Hong Kong teachers are not using information technology (IT) effectively to enhance teaching quality despite a large spending on the related hardware over the past six years, an international study conducted by the University of Hong Kong (HKU) revealed.

The study, which examined the effectiveness of information technology in education in 9,000 schools in 22 places, found that Hong Kong teachers are still using traditional teaching methods in class, hindering students' learning process.

The study found that the ratio of students to computers in 304 secondary schools in Hong Kong has improved from 23:1 in 1998 to 6:1 in 2006. The ratio is the highest in Asia and ranks fourth over the world, after Norway, Alberta and Denmark.

Nearly 80 percent of science and humanities teachers of these schools have applied IT in class, and more than 60 percent of mathematics teachers have followed such practice.

The government has implemented IT in education since 1998, and recently published a document concluding the experience over the past decade and outlining development for the next five years.

The HKU study found that Hong Kong was lagging behind Taipei and Singapore in terms of the effective use of IT in education.

The mathematics teachers who have answered a questionnaire to evaluate the effectiveness gave 0.52 points out of two for the improvement of student performance in examinations after the use of IT, while their counterparts in Singapore gave 0.75 points.

The science teachers participating in the study gave 0.63 points for the improvement of student examination performance after the use of IT, which was 0.2 points lower than Singapore and Taipei. The teachers gave 0.41 points in student collaboration skills, which is 0.28 points lower than Singapore.

The university's Centre for Information Technology in Education director, Nancy Law said Hong Kong educators have failed to incorporate IT in their teaching.

The government has stressed the provision of computer facilities in schools, but has not trained teachers to integrate IT into the curriculum, she said.

With the use of IT facilities, teachers should stimulate classroom discussions and even take students to field trips.

"But most of the teachers are only replacing the blackboard with PowerPoint slides, and writing exercises with online assignments. Some principals believed that they have achieved the goal of utilizing IT in education if teachers are allocating 25 percent of the teaching time to using the computer even if the teaching content remains the same," she said.

Law urged the government to focus on the impact of IT in curriculum development under the education reform.

(HK Edition 03/11/2008 page1)