A Study of ICT Implementation in English Education in Hong Kong

7/28/2019 A Study of ICT Implementation in English Education in Hong Kong

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A study of ICT implementation in English

education in Hong Kong

By Arnold Pang

ICT implementation policies in Hong Kong Education

Before the late 1990s, ICT in education had not drawn much attention publicly in

Hong Kong. Educational computer programs were mostly developed in a tailor-made

manner by computer subject teachers in schools rather than by ICT professionals.

Being a computer teacher, I experienced this tailor-made approach. I developed some

computer programs in BASIC, a programming language commonly used in the 80s to

early 90s. I am responsible for conducting ICT training programs for my colleagues in

my school. I had also worked as a member of a working group formed by computer

teachers from different schools to promote the use of a tailor-made assessment

system. We did not get many resources from the Hong Kong government until the

mid 1990s.


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In 1993, with the five-year Information Systems Strategy plan by the Education

Department (ED)1the School Administration and Management System was

developed. This system was not mandatory for the schools. Schools were allowed to

decide to use either this system or their own systems for school administration and

management tasks.

The use of ICT in school management was the first step towards ICT implementation,

which was followed by the use of ICT in teaching and learning. Since the Policy

address (Tung 1997, Paragraph 46, 47 ) in 1997 and the resulting EMBs Five-year IT

in Education Implementation Strategy ( shortly the Five-year IT Strategy ) in 1998,

the use of ICT in education has been foreseen to be a feasible path for enhancing

teaching and learning in Hong Kong. A document named 'Information Technology for

Learning in a New Era: Five-year Strategy 1998/99 to 2002/03' (EMB, 1998) was

distributed to all schools to direct the school leaders to implement the innovation

strategy. Schools began to receive more resources for ICT implementation. School-

based ICT reforms were then initiated in many schools.

To put teacher ICT training into practice, the EMB included a plan in the Five-year IT

Strategy to provide 80,000 training places for serving teachers. Each school could use

1 The Education Department (ED) was responsible for education matters while the Education andManpower Bureau (EMB) was responsible for both education and manpower. To ensure better synergybetween policy formulation and implementation and to reduce duplication of efforts, the two

organizations merged in 2003. The new organisation retained the title of EMB (EMB, 2002b). In 2007,the manpower portfolio of EMB was transferred to the Labour and Welfare Bureau and the EMB wasrestructured and carried the name of Education Bureau (EDB).


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the cash grant to provide training for its teachers either by appointing teachers of own

schools as trainers or training suppliers listed by the ED. My school adopted both

measures : parts of the training programs were designed and conducted by me while

others by the listed training suppliers. I have been the main ICT trainer of my

colleagues since after the Five-year IT Strategy in 1998.

One of the main subjects of the ongoing education reform, as advocated by the Hong

Kong Government, is the way educators view the learning and teaching process. Since

the release of the document 'Reform Proposals for the Education System in Hong

Kong' in 2000 (EC., 2000), teaching has been expected to change from teacher-

centred to student-centred (EC., 2006, P.15) and schools have been recommended to

use ICT for interactive learning as one of the entry points to achieve the learning goals

and targets of the subject curricula (EC., 2006, P.13).

Since the Five-year IT Strategy in 1998, teachers have been encouraged to attend

various teacher-training courses on mastering basic computer skills. The motive was

further strengthened by the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

in 2003 when some schools were required for a temporary suspension and many

educators advocated the use of elearning system with ICT tools like WebCT or

discussion groups through the internet (Bodomo, 2003; Fox, 2004; Fung, 2004).


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The rapid growing education need of ICT makes the education sector become one of

the areas providing the ICT industry with many business opportunities. Many ICT

elements are introduced to the education sector. Products such as interactive white

board, internet platform, software packages and ebook readers are developed

especially for educational purposes. Provided that the school has got sufficient

financial resource (EDB, 2007), the teachers and students have many choices in ICT

integration (CDC, 2001; EDB, 2007).

ICT and pedagogical shift

Teachers' ICT competency and classroom practice

With the release of the Five-year ICT Strategy (EMB, 1998) in 1998, the vision and

mission on promoting and implementing ICT in Education in Hong Kong became

explicit. The government put an emphasis on developing teachers' skills in using ICT

in the initial stage of the ICT implementation in education (Law & Plomp, 2003). The

EMB specified four levels of IT Competency for teachers; namely the Basic (BIT)

Level, the Intermediate (IIT) Level, the Upper Intermediate (UIT) Level and the

Advanced (AIT) Level. In 2003, the government (EMB, 2003) reported that all the

50,600 teachers in Hong Kong fulfilled this competency requirement. The distribution

of each level from 2000-01 to 2002-03 is showed below:

IT Competency 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03


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BIT 100% 100% 100%

IIT 21.7% 50.6% 75.0%

UIT 6.0% 12.0% 25.0%

AIT 3.9% 4.8% 6.7%

TABLE xxx: IT Competency for teachers in each levels from 2000-01 to 2002-03

However, teachers' ICT competences do not guarantee satisfactory ICT integration.

'The research literature offers little support for the popular (though perhaps

unrealistic) rhetoric about technology revolutionising teaching and learning or

teachers fundamentally re-working their lesson plans and pedagogy' and teachers 'are

simply using the technology to do what they have always done' (Hennessy et al.,

2005, p.3). The type of ICT use remains limited to 'whole-class technologies and the

use of office tools and internet search tools' (BECTA 2007, p.69) such as presentation

software, 'word processing and internet search' (Sutherland et al, 2009, p.3), which

may 'keep learners in a passive role where learners are on the receiving end of

knowledge transmission' (ibid, p.4). Yet, it is possible to teach in an more interactive

style with these basic ICT. The key point is how the teachers use the technologies in

their classes.

To put ICT into classroom practice, teachers have to develop meta-knowledge and

skills in using ICT in meaningful ways to reform pedagogical practices (Law &

Plomp, 2003). Both the teachers' pedagogical beliefs and ICT skills are important in

ICT integration (OECD, 2001) and therefore teachers not only need to be trained in


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ICT skills but also pedagogical knowledge of using ICT (Gillespie, 2006). In order to

'utilize the potential of technologies for more learner-centred approaches' and 'give

learners more autonomy and choice' about learning, a 'pedagogical change is needed'

(Sutherland et al, 2009, p.4). The shift in pedagogies is supported by relevant training

for teachers in Hong Kong, as 'the focus of professional development for teachers had

been switched from IT skills to effective pedagogical use of IT' (HKIEd, 2007, p.453).

The anticipated pedagogical shift

Hong Kong has developed from an industrial society in the 1950s to an information

society in which information is used in almost all forms of activities (C&SD, 2012).

Hong Kongs industry was founded in the textile sector in the 1950s and gradually

diversifying in the 1960s and 1970s to clothing, electronics, plastics and other labor-

intensive production (Zhang, 2006). Then 'the economy was to build a stronger

industrial base and develop into an energetic financial center able to encourage the

free transfer of funds' in the 1980s (ibid, p.146). 'Over the last two decades, we have

witnessed a period of unprecedented changes in information and communication

technology (ICT) and the pervasive adoption of an increasing number of ICT-related

products/services such as personal computer, Internet and mobile phone' (C&SD,

2012, p.vii).


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Concerning the structural changes happened in a changing society, Voogt (2003)

distinguished two types of pedagogy: the 'traditional pedagogy' for the industrial

society and the 'emerging pedagogy' for the information society. The 'traditional

pedagogy' formed a teacher-dominated classroom where students mainly learnt on an

individual basis by receiving what the teacher had taught. 'Emerging pedagogy,' on the

other hand formed a student-centered learning environment which allows students

learn in their own paces and support one another. The differences are summarized in

the following figure.

'Traditional pedagogy' for the

industrial society

'Emerging pedagogy' for the

information society

Active Activities prescribed by teacher

Whole class instruction

Little variation in activities

Pace determined by the program

Activities determined by learners

Small groups

Many different activities

Pace determined by learners

Collaborative Individual

Homogeneous groups

Everyone for him/herself

Working in teams

Heterogeneous groups

Supporting each other Creative

Creative Reproductive learning

Apply known solutions to problems

Productive learning

Find new solutions to problems


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Integrative No link between theory and practice

Separate subjects

Discipline-based

Individual teachers

Integrating theory and practice

Relations between subjects

Thematic

Teams of teachers

Evaluative Teacher-directed

Summative

Student-directed

Diagnostic

Figure xxx : Overview of traditional pedagogy and emerging pedagogy (Voogt, 2003)

Voogts idea agrees with that of Collins (1991) who studies ICT integration and

suggests a more student-centered, task-base, cooperative and multimedia pedagogical

approach. It also applies to the situation in HongKong where the government suggests

that pedagogy change includes the use of ICT to facilitate the 'application of

interactive elements', the establishment of 'networked student-centred Learning

environment' (EC, 2006, P.13, 15) and the running of the 'task-centred, constructivist,

problem-based teaching approaches' (EMB, 2005, p.32).

The pedagogical potential of technology is characterized by its authenticity,

interactivity and connectivity (Bransford et al., 1999). Social-constructivism has

become one of the influential pedagogical approaches to support the use of ICT in

education (Law et. al., 2000; Newhouse, 2002; EMB, 2005; Hadjerrouit, 2009). For


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the young generation, learning always takes place by interacting with and connecting

to the open world. We can see that the sharing of resources, content and information

within the electronic virtual world is already a key component of life because of the

development of broad and effective social networks (C&SD, 2012; Oblinger &

Oblinger, 2005; Thompson, 2007).

Halfway through the shift

Though there is no significant pedagogical shift upon ICT integration found

(Hennessy et al, 2005), teachers in Hong Kong are moving forwards the goal. After

years of classroom practices, teachers become 'competent in some usual applications

including word processing, spreadsheet, presentation software and Internet usage'

(EMB, 2005, P.20). For example, TESOL teachers 'search text book information'

(ibid, P.103) with ICT. They may carry out some lessons in the computer room, where

each student independently operates a computer.

One of the main goals of the government policy to empower teachers with ICT is to

provide them with professional development opportunities and supports to undertake

the challenge of using ICT for curriculum and pedagogical innovations (EMB, 2004).

The shifting pedagogical approaches can be 'facilitated through appropriate

professional development of teachers' (UNESCO, 2004, p.111) who 'have to become


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aware of the interaction between pedagogical objectives and the potential of ICT.'

(European Commission, 2010, p.25)

It is reported that in Hong Kong computers has been used the most frequently in

teaching English Language as compare to other subjects (HKIEd, 2007). In addition

to the use of PCs in classrooms or computer lab, there are some more recent portable

types of technology that can be used to support and enhance learning (Hennessy et al,

2010), such as tablet computers and mobile phones. 'These are not only low-cost, low-

energy and low-maintenance, but they offer far more flexibility in terms of mode,

timing and location of use' (ibid, p.44). As the development of ICT is forever growing,

there is a need to think about what and how ICT is to be used in classroom. It is the

pedagogical knowledge of the subject matter in relation to the resource which imbues

the use of the resource with meaning in the contexts of practice (Ramrez et. al., 2012)

and determines the success of ICT integration.

ICT and Roles of Teachers

The shift in pedagogies accompanies a shift in teachers roles. One of the roles of the

teachers is to create a supportive, motivating and language-rich environment and

enhance quality interaction in the classroom. Teachers have to structure the activities

in various grades according to the level of competence and personal particulars of the


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students and provide appropriate scaffolding such that the students can develop new

knowledge during the activities (EDB 2007).

Teachers have a managerial role and the responsibility to conduct the lesson properly

(Fisher, 1993). They have to monitor all activities in the classroom and always be

ready to intervene in the work of the students. To facilitate the student-centered

approach, the teachers have to play the role as a supporter or facilitator rather than an

information provider as there should be 'a proportional shift towards a less didactic

and more open style when computers are used' (ibid, P.60). The teacher have to adopt

the role of a coach and no longer only passes information to the students, but guides

them to become more involved in the ownership of their learning and develop their

own knowledge (McGee, 2000, p.206; Smeets & Mooij, 2001, p.416)..

Haddad and Draxler (2002, p.13) state that 'the effectiveness of different levels of

sophistication of use of ICTs depends to a large extent on the role of learners and

teachers as practised in the educational process' (ibid p.13) and use the figure shown

below to demonstrate the use of ICT for different roles of teachers and learners.


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Figure XXX. Use of ICTs for different Roles of Teachers and Learners (Haddad and

Draxler, 2002, p.13)

ICT provides powerful tools to support the shift to student-centred learning and the

new roles of teachers and students (UNESCO, 2002). With the introduction of ICT,

the teacher's role shifts from a knowledge provider who demonstrates and tells the

knowledge to a facilitator who carries out interactive and collaborative learning

activities, and the language education shifts from 'systems of teaching and supervision

of learning' to 'systems of learning and facilitation of learning' (Haddad and Draxler,

2002, p.14). Sutherland et al (2009, p.6) share a similar idea that the teacher's role

involves a complex shifting of perspectives from the 'more-knowledgeable-other' to

the 'co-constructor of knowledge' to the 'vicarious participant'.

The study by Ramrez et. al. (2012) revealed that the teacher's role in the classes is


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reflected in the actions of supervision and explanation. In the classes, the students

were allowed to carry out tasks while the teachers assessed and evaluated how the

students were performing them, and also explained the contents and tasks related to

student performance.

Teachers' barriers to ICT integration

Effective use of ICT in education 'necessitates changes in pedagogy' (Knupfer, 1993,

p. 171). 'The kinds of pedagogical change that new technologies make possible

frequently challenge current practice' (Sutherland et al, 2009, p.4). It results in a

complex atmosphere of excitement, hope, optimism, skepticism, confusion and

resistance among teachers. Some teachers develop the resistance to ICT because

computers had brought uncertainty and complexity (Shiva, 1999).

Teachers may be aware of the pedagogical shift subjected to ICT integration.

However, for those who are currently using traditional ways of teaching, such

pedagogical shift may induce pressure on them. As postulated in the study of 'high

access and low use of ICT' by Cuban et al. (2001) that the low use rate might be due

to the "deeply entrenched structures of the self-contained classroom, departments,

time schedules, and teachers' disciplinary training" (p. 83). Only a small portion of

teachers in Hong Kong are using ICT actively in teaching and learning (EMB, 2005).

They are more interested to receive professional development in effective use of the


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software applications than in how to use them to enhance their teaching (EMB,2005).

Teachers perceive a wide range of difficulties in using ICT : lack of time, suitable

resources, teachers' self-efficacy and confidence, adaptability of the curriculum and

teacher training (BECTA, 2004; Bingimlas, 2009; Cuban et al., 2001; HKIEd, 1999;

Hutchison, 2012; Levy, 2008; NCREL, 2000; Russell et al., 2003).

In addition to the difficulties mentioned above, the use rate of ICT in education can be

affected by teachers' beliefs and attitude towards ICT (BECTA, 2009; Bingimlas,

2009; Russell et al., 2003). Some teachers may think that they are wasting their time

and effort to support ICT implementation because innovation projects are risky,

fraught with difficulties and affected by complex sociocultural variables (Markee,

1997). There are some others who consider ICT as teaching tools similar to pervious

technologies such as TV, radio, tape recorders, VCR and OHP (Kenning & Kenning,

1983). They do not necessarily consider or accept the inevitability of such tension in a

real change, depending on their beliefs in the use of ICT in education (Fullan, 2001).

Hu et al (2003) discovered that perceived usefulness and a high self-efficacy both had

significant effects on the teachers' intention to use technology. They (2003) examined

350 public school teachers' acceptance of the use of PowerPoint in Hong Kong. They

suggested that teachers differ from other computer users in technology acceptance

because of their autonomy over technology choice and use. Teachers may not use ICT


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in class if they are uncertain about the usefulness of it in education. This echoes with

what Dexter et al. (1999, p. 224) had noted that 'this autonomy provides teachers with

choices to adopt, adapt, or reject an instructional reform'. Hudgins (2008) conducted a

study examining the teachers in junior high schools and also found a positive

correlation existed between the beliefs and attitudes of the teachers toward ICT

integration and the amount of ICT integration. Even though teachers recognise the

significance of ICT in society at large, 'this is not necessarily reflected in beliefs that

their own practice needs to change' and therefore a change in 'deep-seated beliefs' is

needed BECTA (2009, p.43).

Documents

A Study of ICT Implementation in English Education in Hong Kong