Research

The Role of Generative AI in Collaborative Problem Solving of Authentic Challenges.

This study investigates undergraduate and postgraduate teamwork in a four-week ‘Generative AI for Social Good’ hackathon, focusing on how students use GAI tools in authentic problem-solving within their learning ecology. It examines the factors that foster productive collaboration and explores evidence of AI extending human cognition beyond mere tool use. Data sources included pre- and post-surveys, interim reports, submitted artefacts and team workspace logs. Generative AI (GAI) use accounted for nearly half of the demonstrated digital competence instances—particularly in content creation and problem-solving—highlighting its role in facilitating collaborative, inquiry-driven learning. Findings reveal that success depended not on computational expertise, but on shared values, diverse skill sets, effective team structures and clear communication. GAI's role evolved with teams' technical backgrounds, dynamically supporting collaborative knowledge building and moving beyond instrumental use to actively shape emerging knowledge building. These insights offer valuable implications for the pedagogical design of learning with and through GAI.

Jack Tsao / Leon Lei / Ming Ma / Nan Wang / Nancy Wai Ying Law / Shuhui Feng / Xiao Hu / Zhichun Liu

Measuring digital literacy across ages and over time: Development and validation of a performance-based assessment.

Measuring digital literacy (DL) across ages and tracking its growth over time have remained challenging in the area of digital literacy assessment. The current analysis reports on the psychometric properties of a performance-based Digital Literacy Assessment (DLA) instrument grounded in the DigComp 2.1 framework. Utilising a longitudinal cohort study design, the DLA was administered to Hong Kong students across three age cohorts, from lower primary to upper secondary, over a two-year period. Data were collected in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2021, during the pandemic. The analysis provides validity and reliability evidence for using the DLA in longitudinal studies to assess DL from late childhood through late adolescence. The results further suggest that students’ DL improved with grade level, with secondary students outperforming primary students but also displaying greater variability in scores. Over the two years, students generally demonstrated improvement in DL while inter-individual differences in DL growth rates widened. These findings indicate the widening of digital divides and highlight the need to investigate factors that contribute to diversity in DL development. In conclusion, our study provides evidence for the robustness of the DLA as an instrument to assess DL growth across ages and over time. Further, the DLA allowed us to uncover the substantial overlap in DL ability across different age groups and the widening second-level digital divide as children move into higher grades, and that the digital divide aggravated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Implications and challenges to the learning and assessment of DL are discussed.

Frank Reichert / Jimmy de la Torre / Nancy Wai Ying Law / Qianqian Pan / Qianru Liang

Reorienting the assessment of digital literacy in the twenty-first century: a product-lifecycle and experience dependence perspective

This article examines a critical issue in digital literacy assessment design when technological changes are happening with escalating speed in our society. There have been many assessment studies of digital literacy (DL) for diverse purposes and across different geographic and socioeconomic (geo-socioeconomic) contexts. While the assessment framework, instrument design, and technology platforms used for conducting these assessments differ, what remains common is the lack of explicit discussion about the possible role of the technology used and item design in affecting the measure DL. There is an apparent, implicit assumption that DL assessment is similar to the assessment of other academic achievements such as reading literacy and numeracy, which should ideally be measured independent of the specific technologies or task contexts adopted in the assessment. Recent evidence from a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) commissioned study on a Digital Literacy Global Framework (DLGF) shows that the DL needed to accomplish the same task is heavily dependent on the devices and tools used under different the geo-socioeconomic contexts (Law et al. in A global framework of reference on digital literacy skills for indicator 4.4.2, 2018). Drawing on the DLGF findings and a critical examination of the assessment designs in large-scale international assessment tests, this paper puts forward a product-lifecycle and experience dependence (PLED) perspective to guide the design and interpretation of DL assessment.

Frank Reichert / Gary Ka Wai Wong / Nancy Wai Ying Law

eCitizen Education 360 (2022) Project – Bulletin 2: New Insights on Key Factors Impacting Students’ Wellbeing and Schools’ Online Teaching and Calls for Collaboration to Establish a Digital New Normal.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019, face-to-face lessons in classrooms have been supplanted by long periods of home-based online lessons in Hong Kong schools. During this challenging period of time, many schools, families, and students have struggled to cope with this New Normal of teaching and learning. Understandably, there are widespread concerns in Hong Kong society that student learning and wellbeing may have been adversely affected. It is therefore imperative to take stock of the impact of the New Normal on students’ learning and wellbeing.

Catherine KK Chan / Cheng Yong Tan / Min Lan / Nancy Wai Ying Law / Qianqian Pan / Qianru Liang / Sisi Tao / Wenhui Li / Yimeng Li

eCitizen Education 360 (2022) Project – Bulletin 1: Cumulative Impact Under New Normal Insights for Positive Actions

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019, face-to-face lessons in classrooms have been supplanted by long periods of home-based online lessons in Hong Kong schools. During this challenging period of time, many schools, families, and students have struggled to cope with this New Normal of teaching and learning. Understandably, there are widespread concerns in Hong Kong society that student learning and wellbeing may have been adversely affected. It is therefore imperative to take stock of the impact of the New Normal on students’ learning and wellbeing.

Catherine KK Chan / Cheng Yong Tan / Min Lan / Nancy Wai Ying Law / Qianqian Pan / Qianru Liang / Sisi Tao / Wenhui Li / Yimeng Li

Hong Kong Students’ Digital Citizenship Development 2019-2021: Findings from a Longitudinal Study.

This publication is a report summarising the main longitudinal findings of the Learning and Assessment for Digital Citizenship (e-Citizenship) project, funded by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China, under its Theme-based Research Scheme [Project No. T44-707/16-N]. It was jointly conducted by researchers from the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The preparation of this report was supervised by the project coordinator, Nancy Law.

Frank Reichert / Jimmy de la Torre / Lu Laure Chen / Nancy Wai Ying Law / Nirmala Rao / Qianqian Pan / Qianru Liang / Sisi Tao

Empowering Tools for Teachers as Learning Designers: Learning Design Triangle & Learning Design Studio

Nancy Wai Ying Law

Six eCitizen Education 360 research bulletins

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019, face-to-face lessons in classrooms have been supplanted by long periods of home-based online lessons in Hong Kong schools. During this challenging period of time, many schools, families, and students have struggled to cope with this New Normal of teaching and learning. Understandably, there are widespread concerns in Hong Kong society that student learning and wellbeing may have been adversely affected. It is therefore imperative to take stock of the impact of the New Normal on students’ learning and wellbeing.

Catherine KK Chan / Cheng Yong Tan / Min Lan / Nancy Wai Ying Law / Qianqian Pan / Qianru Liang / Sisi Tao / Wenhui Li / Yimeng Li

Expanding Science of Learning Research to Multilevel Aligned Learning: Studying online learning preparedness of students, teachers, school leaders and the community in HK during COVID19

Nancy Wai Ying Law