June 19-20 saw the convening of the 2014 MOOC Development Forum of Chinese Universities in Beijing. With the theme Initiating a New Era of MOOC Learning, the forum, sponsored by Distance Education in China, focused on the new characteristics and trends in future university education, highlighted discussions on MOOC’s new thoughts, new methods and new measures in promoting teaching mode innovation and improving education quality. The Open University of China (OUC) shared its experience on MOOC practice in the past two years.
On June 26th of 2014, Provincial Party Committee Secretary of Zhejiang Xia Baolong visited the modern agricultural zone of Tiantai County in spite of the rain, and had a discussion with local growers. At the Jiuhuier ecological plantation belonging to Ge Lingteng, a peasant college student from Tiantai Radio and TV University (RTVU), Xia Baolong talked with Ge Lingteng side by side and praised him as “Grape Professor”.
From June 8th to 21st of 2014, No. 1403 advanced class for backbone teachers in business administration programme of the OUC was held in Beijing. This class lasted for two weeks, with a total of 66 backbone teachers from all provincial and municipal RTVUs in the country taking part in it. Party Secretary of the OUC Li Ling attended the commencement and issued course completion certificates for those teachers who finished the training.
On July 1st, upon retiring, Professor Yan Shuoqin, of the School of Arts and Law of the Open University of China (OUC), donated to the OUC Library more than 700 books which had been passed down in his family and collected by himself for many years.
On July 31, 2014, 90 cadres of CPC Organization Department nationwide who attended the symposium on online training visited the Open University of China (OUC). The visiting group paid a visit to the exhibition room showcasing the history of the OUC, themed “Deep Integration of Information Technology and Education”, it featured cloud classrooms, digital libraries, etc.
On July 29, 2014, the Open University of China (OUC) established the School of the Ocean on the foundation of Qingdao Radio & TV University (RTVU) in Qingdao. This raised the curtain on the OUC's strategy of leveraging modern distance education technology to promote the reform and development of marine education and accelerate the training of skilled professionals specializing in the marine industry.
The review process for the Open University of China (OUC) 2013 scholarships came to an end today. A total of 8,904 OUC students were awarded scholarships. Among them, 7,725 students were granted OUC scholarships, 579 students won OUC “Field of Hope” scholarships, 100 students won the Sunlight Scholarship for Special Education of the OUC (Education for the Disabled), and 500 were granted Scholarship for Non-Commissioned Officers.
OUC Joins the 8th International Conference and Workshops on Technology and Chinese Language Teaching
The 8th International Conference and Workshops on Technology and Chinese Language Teaching (the 8th TCLT) was held in Tufts University in Boston, United States, from June 6th to 8th of 2014. The subject of this conference was “Technology Literacy and Chinese Language Teaching in the 21st Century”. The OUC sent representatives for the conference for which it was a sponsor.