Editor's Notes: The Open University of China (OUC) has initiated a programme to nurture candidates for the inaugural session of "Outstanding Young Teachers," resulting in 104 teachers being bestowed with the esteemed title of "OUC Outstanding Young Teachers."
By sharing the stories of some of these young teachers and highlighting their experiences of learning and personal growth, our aim is to showcase the dedication and enthusiasm of all OUC teachers who are devoted to contributing to the establishment of a lifelong learning society for all.
Cai Fengwei, an associate professor at Gansu Open University (OU), was a visiting scholar at the University of London. She has received various awards and honours, including an excellent teacher at Gansu OU, an excellent member of the Communist Party of China, an excellent manager in online cadre training, and an excellent instructor in the First English Writing Competition of the Open University of China (OUC). She has also received the Excellent Award in the First Teaching Skills Competition of Ideological and Political Courses and Ideological and Political Education in Courses at Gansu OU. Cai Fengwei has guided students to participate in the 7th China International College Students’ "Internet+" Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition at Gansu OU, where they achieved second and third places in the competition within the university. She serves as the sharing degree programme leader for E-commerce, oriented to Agricultural Sideline Product Marketing, and is a core member of the teaching teams for the OUC courses of "Management English II" and "Introduction to E-commerce".
I. First experience
The First OUC Outstanding Youth Teachers Training Programme brought together about 110 people at Weishanzhuang Township. Over the last 40 years of its operation, the OUC has always emphasized the development of the teaching staff. However, this training, of such a large scale and spanning a long term, was the first in the history of the radio and TV universities. As one of the first cohorts of this programme, I felt greatly honoured, and cherished this opportunity immensely. Over the past three years, I have gained a lot through various forms of learning and research, including courses in ideology and politics, professional development, course resource development, the establishment of experimental and practical training platforms, teaching teams, face-to-face tutorials, live streams, exploration on blended online and offline teaching, examination reforms, learning support services, teaching research, study visits, and volunteer services.
II. Practice and growth
(I) All for the students to pursue the development of a specialty
In 2015, Gansu OU applied to the OUC for the development of a specialized programme in E-commerce, oriented to Agricultural Sideline Product Marketing. It was approved in 2016, and steady progress was made in the subsequent years. Later, I became the programme leader for this specialty. After more than two years of relentless efforts, we achieved significant results in the development of the programme. We formulated a talent training scheme that emphasises practical skills and entrepreneurship, along with a complete set of programme and course teaching documents. We explored a blended online and offline teaching reform, established a cooperative education model between the university and industry, developed a working and management model for online teaching teams, built a set of course resources suitable for adult learners, optimized diverse methods of course assessment, and achieved the goal of promoting teaching and learning through competitions.
(II) Understanding the students' psychology in order to provide comprehensive learning support
Learning support, as an important component of distance education teaching process, plays a crucial role in improving the effectiveness and ensuring the quality of distance education. It is also a core element of modern distance education. During the course of the training of the project, I was fortunate enough to be recommended by the OUC to embark on a four-month study tour at the University of London. Apart from conventional research and learning exchange activities, I also focused on the practical implementation of learning support in distance education at the University of London. This aroused my interest, leading me to conduct literature research and engage in discussions with my supervisor, Professor Alan Tait, retired with honours from the Open University UK.
Upon returning to China, I successfully led the 2021 Gansu Provincial Higher Education Innovation Fund project. During the research phase of the project, I also served as a tutor for the online training research project organised jointly by the University of London and the OUC. This provided me with the opportunity to observe the transformation of teachers from the open universities, into learners in the field of distance education. I studied their learning psychology, motivation, and performance. This experience not only gave me a new understanding and insight into learning support but also prompted me to think about what kind of support should be provided before, during, and after learning.
(III) Keeping the students in mind to explore blended teaching and learning models
In recent years, the OUC has made positive explorations on a learner-centered approach, combining self-paced online learning with distance learning support and face-to-face tutoring, in a new learning model. As a frontline teacher, I have been active in probing into a blended learning model for "Humanities English III". Through a comparison of pilot learning scores, we found that there was some improvement in the post-test scores in oral English, and the results were significant in the written test and the total score, compared to the pre-test scores. Thus, we could draw the conclusion, that the blended learning model has an obvious impact on improving learner performance, with a particularly significant effect on improving written test scores. Feedback from the learners who participated in the pilot programme were positive and encouraging.
(IV) Nourishing the students' hearts, to put in place ideological and political education in the courses
Ideological and political education in courses, in a sense, is a way of thinking. Teachers must intentionally, naturally and effectively engage students in ideological and political education during the teaching process. Such education should be reflected in the top-level teaching design, with the cultivation of students’ ideological and political awareness, as the primary goal of course remains teaching, and this should be explored in classroom teaching. At the same time, I keep on making reflections and improvements, participating in the university's course design competition for ideological and political education, and the development of exemplary courses for ideological and political education. A good teacher not only imparts textbook knowledge to students but also shapes their character, taking fostering virtue through education as the foundation of action and essence of mind.
III. Achievements
Time has flown by, and what have I gained over the past three years? I am convinced the most significant achievement is greater love for the cause of open education. Through various workshops, specialized training, exchanges, discussions, and teaching practices, I have come to appreciate the responsibilities and the mission, that come with being a teacher in open education. This involves continually enhancing my professional ethics, upgrading the ability to foster virtue through education, improving personal information technology skills and professional expertise, strengthening the capacity for resource development, and, most importantly, providing comprehensive learning support to students, with affection. All of these efforts aim to continuously enhance the quality of education and teaching.
By OUC News Network