“It is lucky to meet a good teacher. It is an honour for a school to have good teachers. And excellent teachers are the hope of the nation.” Among the many good teachers in our country, there is a special group which, for 40 years since the reform and opening-up, has trained millions from all walks of life and cultivated countless high-quality workers.

They have driven the development of higher education in China, and are a kind of “special forces” that promote fairness in China’s education. They have transcended the role of teacher, and are builders of learning resources, researchers of distance open education, and practitioners of the concept of the open university. They are the teachers of the Open University of China (OUC), a neighbourhood university, who work all over the country and compose their own stories in a unique way.

The predecessor of the OUC, the China Central Radio and Television University (CCRTVU), was a new type of university directly under the Ministry of Education (MOE), which, with the support of modern information technology, covered both urban and rural areas of the country and provided degree and non-degree continuing education. At present, the OUC has more than 80,000 part- and full-time tutors and nearly 50,000 teachers of specialist subjects.

A Practical Orientation Driven by Industry Demand

Ms. Yuan Wei

At the GAC Motor Company, the “Service Station for Realising the Dream of Further Education,” set up by the OUC’s Guangzhou branch, has become a place for the company’s employees to spend their free time. Driven by the “Development and Assistance Plan for New Industrial Workers” (the “Assistance Plan,” for short), a strong desire to learn has formed among the workers there. The Assistance Plan, launched in 2014 by the OUC, aims to provide support for industrial transformation and the growth and development of employees as well as the upgrading of their skills. The contribution of Yuan Wei, Vice Director of the OUC’s Department of Science and Engineering, has been essential to the successful implementation of the project.

Yuan Wei is mainly responsible for teaching preparation and formulating training programmes suitable for industrial workers in the Assistance Plan. She has led her team in consultation and research, streamlining the existing module and structure of the major training programme, organising and augmenting the existing OUC course offerings to ensure that each course in the Assistance Plan is equipped with a full range of teaching resources, while at the same time flexibly allocating the resources for both compulsory and optional courses in order to give students extensive choices. Her work has been acclaimed, and had good results. As of the beginning of 2017, degree education for 48 majors (including orientations) related to modern manufacturing and producer-services industries, and 8 certificate courses, have been launched in the Assistance Plan, with a total enrollment of more than 70,000 students.

After graduating from Jilin University with a Master’s degree, Yuan Wei became a computer-science teacher at the OUC, and soon had an essential role there. In 1998, the MOE Learner Development Model Reform and Open Education Pilot Programme was initiated at the university. Computer Science, as one of the three top specialties, was welcomed by teachers and students, and Yuan Wei was one of the teachers responsible for its software-development orientation. In 1999, the Computer Science major joined the first batch of pilot programmes to upgrade the degrees from the junior college to the undergraduate level. Through cooperation with Tsinghua University, famous teachers were invited to give lectures, resources were constructed, and teachers were trained and sent out to teach. In 2005, as the dean of the School of Computer Science, Yuan Wei presided over a thorough transformation of the major to target vocational positions. In 2013, as the leader, she undertook the work required to allow the Computer Science programme to award undergraduate degrees, helping this major become one of the first five majors to award Bachelor degrees at the university. To this point about 240,000 students have been awarded junior-college or undergraduate Computer Science degrees.

Yuan Wei, as the head of Computer Science, a major department of the university, has helped it to several firsts. For example, it was the first major to participate in the MOE’s open-education pilot programme, invite experts from the MOE to conduct evaluations, open majors that allow students to upgrade from a junior-college to an undergraduate degree, and given the right to award Bachelor degrees and develop a Master’s programme in Construction Engineering.

In 2017, Computer Science started in a new direction. Yuan Wei said that it is especially important to adapt to a new round of technological and industrial innovation and the construction of a modern economic system, moving the direction of major developments from being discipline-oriented to being driven by industry needs, and toward the integration of majors. Under the guidance of this concept, a “Computer Plus” learner-development programme focusing on innovation would become part of the Computer Science curriculum so as to serve the upgrading and transformation of traditional industries. A series of courses covering the basics of information technology would be constructed to provide a basis for interdisciplinary integration; a learner-development bridge to aid the smooth and orderly connection of all levels of work within the specialty; and degree and non-degree education would be designed in such a way as to form a whole. Research into the construction of key specializations within Computer Science has been initiated, and for popular IT courses, including those that cover big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, mobile internet and information security, resource construction has been carried out, and the construction of a series of basic IT courses is about to kick off.

As the CPC Party branch secretary of the Faculty of Science and Technology, Yuan Wei has worked very hard and taken the role of a leader and model. In early 2015, Yuan Wei suffered an ankle fracture during the critical period when the university’s application for Bachelor degree accreditation was being reviewed. Computer Science was the only major still listed in the final stage of the application, and the work of evaluation was her duty. The application for this accreditation was of great significance in the development of the OUC, and also realised the dream of several generations of staff at the CCRTVU. Yuan Wei knew that her responsibility was too great, and went to work on crutches. She completed a major degree-application report, led her team in organizing archived teaching materials and online resources for all of the courses, carefully prepared supporting materials and data, organized dozens of seminars and report meetings, and reported to the experts undertaking the evaluation. The Computer Science ended up being granted the right to confer degrees, and under her guidance the other three Science and Engineering majors also won this right.

During her 20 years as a teacher, in the face of constant change in the field of information technology, Yuan Wei, as the head of the Computer Science department, has always explored what can and what cannot be changed, has been seeking innovations in her field, including new courses and learner-development models, and has tried to cultivate the practical abilities of her students. Through her efforts, Yuan Wei has won multiple awards from the OUC and the MOE, and in 2017 was named Beijing Excellent Teacher.

Exploration of MOOCs for Universities: “Do the Most Professional Online Education on an Optimal Platform”

Han Yanhui

Calling himself an “online-education enthusiast and traditional-education challenger,” Han Yanhui of Online Education is an anchorman of the “Media-assisted English Teaching MOOC” on the media platform Himalayas. He has left his mark on the field of online education.

In 2013, as a teacher at the OUC, an institution mainly engaged in distance higher education domestically, Han Yanhui undertook the important task of constructing an online course named “Computer Assisted English Teaching and Learning.” That same year, in order to construct its Six Network Integration talent training, the OUC launched the Network Core Curriculum construction project. According to the OUC Online Core-Curriculum Construction Guide, the online core curriculum refers to the “main courses from various majors that are taught on the network and based on degree education. These network-based courses enjoy rich learning resources, improved learning activities, an enhanced evaluation system, and a comprehensive teaching process, making them able to meet different teaching and learning needs.”

“According to the requirements of the university, high-quality learning activities and a strong evaluation system must be designed for the core network courses, and a comprehensive learning process must be included. This is how they mainly differ from previous courses, and this raises issues worth exploring,” says Han Yanhui.

Han Yanhui led the OUC’s Computer Assisted English Teaching and Learning team to conduct a thorough reform of this traditional compulsory course in terms of curriculum construction, team building, and curriculum operation. After six months, the new Computer Assisted English Teaching and Learning course debuted. The top OUC teachers were brought together to form a teaching team, a breakthrough given the geographical limitations. All of the team members work separately and at the same time collaborate to provide learning support to students. Currently, about 80 people are on the team. In terms of resource construction, the best examples of student homework were used as models and integrated into the learning resources. This has helped students have a more positive and active attitude toward their studies, since it allows them to participate in course construction and improvement. With regard to evaluation, changes were made to make it better suited to the curriculum; the traditional final exam was canceled and replaced by a 100% formative assessment . Quality standards were enhanced and mutual evaluation of the students increased, greatly stimulating their motivation and their ability to evaluate and to learn from each other.

In 2016, thanks to these innovations, Computer Assisted English Teaching and Learning was named a top OUC online open course, and was also given the Best Practical Innovation award.

Han Yanhui has been enthusiastic about online education for a long time. In 2002, he was transferred to the OUC from the Beijing International Studies University. “I’ve always been optimistic about this field. I think that the OUC is the best platform for online education in the country.” After joining it, Han Yanhui was mainly responsible for courses in the English and Business English majors. In 2006, he received a full Chevening scholarship from the British government and was sponsored by the university to go and study in the UK, where he received his second Master’s degree in Information Communication Technology and Education. Han Yanhui had studied English for both his Bachelor and first Master’s degree. About his decision to change his area of study, he says that it was all for the sake of network-based learning! Online education is driven by technology. We must understand the relationship between technology and education and how they are organically connected, rather than sticking to the idea that face-to-face teaching is the only kind.”

Han Yanhui used information technology in his English teaching, and threw himself into making innovations in his teaching practice. Now his proudest achievement, the Computer Assisted English Teaching and Learning course, has been launched on the “MOOC for Chinese Colleges and Universities,” whose first round of recruitment has been completed, with more than 3,000 people signing up for this course. Jin Ming, an accounting teacher at the Inner Mongolia Radio and TV University, took part in the course, and was named Excellent Student. “What impresses me most is the interactive design. All learners want learning to be interesting, enriching and useful. After taking this course, you really understand what online learning is, and that one does not feel lonely at all. Every question receives a timely reply in the class chat group. The company of the teachers keeps the learning from being lonely.”

The multi-regional teaching team led by Han Yanhui can provide students support services from 8 am until midnight, even on weekends and holidays. In the recent annual work report concerning MOOCs at China’s Colleges and Universities, jointly issued by the Teaching Research Centre of National Colleges and Universities and the iCourse Centre, the Computer Assisted English Teaching and Learning course was listed among the top 25 courses in terms of questions answered, ranking eighth, and surpassing courses offered by Peking University, Tsinghua University, and many others.

Special Education: “You are my eyes”

Zhao Zhuosheng

Zhao Zhuosheng has been teaching disabled students for more than 10 years at the OUC’s Harbin branch, `covering sketching, computer-graphic design, and calligraphy appreciation in the Digital Media Design and Production major. As an arts specialist, Zhao Zhuosheng is positive and optimistic, and has an eye for beauty. He brings his temperament into the classroom and tries to develop this eye in his students, helping to give them feelings of happiness and hope, as if they were being bathed in a spring breeze. To one student Mr. Zhao`s his class was so important that he spent three hours commuting to school for it, and never missed a lesson. Zhao Zhuosheng has established a relationship of friendship with his students. He is ready to listens to them at any time, and provides them with timely support. Before each class, he boils water for them to drink, and when there is no heating, arranges to move them to a sunny classroom. All this stems from Mr. Zhao’s heartfelt love for his students, for which he was given the Gardener Award for Special Education by the Bank of Communications in 2016.

The Gardener Award for Special Education from the Bank of Communications is jointly organized by the MOE and the China Disabled Persons’Federation (CDPF), and recognizes outstanding teachers in the field of special education nationwide. The award has been given annually since 2010, and the OUC has taken part in all of the ceremonies, with a total of ten teachers gaining awards.

Qu Wei, a winner of the Gardener Award in 2013, is the vice president of the OUC’s Shenzhen School of Education for the Disabled. Since 2006, he has been at the front lines of special education, engaged in teaching and management while also doing research into distance education for the disabled, and making extraordinary contributions at his ordinary position. His students have had eminent achievements: Cheng Yuenan has been named one of the Ten Best Social Workers in Shenzhen, and was torch bearer at the 26th University Student Games; Pan Shengquan once submitted a proposal to the National People’s Congress, and received a response; and Chen Junliang was a Sunshine Talent winner in Shenzhen and is lead singer of the Tongren Band of the Disabled there.

Ping Fan, a winner of the Gardener Award in 2014, started working in special education in 2009, and is now the executive vice-president of the OUC’s Tianjin School of Education for the Disabled. In order to help his students learn, Ping Fan has organised home visits and participated in the Sunshine Action organized by the school; in order to help them realise that life is wonderful, he has carefully planned Learning Support Services Express Train activities, and held theme activities on the World Disabled and National Handicapped days every year; and in order to give them chances to use what they have learned, he arranges for them to participate in job fairs. He also plans to establish a call centre to provide teaching services for the disabled, and based on the ways blind people learn, he has designed, together with English teachers, a teaching model that integrates self-study audio courses, remote activities between teachers and students, and real-time monitoring of learning. Thanks to this teaching model, a Paralympic Games champion, Yang Bozun, was able to do interviews with both domestic and foreign media, such as CCTV5 and the BBC, in fluent English.

Since the establishment of the OUC’s School for the Disabled in 2002, a group of outstanding teachers has been working there. So far they have taught nearly 7,000 graduates, who are active in all walks of life, and who, through their education, have established self-confidence and a belief in self-reliance and self-improvement, and are thus living wonderful lives.

“You are my eyes, taking me to see the transformation of the seasons; you are my eyes, leading me through the crowds; you are my eyes, taking me to read the vast sea of books.” Chen Junliang, the Sunshine Talent award winner in Shenzhen, lead singer of the Tongren Band of the Disabled in Shenzhen, and a student in the OUC’s Shenzhen School of Education for the Disabled, wrote these lyrics to express his gratitude to the teachers. “You are my eyes” is the most beautiful thing one can say to a special-education teacher.

Grassroots Teachers say: “Bring about Warm Distance Education”

Xiong Yanling

As an ordinary grassroots teacher at the Emin County study centre in the Xinjiang Branch of the OUC, in the far northwest of the motherland, Xiong Yanling has helped students feel the warmth of the OUC through her thoughtful services.

“Study when you have time,”Xiong Yanling often says. OUC students, especially her nursing majors, are busy working at clinics. For them, studying and working often conflict, and they have no spare time to participate in tutoring. Her words have relieved many of their worries, and they can go to the school at any time to find Ms. Xiong for one-on-one counseling. Ms. Xiong also offers online guidance at any time, and on weekends she and her students are often seen on the campus. Every night, messages flash in her QQ, and in order to answer questions she spends a lot of time online.

To students who want to give up their studies, Xiong Yanling resolutely says “no”: no one should give up on studying, taking the exams, and graduating. Naziguli, of the nursing junior-college 2010 class, was registered as “lost” for nearly two years due to changes in her work and phone number. Xiong Yanling tried to find her through other students, and by leaving QQ messages for her, but failed. However she did not give up, and when she finally reached Naziguli was told,“I have no money or time. I want to quit studying.” Xiong Yanling understood Naziguli’s difficulties, and instead of blaming her, said patiently: “You just have one course, medical biochemistry, to pass. And you have put so much time and effort into this. What a shame to give up! It doesn’t matter whether you have money. I can lend you some. Come take the exam, and you can pay me back when you get your diploma.” Her sincerity moved Naziguli, and she picked up her textbooks again, took the exam, and finally finished her studies.

Xiong Yanling’s considerateness sometimes causes her to be described as “meddlesome” by her students, at which she just smiles. Deng Wanyu was a student in the fall semester of 2015. In her first semester, her studies were completed under the constant supervision of Xiong Yanling, but in the second, despite Xiong Yanling’s encouragement, Deng Wanyu did not finish her studies. With the exams approaching, Xiong Yanling had no choice but to call Deng Wanyu’s mother to ask for help supervising and encouraging her daughter. Incredibly, Deng Wanyu complained that Xiong Yanling was meddlesome. Xiong Yanling persisted, however, until the student said, “Don’t call me anymore. Is it all right if I finish my homework?” Through Xiong Yanling`s efforts, Deng Wanyu finally completed all her tasks on time. There are many stories like this, and when the students finally get their graduation certificates, they always say to themselves: “Thank you, Ms. Xiong!”

Xiong’s students are distributed in many hospitals, such as the Tacheng Prefecture, Jiushi and Eming County hospitals in the Tae Region. Some students work as head nurses, some as chair of the trade union. Every time a student meets Xiong Yanling in the hospital, they warmly greet her and show their gratitude and respect.

Day after day and year after year, Xiong Yanling insists on using her words and behavior to show how much she cares for her students; her love is the dazzling light spread by a grassroots OUC teacher who loves her job and works hard.

“In the university system, a regular college or university is on the vertical axis of education, while open universities are on the horizontal axis; each has its own function and value.” “The OUC must meet the learning needs of the common people, strive to provide educational opportunities, and promote fairness of education.” These statements from OUC president Yang Zhijian express the long-held views of all the faculty and staff of the OUC.

By Jin Hongyu and He Jing, China Profiles