faculty of education newsletterissue 36, … 36 en.pdf · beijing normal university visited fed 2 ....

Faculty of Education NewsletterIssue 36, March2015–April2015

Faculty of Education NewsletterIssue 36, March2015–April2015

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 36 Contents Academic Staff Activities 1. 2015/2016 Principals' Recommended Admission (PRA)

Lunch Gathering 1 2. PISA 2015 Digital Assessment Demonstration:

Administration of Digital Mathematics and Reading Test Items in the Minor Domains 2

3. Beijing Normal University visited FED 2 4. Lunch Research Series XVI - Workshop on

“Moderation/Mediation Analysis in Social and Behavioral Science Research” 3

5. Guest Lecture on “How Children Learn to Read and Write Chinese Characters - Principles and Methods” 4

6. Guest Lecture on “Cooperative Learning in Shanghai Primary Schools” 5

7. Exchange Meeting with Hiroshima University Delegates 6 8. Lunch Research Series XVII:“Performance Response

Mode Assessments Used in General Music Class” 7 9. UM Open Day – Faculty of Education 8 10. Lunch Research Series XVIII:“Issues and challenges in

synthesizing educational program evaluations” 9 11. Lunch Research Series XIX:“Effects of home background

on mathematics performance: A multilevel analysis of self-regulated learning processes” & “Bayesian Analysis of Dichotomous Latent Trait Models” 10

12. Lunch Research Series XIX:“An Initial Assessment of Chinese Teachers' Readiness to Teach 21st Century Skills” & “African American Female Students in Online Collaborative Learning Activities: The Role of Identity, Emotion and Peer Support” 11

13. Lunch Research Series XXI:“Educational Provision for Migrant Children in Beijing: Key Issues and Challenges” 12

14. Lunch Research Series XXII - Workshop on “Basic of Probability Theory for Ph.D. students in Education, Social Sciences and Business 13

Student Activities

15. Tea with Dean of FED 14 16.

Lunch with Dean of FED

14

Faculty of Education NewsletterIssue 36, March2015-April2015 1

2015/2016 Principals’ Recommended Admission (PRA) Lunch Gathering

“2015/2016 Principals’ Recommended Admission (PRA) Lunch Gathering” organized by Faculty of Education was held in FED Learning Commons on 19 March. FED academic staff and selected students attended the gathering.

Prof. Xitao FAN, Dean of FED, welcomed the participants on behalf of FEDand pointed out that many outstanding local students were accepted by the UM for undergraduate studies through the “Principals’ Recommended Admission programme”this year. FED received a large number of applications from outstanding local students, which is ascribed to the FED’s efforts in curriculum reform and program enhancement.

He emphasized that, under UM’s residential college system, which serves as an important instrument for the implementation of the university’s unique ‘4-in-1’ model of education (discipline-specific education, general education, research and internship education, and community and peer

education), would help the outstanding students achieve their full potential and become well-rounded graduates so as to better serve Macao after graduation.

Students had warm discussions with the teachers. There was unrestrained joy on the faces of the participants.

After lunch, Dr. Zihao LI together with his dance team, FED college residential students performed modern dance and songs, which, were thoroughly enjoyed by the audience.

A sharing session was added to this gathering. Some students who had been recommended by their respective school principals the previous year and have been studying in FED, shared their stories with


the new recommended outstanding students andthus learned more about FED andthe residential college system

PISA 2015 Digital Assessment

Demonstration: “Administration of Digital Mathematics and Reading

Test Items in the Minor Domains”

A seminar on“PISA 2015 Digital Assessment Demonstration: Administration of Digital Mathematics and Reading Test Items in the Minor Domains”, organized by Educational Testing and Assessment Research Center (ETARC), the University of Macau, was held in the Mr. and Mrs. Lau ChorTak Lecture Theatre, Anthony Lau Building,on 14 March. Prof. Kwok Cheung CHEUNG, Director of Educational Testing and Assessment Research Centre together with Dr. PouSeong SIT, Assistant Professor of FED of UM, were invited as the speakers. Prof .Cheung introduced the relationship between the reading framework and the aspect subscales.Participants have a better understanding of the topic through the digital assessment demonstration.

PISA defines mathematical literacy as an individual’s capacity to identify and understand the role that mathematics plays in the world, to make well-founded judgments and to use and engage with mathematics in ways that meet the needs of that individual’s life as a constructive, concerned and reflective citizen.

Dr. Sit indicated that the model of mathematical literacyfocused on the real world test. The real world contextis classified into personal, societal, occupational and scientific categories, which also set a standard to encourage the even spread of test items.

The seminar attracted lots of teachers from Macao schools.

Beijing Normal University visited FED

The Faculty of Education received a delegation from Beijing Normal University, on 14 March 2015. The delegation, consisting of international


students from different countries, was led by Prof. Chengwen HONG of Beijing Normal University.

Prof. Xitao FAN, Dean of FED of UM and Prof. Sao Leng IEONG, Director of Rector’s Office and Associate Professor of FED, extended their warmest welcome. Prof. Fan introduced the FED’s mission and courses in detail. He hoped that both of the two universities seek opportunities for cooperation with the aim of cultivating talents.

Prof. Fan presented the guests with souvenirs and they took pictures together. The delegates visited Faculty of Education Building, Administration Building and then the UM Wu Yee Sun Library. The international students said that they were impressed with the FED’s learning environment. Prof. Hong said he liked the ideas behind the Residential Colleague System and how the RCs were run at UM and felt that the visit enabled him to understand UM better.

Lunch Research Series XVI - Workshop on

“Moderation/Mediation Analysis in Social and

Behavioral Science Research” Lunch Research Series XVI - Workshop on “Moderation/Mediation Analysis in Social and Behavioral Science Research” was held in FED, University of Macau, on 7 March. Prof. Zhonglin WEN, Chair Professor, School of Psychology, the South China Normal University, China, visited the University of Macau and ran a workshop on “Moderation/Mediation Analysis in Social and Behavioral Science Research” on 17March.Master and PhD students as well as academic staffs from the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Business Administration attended this workshop.

Prof. Xitao FAN, Dean of Faculty of Education, made a welcome speech and gave a brief introduction of Prof. Wen’s academic background and research area. Prof. Fan indicated that lots of measurement data would be met in the field of psychology, education and other social sciences and researcher tended to have a confused idea of analysing data. He hoped that participants would strengthen their statistical skills through this workshop.


During the three-hours talk, Prof. Wen adopted a more relaxing and humorous approach and shared his views on the principles on Moderation/Mediation Analysis. The workshop consisted of the following: 1. moderating and mediating effect; 2. interaction effect; 3. significant test for the slope of regression line; 4. Baron and Kenny regression methods; 5. comparison between moderator and mediator and 6.comparison between moderating and mediating effect.

Prof. Wen’s talk received enthusiastic responses. By attending the workshop, the students learnt much about the statistical knowledge, and are looking forward to the next activity on similar topics.

Prof. Xitao Fan, Dean of FED of UM, presented Prof. Wen with souvenirs and took pictures together.

Guest Lecture on “How

Children Learn to Read and Write Chinese Characters -

Principles and Methods”

Guest Lecture on “How Children Learn to Read and Write Chinese Characters: Principles and Methods”, organized by FED, University of Macau, was held on18 March 2015. Prof. Beifei DONG, chair professor, Eastern China Normal University, was invited as the speaker. Dr. Tien Ping HSIANG, Assistant Professor of FED, chaired the seminar.

Chinese characters have a long well-established history. Close attention is paid to the font styles including the pictographs, ideographs, indicatives and the pictophonetic. Chinese characters stayed within the rules of evolvement. Prof. Dong’s study has nosed out some interesting facts about how children learn Chinese characters. Children sought out regularities and rules in acquiring Chinese characters. Prof. Dong described children ‘s psychological process as going through four stages step by step, including “overall perception”, “disassembly”, “reconstruction”, “overall perception again” and “memorization” while


acquiring Chinese characters. She also pointed out that children’s accurate perception of font styles increases progressively with grade.

Prof. Dong suggested that literacy is the foundation of reading and writing, and also the key teaching points for the Grade one and two. In particular, it is crucial for the lower-class pupils to master the Chinese characters. In a certain sense, lower-class pupils have difficulties in learning and memorizing the Chinese characters due to their own complexity and diversity, such as pronunciation, form and meaning. Therefore, at the beginning of literacy, teaching points should be placed on the analysis and the induction of the form.

Towards the end, Prof. Dong answered the questions raised by the participants in detail. The seminar attracted lots of teachers from Macao schools. Some teachers said that Prof. Dong’s talk inspired them to think how to teach children to read and write Chinese characters in depth.

Dr. Tien Ping Hsiang presented Prof. Dong with souvenirs and they took pictures together.

Guest Lecture on “Cooperative Learning in

Shanghai Primary Schools” Faculty of Education invited Prof. Beifei DONG of Eastern China Normal University to deliver a guest lecture on “Cooperative Learning in Shanghai Primary Schools” on 19 March. Dr. Tien Ping HSIANG, Assistant Professor of FED, chaired the seminar.

Prof. Dong cited various thinkers and presented plenty of examples from classical and modern eras to explain the background of cooperative learning, classroom teaching strategy with its advantages and practical strategies about cooperative learning. There is no


generally accepted definition of cooperative learning though it has been around for over three hundred years. In her opinion, cooperative learning is a systematic teaching strategy by arranging students with different abilities into groups. Students learn and help with one another to complete tasks collectively toward personal learning outcome and group goals. Prof. Dong emphasized there is much more to cooperative learning than merely arranging students into groups, and it has been described as“structuring positive interdependence.” Students must work in groups to complete tasks collectively toward academic goals.

Prof. Dong’s lecture was interspersed with demonstrations. She interacted with the audiences and demonstrated how to launch cooperative learning.

The well-directed guest lecture impressed the audiences with a better understanding of cooperative learning and a clearer direction for utilizing it in small class teaching.

Exchange Meeting with Hiroshima University

Delegates

The Faculty of Education received a delegation from Hiroshima University, on 20 March 2015. Prof. Xitao FAN, Dean of FED of UM,on behalf of the FED,welcomed all the guests and said the exchange programs are crucial platforms for students to enhance their abilities. FED is looking forward to cooperating with Hiroshima University with the aim of cultivatingtalents.

Prof. Xitao Fan, Dean of FED of UM, presenteddelegates with souvenirs and they took pictures together.

Prof. Chun Wai CHENG, Associate Dean of FED shared the UM and FED story with the guests. First established in 1981 as the University of East Asia, the University of Macau is the leading and largest tertiary institution in the region. The university was renamed in 1991 and became a public university, making it the only public comprehensive university in the Macau Special Administrative Region. A new chapter in Macau’s higher education history


has been unfolding with the relocation of the university to spectacular new campus on Hengqin Island, in August 2014. The Faculty of Education provides a spacious learning environment with the state-of-the-art facilities and easy access to outstanding facultymembers. The FED actively implementing the university’ s initatives such as the highly acclaimed“4–in-1” pedagogical model. This involves discipline-specific education; general education; research and education internship; and community and peer education, which are all integrated into the undergraduate curriculum for any given discipline. “FED is steadily progressing to become an internationally recognized institution,” Prof. CHENG emphasized.

Prof. Shinji KURIHARA of Hiroshima University showed some facts about Hiroshima University, and gave a talk about education status in Japan. He suggested that schools should construct a good educational environment for students and provide them with multiple-approachand guidance based on their specific learning needs.

Lunch Research Series XVII:“Performance Response

Mode Assessments Used in General Music Class”

FED Lunch Research Series XVII:“Performance Response Mode Assessments Used in General Music Class” was held in FED, University of Macau, on 27 March. Prof. Ming-Jen CHUANG, chair professor, the National Taichuang University of Education, was invited as the speaker. Dr. Ping-Cheng WANG, Assistant Professor of FED, chaired the seminar.

Music is a natural gift and need for people, which remains fundamental to music teaching. Prof. Chuang said that students have to learn to know every note of the music and how it should sound. In addition, Prof. Chuang has created the children singing voice measure scale to meet the needs of music teachers, hoping to help them decide which scale the students belong to.


Prof. Chuang described the children singing voice measure scale at full length. The scale point ranges from 1 to 11 and are classified into different singing voice categories ， including: 1,pre-singer; 2,inconsistent speaking range singer; 3,speaking range singer; 4,inconsistent limited singer; 5,limited range singer; 6, inconsistent initial range singer; 7,initial range singer; 8,inconsistent singer; 9,singer; 10,inconsistently accurate singer and 11, accurate singer. Prof. Chuang pointed out that the accurate singer should sing beyond b1 flat-d2 and above and consistently exhibits use of extended singing range.

Dr. Ping-Cheng WANG presented Prof. Chuang with souvenirs and they took pictures together.

UM Open Day – Faculty of Education

The University of Macau held its first Open Day on the new campus. The Faculty of Education prepared a lot of fun-filled activities for the Open Day, including workshops on card production, lectures on “The Pleasures and Challenges of a Teacher”, etc. In addition, various facilities of FED, including the Learning Commons, piano classrooms, visual art rooms, computer labs, FED library and roof gardens, some of which are normally not open to

the public, were open on the Open Day to help the public know more about FED.

Card production workshop (organized by The Centre for Information & Communication Technology in Education, UM)

Being a Teacher: Pleasures and Challenges (speaker: Dr. Jin-Jy SHIEH, Assistant Professor of FED )

FED House Programme: We are Family (speaker: Prof. Shuh Ren JIN, Professor of FED of UM)


Visual art workshop (Organizer: Prof. Ze Xun ZHANG, Assistant Professor of FED of UM)

The Open Day let the Macao community and people from the neighbouring regions, including representatives from the education sector, learn more about the FED, UM.

Lunch Research Series XVIII: “Issues and challenges in synthesizing educational

program evaluations” Lunch Research Series XVIII: “Issues and challenges in synthesizing educational program evaluations” was held in FED, University of Macau, on1 April. Prof. Chi Keung Alan CHEUNG, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, was invited as the speaker. Dr.

Mingming ZHOU, Assistant Professor of FED, chaired the seminar. Prof. CHEUNG has served as the director of The Centre for University and School Partnership at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research areas include comprehensive school reform, bilingual education, international education, educational technology, meta-analysis, hierarchical linear modeling and so on.

Education should progress and reform itself with the times. Prof. Cheung pointed out that any new direction in the development of education must be based on evidence involving the collective efforts of researchers, practitioners and policy-makers. To facilitate policy-makers to make informed decisions in implementing or enhancing educational programmes, concrete evidence, in addition to intangible know-how, must be made available in a structured manner.

Prof. Cheung shared his working experience at the Centre for Data-Driven Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins and the SFA programme. This large-scale


longitudinal study supported: 1. a model of change in which initial consultation and implementation of benchmark assessments motivate school leaders to adopt programmes with good evidence of effectiveness; 2. reading effects were larger for schools that selected reading programmes with good evidence of effectiveness than for those that did not and 3. comprehensive school-level reform and targeted student-level achievement could be obtained through a multi-year sequencing of literacy instruction.

Prof. Cheung suggested that academics, practitioners, and policy makers make a concerted effort to use rigorous research methods to examine the effectiveness of our current practices, to encourage the development of new innovative interventions, and to promote the use of scientifically proven interventions in our classrooms in order to make evidence-based reform work.

Prof. Xitao Fan, Dean of FED of UM, presented Prof. CHEUNG with

souvenirs and they took pictures together.

Lunch Research Series XIX: “Effects of home background on mathematics performance:

A multilevel analysis of self-regulated learning

processes” & “Bayesian Analysis of Dichotomous

Latent Trait Models” FED Lunch Research Series XIX: “Effects of home background on mathematics performance: A multilevel analysis of self-regulated learning processes” & “Bayesian Analysis of Dichotomous Latent Trait Models”, organized by FED, University of Macau, was held on 8 April 2015. Mr. Man Kai IEONG and Ms. Huiping WU, PhD student from FED, were invited to speak on the above topics. Prof. Hoi Yan CHEUNG, Assistant Dean of FED, chaired the seminar.

Mr. Ieong’s study examined the effect of home background on mathematics performance with a multilevel analysis of self-regulated learning processes. Self-regulation is the ability of meta-cognition. Learner who has good self-regulation has higher self efficacy and utilizes intrinsic cognition such as self-evaluation and self-monitor to monitor his behaviors as well as make good use of learning strategies to reach the goal which he set before. Besides, self- efficacy and meta-cognition which problem-solving requires are the important elements of self-regulation


theory and the two are closely related. Through sharing the empirical research, Mr. Leong pointed out that student’s home background ， self-regulated learning processes and mathematics performance are interrelated.

Ms. Huiping Wu presented on “Bayesian Analysis of Dichotomous Latent Trait Models”. Latent Trait Theory with a family of mathematical models, describing a functional relationship between the observational variable and the latent trait. The Latent Trait Models is a statistical technique used to analyze difficulty, discrimination, reliability and structure of psychology measurement. Ms. Wu suggested that item responses in a test are influenced by the examinee’s ability and item difficulty which require an in-depth statistical analysis. She believed that the advantage of Latent Trait Models in evaluating the math subject in the Social Life feelings and the College Entrance Examinationis valuable and has potential applications.

Towards the end, Prof. Hoi Yan Cheung, briefly commented on the presentations.

Lunch Research Series XIX: “An Initial Assessment of

Chinese Teachers' Readiness to Teach 21st Century Skills” & “African American Female

Students in Online Collaborative Learning

Activities: The Role of Identity, Emotion and Peer Support”

FED Lunch Research Series XIX: “An Initial Assessment of Chinese Teachers’ Readiness to Teach 21st Century Skills ” & “African American Female Students in Online Collaborative Learning Activities: The Role of Identity, Emotion and Peer Support”, organized by FED, University of Macau, was held on 15 April 2015. Ms. Ka Weng HOI and Ms. Sao San LEI, PhD students from FED, were invited to be the speakers. Prof. Timothy TEO, Associate Dean of FED, chaired the seminar.

Ms. Hoi started with relevant information about the initial assessment of Chinese teachers' readiness to teach 21st century skills. She quoted from literature and illustrated the definition of “Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy”, “Self-determination Theory” and “Achievement Goal Theory”. Ms. Hoi believed that teachers should keep pace with the time and


teaching requirement with the purpose of enhancing abilities.

Ms. Lei presented her research on “African American Female Students in Online Collaborative Learning Activities: The Role of Identity, Emotion and Peer Support”. She mentioned that inadequate attention has been paid to the ethnic and cultural aspects that may contribute to students' preference of collaborative learning. Through sharing the empirical research, some salient characteristics were found:1, perception of peer support as give-and-take process where a sense of fairness is essential; 2, group member role as a formation of identity and 3, frustration as the common response to peers’ differing levels ,of participation and interaction.

Towards the end, Prof. Timothy Teo, briefly commented on the presentations. He emphasized the importance of education, and pointed out that academic life was the nutritional source of our education and was inexhaustible.

Lunch Research Series XXI: “Educational Provision for

Migrant Children in Beijing: Key Issues and Challenges”

FED Lunch Research Series XXI: “Educational Provision for Migrant Children in Beijing: Key Issues and Challenges” was held in FED, University of Macau, on 20 April. Dr. Myra PONG, The University of Hong Kong, was invited as the speaker. Dr. Jinting WU, Assistant Professor of FED, chaired the seminar.

In China, citizens are divided into urban and rural residents. China's migrants are still subject to a hereditary household registration system, known as Hu Kou. While urban residents continue to enjoy preferential access to subsidized education in the cities in which they are registered, outsiders face restrictions and often have to pay much more for benefits available to urban Hu Kou holders.

China vows to solve employment and


living problems rural migrant workers face in cities and towns in a planned and step-by-step manner, and gradually ensure that they receive the same treatment as urban residents in areas such as children's education, but it looks like there is still a very long way to go.

Dr. Myra Pong shared that China’s floating population reached 221 million in 2011, of which almost three quarters were rural-urban migrant workers. Education for children of migrant workers in Beijing often presents a dilemma: Urban public schools tend to charge steep non-resident fees that low-paid migrant parents cannot afford, so they must often choose between unregistered, quasi-legal classrooms- set up by individuals without the aid of the state-or sending children back to their hometowns to be educated in the local school system where they have their Hu Kou.

Dr. Myra Pong pointed out that there is a great need in our society for privately-owned migrant schools, and

the government should give them more help, understanding, support and resources to the hard-working staff of under-resourced local schools so that the migrant children will have the opportunity to meet people and share ideas they wouldn't be able to in their day-to-day environment.

Dr. Jinting Wu presented the speaker with souvenirs and they took pictures together.

Lunch Research Series XXII - Workshop on “Basic of

Probability Theory for Ph.D. students in Education, Social

Sciences and Business”

Prof. Shing On LEUNG, Associate Professor of FED of University of Macau, ran three workshops successfully. The workshops consisted of the following: 1. Probability Theory; 2. Hypothesis Testing and 3. Bayesian Inference.


Prof. Leung adopted a more relaxing and humorous approach and shared his views on the three workshops. He indicated that lots of measurement data would be met in the field of education and other social sciences and researcher tended to have a confused idea of analysing data. He hoped that participants would strengthen their statistical skills through this workshop.

PhD students as well as academic staffs from the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Business Administration attended this workshop. Prof. Leung’s talk received enthusiastic responses and the audiences are looking forward to the next activity on similar topics.

Tea with Dean of FED Prof. Xitao FAN, Dean of Faculty of Education, University of Macau, was invited to chair a “Tea with Dean of FED” activity on 9 Marchr, with master students, who will learn more about the life as a postraduate students after the tea gathering.

Prof. Fan listened to undergraduates’ questions regarding academic research. He shared his academic life experiences in the field of Educational Psychology and shared how he faced and overcame challenges while studying at the university. Prof. Fan tried to motivate students to find the passion to pursue their academic life and the courage to face up to the challenges and difficulties on the way to success.

The FED Dean acted as a mentor and shared with postraduate students his life experiences and success stories in academic study. In additon, he gave postraduate students some advice on how to enhance their research ability, which would benefit those aiming at research-based postraduate programme.

Lunch with Dean of FED On 10 March, Faculty of Education hosted “Lunch with Dean of FED” with the support and participation of Prof. Xitao FAN, Dean of FED and Prof. Chun Wai CHENG, Associate Dean of FED. The deans and six undergraduates had an in-depth discussion over lunch.


Prof. Fan listened carefully to undergraduates’ questions regarding study, internship, career and future development. He pointed out that, every single fresh graduate may feel anxiety about the future. However, if you don’t let go of your “to be a teacher” dream while keeping an open-minded attitude to face every single challenge, you have chances to move closer to your dreams step by step.

Prof. Cheng suggested that students who are pursuing knowledge in campus shoud actively participate in various campus activities, such as seminars, workshop, etc. with the purpose of enhancing abilities.

This activity provides a precious opportunity for undergraduates to get into contact with the Dean. Students said that, through this lunch-time gathering, they are also enlightened by other participants’ questions and learn more.

faculty of education newsletterissue 36, … 36 en.pdf · beijing normal university visited fed 2 ....

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