The best of both worlds: Effective hybrid learning designs in higher education in Hong Kong

Abstract

Higher education in Hong Kong is undergoing significant changes with the advent of a normative four-year undergraduate curriculum in 2012. The change from a three-year to a four-year curriculum has been made in order to assist students develop a broad set of capabilities. There is therefore an emphasis on designing learning environments that facilitate capability development as well as traditional knowledge acquisition. In Hong Kong there are a number of barriers to the development of effective hybrid learning designs that will be discussed. However, good examples exist and this paper will comment on a number of initiatives occurring in Hong Kong universities where learning technologies have been integrated into face-to-face teaching contexts in ways that facilitate desired student learning outcomes; the examples chosen will focus on the use of English language, a key area of learning need in Hong Kong. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.