Practical placements in real work environments are a requirement for successful completion of many professional learning programs. Indeed, this activity may account for half of the learning hours within such curricula. Recent research examining the practicum experiences of nursing students in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, as well as those of…

Most literature courses at the tertiary level require students to write a research paper. However, due to their lack of experience and training in high school, many undergraduates fresh from high school find it difficult to meet the requirements when preparing for this assignment. Based on my experience teaching first-year university students in…

Active learning and group-based processes in higher education are central to student engagement strategies. Forms of assessment regarded as evidencing student engagement, including attendance, class participation grading and group-based projects, have become commonplace in the university curriculum on an international basis. Whilst the literature…

This article discusses the use of critical and sociocultural approaches to more dynamically 'internationalise' higher education in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China. The article explores the integration of critical pedagogy and sociocultural learning theory in developing more engaging and rigorous education practices for…

Cross-sector educational reform to be implemented in 2012 in Hong Kong (HK) is intended principally to prepare students for the future workplace. One of the explicit requirements for the new four-year undergraduate curriculum is the inclusion of a capstone course for final year students. This paper explores the uptake and reported effect of the…

This study examined the mediator and moderator roles of self-regulation and motivation constructs in the relationship between learning experience and academic success. Self-reported measures of learning experience, self-regulation and motivation were obtained from 384 undergraduate students from a university in Hong Kong. Structural equation…

With the Internet-evoked paradigm shift in the academy, there has been a growing interest in students' Web-based information-seeking and source-use practices. Nevertheless, little is known as to how individual students go about searching for sources online and selecting source material for writing particular assignments. This exploratory study…

Background: Whilst past studies have established the joint influence of student learning experience and study behaviour on academic achievement, few attempts have been made to determine their causal ordering in a longitudinal framework. Purpose: This study explored the reciprocal relationship between learning experience and study behaviour, and…

Outcome-based education is a pedagogical process which focuses on the achievement of certain specified results. Outcome-based teaching and learning (OBTL), therefore, is concerned with curriculum design and ensuring that the contents, delivery, activities, and assessments are all aligned to help facilitate students to attain specific intended…

This study addressed the role of electronic pocket dictionaries as a language learning tool among university students in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The target groups included engineering and humanities students at both undergraduate and graduate level. Speed of reference was found to be the main motivator for using an electronic pocket dictionary.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate relationships between gender, A-level scores and scores on the learning and study strategies inventory (LASSI) of undergraduate students. Design/methodology/approach: The participants for this study were selected at random from the overall LASSI sampling exercise and males and females were…

In September 1998, the Education Department of the fledgling Hong Kong Special Administrative Region implemented a controversial medium-of-instruction policy which compelled around three-quarters of the territory's hitherto English-medium secondary schools to switch to Chinese-medium teaching in Forms 1-3 (years 7-9). Only 112 schools were…

Purpose: This paper is the first part of a comprehensive report about a research study that aims to assess the relationship between the university experience and student outcomes as a means of determining a university's success in meeting its educational goals. Design/methodology/approach: It focuses on the research methodology deployed.…

A qualitative study of perception of workload found that it was very weakly related to hours of work. The complex construct was better characterised as being influenced by a broadly conceived teaching and learning environment. It appeared to be possible to encourage students to perform a great deal of high-quality work, without complaining about…

A study of reading problems among Hong Kong university students of English as a Second Language has two parts. The first examines a teacher's comparison of a source text with a student's written response. The student subject was a highly-motivated, proficient learner. Discussion of her reading problems focuses on the incidence of misinterpretation…