Tablets help Hong Kong students learn
A middle school is blazing a trail in e-learning to create a more dynamic teaching environment, write Linda Yeung and Richard James Havis
It's morning assembly, and Form One students at Pui Ching Middle School, have their iPads ready. It's the same story in their English and Chinese classes. As they listen to the news, read poems or watch other media on the screens in front of them, the students are preparing to put forward their thoughts via projector linked to their devices.
They are a pioneering group in a school already at the forefront of e-learning. From this autumn, the use of iPads will be rolled out to Form Two and Form Four classes. The school already has its own online learning system with various teaching materials and activities, and its students chat with one another on Facebook or the online course management system Moodle.
But it could take a while before Hong Kong schools use e-books extensively. That is despite the government initiative launched in November, which encourages 30 publishers to digitise their textbooks. The E-Textbook Market Development Scheme, which involves 88 schools testing the e-books under a Partner Schools Scheme, is spending HK$26 million for publishers to produce about 30 e-textbooks, which are expected to be available for use in the 2014-15 school year.
The government claims e-textbooks should be cheaper, giving the example of a geography e-textbook that was 63 per cent cheaper than its paper counterpart.
But Pui Ching declined to join the scheme. Instead, it is focusing on its own online learning platform. "We don't buy the idea of merely changing textbooks into a PDF format; we want students to input ideas and join in discussions via tablet computers. Teachers can also give feedback and assess their works online," says IT co-ordinator Ma Hoi-hung.
The school is keen to engage students in their learning and promote peer collaborations. "We don't want them to be passive learners; using tablet computers allows them to think, write and express their views and collaborate with other students more," Ma says. "The depth and breadth of discussion is also different. We project students' views onto the screen."