Annual Symposium of Teaching Exchange was Held
2020-12-28
To strengthen management and improve the teaching level of foreign teachers and teachers from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, HZU held 2020 annual symposiums of teaching exchange respectively on December 18th. Directors from International Affairs Department Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Affairs Office, Faculty Development Center, Teaching Steering Committee and 23 foreign teachers, 25 teachers from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan from 15 Schools attended the symposiums.
The symposium themed on Effective Teaching Strategies and Methods. Discussions centered on topics including the development of frontier educational philosophy, comparison between teacher-oriented and student-oriented, application of competitive games and high-tech rewards in class, exploration of teaching methods based on the outcome during quarantine time. Foreign teachers are eager to share their syllabuses based on different teaching scenes. For example, Paul Gregory Madden (Irish) from the School of Foreign Language talked about writing emails professionally. Wei Zeng (American) from the School of Mathematics and Big Data Science analyzed basic terms of tourism. Schultz Sean Anthony (American) from the School of Chinese Literature and Communication expounded on how to write professional essays. Cormac Haughian (Irish) from the School of Chinese Literature and Communication shared the teaching schedule of how to maintain staff morale. According to the Teaching Steering Committee, the symposium effectively motivated foreign teachers to take an active part in the teaching reform. New ideas and thinking patterns could be lit through conflict and confrontation to improve the quality of education of HZU.
The symposium for teachers from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan centered on innovative scientific research, integration of production and education, international exchange, student-oriented, and teaching observation. Teachers had made constructive suggestions in the group discussion. Lastly, the director of the Faculty Development Center made a review of the symposium.
According to the director from International Affairs Department Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Affairs Office, it was the second symposium held by HZU that showed the determination of standardizing the teaching philosophy of student-centered and outcomes-oriented. In the next stage, the International Affairs Department would co-organize several activities including English salons, workshops, seminars, or Luncheon parties with the Faculty Development Center to consolidate the results of the symposium and improve the internationalization of teaching modes.
HZU also launched a 7-week demonstration class practice that involved 11 foreign teachers from 8 Schools offered 11 courses, covering more than 600 students from 16 classes. Besides, more than 200 Chinese teachers had observed the courses that had earned a good response among the teachers and students. The symposium of teaching exchange and demonstration class are both essential for mutual learning for domestic and foreign teachers, improvement of teaching quality for foreign teachers, and teaching reform in HZU.