From December 25th to 26th, the 4th 2021 “Creative Education” demonstration classes activity of NENU was held in the Smart Classroom of the Yifu Teaching Building. With the theme of “Creating Smart Classes, Building Golden Classes of NENU”, this activity showcased 26 demonstration classes from 19 schools (departments). The event invited Professor Gao Hang from the School of Mathematics and Statistics of NENU, Professor Lv Lijie from the Faculty of Education, Professor Chen Bin and Professor Li Yangguang from the Faculty of Chemistry, and Professor Gao Yuqiu from the College of Arts as standing review experts, and heads of 19 schools (departments) as moving experts. Present at this activity were Wei Min and Wang Xiangdong, director and deputy director of NENU’s Office of Academic Affairs.
Wei Min made a speech at the opening ceremony of the activity. He pointed out that the NENU’s “Creative Education” demonstration classes aim to comprehensively deepen the reform of the undergraduate teaching model guided by the “Creative Education” concept, advocate process-oriented inquiry education, inspire the endogenous power of students based on interests, and implement the heuristic, discussion, inquiry, and participatory teaching methods, so that students can develop a critical and reflective thinking habit, and finally realize the teaching revolutionary transition from being teacher-centered into student-based. He hoped that the teachers participating in the activity can realize the positive role of demonstration and guidance, promotion of reform and improvement of quality through such exhibitions and exchanges, and promote NENU’s high-level, innovative, challenging and generative construction of “golden classes”.
This class demonstration activity went live online and offline + teaching with students on site + smart learning space, including three parts of on-site teaching, teaching plan presentation, and expert comments. A total of 81,724 people watched the live broadcast online. The 26 classes participating in this demonstration activity were selected by NENU from the 84 classes contributed by each schools (departments) this year. The participating teachers include 3 professors, 13 associate professors, and 10 lecturers. The lecturers emphasized the value shaping of teaching goals in the teaching design, and played the educating function through classroom teaching; focused on student-centered, reflecting teaching intelligence and teaching innovation in the teaching process; emphasized the advanced and epochal character of the teaching content, and increased the profundity and challenge of the curriculum; and effectively used the modern technology means to design teaching strategies according to the actual course and the analysis of the learning condition, to guide students to actively participate in the class, and to arouse students’ in-depth thinking.
After the demonstration activity, the group leader Gao Hang made comments on behalf of the expert group. He pointed out that more than one hundred classes have been demonstrated in the activities of “Creative Education”, and the activities have a positive effect on improving the teaching level of teachers. He extended appreciation to the work of NENU’s Office of Academic Affairs to vigorously improve the classes and promote the reform of teaching mode. He believed that in recent years, teachers have gradually reached a consensus that the classroom should be student-centered and scale up the development of students’ thinking ability. He pointed out that in this activity young teachers showcased a higher academic level and strong teaching ability, which added vitality to the future growth of NENU. Finally, he hoped that the activity will continue, so as to advance the quality of talent training.
This event has attracted the attention of the Higher Education Department of the Ministry of Education and the Higher Education Office of the Provincial Department of Education. They affirmed NENU’s “Creative Education” demonstration classes at the school level for which played a demonstration role, and for its practical significance; It is believed that NENU has been closely following the key points of the class teaching reform, deepening the undergraduate education and teaching reform, playing a leading and exemplary role, and reflecting the responsibility of a world-class normal university.
Since 2018, NENU has held “Creative Education” demonstration classes activity for four consecutive years. In the past four years, NENU has made a total of 457 demonstration classes, of which 103 classes have participated in the school-level demonstration through a series of selection. 97 teachers and hundreds of students participated in the field, presenting a splendid and blooming teaching scene. On the basis of summarizing the experience of “Creative Education” demonstration classes activity, in 2019, NENU was commissioned by the Jilin Provincial Department of Education to successfully host the first Jilin Province Undergraduate University Smart Classroom Teaching Innovation Competition; In 2020, entrusted by the China Higher Education Association, NENU successfully completed the first Jilin Province Regional Trial of National Collegiate Teacher Teaching Innovation Competition. Next, NENU will continue to practice the concept of “Creative Education”, strengthen the practice and exploration of teaching mode reform, comprehensively deepen the reform of undergraduate education and teaching, and help improve the quality of undergraduate talent training.
(From News Center, translated by Wei Jia, revised by Liu Lixin)