Zhang Meilan is an associate professor at the School of Education Management, Faculty of Education, OUC. She leads courses on Pedagogy, Classroom Management, and the Reform and Development of Chinese and Foreign Basic Education. Her primary research interests include education and teaching theory, comparative distance education, online learning, and online course design.

From 1981-1985, she pursued Library Science at Wuhan University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. Between 1995 and 1998, she completed a part-time programme in Educational Technology at Beijing Normal University, receiving a master's degree in education. In 2004, from March to August, she was selected as a visiting scholar at the Institute of Educational Technology of the Open University of the United Kingdom (OUUK). Her academic publications include papers such as "Strategic Concerns for the Development of the OUUK - Ten Priority Development Strategies and Ten Strategic Risks" and "The Design of Online Learning Environments for Cultivating Students' Creative Thinking Skills." She has edited the "Study Guide on Advertising Creativity and Performance" and contributed to the compilation of relevant chapters of "The OUUK" as well as the translation of "Design and Development of Distance Learning Materials."

She has led the "Curriculum Evaluation" research project for the China Central Radio & Television University (CCRTVU), participated in the CCRTVU's pilot research project on open education, and contributed to the compilation of the "Report on Teaching Evaluation of the 1997-1999 CCRTVU." As the director of the Educational Technology Teaching and Research Department of the CCRTVU, she oversaw the development of the all-media course "Online Learning Tools and Applications" and participated in the development and teaching of the "Online Teaching and Learning Design" course, a collaboration between the CCRTVU and OUUK. She has also been the course leader for several courses in the Library Science and Advertising majors at the CCRTVU.

From 2006-2011 and 2012-2016, she served as the secretary general of the Teaching Steering Committee of Higher Vocational Art and Design at the Ministry of Education.