On Oct. 9, 2014, in order to further enhance the quality of online course building, identify the significance of the trial operation of the online course, clarify procedures for the work, and to promote the nationwide trial operation of the online course in the autumn of 2014, the Open University of China (OUC) held a work summary and seminar on the building and trial operation of the online course during the spring of 2014.
Vice President of the OUC Li Linshu, the teaching staff of various disciplines from different schools and administrative departments, as well as the related personnel from the production companies, all attended the meeting.
The online course is the focus of the OUC. Since its inception, under the joint efforts and cooperation of teachers from various disciplines and the personnel from relevant departments, the OUC has accumulated valuable experience and gained proficiency in both course building and trial operation.
Li Linshu pointed out that this should be viewed as a new project, one with the goal of laying a foundation of online courses, instituting new mechanisms, and exploring new methods. Creating a solid foundation requires building up nationally competitive teaching and course resources through years of development and accumulation, with this foundation serving for the development of online courses. New mechanisms will allow for seamless systematic team operation. He encouraged exploring new methods based on six-network integration as the main feature of the teaching model and fully incorporating learner support services. He also added that, in order to accomplish the above objectives, the following challenges may be faced in building the online course: first, there is no reference model to follow in the building of online courses; second, the online teaching model is not clear enough; third, the construction of the online learning environment is not mature. In order to achieve the goal of fully functioning online courses, Li Linshu said that in the future, the OUC should continue to allow teachers to play a leading role, with administrative and technical departments providing support, and jointly promote the building of online courses.
Director of the Learner Support Centre (Student Affairs Department) Liu Zhimin summed up the work on the trial operation of the online courses in the autumn of 2013 and the spring of 2014, announced the trial operation period for online courses to begin in the autumn of 2014, and also interpreted the overall evaluation process of online courses. He said that the trial operation period has allowed the number of students participating in online learning to increase significantly. An exploratory model for online teaching and management has also been launched, which will offer valuable experience. However, the underlying technology, course design, the composition of the teaching teams and other aspects will continue to see ongoing improvement. The autumn 2014 semester trial operation period will be conducted in accordance with the principle of "being diversified, team-based, and going through the whole process" to further explore the diverse teaching model based on the operation of the online courses and teaching teams.
Han Yanhui, a teacher from the OUC's School of Foreign Languages, introduced the design and teaching method of the student-centered one-stop online course by utilizing media as a tool to assist in English teaching. Xu Changwei, a teacher from the School of Education, introduced the course design of Literature Overview from learning path, interactive activities, and learning assessment, sharing his experience in course building.
Cheng Gang, Deputy Director of the Learner Support Centre and Student Affairs Department, summarized the experience and questions about the building and trial operation of online courses; introduced the goal and the significance of the trial operation of the course, as well as how it worked; and described in detail the teaching model and the team operation model of the online course for the autumn 2014 semester.
By Shi Lei, the OUC