The opening ceremony for the “Western Yunnan Learning Website” of the Open University of China (OUC) was held in the city of Dali in Yunnan province on November 5, 2013. Vice Minister Lu Xin of the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Vice Governor Shen Peiping of Yunan Province began the ceremony, which was hosted by Director-General Xie Huanzhong of the MOE Department of Development and Planning. The OUC President Yang Zhijian introduced the Western Yunnan Learning Website’s construction history and objectives.
The OUC’s Western Yunnan Learning Website is a learning and communication platform for freely sharing excellent digitalized learning resources among the people of Western Yunnan. The website focuses on meeting the social education needs of Western Yunnan, utilizes many of the highest quality online learning resources available. The portal offers a broader reach for the University’s 30 years of experience providing education in rural, remote and minority areas at the grass-roots level.
The website’s attractions include its open classes, experts’ lectures, glimpse at life in Western Yunnan, and of course, the wide array of subjects, facilities, courses and learning assistance it provides. The curriculum’s eight categories are: agricultural technology, vocational skills, operations management, laws and regulations, environmental hygiene, information technology, artistic style and scientific knowledge. The courses’ video resources employ “micro courses” that range in duration from 5 minutes to 15 minutes. Initially, the website will offer 3,800 courses benefitting the citizens of 56 counties in ten Western Yunnan cities and autonomous prefectures. These localities include Chuxiong, Lijiang, Nujiang, Dali, Baoshan and Dehong. The web platform will also help enhance the cultural literacy of Western Yunnan’s workers, and their access to professional technology.
The opening of OUC’s Western Yunnan Learning Website is an important step by the MOE in developing the educational environment of Western Yunnan. The move is also a creative method of enhancing the cultural literacy of Western Yunnan’s workers, as well as their access to professional technology by providing abundant digitalized learning resources in a cutting edge digitalized learning environment. The platform explores the application of modern technology to the OUC’s existing advantages in advancing the distribution of educational resources to all members of society.
By Luo Gang, China.org.cn