e-Learning Initiatives in China
Pedagogy, Policy and Culture
Publication Year: 2007
Published by: Hong Kong University Press, HKU
Contents
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pp. v-viii
Figures
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pp. ix-x
Tables
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pp. xi-xii
Contributors
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pp. xiii-xvi
Acknowledgements
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pp. xvii-xviii
Section 1: Background
1: Introduction
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pp. 3-10
These are the words of Zhou Ji, the current Chinese Minister of Education. They hint at the huge educational challenge that China is facing at present and suggest the significant role that e-learning can play in the (educational) development of the country. Let us consider the following statistics:...
2: e-Learning in Higher Education in China: An Overview
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pp. 11-32
In this chapter, we provide some background information on e-learning in China, focusing primarily on its historical development and current scope. We discuss the key factors that have shaped the present e-learning systems, and we consider how the recent massive growth in numbers of Internet and online users in China has resulted in different types of learning support and government guidance. Finally, we discuss the main problems in e-...
Section 2: Designing and Delivering Online Courses in China
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pp. 33-36
This section focuses on issues associated with the design and delivery of online courses in China, and explores the following crucial questions: • What types of online courseware design are currently widespread in China, and what are their relative strengths and weaknesses? • How can online courseware be designed so that learner autonomy (which is so important for online study) is promoted? • Studying online can be a lonely experience, so how can the courseware...
3: Learning by Multimedia and Multimodality: Some Critical Reflections on Web-Based Courseware Design in the Chinese Context
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pp. 37-56
This chapter reports some critical reflections on Web-based courseware design in the last five years in China in general, and at the Beiwai Institute of Online Education in particular. For ease of reference, six types of design are identified: 1. Printed-textbook-transfer Design: This refers to the Web-based publication of an existing printed textbook verbatim. The design, if any, will consist of changing the print pages to Web pages plus extra navigation...
4: Designing an Innovative Online Course in Language Teaching Methodology for Middle School Teachers of English in China: Encouraging Learner and Teacher Autonomy
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pp. 57-78
Currently, some 470,000 teachers are involved in the teaching of English at junior middle school level (students aged 12–15) in China, many of whom possess only a two- or three year diploma in teaching, rather than a specialist qualification (e.g. a first degree, BA) in English. The Chinese Ministry of Education (MoE) has recently stated that by 2010 all junior middle-school teachers should have at least...
5: A Socio-Emotional Approach to Building Communities of Learners Online
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pp. 79-94
It has long been recognized that English language teaching in China is teacher-centred, textbook-based and examination-orientated, with an emphasis on the teaching of grammar and vocabulary at the expense of language skills and communicative competence. Recently however, two events in particular demonstrated the urgency with which the Chinese Ministry of Education (MoE) would need to introduce policies...
6: CUTE: A Flexible Approach to the Integration of Online and Face-to-Face Support for Language Learning
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pp. 95-108
The CUTE (Chinese University Teacher Training in English) Project is one of the component projects of the eChina-UK Programme. In its initial phase, which is known as CUTE 1 and is reported here, the project involved staff at the University of Cambridge (UoC) and Tsinghua University working collaboratively to design, develop and deliver two integrated English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course modules that combine online...
7: A Generic Framework for the Training of e-Learning Tutors
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pp. 109-124
This chapter presents a generic framework for the training of e-learning tutors. The need for such a framework emerged during the tertiary-level eELT Project of the eChina-UK Programme, in which the School of Education, University of Nottingham (UoN), UK,formed a collaborative partnership with Beiwai Online of Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), Beijing, China. The eELT Project involved the development of...
Section 3: Managing the Interplay between Pedagogy and Technology
The previous section of the book focuses on pedagogic design issues for online courses. In this section, we turn to the interplay between pedagogy and technology, because the design and development of online courseware requires a team approach in which academics work closely with technical staff. In the eChina-UK Programme, all projects were convinced that pedagogy should lead the technology, rather than vice versa, but on a practical level,...
8: Translating Pedagogy into Technology: Techno-Pedagogic Aspects of a Sino-UK e-Learning Project
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pp. 127-140
This chapter uses eChina-UK’s CUTE Project (see Marsh et al. this volume, pp. 95–107) as a case study to examine some technical and implementation aspects of a collaborative Sino-UK e-learning endeavour. It argues that, prior to considering any technological choices and implementation options, e-learning projects must establish a firm methodological basis and that the technical implementation must be able to support the chosen pedagogical...
9: Personalized Online Learning: Exploiting New Learning Technologies
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pp. 141-154
Computer intelligence has been likened to that of a worm, in that computers are able to respond predictably to stimuli but in rather limited ways. Human intelligence, when it comes to exploiting new learning technologies, has been rather worm-like — responding to the technologies that exist rather than demanding more of them. Little is understood, infact, about the affordances of different learning technologies (Conole and Dyke 2003), in...
Section 4: Managing Collaboration Processes
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pp. 155-158
An important aim of the eChina-UK Programme has been to strengthen collaboration between China and the UK. It was hoped that if British and Chinese partners worked together on a common task, there would be a number of positive outcomes for both countries, including the following: • the emergence of innovative ideas about e-learning design, which could be tested through the delivery of pilot courses; • a growth in mutual understanding of HE issues in each...
10: Managing Collaborative Processes in International Projects: Programme Management Perspectives
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pp. 159-174
Extensive research evidence, especially from the field of international management (e.g.Maznevski 1994; Janssens and Brett 1997; DiStefano and Maznevski 2000; Maznevskiand Chudoba 2000; de Dreu 2002; Polzer, Milton and Swann 2002; West 2002) has shown that any kind of diversity in work groups is a double-edged sword: it has the potential to improve creativity, innovation and performance, but if it is not managed effectively, it can...
11: Developing a Collaborative Approach to e-Learning Design in an Intercultu ral (Sino-UK) Context
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pp. 175-188
This chapter focuses on the processes of intercultural collaboration that occurred during a strand of the eChina-UK DEfT Project (Developing e-Learning forTeachers) (see Table 1.1 [p. 6] and Motteram et al. this volume, pp. 189–201). This part of the project involved staff from the University of Sheffield and Beijing Normal University (BNU) in jointly developing e-learning materials for a master’s...
12: Collaborating across Boundaries: Managing the Complexities of e-Learning Courseware Production in a Joint International Project
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pp. 189-202
The DEfT (Developing e-Learning for Teachers) Project was a two-year collaboration between the School of Networked Education (SNE) (now School of Continuing Education and Teacher Training — SCETT) at Beijing Normal University (BNU) and the Worldwide Universities Network (member universities involved were Bristol, Manchester, Sheffield and Southampton). The Schools of Education at...
Section 5: Addressing Policy Issues
This last section of the book turns to issues of policy. Policy forms the backdrop to all of the other issues explored in the book, and this section illustrates the close interplay between policy and practice. Chapter 13 focuses on intellectual property (IP). In any collaborative venture, the creation, management and use of intellectual property need to be agreed among the various members. However, this can be a challenging task, especially for e-learning teams who...
13: Managing Intellectual Property Rights in Cross-National e-Learning Collaborations
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pp. 205-220
Technology-enhanced learning — or e-learning — is considered to hold significant promise for educational transformation. Potential benefits are argued to include the provision of more stimulating educational environments for learners, combined with more efficient, effective and scalable models for conducting the ‘business’ of education. Educational designers are involved in the production of, or look...
14: The Informationization of Higher Education in China: Present Situation and Challenges
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pp. 221-232
China has achieved significant advances in social and economic development in recentdecades. In 2005, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reached 18.23 trillion RMB,1 and Premier Wen Jiabao pointed out in his 2006 Work Report that “China has entered anhistoric stage where we should rely more on technological advances and innovation to boost our social and economic development, and should place the acceleration of scientific...
15: Complexity and Interconnection: Steering e-Learning Developments from Commodification towards 'Co-modification'
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pp. 233-248
Education has changed dramatically in the last thirty years as a result of a number of factors. This reflects a more general wider societal change and has been fuelled by national policy directives as well as technological changes. This chapter provides a critique of the context within which e-learning occurs and considers how this shapes and directs practice.The central argument of this chapter is that contextual factors have a significant impact on...
Editor’s Afterword: Outstanding Issues
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pp. 249-250
This book has mainly focused on the issues, insights and achievements of the initial eChina-UK projects that took place from 2003 to 2005. At the end of those projects, we were all deeply aware that the process of developing mutual understanding and of achieving innovative developments in e-learning was only just beginning. We felt that we had particularly more to learn in the following areas: • in developing a deeper understanding of the pedagogic beliefs and perspectives that...
Notes
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pp. 251-256
References
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pp. 257-280
Index
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pp. 281-290
E-ISBN-13: 9789888052240
Print-ISBN-13: 9789622098671
Page Count: 308
Illustrations: 31 b/w illus
Publication Year: 2007
