This paper discusses how institutional data can be developed in achieving the twin objectives of improving teaching and learning activities. The case study embraces an evaluation of the Teaching Development Grants which were awarded to some academic staff members from 2010 to 2014. These grants include a variety of topics ranging from e-learning to the improvement of student learning and student teachers’ performance. The evaluation of these grants adopts a multiplicity of methodologies: interviewing the project holders; (2) exploring whether project objectives were achieved; (3) interviewing students through focus groups; and (5) analyzing the learning activities and improvement of students. Lessons can be drawn and the accountability of teaching grants holders to the Institute is emphasized, making sure that the grants did value for money. In short, the evaluation of teaching development grants constitute useful institutional data that contribute to quality assurance and enhancement of teaching and learning.

Lo Shiu Hing, Sonny
Head and Professor in the Department of Social Sciences and Associate Vice President (Quality Assurance) at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Before he joined the Institute in late 2010, he had worked at the University of Waterloo, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Murdoch University. Since the mid-1980s, he has written ten single-authored books about Hong Kong, Macao and China. His new book, The Politics of Controlling Organized Crime in Greater China, will soon be published by Routledge.