The Management Sub-Committee of the Academic Committee of the Open University of China (OUC) will organise a series of integrated online/offline activities encouraging academic discussion and exchange during November and December to strengthen the construction of the Management Sub-Committee, further the professional development and empirical research of the OUC management discipline, serve teaching reform and course construction, and improve the research level of the discipline in line with The OUC Academic Committee Regulations.
The first lecture, “Thought and Practice on Course Construction of Open Universities in the New Era,” as held on 11 November. Professor Li Song, OUC vice president and director of the OUC Academic Committee, attended and delivered a speech.
Li Song said that the event was the first lecture in a series of academic research events organised by the Management Sub-Committee since the founding of the Third Academic Committee of the OUC. However, the lecture had to be given online due to the pandemic. He stated that the disciplines of the Management Sub-Committee include business management, management, management science and engineering, administrative management, and public service management with orientation in education and health, and that the committee also deals with relevant comprehensive disciplines concerning education and teaching management characterised by diversity and activity. He underlined that courses are the basic units of teaching affairs and core factors to improve learner development. It is imperative to focus on course construction and to seriously consider the meaning of gold courses of open education, the differences between gold courses at open universities, regular institutions of higher education, and vocational schools, and how the value of gold courses is embodied in open universities. He asked all the members of the committee to put into effect the task of assisting the key development of open education beginning with the first lecture, to be leaders in disciplinary construction, and to set good examples for the research teams. He urged them to join in empirical research inside and outside the OUC system and to work hard to strengthen the university through scientific research and academic exchanges. It is imperative to bolster interactions with regular institutions of higher education, vocational schools, and scientific research institutions in China and abroad, to build a mechanism for the sharing of think tank experts and scientific research data, to create an advanced research centre, and to improve the university’s scientific reputation.
Professor Liu Zhimin, dean of the OUC Faculty of Economics and Management, gave the lecture entitled “Thought and Practice on Course Construction of Open Universities in the New Era.” She shared her experiences and feelings from seven perspectives: understanding relevant concepts; the function of teaching resources in open education; the new demands in the new era; the principles of open education resource construction in the new era; the basis for open education teaching resource construction; course design steps; and the practice of course resource construction. Beginning with courses, teaching resources (learning resources), and the concept of teaching materials, she stated that high quality teaching resources are a prerequisite and guarantee for open education and teaching quality. She highlighted that teaching resources should be built in line with factors such as the characteristics of the students’ needs, the nature and feature of the courses, teaching objectives, teaching model, and availability and cost by adapting to the new requirements in the new era and following the principle of open education resource building. She also elaborated the steps of course design. Finally, she shared her own experiences in the construction of the Marketing and Marketing Strategy and Art courses including needs analysis, ideological and political construction, design of course contents, design of course forms, design of teaching strategies, and learning support during the process.
The first lecture was presided over by Du Ruo, deputy director and researcher of the Management Sub-Committee. Teachers from the Faculty of Economics and Management attended the lecture on site. The online lecture received positive feedback from the teachers and students of the discipline of management of the OUC system. They said that this academic discussion and exchange event has deepened their thinking and understanding of course construction, especially the construction of gold courses and ideology and politics in courses. It is an academic activity that is rich in content.
By Zhou Mingkun and Du Ruo, OUC