Innovative educational adaptations have been essential during the COVID-19 pandemic. Against the backdrop of school closures in Hong Kong resulting from unrest and COVID-19, this study proposed using Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in online courses and empirically examined the influence of the PBL learning methodology on online learners’ sense of classroom belonging and academic performance. A total of 44 sophomores pursuing electrical and electronic engineering majors and taking “Practical Chinese for engineering students” as a compulsory course at the University of Hong Kong participated in the study. They were divided evenly between the experimental group C1 and the control group C2 (22 in each). We implemented online PBL learning for the experimental group, C1, and traditional online learning for the control group, C2. Quantitative data were collected via an achievement test and a scale on sense of classroom community. Qualitative data were obtained through a semi-structured focus group discussion. The quantitative results showed that the students who received the PBL learning method scored higher on tests, experienced a stronger sense of classroom belonging, and had closer connections with each other. A content analysis of student interviews revealed that implementation of the PBL learning method in online teaching could strengthen students’ classroom interactions and that the enhancement of their mutual connections could stimulate learning and improve learning efficiency. Overall, this study finds that the PBL learning method is effective in promoting students’ deep active learning and sense of community in the online environment.

No abstract

Since the early twentieth century, Chinese Muslim elites have been engaged in a movement aimed at developing a new style of education for Muslim children. These Muslim elites traveled to the Middle East and were influenced by the modernizing movement in the broader Islamic world. The new-style schools were no longer attached to mosques, and their curricula emphasized the inclusion of modern secular subjects. Islamic knowledge and disciplines began to be transmitted as modern subjects when taught in modern institutions. Based on the detailed analysis of historical documents, this paper examines the trajectories of several prominent modern institutions in Beijing to illustrate the key aspects of Muslim educational reform. The Muslim elites in charge of this educational reform share the common goals of promoting education and improved livelihoods for the urban Hui Muslims; to date, however, these goals have been only partially met, and a mismatch has emerged between the new knowledge that students have learned and the occupational composition of the Hui people in Niujie (mainly small traders).

No abstract