This scoping review identifies the first wave of randomized controlled trials testing large language models in digestive diseases. Four published and ten ongoing trials suggest that AI tools such as ChatGPT are increasingly used for clinical decision-making and patient education, but robust, international evidence based on real patient outcomes is still urgently needed.

Immunotherapy has emerged in recent years as a new cancer treatment that is gentler than traditional chemotherapy and causes milder side effects in patients. However, conventional dendritic cell (DC) immunotherapy shows inconsistent clinical outcomes, and the cell culture process remains complex and costly. A research team at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) has successfully developed a new silica-based nanostructured biomaterial, Nanozigzags (NZs), that can significantly shorten the DC culture time, reduce production costs, and enhance therapeutic efficacy by nearly 70%.

Cognitively activating teaching practice, as a strategy that can promote students' critical thinking, problem-solving, and in-depth learning, is considered to have potential relevance for teachers’ professional collaboration. A new international study led by Dr. Mehmet Şükrü Bellibaş provides compelling evidence that teachers who collaborate professionally are significantly more likely to use cognitively activating teaching practices. The study also reveals that the positive effects of collaboration are even stronger in schools with high collective innovativeness.

Private tutors, as key actors in the rapidly expanding global shadow education sector, construct diverse and dynamic professional identities shaped by cultural, economic, political, and institutional environments. A new review by researchers at Hong Kong Baptist University provides the first systematic synthesis of private tutor identities across diverse cultural contexts.

Evaluating education quality across countries is complex and often inconsistent. A recent study introduces the Global Education Quality Index (GEQI), developed to offer a comprehensive and comparative tool for assessing education worldwide. Drawing on data from 62 countries between 2009 and 2018, the study uses an input-process-outcome framework to analyze basic, school, and postsecondary education. By highlighting regional differences and systemic strengths, the GEQI offers new insights into improving global education systems.

Can rating be more than a warm-up activity in classroom assessments? A new Hong Kong study reveals that the accuracy with which students rate their own and their peers’ writing significantly shapes the quality of feedback, the depth of revision, and ultimately the improvement of their writing performance. The research challenges the common perception and instead shows its essential role in driving meaningful learning outcomes.

While the classroom has long been described as the “black box” of education, classroom analysis aims to reveal what truly happens inside it. A new study led by East China Normal University identifies ten key questions at the frontiers of classroom analysis, offering a guideline for future research and practice. This study suggests that defining guiding values, constructing high-quality analytical frameworks, leveraging multimodal data, and ensuring ethical standards are essential to advance classroom research globally.