Hong Kong: An evolving e-Learning society
28 - 06 - 2004

The Government is committed to sustaining the development of information technology (IT) in education and making efforts to equip the public for the information age, the Director of Information Technology Services, Mr Alan Wong Chi-kong, said today (June 28).

Speaking at an international seminar on e-Education and e-Learning, Mr Wong shared Hong Kong's experience in applying IT in education.

He said that in the new 2004 Digital 21 Strategy released in March this year, the Government reaffirmed its commitment to prepare Hong Kong people, especially the younger generation, to become self-initiating lifelong learners and IT in education played a major role in achieving the objective.

In 1998, the Government promulgated the five-year "Information Technology for Learning in a New Era" strategy. All schools are now equipped with the necessary information infrastructure for Internet connection. On average, there are 247 sets of personal computers in each secondary school and 91 sets in each primary school. They are equipped with broadband Internet connection, and 60% of them are even connected with optical fiber cables. IT Training programmes were provided to 46,000 teachers and 4,600 teaching assistants.

To seek public opinion on e-Education strategy, a consultation paper called "Information Technology in Education ¡V Way Forward" was published in March this year. The main themes are the development of "information literacy" for students and the professional development of teachers. The updated strategy will be finalised and announced later this year.

Mr Wong cited the successful project of Hong Kong Education City (HKedCity) (www.hkedcity.net). Corporatised in 2002 with financial support from the Government, HKedCity offers information on IT in education, teaching and learning resources and a variety of services to schools, teachers, students and parents. It also aims to forge private and public partnerships for fostering and promoting e-Learning and e-business platforms in Hong Kong.

The HKedCity website has become one of the most popular education portals in Hong Kong, with a daily average of more than 3 million page views.

"The full power of e-Learning and online education was amply demonstrated by the HKedCity during the SARS epidemic last year", Mr Wong said. Through the website's e-Learning portal and virtual classrooms, more than one million students were able to take their lessons and finish their homework assignments at home. The e-Learning project has also brought HKedCity the Computerworld Honours Medal of Achievement in April this year.

To sustain the momentum for e-Learning, the Education and Manpower Bureau's Information Technology Education Resource Centre has designed a series of e-Learning programmes for secondary school students. The Quality Education Fund has also provided $100 million in support of 361 education projects this year, including the development of an e-book learning platform and a game-based learning platform.

The tertiary institutions and Vocational Training Council do not lag behind in promoting the use of IT in education. E-Learning solutions and packages were developed for professors, researchers, teachers and students.

"The Government has been a keen supporter of e-Learning and the e-Learning culture in the civil service is definitely growing," Mr Wong said. The Civil Service Training and Development Institute set up a Cyber Learning Centre to provide e-Learning facilities and services for all civil servants four years ago. At present, the cyber learning portal offers more than 100 online courses and 60 job aids covering subjects such as languages, management, China studies, personal improvements, health and well-being.

The portal boasts 38,000 registered users ranging from senior officers to juniors and staff in the frontline. According to a user survey conducted last February, 93% of respondents were satisfied with the quality of the learning resources.

Individual departments have also launched e-Learning projects focusing on business-specific and professional training to provide tailor-made training for IT professionals, engineers, disciplinary officers, scientific officers, social workers and housing officers.

Mr Wong said that the Information Technology Services Department was a pioneer in adopting e-Learning. During the past four years, the department has hosted web-based learning programmes on its Intranet and the Internet; set up its own e-library with a good collection of e-books; launched various incentive programmes to encourage e-Learning; and developed its own knowledge management portal for online sharing and collaboration.

"The Government will continue to work with the IT industry, academia and the community to promote e-Education and e-Learning in Hong Kong," he said. He believed that apart from enabling the public to equip themselves adequately to meet the challenges posed by economic restructuring and the changing needs of a knowledge-based economy, e-Education was also an important means for enhancing social mobility.

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