre oder mehr haben die Autoren die Wirkung von Technikeingriffen auf Studenten und Lehrer aus Kulturen geprüft, in denen Englisch eine zweite Sprache ist. Es ist ihre Hypothese, daß Studenten und Lehrer aus nicht englisch sprechenden Nationen schwerwiegende Nachteile erleiden, wenn mit technologischen Eingriffen vorhandene traditionelle pädagogische Modelle überlagert werden. Dieses Papier ist das letzte einer Serie, die umfangreiche pädagogische Gebiete untersucht, in erster Linie in Asien, und den Zwang prüft, das wieder konzeptualisieren zu müssen, was Jahrhunderte eine Tradition gewesen ist. Es verfolgt signifikante Bildungsursprünge hin zu ihren kulturellen Wurzeln und prüft zeitgenössische Initiativen, die, wenn durchgeführt, das gut unterbrechen können. Es bietet mögliche Lösungen an, die, mit dem Ziel der Aussöhnung, katastrophale Ergebnisse ausgleichen und in der Tat eine pädagogische Symbiose erreichen könnten.     

The temporal pocket: 1990s Beijing artist colonies

In recent years, a small but growing body of scholarship has emerged on the category of the Chinese art district, particularly its institutionalisation amidst twenty-first century creative industries polices. Such research presents important stories of Chinese artists’ negotiations with urban and political authority, thus nuancing paradigms for the comprehension of political work within contemporary China. This current article contributes to this growing research area by considering the spatial conditions for these socio-spatial categories’ emergence, namely, the urban structures in which they first took shape in 1990s Beijing. First occupying traditional villages (cunzi) and later ex-socialist work units (danwei), these arts colonies appropriated existing communal architecture, and turned their designs and physical buildings to their own communal ends. Importantly, these sites were made available by the dramatic reconstruction of the city, and in this sense these occupations were limited to the temporal realm. To describe the nature of occupations, and their eventual impact upon the shape of the city, this paper proposes the category of “the temporal pocket”: a cellular and temporary inhabitance, defined by the shared investments of its participants, and one that is both discrete (in the sense of its spaces) and discreet (in the sense that this can be understood as a non-oppositional politics). The article is informed by spatial and cultural theory, literature on Chinese urban planning and art history, as well as primary documents (such as documentaries, art works and archival material) and interviews conducted by the researcher in Beijing.     

Fun moments or consequential experiences? A model for conceptualising and researching equitable youth outcomes from informal STEM learning

Cultural Studies of Science Education - While there are many different frameworks seeking to identify what benefits young people might derive from participation in informal STEM (Science,...     

Harmonization of pre-analytical quality indicators

Quality indicators (QIs) measure the extent to which set targets are attained and provide a quantitative basis for achieving improvement in care and, in particular, laboratory services. A body of evidence collected in recent years has demonstrated that most errors fall outside the analytical phase, while the pre- and post-analytical steps have been found to be more vulnerable to the risk of error. However, the current lack of attention to extra-laboratory factors and related QIs prevent clinical laboratories from effectively improving total quality and reducing errors. Errors in the pre-analytical phase, which account for 50% to 75% of all laboratory errors, have long been included in the ‘identification and sample problems’ category. However, according to the International Standard for medical laboratory accreditation and a patient-centered view, some additional QIs are needed. In particular, there is a need to measure the appropriateness of all test request and request forms, as well as the quality of sample transportation. The QIs model developed by a working group of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) is a valuable starting point for promoting the harmonization of available QIs, but further efforts should be made to achieve a consensus on the road map for harmonization.     

Changes in the prevalence of child sexual abuse, its risk factors, and their associations as a function of age cohort in a Finnish population sample

Objective

We examined (1) the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) experiences as a function of cohort and gender, (2) the prevalence of factors associated with CSA as a function of cohort and whether the association of these factors with CSA remained the same irrespective of cohort, and (3) whether any cohort differences could be explainable by cohort differences in reporting bias.

Method

We used the responses of 4,561 men (M = 29, SD = 7 years) and 8,361 female (M = 29, SD = 7 years) Finnish participants who responded to the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form as well as questions regarding family structure.

Results

The prevalence of CSA experiences varied between 0.7-4.6% for men and 1.8-7.5% for women depending on the item. Younger cohorts reported less CSA as well as less of the risk factors (physical neglect and abuse, emotional neglect and abuse, parental substances abuse, not growing up with both biological parents) that were positively associated with the likelihood of CSA. The effects of these risk factors did not vary as a function of the cohort. Also, the declining trend was not explainable by social desirability being higher in the younger cohorts.

Conclusions

The results suggest that there is a real decline in the prevalence of CSA and it is associated with a simultaneous decline in factors associated with CSA.     

Bullies and victims in schools in central and southern Italy

Anonymous questionnaires assessing the amount and nature of bullying/victimization were given to 1379 primary and middle school pupils (8–11; 11–14yrs) in two towns of Central and Southern Italy, Florence and Cosenza. The questionnaire closely followed the design of Olweus (1991) and Whitney and Smith (1993). Results were analysed in terms of percentages of bullying others and being bullied, types of bullying behaviour, where it occurred and who were the perpretators. Bullying was reported in both Italian areas at a more substantial level than found in other countries, including Norway, England, Spain and Japan, although it presented similar structural features to those reported elsewhere: being bullied decreased in older pupils, bullying others was most likely to be admitted by boys, the perpetretators were in the same class as the victims. Considering direct and indirect forms of bullying, year and gender differences are discussed for the two Italian areas and in cross-national perspective.     

AGGRESSIVE ATTITUDES AND PREVALENCE OF BULLYING BYSTANDER BEHAVIOR IN MIDDLE SCHOOL

Separate lines of research find that proaggressive attitudes promote peer aggression and that bystanders play a pivotal role in deterring or facilitating bullying behavior. The current study hypothesized that proaggressive attitudes in middle school would deter students from standing up to bullying and encourage them to reinforce bullying behavior. Middle school students (n = 28,765) in 423 schools completed a statewide school climate survey that included an aggressive attitudes scale and their bystander response to a recent episode of bullying, which was categorized as upstanding, reinforcing, or passive. Multilevel logistic regressions indicated that higher aggressive attitudes were associated with less upstanding behavior at the school level and less upstanding behavior and more reinforcing behavior at the individual level, while controlling for other school and student demographic variables. These findings suggest that antibullying programs might address student attitudes toward aggression as a means of boosting positive bystander intervention.