Assoc. Prof. Hongfeng Zhang

Macao Polytechnic University, China

Hongfeng Zhang is an Associate Professor of School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Macao Polytechnic Institute. He is an expert on higher education studies and behavior management. He has had a long-standing interest in understanding higher education development and behavior management strategy from game theory perspective – its causes, how it is experienced, and potential solutions. His program of research has been conducting rigorous scholarly research that contributes to our knowledge base on higher education studies in Macau and is mobilized so that it has an impact on policy, practice and public opinion. Dr. Zhang has published international and domestic core journal papers extensively on the subject of higher education studies and related research, and his research on the impact of the characteristics of micro-society on higher education in Macau, online students’ learning perceives and models of behavioral interaction have contributed to the change in how we respond to the development of higher education in Macau. In 2011, he has been awarded “Excellent doctoral dissertation of higher Education study” by Chinese Association of Higher Education, and in 2019 he has also won the third prize in the Humanities and Social Sciences field in Macau and related Economic Award in 2016, etc.

As an expert in the area of higher education, Dr. Zhang has published several works, including "Game Analysis in University Organizational Change —— Payoffs, Choice of Strategy and Equilibrium " and " Micro-society and Research on the Development of Higher Education in Macau", etc. He has made efforts to bring together researchers, practitioners, students and people with lived experience of higher education to participate in an agenda of community engaged scholarship and knowledge creation designed to contribute to solutions to higher education issues.  His current research revolves around students' experiences and assessment of learning online during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Title: A qualitative study of college students’ asynchronous interaction behavior patterns in a synchronous online classroom

Abstract: Simultaneous live classes are a common form of delivery in higher online education, and the study of students' asynchronous interaction behavior patterns of this type of classroom have implications for optimizing subsequent online teaching. This study conducted in-depth interviews with selected students that are studying in Macao’s higher education institutions, and coded and analyzed the interview data using the grounded theory in qualitative research. The aim is to understand the characteristics of asynchronous interaction behaviors in college students’ synchronous online classes and discussed the impact on asynchronous interaction patterns of three interaction types ("learner-instructor interaction", "learner-learner interaction", and "learner-content interaction"). This study found that asynchronous interaction promotes the development of critical thinking, metacognitive learning strategies, and deep-thinking skills, and that the synergy of these three components contributes to the effectiveness of students' online learning.