A five-half-day intensive teacher-training workshop, jointly held by the Open University of China (OUC) and the Open University in the UK (OUUK), and the first of its kind, came to a successful end recently. 30 OUC teachers participated in the positive, diligent and thoughtful manner of OUC faculty.

The workshop mainly focused on redesign of teaching activities in response to varying situations and student groups. It also introduced tools for stimulating student participation, with emphasis on discussions in groups of different sizes, and theories related to social constructivism and connectivism. The workshop showed that the redesign of visual-aural read/write and hands-on (VARK) learning materials is appropriate to a variety of learning styles, and participants learned the concept of threshold value, the “fish tank” and “jigsaw puzzle” teaching methods, and how to lead online group discussions.

The training was led by Professor Martin Friel of the OUUK via live telecast, with teaching assistants present in the classroom for coordination and translation, acting as liaisons to the professor during group discussions and allowing him to give feedback to individual groups. This real-time interaction let the trainees feel as if they were in an ordinary classroom, and the workshop to succeed despite the barriers of Covid-19, space, and language.

All of the teachers gained considerably in terms of vision and skills from this intensive workshop, agreeing that it combined theory with practice, covered a wide range of content, had a clear purpose, helped broaden their horizons and enhance their abilities, and would be of great significance to future teaching reforms at the university.

By Li Donghai, OUC