Recently, in order to further promote the implementation of credit bank policy, explore a school operation mechanism for the Online Credit Bank, and ensure the smooth completion of work for the Online Credit Bank within the school, the OUC set up an in-house operation working group for the Online Credit Bank and held a working conference on its in-house operation mechanism. The vice presidents of the OUC, Li Linshu and Liu Chen, as well as members of the in-house operation working group of the Online Credit Bank, attended the conference.
The team leader of the working group is the leader in charge of the credit bank and teaching affairs. The members of the group include the heads of the Credit Bank, the Teaching Affairs Department, the MOE Research & Training Centre for Community Education, the Information Technology Department, the Learning Resources Department, the Learner Support and Teacher Development Centre, the Faculty of Arts and Law, the Faculty of Economics and Management, the Faculty of Science and Engineering, the Faculty of Education, the Faculty of International Languages and Cultures, the Faculty of Agroforestry and Medicine, the Faculty of Art Education, the OUC Experimental School, the OUC Secondary Technical School, the School of Vocational Educational and Training, and the Learning Resources Centre. The working group’s main responsibility is to make macroscopic decisions on business operation of the Online Credit Bank; allocate and provide resources; accredit the credits of online courses; and build and implement the online course teaching operation team.
The working group office comes under the working group. The position of the director of the office is undertaken by the head of the Credit Bank. Its members include personnel from the Information Technology Department, the Learner Support and Teacher Development Centre, and the Credit Bank. Its main responsibility is to implement the working group's decisions; create business commissions for the Online Credit Bank platform; carry out training for technicians of Online Credit Bank; train the online course teaching operation team and ensure they are qualified for the position; guide and supervise the business operations of the Online Credit Bank; connect the Online Credit Bank platform and the Credit Bank platform; assist in technical testing of the Online Credit Bank platform; and help to carry out relevant training.
At the conference, Li Linzhen pointed out that the Credit Bank's research achievements in terms of system model and technology path selection, the establishment of a learning outcomes framework, the design of a system architecture and operational organisation structure have put it in the leading position in China. Progress has also made in the construction of a Learning Outcomes Accreditation Alliance, learning outcomes accreditation service system, and information platform. At the same time, multiple projects entrusted by the MOE, including Pilot for the Accreditation, Accumulation, and Transfer of Continuing Education Learning Outcomes, Pilot for the Accumulation and Transfer of Higher Vocational Education Learning Outcomes, and Credit Bank Construction for Teachers' Lifelong Education Programme, have made progress at a practical level, forming an application model of the Credit Bank and laying a sound foundation for national Credit Bank construction and the establishment of a qualifications framework.
Liu Chen said that the online Credit Bank, established on the basis of the Credit Bank mechanism, has implemented the deep integration of education and information technology, which is conducive to promoting the equal development of degree and non-degree education. The ten key majors undergoing the teaching reform should fully leverage the research achievements of the Credit Bank to push forward the course system and teaching content reform. The OUC should select a group of online premium courses to be pilot courses and potentially put small-scale majors with abundant teaching resources on the online Credit Bank for operation.
The participants believe that building the Online Credit Bank platform is of great significance. They said that they would actively participate in it and give it full support. They also put forward suggestions for many aspects of platform construction, such as apps, operational mechanism, award mechanism, management mechanism, duties and responsibilities, intellectual property rights, resource construction, and policy guarantees.
In November 2017, the OUC cooperated with Chaoxing Group to introduce the Credit Bank mechanism and build a new generation platform, Online Credit Bank, that is oriented towards “lifelong learning, ubiquitous learning, and future learning” and integrates the course supermarket, online learning, and learning outcomes accreditation.
By OUC Credit Bank