At the beginning of 2020 the COVID-19 epidemic swept across the world, bringing unprecedented challenges to higher education. In accordance with ZJU’s requirements, the International Campus quickly formulated a plan for adjusting the teaching arrangements for the spring and summer semester of 2020, and released it on February 9. After one-week’s preparation and thorough testing, the Campus took the lead in starting online teaching on February 17, with the main Campus following one week later. In the past three months, all departments, Institutes, and our cooperative partners have worked together in solidarity. Faculty, students, and staff have overcome many challenges and united to try to minimize the negative impact of the epidemic on education provision.
Before the official start of online teaching, the Office of Academic Affairs and the Library and Information Center coordinated with the Institutes to provide faculty and students with online teaching training. In the first week of online teaching, each course was attended by a member of the administrative staff to make sure everything went well. As of the end of April, 72 online courses and 204 classes had been successfully set up through various online platforms, including WebEx, Blackboard, Mediasite, Zoom, OneDrive, and Dingding. (A few experimental courses could unfortunately not be offered online.) The teaching methods utilized include a combination of live broadcast and recorded lectures. Meanwhile, faculty members at home and abroad have had to overcome the difficulties of working in different time zones, some lecturers even taking classes very early in the morning. During this period of online education, all 796 undergraduates on the International Campus are able to take online classes at the same time. It truly is the case that “global learning knows no time difference”.
All Institutes and departments have made great efforts to ensure the highest quality of online teaching. For example, ZJE have arranged for senior undergraduate and postgraduate CPC members to supervise online classes by entering the ‘virtual classroom’ randomly for inspection. At the same time, it has instituted an ongoing online questionnaire survey, so that lecturers and deans can monitor online teaching delivery. As to ZJUI, the students’ attendance is checked every day, and every week a feedback meeting is held with the faculty, program administrator, and student tutors to solve problems and discuss online teaching experiences. Thus, any problems about networks and teaching equipment are all resolved in good time, and the average attendance rate is above 96%. Some students even attend classes together with their parents.
Overall, the online teaching program has proved very successful. Students, faculty, and staff on the International Campus have all made great contributions towards maintaining high-quality teaching and learning during the period of the epidemic.
Provided by the Office of Academic Affairs
Article: Haiyan Luan
Translation: Shuaiyin Liu & Roda Morrison