Reported by Alvin Yu
Courtesy of the Editorial Board

IT in Education

Q: How do you use I.T. for education?
A: I use the Internet mainly to gather information. Information found on the Internet are new, updated, and interactive. e.g. FAQs, quizzes, feedbacks forums. The Internet can also provide us with new ideas of teaching. I have written a chess program with the idea coming from the Internet. However, if the facilities at school are better, then we can use the Internet even more effectively. 

Q: Do you think newsgroups can help teachers and students in education?
A: The advantage of the newsgroups is that the information is new, which benefits the teaching of subjects like economics. However, information in newsgroups is not well-organized, because there is no time for classification. Therefore, for some subjects with a longer history, like Mathematics, it is better to go to well-developed websites, where the information is better categorized. 

Q: Do you think I.T. will completely replace existing methods of teaching?
A: I.T makes learning interesting. The teaching material will be more up-to-date. However, I believe I.T. cannot completely replace learning at school. Learning at school does not involve just knowledge. Students also learn to become more mature at school. They will need teachers to lead them in this aspect of social life. Moreover, although the Internet can provide information, it cannot help students develop their sense of judgement as teachers can.

Q: Have you encountered any problem in using I.T. to teach?
A: At first, I had problems in finding websites with suitable information. Sometimes I had to read magazines to find them. But now, as the Internet becomes more common, more web addresses are printed in newspapers and magazines, and that makes locating suitable websites easier.

Q: Do you think that students have used the computers meaningfully?
A: Students can use the Internet for entertainment, but they should also use sometime to browse more educational homepages.

Q: Can you give advice to other students or teachers using Internet to learn or teach?
A: Students should classify the websites into different categories, and should keep a record of new websites from magazines or newspapers. Webmasters of educational homepages should spend time learning from existing homepages of others to incorporating their skills.

E-commerce

Q: Have you used the Net to conduct business of any kind?
A: No, absolutely not. The security problem of the Internet is still a big risk. I still think it is unsafe, as one can still easily expose his credit card information on the Internet. I believe it will take a long time before the security problem is solved. 

Q: How about using cash for online auction?
A: I think this method is good, for it is in real-time and people can give their offer instantly without personally going to the place for auction. It also provides a place for many people to bid, which is an important factor for any auction.

Q: Have you used the Internet to help you to buy and sell stocks?
A: Yes. I go online to look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average every day, and make decisions of buying or selling stocks by analysing the trends. 

Q: What do you think about using I.T. in commerce?
A: I.T. is faster and it can provide real-time pricing information. It can also provide technical information of the goods sold to the public. I believe the public can help monitor products, and raise queries if the technical information does not agree with the product. The speed of transactions will increase, thus the economy will develop rapidly. 

Q: What do you think about the rapid development of technology stocks in Hong Kong?
A: I think that it is good, and I believe the trend will last even longer than that of the real-estate hype in the past. The future of technology cannot be foreseen, so technology stocks will be continually supported by good expectation. 

Q: Do you think that this new mode of transaction will replace shops?
A: The old mode of economy will be tested, as the new mode is more convenient. But for some professions like catering, shops can survive because the service must be provided on the spot. For other professions like jewellery, people can read the catalogue and obtain information of the goods online. I think that the Internet is just at its starting point. When it is mature enough, it will replace a lot of shops.

Q: Would you like to share some of your thoughts on I.T. with us?
A: I believe that the development of the I.T. will be very good. Students should start accepting I.T. as a part of their lives. It will be common, and will greatly affect our ways of living.