On 28-29th May 2018, the Open University of China (OUC) Experimental School 2018 Teaching Work Conference was held in Beijing. The aim of the conference is to strengthen discipline construction, implement the teaching process, regulate teaching management, and play an exemplary and leading role.

Vice president of the OUC Liu Chen, the heads of the relevant departments, the heads of the departments of the Experimental School, the heads of the Study Centre, the heads in charge of relevant businesses, and tutors from the relevant departments of the Experimental School attended the conference. The conference was presided over by Guo Qingchun, dean of the OUC Experimental School, and deputy dean Li Xinhui.

Liu Chen delivered a speech conveying the spirit of the speech delivered by OUC president Yang Zhijian at the 2018 plenary meeting of the OUC's School Affairs Committee. Liu Chen pointed out that socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era and that the transformation of society has put forward new requirements for sustainable development, education, and teaching reforms. In the future, we must be aware that the fundamental goal of education is virtue cultivation and talent training, and we must consider the relationship between growth and quality, the relationship between reform innovation and steady progress, the relationship between teaching and learning, and the relationship between degree and non-degree education.

Liu Chen pointed out that as a leader of reform at the OUC, the Experimental School is designed to serve the transformation and upgrading of the OUC, encouraging reform and innovation in school operation, management, learner development, and the service model. The OUC has been promoting the system construction of the Experimental School and expanding the Study Centre, aiming to conduct a first trial for the creation of the information environment and technical integration application, school organisation system construction, teaching management, and operational mechanisms. It hopes to make abundant, replicable, distinctive achievements, fully exercising its role in experimental exploration and the creation of a model for demonstration.

To this end, the OUC has paid special attention to the Experimental School in terms of policies, funds, personnel, teaching management, and teaching services. In 2017, the OUC officially assigned four teaching reform experimental pilot tasks to the Experimental School. The Experimental School should focus on the four tasks and emphasise design, innovation, and achievements in order to promote the sustainable development of its business. It should establish a system, clarify its process, and create standards in order to guarantee the smooth completion of various experimental tasks. Each study centre should, under the overall planning of the Experimental School, proceed in an orderly manner in accordance with the overall requirements of the project design; offer timely summaries and improve the plan; make phased achievements in the short term; and eventually achieve mature and feasible experimental results in the long term.

Liu Chen stressed that the system construction of the OUC Experimental School should focus on three problems. Firstly, improving awareness. We should deepen the understanding of the role of the Experimental School in "experimental and demonstrative" teaching reform tasks, thinking positively about how to ensure the quality of teaching on the basis of constant innovation of the system, increasing subject setup, and increasing the scale of student enrolment. Secondly, increasing the strength of its bonds. The OUC headquarters, the branches, the schools, and the study centre should form stronger bonds in order to provide full support for the construction of the study centre and the OUC Experimental School, and guarantee the quality of reform and teaching. Thirdly, intensifying regulations. With the increasing scale of the Experimental School’s student enrolment, the new study centers are distributed throughout the country, and the school operation is not totally the same. In this case, we should attach more importance to standardizing teaching management and services. The teaching at the study centres must comply with the provisions of the OUC and meet the overall requirements of OUC Experimental School teaching reform in order to push forward the work and strive to improve the education and service level.

The conference also introduced the development process of the OUC Experimental School’s four teaching reform experiment pilot tasks.

The first is the "Realising Dreams of Further Education” online teaching programme. This programme is designed to explore the construction of a “Six-Network Integration" learner development model for continuing education in large-scale enterprises. The programme provides completely web-based teaching, management, and support services. The programme’s first cooperative enterprise is McDonald's (China). The OUC has studied and formulated the Implementation Plan for "Realising Dreams of Further Education: McDonald's Project" to provide guidance for the related work. The programme has enrolled 1,243 students at McDonald's, establishing seven majors and providing over 80 courses. To date, the online teaching network has been created, and enrolment, teaching, examination, and learner support services have gone online. The satisfaction rate with the support services has stayed between 88% and 98%. The OUC Experimental School has organised online summative assessment exams for a total of over 5,000 students, representing a preliminary exploration of an operation and management mechanism for online exams. Based on the experience gathered by the programme, the Experimental School of the OUC has formulated the Learner Support Service Manual for Online Teaching and the Work Manual of Online Teaching Exam Management.

Next is the programme of vertical connection between vocational education and open education. As part of the pilot tasks, the "credit bank" acts as a bond to build a scientific and reasonable connection between credit accreditation transfer and the teaching process, in order to realise an effective connection between secondary vocational education and open education junior college and between junior college higher vocational education and open education undergraduate courses. The OUC studied and formulated Implementation Plan for Bridging the Connection Between Secondary and Higher Vocational Education and Implementation Plan for "Higher Vocational Junior College Degree+Open Education Undergraduate" Dabieshan Experimental School Pilot Project to help guide the work of the programme. Tianxiang branch, Taiyuan Experiment School, Wontone Automotive Education Experimental School Study Centre, and Beike Study Centre explored the connection between secondary vocational education and open education junior college degree. Dabieshan Experimental School explored the connection between higher vocational education junior college and open education undergraduate courses. According to the implementation plan for the two projects, the OUC Experimental School has formulated a work plan for tuition, teaching, and exams, and worked out the connection courses. At present, the pilot of the project has enrolled 590 students.

The third is a pilot programme for the integration of non-degree and degree integration. The task of the pilot project is to explore a path for transferring students of non-degree education into OUC degree education; to build a model for the accreditation, accumulation, and transfer of learning outcomes; implement dual-certificate education combining industry qualifications, subject levels, and training certificates with academic certificates; and to build a horizontal integration mechanism for non-degree education and degree education. The OUC Experimental School has studied and formulated the Implementation Plan for the "Non-degree and degree Integration Pilot Project" to provide guidance for related work. Under the guidance of the implementation plan, the OUC Experimental School cooperated with Beijing Dong'ao Times Education Tech. Co., Ltd and Beijing Huayu Internet Tech. Co., Ltd, enrolling 166 students at the two pilot training institutions. At the same time, the OUC Experimental School cooperated with McDonald's University to explore an equivalent transfer mechanism for academic and non-academic credits.

Lastly is the “skills + quality" learner development programme. The task of this pilot project is to leverage the advantages of OUC degree education learner development and technical education school skill training to realise the mutual integration of technical education and other skills training carried out between degree education and the human resources/social security system; build the “skills + quality" learner development model; and train practitioners that possess sound comprehensive quality, professional theoretical knowledge, practical skills, and application ability. The OUC has studied and formulated the Implementation Plan for the “Skills + Quality" Pilot Project to provide guidance for the related work. The OUC Experimental School cooperated with the China Adult Education Association to set up the first batch of nine study centres, and launch the elderly services, management, and mechatronics majors. The pilot has enrolled 328 students. To date, the enrolees have completed teaching affairs operation business training and online study network usage training related to the newly established study centre.

Li Xinhui gave a comprehensive summary of the teaching progress of the OUC Experimental School for 2017-2018, analysed the problems that the OUC Experimental School is facing, and clarified the follow-up work for the OUC Experimental School.

The heads or relevant personnel of the OUC Academic Affairs Department, Learner Resource Department, Faculty of Agroforestry and Medicine, Quality Monitoring and Evaluation Centre, Credit Bank, and Faculty of Economics and Management introduced their own work processes, helping the participating tutors to learn about the relevant systems of the OUC, and understand the OUC's discipline construction and the progress of its teaching reform. The participating tutors also discussed the implementation of the 2018 teaching reform work, optional course construction, and practical teaching links between the schools and study centres across the OUC Experimental School system.

Li Xinhui gave a summary of the conference, stressing that the participating tutors should understand the spirit of the speech delivered by OUC vice president Liu Chen, carefully study the relevant systems of the OUC, better understand the experimental and demonstrative exploration responsibilities of the OUC Experimental School, and promote a new stage in the construction of the OUC Experimental School.

By Yang Yuming, OUC