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Chapter 6
Action 4 Building professional leadership, capacity and
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Rendering support services and building communities of practice
6.4 To organise seminars on IT for learning and teaching and hands-on sessions on using mobile computing devices, and district-based PDPs and on-site support for schools. School teachers are also encouraged to build learning communities among themselves to support one another.
(A) Empowering e-leadership
Support
6.5 There is a common consensus that school leadership is a key component in leading school-wide change and is essential to the successful formulation of policy in enabling whole school adoption of e-learning.
Major Concerns and Suggestions
6.6 Some teachers are concerned that they do not have spare time to attend e-learning related PDPs due to their heavy workload.
Besides, it is suggested that the role of the vice-principal or Primary School Master/Mistress (Curriculum Development) (PSM(CD)) to take charge of implementing e-learning across the curriculum can be clearly set out in the relevant PDPs. Another alternative can be the establishment of an additional post, e.g. Primary School Master/Mistress (IT) (PSM(IT)) to coordinate the work of all IT related matters in schools for the long-term development of e-learning particularly in primary schools.
6.7 To better equip school principals, they should be encouraged to participate actively in the local and international professional development community to share their valuable experiences.
Furthermore, EDB should include e-learning elements in those PDPs for aspiring school principals and senior teachers.
6.8 To facilitate successful implementation of e-learning in schools, the course contents of the PDPs should include training on paradigm
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shift in school culture, human resources management and change in administrative framework and peer support through sharing of research findings and good e-learning practices, both local and world-wide.
Way Forward
6.9 To empower and sustain school leadership in the development of e-learning, EDB has enriched and delivered the PDPs in different modes for the school principals, middle management personnel / curriculum leaders on strategic planning for whole school adoption of e-learning. Following the proposal under consultation, all school leaders will be provided with relevant training within three years and will complete it by 2016/17 school year or earlier. We will also encourage school leaders to participate in professional experience sharing in local and international communities, including the Learning & Teaching Expo.
6.10 As revealed by school experiences, successful development of e-learning requires the involvement and leadership of school head and curriculum leader with the support of the IT team. In this regard, the strengthening of the role of school head, vice-principal and PSM(CD) to lead a whole-school development of e-learning across the curriculum and in collaboration with the school IT team is crucial.
6.11 As regards the post of PSM(CD) in primary schools, the curriculum leaders should assist the school head to lead whole-school curriculum development by formulating and leading teachers to try out different strategies for curriculum development, including the integration of IT across KLAs and subjects with support of the IT team.
6.12 EDB will keep reviewing and updating the IT elements in the Teacher Competencies Framework and the continuing professional development (CPD) of teachers to better serve as a reference tool for the enhancement of teachers’ professionalism in schools.
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6.13 To further enhance the professional competencies of teachers, schools will be encouraged to make use of the current Capacity Enhancement Grant to relieve teachers’ workload for attending the PDPs.
(B) Providing a web-based self-learning tool kit
Major Concerns and Suggestions
6.14 Development of more resource materials for schools’ reference to assess the readiness for implementing e-learning is recommended.
Way Forward
6.15 To step up our support for schools in formulating their own school development plans, we will prepare the contents of the web-based Resource Pack by the 2015/16 school year to support schools in devising their e-learning development plans according to their priorities and needs, as well as building the school leaders’
confidence in adopting e-learning according to the school context.
6.16 To benefit the school community, the Resource Pack will include exemplar school development plans and good practices of e-learning, etc. They will be uploaded to the web for schools’ reference.
(C) Enhancing professional development of teachers
Support
6.17 A high proportion of respondents agree that the provision of IT training to teachers on e-learning at generic and KLA-specific levels should be strengthened in order to further enhance their effectiveness of learning and teaching.
Major Concerns and Suggestions
6.18 EDB should take the lead in developing teachers’ professionalism and capacity for e-learning in their subject areas as well as furnishing the middle school management with knowledge on school-wide issues such as setting up of WiFi infrastructure, subscription for WiFi services and the implementation of BYOD.
6.19 Suggestions are also put forward to prescribe a minimal requirement on the hours of training in e-learning for teachers, covering e-learning pedagogies, information literacy, IT security and privacy issues, etc.
Way Forward
6.20 Adhering to the proposal under consultation and taking into account the views of the stakeholders, EDB will provide a variety of training courses to meet the needs of teachers, which will include a series of PDPs at both generic and KLA-specific levels to explore the potential of using IT for the enhancement of their effectiveness in learning and teaching, as well as seminars on building up WiFi infrastructure through the subscription service mode, BYOD, information literacy, IT security and privacy issues, etc.
6.21 To facilitate schools in arranging PDPs on e-learning for their teaching staff and making reference to the requirements of CPD, EDB has compiled a list of PDPs for reference by primary and secondary school teachers (webpages at www.edb.gov.hk/cd/pdp/pri and www.edb.gov.hk/cd/pdp/sec respectively). The PDPs include technological, e-leadership and management, KLA-related as well as pedagogical courses.
(D) Rendering support services and building communities of practice
Support
6.22 There is an overwhelming support for providing teachers with IT training and schools with on-site support for e-learning, as well as for building learning community to create a platform so that valuable e-learning experiences (knowledge and skills) are shared among teachers and problems are solved through mutual support. This can help save teachers’ time in preparing teaching resources and reducing their workload.
Major Concerns and Suggestions
6.23 Strengthening the sharing of e-learning practices at both school and subject levels is supported. Suggestions on providing more school-based support or organising more e-learning activities such as talks and workshops for school staff development.
Way Forward
6.24 Following the proposal under consultation, EDB will facilitate the building of Learning Communities among schools. We will organize seminars for teacher peers to share their experiences in IT for learning and teaching and provide hands-on sessions on using mobile computing devices, etc., to enrich teachers’ repertoire of e-learning pedagogy and build up their confidence in harnessing IT in education. School teachers will also be encouraged to form learning communities within and across schools where they can share their experiences and support each other.
6.25 We will provide other modes of support for building teacher capacity, including on-site school-based support and district-based PDPs for schools. Teams of professional staff of EDB, in partnership with teaching professionals, will provide on-site support to schools as requested aiming at introducing and empowering teachers to adopt or adapt good IT pedagogical and technical practices in their schools and facilitating effective school cultural changes. In addition,
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dissemination of experiences gained in schemes such as CoE, Pilot Scheme on e-Learning in Schools, Partner Schools Scheme under the EMADS and Support Scheme for e-Learning in Schools will continue.
6.26 The Government has launched various initiatives and IT related schemes and they are open for schools to apply and participate.
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Chapter 7