A Teachers’ Forum on Distance Education in China with the theme of “The Construction and Operation of Course Teaching Teams” was held in Xiamen, Fujian on March 27, 2013. 16 teachers engaged in agriculture, medicine and engineering teaching in the RTVU system made presentations.
They shared their thoughts and experiences of the process of building course teaching teams. Yan Bing, vice-president of the OUC and editor-in-chief of Distance Education in China attended the forum. Other experts in attendance at the forum included Gong Qiangguo, vice-president of Zhejiang RTVU; Sun Fuwan, director of the OUC Research Institute of Open and Distance Education; and Xiao Junhong from Shantou RTVU. The Forum was co-hosted by Distance Education in China, the OUC School of Agroforestry and Medicine, and the OUC School of Engineering.
Zou Yunming from Jiangxi RTVU Teaching Management Center made a presentation on Course Teaching Teams in Open and Distance Education: Implications, Components and Mechanisms. In his view, the course teaching team is a learning organization engaged in collaborative teaching across the regions using information technology, as well as a group that undertakes the task of sharing knowledge and educating people. The course teaching team is made up of five elements: a common vision of improving the quality of distance teaching and services; a rationally structured cooperative teaching team; an orientation towards course teaching, course resources development, teaching supervision and assessment, and course teaching reform; clear division of labor and cooperation, in order to encourage trust and common development; and finally an action plan defining long and short-term goals, steps and timelines. The course teaching team should follow five basic mechanisms: construction of specialties oriented towards social demand; people-centered team management that puts service first; close team cooperation and interaction; a communication system that combines face-to-face interaction with information technology; and a quality assurance system combining internal supervision and external assessment.
In her presentation The Practice and Research of Course Teaching Team Operating Mechanisms Based on Distance Education, Pan Hongyan from Tianjin RTVU School of Engineering split the operating mechanism of course teaching teams into four levels. The first is course development. Candidates from national institutions of higher education, the RTVU system and within the industry are invited to compile suitable teaching materials that meet the self-directed learning needs of adult learners. The second is teaching. Course leaders carry out online teaching and learning discussions attended by course coordinators, tutors and students. The third is technical support. The responsibility at this level is the maintenance and development of online teaching technology platforms. The fourth is learner support. Course managers are responsible for keeping track of the students’ learning records. Teaching assistants should ensure timely communication with tutors and course coordinators in order to inform the students about related learning tasks. Pan believes that a scientific, open course teaching platform with complete sharing functionality should be planned during the course teaching team construction process. The whole process should put students at the center. Furthermore, she believes that all course teaching teams should place a strong emphasis on the unique characteristics of their courses to avoid overlap.
Wang Yaohui from Hunan RTVU’s Sience and Technology Teaching Department gave a presentation on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) in Open and Distance Education. She pointed out that CSCW is based on computer network technology and is aimed at communication, coordination, collaboration and information sharing. This groupware technology supports group work and makes it possible to improve efficiency. With the help of online transmission technology, course teaching teams can impart specialized knowledge across time, space and organizational boundaries. She believes that the core members of the course teaching team in modern distance education are a central group of teachers, key members such as management teachers, course teachers, tutors and technicians, and members of the focus group i.e. students. The major objective of groupware technology is to help students to overcome the limitations of time and space. Wang believes that the management of a course teaching team based on groupware technology must focus on quality, so it can benefit all key stakeholders.
Yin Zhiying, a teacher from the OUC School of Agroforestry and Medicine and leader of the Human Physiology course teaching team, gave a presentation on Research on the Operating Mechanisms of Open and Distance Education Teaching Teams. She introduced their experiences in establishing the Human Physiology course teaching team. Liu Xiaoxing, a teacher from the OUC School of Engineering, and core member and course leader of the Basis Computer Applications course teaching team, focused on his team’s standard teaching work in his presentation on The Exploration and Practice of Teaching Reform by the Teaching Team.
Gong Xiangguo raised a number of points in his comments on the speeches at the forum, including: Is there any room for improvement or reform in the original teaching structures formed during the strategic transition of the RTVUs? What is the mission of the course teaching teams? Will perfecting the teaching team ensure that the quality of teaching improves? Is it possible to balance teaching capacity and scale?
In view of the functional structure of the course teaching team, Sun Fuwan pointed out that the course teaching team should focus on both the teaching process and teachers’ professional development. The teams should become more open and diverse. In addition, the teams should set up sub or side teams to undertake different tasks. Sun also believes that the course teaching team should strengthen the construction of management institutions within their operating mechanisms and further study the relationship between real-world and virtual course teaching teams.
In his comments on the assessment system for course teaching teams, Xiao Junhong pointed out that the students, tutors and experts should all be part of the assessment process, each with an equal weighting. Students should assess course resources, learning guidance, examination methods and contents, and academic load. Tutors should make an assessment based on teaching and learning resource allocation, the overall teaching of the course, teaching support services, and course content. The assessments made by experts should emphasize course teaching mode, particularly the mode of reform and innovation, teaching monitoring measures, and actual implementation. The teaching teams should then take steps to improve based on the opinions and suggestions of the teachers and students.
In his concluding remarks, Yan Bin pointed out that, as a new type of university, the construction and operation of course teaching teams is a major focus for open universities, particularly in the establishment of teaching staff and the development of course specialties. For open universities, these teams represent many things: they are a major part of the construction of a teaching quality guarantee system; an essential task in the exploration of a personnel training mode for distance education; a key topic in the construction of a learner support system; and an important practice in the closer integration of information technology and education. The core responsibility of the course teaching team is the implementation of a teaching process and learner support. Yan pointed out that the construction and exploration of course teaching teams should be focused on six aspects: functional role, component elements, construction model, operating mechanism, development path, and assessment system. Yan emphasized that the course teaching team is a systematic project that requires the coordination of all stakeholders and that its advancement depends on whether open universities can establish a coordinated and innovative mechanism.
Since the construction of the first batch of seven course teams began in October 2009, efforts have been made to define implications, design objectives, establish essential elements, set up key operating mechanisms, and advance teaching reform. To further advance the construction of course teaching teams, in October 2011 the OUC School of Agroforestry and Medicine and the OUC School of Engineering called for academic papers with the theme of the construction of course teaching teams among full-time and part-time teachers in the related specialties. 91 teachers from 23 RTVUs participated in the event. The 16 presentations at the forum were chosen from among the submitted papers.
By Jin Hongyu, the OUC