Faculty of Education Newsletter Issue 35, December 2014 ... 35 EN.pdf · Models-A Case Study of...

Faculty of Education Newsletter Issue 35, December 2014 – February 2015

Faculty of Education Newsletter Issue 35, December 2014 – February 2015

FED NEWSLETTER

Objectives

To disseminate educational ideals and report on faculty and student activities of FED;

To provide an easy and user-friendly platform for academic staff;

To promote a sharing culture and boost teacher education and professional

development.

Issue 35 Contents Academic Staff Activities 1. Secondary School Internship Meeting 1 2. Lunch Research Series X: “Does Europeanisation Matter?

– Reflecting from a Glocal Researcher’s Perspective” 1 3. A seminar to Introduce the Main Points of PISA 2015

Assessment 2 4. Lunch Research Series XI: “Bayesian Goodness-of-fit

and Model Selection for Dichotomous Latent Trait Models-A Case Study of China Gaokao (National Matriculation) Mathematics Test” & “A study of the Media and Information Literacy among Macau University Students: An initial study” 4

5. FED Lunch Research Series XII: “Assessment, Feedback, and Motivation” 5

6. The first Annual Research Conference of the Center for Early Childhood Education and Child Development 6

7. Digital Assessment Demonstration: PISA 2015 Science and Collaborative Problem Solving 7

8. Lunch Research Series XIII: “Developing cultural intelligence: The role of international experiences and implicit culture beliefs” 8

9. Lunch Research Series XIV: “Assessing Education Marktization in Hong Kong: the case of Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools”

9

10. FED Lunch Research Series XV: “The role of conceptions of learning in technology-enhanced learning environment” 10

Student Activities

11. Voluntary Teaching Activity in Fenghuang Ancient City of Hunan 11

12.

FED House Programme Chinese New Year Gathering 12

Faculty of Education Newsletter Issue 35, December 2014 - February 2015 1

Secondary School Internship Meeting

“Secondary School Internship Meeting” was held in Faculty of Education, University of Macau, on 5 December, 2014. Prof. Xitao FAN, Dean of FED of UM, Associate Prof. Chunlian JIANG, Programme Coordinator of Teaching Practice of FED, Associate Prof. Bing WEI, Programme Coordinator of Graduate Programmes of FED, Assistant Prof. Zhengdong GAN, Programme Coordinator of Bachelor of Education Programme (English) – Curriculum and representatives from various secondary schools in Macao participated the meeting.

Prof. Fan thanked all the representatives for providing FED student teachers invaluable internship opportunities. He pointed out that, the internship played a vital role in their transition from students to classroom teachers. Students had chances to apply what they learnt from academic life, but also to cultivate their professional quality. Prof. Fan expected that this meeting helped to promote the cooperation between FED and the internship schools.

Dr. Jiang introduced the internship schedule, requirements and evaluations. She hoped

FED and schools would work together to assist and promote the development of the students.

The delegation from secondary schools drew some conclusions about the students’ practice performance. Students’ contribution to the teaching and learning in their schools was well appreciated. In addition, students placed in their schools have made improvements in professionalism and passion for teaching.

This meeting helped promote mutual understanding and better communication between FED and secondary schools for internship and other cooperation.

Lunch Research Series X:

“Does Europeanisation Matter? – Reflecting from a Glocal Researcher’s Perspective”

FED Lunch Research Series 2014:“Does Europeanisation Matter? – Reflecting from a Glocal Researcher’s Perspective” was held in FED, University of Macau, on 10 December. Prof. Sou-Kuan VONG, Director of Educational Research Centre of Faculty of Education,was invited to be the speaker.


Dr. Mingming ZHOU, Assistant Professor of FED, chaired the seminar.FED academic staff, PhD students and master students attended the seminar.

Prof. VONG’s research about Europeanisation attracted many FED academic staff, PhD students and master students to join this sharing session. She began the seminar in sharing a little story that an international beverage brand specialized in Macau in order to further expand its market. Prof. VONG pointed out that the little story exactly brought out the “Glocalisation” concept and helped us to be aware of that fact that different regions of the world have different value orientation. That is why we need to pay attention to localization and globalization.

The study of Europeanization has been popular since the late 1990s. In Prof. VONG’s study, she reflected from a glocal researcher’s perspective with the following two questions: 1, whose educational space and epistemic forms; 2, as researchers, what is our mission in the course of globalization? Does it lose or present the local value? She first defined what is Europeanization and globalization and later pointed out that the emergence of Europeanization developed through the pre-Europeanization, first, second, third and fourth stage respectively.

Toward the end, Prof. VONG briefly concluded that educational development of each region is deeply rooted in its social context and history and that we should not lose sight of the negotiation between the “global” and the “local” discourse.

A seminar to Introduce the Main Points of PISA 2015

Assessment On 13 December, A seminar to introduce the main points of PISA 2015 assessment, organized by Educational Testing and Assessment Research Center (ETARC), the University of Macau, was held in the Mr. and Mrs. Lau Chor Tak Lecture Theatre, Anthony Lau Building, Block E4. The seminar attracted lots of teachers from Macao schools.

In the seminar, Prof. Cheung Kwok CHEUNG, Director of Educational Testing and Assessment Research Centre, presented his speech on two issues: 1. Scientific literacy and 2, collaborative problem-solving literacy.


Scientific literacy is the ability of engage with science-related issues, and with the ideas of science, as a reflective citizen. Therefore, a scientific literate person is willing to engage in reasoned discourse about science and technology which requires the competencies to explain phenomena scientifically, evaluate and design scientific enquiry and interpret data and evidence scientifically. Prof. Cheung indicated that, when we speak of scientific knowledge, what we mean is an understanding of the major facts, concepts and explanatory theories that form the basis of scientific knowledge. Such knowledge includes: 1, content knowledge, knowledge of the natural world and technology artifacts; 2, procedural knowledge, knowledge of how such ideas are produced and 3, epistemic knowledge, an understanding of the underlying rationale for these procedures and justifications for their use. Scientific literacy is being assessed by the response formats include: simple multiple-choice, constructed response and complex multiple-choice. Prof. Cheung emphasized that, these technology–enabled response formats are new for PISA 2015.

Prof. Cheung then talked about the collaborative problem-solving digital assessment. He indicated that , CPS is the capacity of an individual to effectively engage in a process whereby two or more agents attempet to solve a problem by sharing the understanding and effort required to come to a solution

and pooling their knowledge, skills and efforts to reach that solution. CPS is assessed at student’s social skills and cognitive skills. Prof. Cheung pointed out that, there are three levels of proficiency in CPS skills, and high level is that student proactively takes initiatives in requesting information from others, initiated umprompted actiona,and effectively responds to conflicts,takes the initiative to solve difficult barriers in collaboration. Use of computer agents in assessment so as to assess individual student’s CPS skills. Prof. Cheung emphasized that, coummunication is an integral part of successful CPS in addition to the problem-solving mechanisms. Group members must achieve: (1) command ground that provides a shared understanding of the task at hand; (2) role assignment and (3) the contribution of team members as the problem-solving evolves.

The seminar helped the teachers understand the main points of PISA 2015 assessment so as to boost the development of scientific literacy as well as collaborative problem-solving literacy of students in Macau.


Lunch Research Series XI: “Bayesian Goodness-of-fit and

Model Selection for Dichotomous Latent Trait

Models-A Case Study of China Gaokao (National

Matriculation) Mathematics Test” & “A study of the Media

and Information Literacy among Macau University

Students: An initial study”

FED Lunch Research Series 2014: “Bayesian Goodness-of-fit and Model Selection for Dichotomous Latent Trait Models-A Case Study of China Gaokao (National Matriculation) Mathematics Test” & “A study of the Media and Information Literacy among Macau University Students: An initial study” , organized by FED, University of Macau, was held on 17 December 2014. Ms Huping WU and Ms Ka Weng HOI, PhD student from FED, were invited to speak on the above topic. Prof. Timothy TEO, Associate Dean of Faculty of Education, chaired the seminar.

Ms Huping Wu talked on “Bayesian Goodness-of-fit and Model Selection for Dichotomous Latent Trait Models-A Case Study of China Gaokao (National Matriculation) Mathematics Test”. Gaokao plays a vital role in the evaluation of items and its quality.

Ms Ka Weng Hoi presented on “A study of the Media and Information Literacy among Macau University Students: An initial study”. She first defined the information literacy as the ability to understand the individual needs of information and knowledge, and to distinguish, assess, utilize, and transfer information efficiently, while media literacy was defined as the ability to access, understand and create information through different types of media. Ms Hoi thought that a good information and media literacy helps students to adopt information and media technologies accurately. Therefore, it is significant to study the Media and Information Literacy among Macau University Students. Ms Hoi came up with three hypotheses in her study: 1, do students with different genders differ in terms of information literacy and media literacy? 2, do students who own different kinds of digital devices differ in terms of information literacy and media literacy? And 3, do students at higher study levels perceive themselves as more proficient in terms of information literacy and media literacy? Results indicated that : 1, students of different genders have no statistical difference in the mean scores of information literacy and media literacy; 2, students who own digital devices have significantly higher self-perception score on media literacy compared to students who do not own digital devices and 3, Master’s Year 2 students have significantly higher self-perceived information literacy scores.


Towards the end, Prof. Xitao FAN, Dean of Faculty of Education, gave comments on the speakers. Prof. Fan indicated that, whatever the speech is, the key to its success lies in the adoption of the audiences who play an important role in the occasion. Therefore, the speaker should pay attention to the audiences while presenting research findings. FED Lunch Research Series is one of the unique events of Faulty of Education of University of Macau with the purpose of cultivating human spirit, creating a rich atmosphere of academic culture as well as promoting the construction of the spiritual civilization under the guidance of “Keeping improving”. The PhD student is the newly added part of the FED Lunch Research Series, which helps to improve their thesis expression ability and the academic accomplishment.

FED Lunch Research Series XII: “Assessment, Feedback,

and Motivation”

Dr.Youyan NIE, Assistant Professor of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, visited University of Macau and gave a seminar on“Assessment, Feedback, and Motivation” on 7 January, 2015. Prof. Timothy TEO, Associate Dean of Faculty of Education, made a welcome speech and gave a brief introduction of Prof. Nie’s academic background and research area.

Prof. Nie started with two questions : 1, do you like doing assessment? and 2, do you understand yourself ? Prof. Nie shared a true story in order to let all the participants have a better understanding of these questions. There was a student who always scored high and ranked top in Mathematics assessment. The top rank convinced his ability in mathematics and enhanced his learning motivation, which is why he chose Mathematics as his major in the university. Unfortunately, he later found Mathematics was not that easy and he did not reach the top rank in the university. He made a conclusion that “I do not want to do any work related to Math”. Prof. Nie then returned to the topic and pointed out that academic ability was defined based on ranking. Students’ score was interpreted according to their position in the population, which was especially useful for selection purpose. That explained why our parents and teachers considered that the primary purpose of learning was to achieve higher rank in the exam. She indicated that this kind of feedback based on the ranking has lots of disadvantages. For example student’s self-esteem tends to suffer, followed by lower leaning motivation. Actually, this was an issue both in Chinese and Western education system.


Through sharing the empirical researches, Prof. Nie considered that the assessment, feedback, student self learning approach, learning motivation and learning outcome are interrelated. She believed that the way to interpret assessment scores and provide feedback to students played an important role in students learning motivation and development and this need a careful exploration.

Prof. Timothy TEO, Associate Dean of FED of UM, presented Prof. Nie with souvenirs and took pictures together.

The first Annual Research

Conference of the Center for Early Childhood Education

and Child Development “The first Annual Research Conference of the Center for Early Childhood Education and Child Development” was held in Faculty of Education, University of Macau, on 16 January. Prof. Xitao FAN, Dean of FED of UM, Dr. Bi Ying HU, Director of Centre for Early Childhood Education and Child Development, Dr. Zhaowei KONG, Assistant Professor of FED, Dr. Ning YANG, Professor of Pre-primary Education department of FED of South China Normal University, Mr. Haixing LIU, Director of Distant Training Center of Network Department of South China Normal University and delegates of Education and Youth Affairs Bureau,

Guangzhou City, Zhongshan City and Zhaoqing City attended this conference.

Prof. Xitao FAN welcomed all the guests. He indicated that, early childhood education was is an important part of and it plays a crucial role in the children's physical and mental development. The development early childhood education made no sense without practice. However, the quality of any early childhood education programme was so hard to be evaluated in a scientific way. Prof. Fan hoped all the participants would work together to promote the research and development of early childhood education.

Dr. Hu also expressed her warmest welcome to all the participants and then gave a speech on “Exploring the Relationship between the Teacher Interaction with Child in the Early Childhood Education Stage and the Child Development- A Case Study in Guangdong Province”. She shared them with some empirical studies, including: 1, four types of CLASS and its difference; 2, the relationship between the early childhood education and child


development; 3, an investigation about the skips threshold effect of CLASS and 4, the relationship among the teacher’s quality, teaching level and child development.

Dr. Zhaowei Kong gave a speech and pointed out that, according to the data collected from Guangzhou, Zhongshan and Zhaoqing City, two empirical evidences have shown that the better the kindergarten was, the better the child’s sport activity and his fitness.

Prof. Ning Yang briefly described the development of early childhood education, hoping that all the participants would take advantage of the conference to deepen the knowledge about the implementation and the situation of early childhood education in different regions. He wished all participants joined hands to enhance its development. All the participants have an in-depth discussion about the proposal about teacher training intervention programme put forward by Dr, Hu. They felt deeply interested in the proposal and were

willing to join the programme.

Digital Assessment Demonstration: PISA 2015 Science and Collaborative

Problem Solving On 17 January, A conference “Digital Assessment Demonstration: PISA 2015 Science and Collaborative Problem Solving”, organized by Educational Testing and Assessment Research Center (ETARC) , the University of Macau, was held in the Mr. and Mrs. Lau Chor Tak Lecture Theatre, Anthony Lau Building, Block E4. Prof. Cheung Kwok CHEUNG, Director of Educational Testing and Assessment Research Centre together with Dr. Pou Seong SIT, Assistant Professor of FED of UM were invited as the speakers. Many teachers from Macao schools attended this demonstration.

Prof .Cheung briefly introduced what science-based issues and ideas of science were personally relevant to the 15-year-olds and pointed out that procedural knowledge was of paramount importance to evaluate


and design scientific enquiry and interpret data and evidence scientifically which are two of the three core scientific competency assessed in PISA 2015. He shared with some preliminary examples of the new science PISA test units and reported the Macau students’ performance in the test. Prof Cheung emphasized that in everyday science teaching, attention may be paid to the big ideas underlying the resolution of these thorny science-related issues affecting mankind every day.

Dr. Sit talked about the matrix of the two collaborative problem-solving skills for PISA 2015. Participants have a better understanding of the topic through the digital assessment demonstration.

Towards the end, Macau teachers said that they knew more about the PISA 2015 and its operation thanks to the demonstration. Prof. Cheung replied to all the questions raised by the audiences and they greeted the speech with rapturous applause.

Lunch Research Series XIII: “Developing cultural

intelligence: The role of international experiences and

implicit culture beliefs” Dr. Man Chi CHAO From Department of Management of Faculty of Business at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology visited the University of Macau and gave a talk on “Developing cultural competence: The role of international experiences and implicit culture beliefs” on 23 January. Dr. Chester KAM, Assistant Professor of Faculty of Education, chaired the Lecture.

Dr. Chao received two remarkable research awards: the Early Career Award from the International Academy of Intercultural Research, and the Michael Harris Bond Award for Early Research Contributions from the Asian Association of Social Psychology. The former award is an international award that recognizes individuals who have made substantial contributions to the field of intercultural relations early in their careers, whereas the latter award recognizes individuals who make significant contributions to Asian social psychology. She developed a keen interest in psychology when she studied in the USA, where she started to realize that people’s thinking and behavior can be influenced by their social and cultural environment. Having served as a senior research assistant, a database specialist,


and an agency statistics coordinator in the Asian American Recovery Services after graduation, she met and worked with people from very diverse backgrounds.

Dr. Chao said that, the study of culture intelligence has been popular in the multicultural society. She quoted from literature and defined culture intelligence as “individual’s ability to adapt and function effectively in different cultural settings”. She then shared her study and showed the empirical results that students have more international experience would develop a better cultural intelligence and individuals have the fixed view may hinder their cultural intelligence.

Dr. Chao suggested that we need to do more to facilitate cross-cultural adjustment. As researchers, we should move beyond the emphasis on essential cultural differences, and increase the awareness that assumptions about cultural essences may unwittingly lead to a self-fulfilling cycle that might adversely impact adjustment.

Prof. Timothy TEO, Associate Dean of FED of UM, presented Dr. Chao with souvenirs and took pictures together.

Lunch Research Series XIV: “Assessing Education

Marktization in Hong Kong: the case of Direct Subsidy

Scheme Schools” FED Lunch Research Series 2015:“Assessing Education Marktization in Hong Kong: the case of Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools” was held in FED, University of Macau, on 28 January. Dr. Yisu ZHOU, Assistant professor of FED of UM, was invited to be the speaker and Prof. Ping Man WONG of FED, chaired the seminar. Since 1980s, globalization and neoliberalism (Big Market/ Small Government) are the major influence in pushing the western countries to bring the market mechanism into the higher education gradually. This measure enables the higher education institutions to respond to the needs of the market positively so as to enhance its flexibility and efficiency. This kind of higher education marketization has also swept the East Asian countries, becoming a main power to reform the higher education policy. In this seminar, Dr. Zhou started with the development of Education


Marktization in Hong Kong and information about the Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) Schools figured prominently. He mentioned that, introduced in September 1991, the DSS was set up in response to the recommendations of the Education Commission in its Report No. 3 and approved by the Executive Council. A recurrent government subsidy in the form of a block grant was paid to each DSS school. The amount of the subsidy (i.e. the DSS subsidy) was calculated based on the DSS unit subsidy rate (i.e. the average unit cost of an aided school place) and the number of enrolment of a DSS school. Dr. Zhou and then pointed out that, to meet the policy objective of catering for different needs of students and coping with the fast-changing demand of society, DSS schools were allowed to have greater flexibility in curriculum design than public sector schools. Therefore, DSS helped to inject more variety into school system and to enhance student’s choice.

Under the logic of the market, schools that are innovative and flexible enough to devise curricula, pedagogies, and assessments that meet students’ needs better would be rewarded by the market and secure their survival, whereas those that are not would be published by the market and die out. Based on the data analyzed from PIAS Hong Kong2006, 2009 and 2012, he mentioned that, DSS met the needs of the market and raised the standards of state education, however, DSS preferred high SES students and this achievement depended

on the student composition in a certain sense.

Towards the end, Dr. Zhou considered that the overall goal of the educational reform needed to be explored in depth.

FED Lunch Research Series XV: “The role of conceptions

of learning in technology-enhanced learning

environment”

FED Lunch Research Series 2015: “The role of conceptions of learning in technology-enhanced learning environment" organized by FED, University of Macau, was held on 11 February 2015. Prof. Chin-Chung TSAI, professor of Taiwan University of Science and Technology, was invited to be the speaker. Prof. Timothy TEO, Associate Dean of Faculty of Education, chaired the seminar. Prof. Chin-Chung Tsai, a chair professor of Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. He studied at National Taiwan Normal University (Bachelor of Science, Department of Physics), Harvard University, USA (Master of Education, Graduate School of Education), Columbia University, USA (Master of Science, Teachers College) and Columbia University, USA (Doctor of


Education, Teachers College). He has been appointed as the Co-Editor of “Computers & Education,” effective from July 2009 thanks to his outstanding performance in the field of Science.

Educational psychologists have recognized that the concept of learning play an important role in learning process and outcomes in the last two decades. Students have more access to study in the technology-enhanced learning environment thanks to the advanced contemporary educational environment. How the students conceptualize “learning” is becoming a fundamental issue in this learning environment.

In this seminar, Prof. Tsai shared with the participants his recent studies vividly and systematically. He started by asking the audience “How do the students think about learning or what is learning?” and then reviewed students’ concept of learning shown in different technology-enhanced learning environment. He investigated the relationship among students’ concept of learning, learning approach and leaning outcome according to the traditional

learning and e-learning. Based on the research results, Prof. Tsai pointed out that students’ concept of learning had a significant relationship with learning approach and learning outcome respectively.

The speech attracted the audience’s interest and Prof. Tsai exchanged ideas with them.

Dr. Mingming ZHOU, Assistant Professor of FED, presented Prof. Tsai with souvenirs and they took pictures together. Voluntary Teaching Activity in

Fenghuang Ancient City of Hunan

During 20-25 December, several teachers and students from Faculty of Education, University of Macau, participated in the “Voluntary Teaching Activity in Fenghuang Ancient City of Hunan”. The activity was organized by the Youth Committee of The Chinese Educators Association of Macau


and FED Student Association, and sponsored by Macao Foundation, the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau, Pearson Macau and Educational Publishing House Limited. Advisory board members included Mr Chan Ka Leong Director of The Chinese Educators Association of Macau, Prof. Sao Leng IEONG, Director of Rector‟s Office and Associate Professor of FED, Prof. Kwok Cheung CHEUNG, Director of Educational Testing and Assessment Research Centre, Associate Prof. Bing WEI, programme Coordinator of Graduate Programmes of FED and Ms, representative from the Department of Education and Culture of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Macao SAR.

This Voluntary Teaching Activity is very fruitful, including classroom teaching, heart-warming home visits, ideas exchanging as well as donating materials such as books and scholarships. Through teaching, visiting and experiencing local life in Hunan, this volunteer teaching activity aims to give Macao young teachers and student teachers a better understanding of the conditions under which ethnic minority children live and study in mountainous regions and education in west and central China, so as to boost their enthusiasm of caring for and helping others and their commitment to education.

The group started the journey by visiting Liaojiaqiao Primary School, Fenghuang Village. They brought with them well-prepared lesson materials and lovely gifts for the students. They integrated into the teaching plans such subjects as Chinese, English, Math and included information on Macao, the world cultural heritage in Macao, the general information about the festivals, etc. Children were very interested in the diverse subject knowledge and listened carefully in class.

After the completion of classroom teaching, the group visited six local families, and donated materials. The group and then visited Jishou University. Associate Rector Qisheng LI on behalf of the teachers and students from Jishou University, extended his warm welcome to the visited group and gave a brief introduction of history and current situation of the school. They exchanged ideas on the education and culture of the two areas. Mr Li hoped that all the participants increased knowledge and broadened their horizon.

The group also went to Fenghuang Ancient City, Qiliang Cave, Miao Village to experience the charm of the ancient city as well as the multicultural Miao village. This Voluntary Teaching Activity gave the Macao teachers and students a lot of touching and unforgettable experience and the local students a lot of happy learning experience. Many a student from FED of


UM said that they had gained a better understanding of the meaning of “being teachers” by getting themselves immersed in the voluntary teaching activity. They hoped that more FED volunteers will participate in this meaningful educational activity and learn to grow.

FED House Programme Chinese New Year Gathering

The Lunar New Year is by far the most important traditional Chinese festival. To celebrate the Year of the Goat, “FED House Programme Chinese New Year Gathering” organized by Faculty of Education was held in FED Learning Commons, University of Macau, on 19 February. FED academic and administrative staff members, as well as students from the FED House Programme attended the Chinese New Year Gathering. Prof. Chun Wai CHENG, Associate Dean of FED, extended his warm welcome to every participant and hoped all the FED students gain still greater success in the new year.

Prof. Shuh Ren JIN on behalf of the FED said that FED members got together to host Chinese New Year, implying the FED House Programme is becoming better and better. Prof. Jin also wished all FED staffs and students happiness and prosperity in the year ahead.

After having some refreshment, students began to write spring scrolls. With their wonderful imagination, students created their own ones. They practiced their craftsmanship and hand writing and enjoyed the traditional brush calligraphy. In addition, students cooperated with each other while writing, which enhanced their teamwork and interpersonal relations at the same time.

There was unrestrained joy on the faces of the participants and the party was swept up in the mood of exaltation. They became intoxicated by their fruitful success as well as rested their hopes on the next year. The Chinese New Year Gathering strengthened their sense of belonging but also embodied FED members would be hand in hand embrace a better tomorrow with the best attitude.

Faculty of Education Newsletter Issue 35, December 2014 ... 35 EN.pdf · Models-A Case Study of...

Documents

Transcript of Faculty of Education Newsletter Issue 35, December 2014 ... 35 EN.pdf · Models-A Case Study of...