From November 8-13, 2015, the OUC held an advanced seminar for tutors (class tutors). 110 tutors from various OUC branches, schools, and learning centres participated in the seminar.

The seminar, hosted by the OUC’s Tutor Development Centre and undertaken by its Learner Support Centre (Student Affairs Department), lasted for one week, with a total of 30 class hours. Vice President of the OUC Li Linshu attended the closing ceremony and awarded certificates of completion. 

Trainees carefully listening to the special lecture

Vice President of the OUC Li Linshu grants certificates of completion to trainees

The tutor training seminar was the first of its kind for the student affairs staff and front-line tutors (class tutors) in the OUC system. The training included three parts: First, special lectures about continuing education development, college student administration, and distance learner support; Second, professional training focusing on the progress of work development in the Student Affairs Department, work thoughts, and tutors’ team construction in the Student Affairs Department; Third, tutors responsible for student affairs and tutors in each branch exchanged experiences and case studies. 

The seminar was mainly presented by means of expert lectures, exchange of experiences, group discussions, and symposiums. Professor Yan Jichang from Tsinghua University, Associate Professors Hu Zhifeng and Song Zhenshao from Beijing Normal University, along with a number of famous experts and scholars from Beijing Union University, School of Medical Online Education of Peking University and EF, were invited to the seminar. 

The trainees participating in the seminar studied hard and openly discussed OUC student affairs, the abilities of tutors, and team building. They then reported on their research in small groups and formed a correspondingly complete account of the results. 

The participants said that the seminar was very helpful in improving their own professional knowledge and abilities and in reinforcing cohesion and team building within the OUC system. In their view, for the first time, the OUC had offered focused training to the front-line tutors and provided them with a unique learning and communication platform, which is of great significance to the construction and development of the tutoring team. They also proposed their suggestions and requests for further training. For example, they hoped to diversify the training forms, to add cross-discipline learning so as to expand their horizons and enrich the training contents, to increase the typical case sharing and exchange of experiences between headquarters and branches as well as between branches, and so on.

By Jiang Xiaoqing,OUC