The Learning Resources Department of the Open University of China (OUC) recently held a seminar on the construction of open education “Gold Courses” in order to implement the requirements that the university has put forward to “improve the quality and expand the capacity of learning resources in order to construct quality courses that meet the new demands of a new era and further enhance the OUC’s learner development quality.”
Representatives from the university’s teaching departments, Experimental School, and Information Technology Department attended the event.
Cheng Gang, director of the Learning Resources Department, introduced the background and general objectives of the construction of “Gold Courses.” It has been stated that the construction should be guided by a new concept for building open education courses and a scientific multi-dimensional course evaluation system should be implemented in order to build a number of high-quality courses tightly catering to the markets, industries, and professions. This will make the OUC’s degree courses become “Gold Courses” that are highly recognised by the era, students, and markets. One hundred demonstrative “Gold Courses” should be released as a working objective for this year. The upgrading and transformation of all degree education courses should be completed according to the construction standards of “Gold Courses” in around two years, making it an entry criterion for OUC’s degree education courses.
Representatives from teaching departments and the Experimental School introduced the courses they manage and described the course upgrading and transformation plans in terms of ideological education, design concepts, content optimisation, enrichment of case studies, interactive design, teamwork support, and application and effect. In-depth discussions were held on problems and difficulties that occurred during current course construction. They also put forward suggestions and opinions for the OUC “Gold Courses” Construction Plan (Draft).
Xiong Wei from the Information Technology Department gave answers to questions concerning the learning platform during the discussions, and he also introduced upgrading the availability and accessibility of the new learning platform and its ability to meet the construction requirements of “Gold Courses” to the maximum extent. Cheng Gang offered explanations for problems arising from course construction. As for the issue of how virtual simulation experiments can be connected via the learning platform, the Learning Resources Department will arrange separate seminars with relevant departments to seek solutions.
The seminar was a good opportunity to present the early-stage achievements of the teaching departments and the Experimental School in terms of online course construction as well as pull together the existing problems and reach a consensus on the direction of course optimisation and quality enhancement. For the next step, the Learning Resources Department will issue relevant policies and regulations conforming to the construction standards for “Gold Courses” and organise regular sessions to exchange ideas and share experiences among the faculty so as to promote the new concept and standards for “Gold Courses” construction to the teaching frontline and ultimately benefit all learners.
By OUC Learning Resources Department (Digital Library)