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The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into learners’ behavioural intention to use the video lectures as their learning material. The behavioural intention construct is measured in terms of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of video lectures. It is hoped that the findings of this study will provide feedback as to learners’ intention to use as well as guidelines on how to improve the development of video lectures as the university gears to offer more courses in the fully online mode in the near future.

A total sample of 392 questionnaires were collected for this study using technology acceptance model model. Descriptive and inferential statistics are used as the main analytical tool to study the learners’ behavioural intention to use the video lectures as their learning material. The behavioural intention construct is measured in terms of two dimensions: perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of video lectures.

In conclusion, the findings from this research study seem to suggest that OUM learners have a positive perception of video lectures with reference to the two dimensions of “ease of use” and “usefulness”, where ease of use is concerned, OUM learners rate content relevancy, appropriate language and viewing flexibility as the strongest points of video lectures. The aspects ranked lowest are technical (ability to play the video lecture smoothly from the beginning to the end) as well as objective of usage (video lectures are not rated high as revision material for exam preparation).

Future studies can be conducted pertaining to issues on the context in which learning is taking place within higher education, various definitions of video, and ways of categorising and presenting these different types, teaching “with” and “through” video from the perspective of the lecturer and the educational institution, approaches to didactically embedding and integrating video into a course that results in effective learning and the process and support needed by the (traditional) lecturer to create and deploy various types of video content.

Over the last ten years, the production of video has gone from a complicated and technical process to one easily done by the general masses. It is now possible for anyone with a mobile phone to make a video recording. The question lies on whether the students have deeper meaning of learning via video lectures and the perception of students on using video lecture as teaching tool in the open and distance learning.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the stages involved in the module development process at the Open University Malaysia (OUM), to make them “print ready,” and how this has evolved over the years with various quality assurance (QA) mechanisms in place.

The paper builds upon the 12 quality control checks in the various stages of module development from pre-development to actual development and finally to post-development process. This is in line with the QA continuous improvement process of PDCA or Plan, Do, Check and Act.

Change, through the fine-tuning of QA processes and open door communication, is the key toward achieving quality modules, and hence meeting learners’ expectations.

This paper highlights the experiences of only the Centre for Instructional Design and Technology, OUM in the development of quality learning material for the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) learners.

This paper outlines the step-by-step process in module development, from print to print-ready material, to assist the ODL universities in their mission to provide quality learning material to learners.

This paper highlights the need to develop quality learning materials for effective teaching and learning in an online and distance learning (ODL) environment. This is especially important today as ODL institutions mushroom and compete on an increasingly global platform. While this has helped to widen access to education, it also means that more attention needs to be paid to the quality of teaching and learning materials if ODL institutions wish to continue attracting learners, reduce attrition rate and stay relevant. Attempts must be made to come up with good learning material which can offer ODL learners a fulfilling and enriching learning experience. At Open University Malaysia, a number of e-learning initiatives have been launched towards this end. One of these is the online, hypertext-linked or html modules. The first phase of this project has already been implemented. The rationale for this latest e-learning initiative is outlined. The paper also comes up with a taxonomy of best practice beliefs which identify the characteristics html modules should have if they are to be truly effective. It is hoped that this will provide some sort of benchmark, or standards, for html modules to strive for, as well as a set of criteria for a formative evaluation of the modules. Ultimately, this may provide guidelines for improving html modules and useful pointers for fine tuning this e-learning initiative in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the progress of iRadio OUM over the years, the evolution of technology used and its overall significance to OUM’s continual growth and development.

Reports the results from web analytic data from previous years in terms of listening and downloading habits and trends. Reviews of how other institutions and/or organisations use podcasting or audio learning material in the teaching and learning process are also included.

Outlines the progress of iRadio OUM through the years in terms of content development, listening and downloading trends as well as research and development carried out. This paper summarises the changes in how segments are structured, produced and delivered. It also outlines the evolution of the technology used, mainly in terms of how content is delivered to the audience.

The scope of the paper is such that it only highlights the experiences of iRadio OUM alone.

Offers practical advice in terms of the planning, development and implementation of an educational internet radio for higher learning institutions.

This paper is written by key team members of iRadio OUM itself and highlights the experiences and ultimately the best practices discovered by actual web-broadcast practitioners and audio learning materials instructional designers.

Due to the modernization of medical technology and better standard of living today, the world is better equipped to fight a pandemic today than it was in 1918, when Spanish flu swept the globe and infected up to one-third of the world's population (Population Reference Bureau (PRB), 2020). While science and medical advances have given humanity new advantages in fighting disease, some demographic trends today may increase the risk for spreading contagions and our vulnerability to viruses. This is mainly due to the sheer volume of today's population movements, from migration and travel as people fly within and across countries. This vast mobility may make it faster and easier for viruses to spread around the world. COVID-19, which purportedly started in 2019, was a global pandemic that now affects the whole world due to high mobility among countries. This has caused many countries across regions in the world to implement a lockdown in their respective countries to avoid the spread of COVID-19. This pandemic may have introduced a new norm in society today.

This research outlines the Hong Kong film industry with examination of key actors, directors, films, and production companies within the martial arts genre of Hong Kong Action Cinema. Hong Kong Film Award winners and nominees, core films within genres, and core reference works both general and theoretical from experts in the field of Hong Kong martial arts film research have been highlighted. Web sites are suggested that provide reviews of Hong Kong martial arts films, biographical information on a variety of actors and actresses as well as comprehensive bibliographic information on select films. Also included are commercial Web sites that provide Hong Kong martial arts films.

The purpose of this paper is to systematically analyze the neoliberal challenges and problems facing public schools in the particular Hong Kong context.

Based on a systematic and critical analysis on the history and socio-political context of Hong Kong’s school policies and practice as well as the official documents and statistics, this paper examines the impacts of neoliberalism in four main aspects of school education in Hong Kong: school governance, accountability, privatization and government expenditure.

Convergence, as well as deviation, on neoliberal globalization occurs in the particular Hong Kong context. School bureaucracy has irresistibly expanded. Policymakers have placed increasing emphasis on instrumentally evaluating schools while decentralizing, diversifying and privatizing education. School leadership has become focused solely on succeeding within those imposed performance management and metrics, pulling ahead of school competitions and prioritizing easily quantifiable and measurable tasks. Teachers have faced a potential threat from the loss of autonomy through the market logic and consumerist metrics. The rise of privatized education has further intensified school practices based on competitiveness and performativity. On the other hand, resource cutbacks and financial constraints – problems that are generally inflicted by neoliberal discourse – have rarely occurred in Hong Kong.

This study is part of concerted efforts in research that adopts the comparative and critical perspectives emerging from different social contexts to consider and flesh out how neoliberalism look across the school systems, how it challenges the systems differently, and how it evokes various responses from within the systems (Apple, 2001). Taken all the efforts together, a finely nuanced understanding of the trails of neoliberalism can help collectively re-discover school education as a social good, and collectively re-imagine and reshape alternatives for the future.

This paper offers an international and comparative perspective and further nuances to an understanding of how neoliberal policies and ideology are recontextualized in countries across the globe given particularities of different local contexts.

The goal of this article is to examine the current trends of political cinema in postcolonial Hong Kong. Many leaders of the Hong Kong mainstream cinema have accepted the Chinese authoritarian rule as a precondition for expanding into the ever-expanding Mainland film market, but a handful of conscientious filmmakers choose to make political cinema under the shadow of a wealthy and descendant industry, expressing their desire for democracy and justice and critiquing the unequal power relations between Hong Kong and China.

This paper consults relevant documentary materials and cinematic texts to contextualize the latest development of political cinema in Hong Kong. It presents an in-depth analysis of the works of two local independent filmmakers Herman Yau and Vincent Chui.

This study reveals a glimpse of hope in the current films of Herman Yau and Vincent Chui, which suggests that a reconfiguration of local identity and communal relationship may turn around the collective despair caused by the oppressive measures of the Chinese authoritarian state and the end of the Umbrella Movement in late 2014.

Despite the small sample size, this paper highlights the rise of cinematic localism through a closer look at the works of Hong Kong independent filmmakers.

This study reveals an ambivalent mentality in the Hong Kong film industry where critical filmmakers strive to assert their creativity and agency against the externally imposed Chinese hegemonic power.

This investigation is an original scholarly study of film and politics in postcolonial Hong Kong.

This study aims at providing exploratory insights into the initiative and capabilities of Chinese SMEs to develop and utilize diverse networks to support internationalization. Such network development and utilization efforts are fundamental to the analysis and explanation of Chinese firms’ internationalization patterns and outcomes. Extending from the existing network studies in the Chinese context that generally put emphasis on strong‐tie and ethnic‐oriented networks, this paper investigates and explains explicitly the use and effects of both strong‐ and weak‐tie networks in the international development of Chinese SMEs. Indepth case studies on four rapidly internationalized Chinese SMEs are conducted. The case findings demonstrate that weak‐tie networks are essential to the firms’ business development in foreign markets; and were proactively developed and utilized in the course of the firms’ development. The cases also provide alternative perspectives to the beliefs and values underpinning strong‐tie networks presumed in existing literature. The findings draw attention to the changing business values and approaches of the Chinese firms aiming at developing internationally. Managerial implications concerning the significant influence of effective networking on internationalization are pinpointed.