This research is aims to explore the phenomenon of the higher ratio of female students in Education Faculty in HKU. First of all, in the introduction part, the researcher will give some data supported by authoritative organization such as UGC to show that education disciplines always welcomed to female students when they are facing higher education major choice. Then, in order to study the higher ratio phenomenon in the Education Faculty in HKU, the research will use qualitative research method to do interviews. There is only one central research question: Why female students’ population proportion in education is so high? There are ten interviewees are invited to give their opinion in five related specific questions. In the finding parts, the interviewees’ idea to every question will analyzed in order to explore the deeper reasons behind this higher ratio phenomenon. By analyzing the records of the interviews, this research gives a description about why girls usually like to go to education disciplines. The researcher also puts forward some further thought about this phenomenon: though this fact might have both positive and negative effects, we should take an objective attitude towards it. To minimize its negative effect, it takes the effort of women themselves, the support from society and the cooperation of the educational circles. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Studies on education evolve closely along the debates of social reproduction and students’ actual responses in the process of schooling. Structural influences of class, gender, race or ethnicity are often highlighted and resulted in more or less coherent and consistent student subcultures and typologies. The aim of this study is to capture and explain the neglected complexities and dynamics of schooling by studying a group of ordinary students in a community college in Hong Kong. Ordinary students are under-studied because of their assumed normality and uninteresting experience. By stepping into their world of everyday schooling using an ethnographic approach, it is found that their hopes in life are ordinary but their lives extraordinary with selectivity, inconsistency and transiency as the defining features. Such features result from the everyday interplay of school routines, connections with people, ethics of conduct, as well as visions in life of these students. These interactions shape a certain narrative of life over time and are deployed as cultural tools in particular situations of schooling. The deployment of cultural tools by ordinary students allows an understanding of culture in action although it is fragmented and incoherent, and the lives of them as a whole are characterised by drifting across states of being, rather than formation of any coherent, linear or cumulative narrative. The study contributes to existing scholarship by offering new empirical observations on how thirty two community college students went through and reflected on their schooling experience over a two year span. The study adds to the ongoing theoretical attempt to grasp the complex interaction among structure, institution and agency in social life by capturing the fluid states of drift in ethics and visions among students amidst the highly structured routines of competitive education. Through these we are able to better understand the lives and cultures of ordinary students in a world where to be ordinary is almost like an impossible dream. / published_or_final_version / Sociology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing in Advanced Practice

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Tertiary institutions across the world continue to seek ways to enhance not only the knowledge students gain during a degree course but also the generic skills that they develop. Employers today assume discipline knowledge in graduates and are looking for skills that enable graduates to be work ready. Deep learning, which focuses on understanding rather than memorizing, has been shown to enhance better understanding and conceptualization of academic materials as well as better development of generic skills (e.g. analytical and problem-solving skills). Most researchers in the past have examined student learning in relation to deep learning, separately in the Students’ Approaches to Learning (SAL) and Achievement Goals (AG) perspectives. The present study therefore investigated how constructs from the SAL perspective: perceptions of course learning environment and approaches to learning, and constructs from the AG perspective: achievement goals, work together to enhance student learning and lead to more positive learning outcomes. Single-point-in-time and longitudinal studies were conducted among undergraduate students of a university in Hong Kong using paper and online survey through class visits and email, respectively. There were 849 and 651 students included in the single-point-in-time analyses of Study 1 and 2 respectively. A total of 183 cases were included in the longitudinal study. Analyses of structural equation modeling were conducted, and the results showed that achievement goals mediated the relationship between students’ perceptions of course learning environment and approaches to learning. This mediating relationship as a result could influence students learning outcomes in terms of GPA and perception of the development of generic skills. In particular, students’ perceptions of good teaching helped to promote the adoption of mastery goals which facilitated use of a deep approach to learning, as a result, were related to the perception of better development of generic skills. Students’ perceptions of a heavy workload promoted the adoption of performance-avoidance goals which encouraged use of a surface approach to learning and related to a lower GPA. Analyses of variance were used to compare students with single goal and multiple goals adoptions (i.e. adopting both mastery and performance-approach goals) in relation to approaches to learning and learning outcomes. The results demonstrated that adopting single mastery goals is beneficial in promoting a deep approach to learning, GPA and perception of better development of generic skills. Overall, the present study has demonstrated that the inclusion of achievement goals in the SAL perspectives provides a more comprehensive picture of the learning process among university students. To promote better learning outcomes, instructors should emphasize on understanding rather than memorization, develop mastery of knowledge and skills as their purpose for learning, avoid heavy workload, and enhance their teaching by adopting strategies such as explaining things clearly, providing helpful feedback and understanding the difficulties that students have in their learning. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

published_or_final_version / Zoology / Master / Master of Philosophy