Designing the Innovative Practices of General Education on ... · •Knowledge-based society and knowledge-driven” growth model; •World village and global citizen; •(Higher)

Jinghuan Shi

Tsinghua University

Designing the Innovative Practices of

General Education on the bases of

Historical Heritage in China:

Top Universities as a Case

Changing Context Globally

• The world is getting into the globalization 3.0

since 2000. -Thomas L. Friedman The World is Flat •• Knowledge-based society and knowledge-driven” growth model;• World village and global citizen;

• (Higher) education becomes more crucial for any countries, especially for developing countries.

It’s a “globalized globe”!

General education in China: two origins

• Chinese ancient education: was aiming at fostering virtue and cultivating character. The content of education was very broad, non-professional and non-instrumental—a kind of foundation in terms of humanistic attitude and values.

• Western influences in modern times: The disciplinary subject-based knowledgewas learned from Western countries in modern times as part of the new system. The extreme was during 1950 to 70s when the Soviet Union’s model is copied. .

• Since 1980s, general education becomes hot as a result of open policy and a part of the reform efforts. The concept seems not contradict with the traditional values of Chinese education, but it is not easy in implementation.

Context of general education in China in 21 century

General educationpractice

Higher education system

Technical

revolution

n

Globalization

Economytransition

Social context and cultural tradition

Crucial skills needed for the youth in the 21st century • Inter-discipline knowledge structure.

• High-order thinking and soft skills, global competence, creativity, critical

thinking, interpersonal skills, etc.

(Wagner,2014) (the Partnership of 21 century skills, 2009)

Shared Vision & Commitment of 15 flagship Universities in Asia (Asian University Alliance)

Mottos combined of AUA members:

Knowledge

Wisdom

Truth

………….

Visions combined

of 15 AUA members —>

keyword

General Education: a Confusing yet Inspiring Concept

• Liberal education: educational idea.

• General education or holistic education: educational approach and strategy in practice.

• Different strategies in different educational context

• Reading classics, free debate, etc.

• Distributed requirement and core curriculum

• Interactive and cooperative learning

• metacognitive pedagogies to stimulating

critical thinking, logical reasoning and

Imaginations.

Educationalidea

Educationalapproach

Educationalstrategy

Balanced knowledge structure

- Humanities and social science

- Science and engineering, etc

Virtue, value

Morality

High-order thinking

- Critical thinking

- Creativity, etc

Transferable skills

- Writing skill

- Interpersonal skill,

Consistent core idea- Cultivating the whole person by holistic education.

Comprehensive Framework- Knowledge, thinking and soft skills, and virtue.

Flexible content.

- Problem-oriented. Make it more specific whenconsidering educational problems.

- Culture and context based.

Framework and examples of general education content

• Virtue-oriented holistic education(立德树人)， etc.• Integrating learning to know with learning to be (学会学习+学会做人);• Combining personal growth with societal development;

General Education in China with Cultural Genes

• Learning to be human（学以为己）

• Morality, Mindset, Skills and Knowledge (德、识、才、学) arefundamental.

• Combination of knowledge learning and social practice(知行合一) etc.

Ancient China: Self-perfection oriented education (修身取向的教育)

Modern China: Cultural embedded general Education (文化素质教育)

Fudan’s Moto:Loyalty, Credibility, Sincerity, and Piety“博学而笃志,切问而近思”。Come from the Chinese Classic “the Analects of Confucius”.

Tsinghua’s Moto:Self-discipline

and Social Commitment.

自强不息，厚德载物Come from the Chinese Classic “Yi Jing”(易经)

“The book of Changes”

• 157,287 students involved in general education within 2006-2017.

• 7,149 students are enrolled in 110 classesduring each semester

• More than 270 teachers from 30 departments are teaching the courses.

Fudan Model: Constructing the "Seven Modules - 50 Curriculum

Units- 180 Courses" System

SevenModules

Cultureand

History

CriticalThinking

Dialogue of

civilizations

SocialScience

and China

Scienceand

Technique

Ecologyand

HumanCaring

Art andAesthetics

Involve every students for deep learning

Cover every courses for discussion. Goal

Approach

Individual reading-thinking-writing

Group discussing- debating–cooperating

Teacher as guidance and facilitators

Learner- centered Seminar

General Education 1.0

General Education 2.0

Future

Promote teaching and learning engagement

Improve students‘ learning gains

Establish general education idea

Design core curriculum

Construct larger number of courses

Exploring the usuable path of general education

2006

2013

Improve the structure and quality of courses

Diverse specific strategies in teaching/learning

Student-centered and facilitate holistic development

2014Quality improvement

exploration and trials

New general education design in Fudan Univ. from 2014

General education strategy in Fudan

To increase student-faculty interaction Three-credit course Office Hour Study group

Multi-assessment Aiming at student learning Assessing in different ways during learning process The result can be evidence to improve teaching

Develop students' core competencies Verbal skills writing skills Critical thinking Methodological skills Creativity

“Three-in-One” Model in Tsinghua University

Value(To Be )

Knowledge(To Know ）

Skills (To Do)

志

智

知

2014 Tsinghua officially announce to adopt the “three-in-one” or “ integrated education model ” combining knowledge teaching, skill practicing and value cultivation together.

三位一体

Whole personDevelopment

Zhi• Two major types of

practices in Tsinghuato facilitate student

holistic development

Type I: Cultural Quality Education in Tsinghua

• Tsinghua established the National “Suzhi”(Culture Quality)Education Base under the approval of the Ministry of Education in 1999.

Inter-discipline knowledge structure

Critical thinking

integrated personality

文理兼备

审思明辨

立己达人

• Idea: design and provide general education courses to Tsinghuastudents, and inspire the experiments in holistic education.

Idea of Cultural Quality Education in Tsinghua

Elective Course system in Tsinghua

• Elective course system with Tsinghuafeature

• 8 categories of courses.

• All Students are required to take at least 13-credit of courses fromdifferent categories.

• Most related to humanities andsocial science. These can becomplemented because Tsinghuais featured by its professionalengineering education.

history and culture

contemporary China and the world

philosophy and ethics

life and human development

language and literature

environment, science and society

art and aesthetics

mathematics and natural science

Type II: General Education Exploration in Xinya Academy (新雅书院) as a pilot zone

• Xinya Academy in the form of pilot zone was launched byTsinghua Univ. In 2014.

• Residential Liberal Arts College. Cultivating wholeperson by general and inter-disciplinary education.

Type II: Xinya Academy as a pilot zone

High quality

• Small scale. About 200 students enrolled per year from self statement and selective interviews.

• Well-prepared curriculum

• well-structured and designed courses.

• Small class but higher academic challenge teaching/learning activities.

• High quality and fully engaged faculty and students

• Outstanding and devoted faculty members.

• Ambitious and hard-working students.

• Close peer communication and collaboration with faculty from other general education courses.

New reform of general education in Tsinghua from 2017

General Educationin Xinya

Cultural quality education in

Tsinghua

Version 2.0

Version 3.0

Version 1.0

Student cultivationin large categories

High Quality, &small scale

All students involved, &lower quality

All students involved, & high Quality

Specific strategy for the new general educational practice

School-level platform course (General Education, Mathematical Sciences Foundation/Engineering Thermodynamics), Large-scale Platform Course

(Introduction/Cartography)

School-level general education courses + Science/tech.-related courses+ General Studies (Engineering Economics and Management, Civil Engineering Materials,

Engineering Mechanics)+ Category learning courses (Electrical and Electronics, Network and Data Sciences,

Artificial Intelligence, Marine Resources and Energy)

Program Course（ Minor course）Elective course

Civil Engineering


Water conservancy

Architecture and

management


Program Courses: frontiers of civil engineering, metrology, engineering geology + X


Architectural Environment


Transportation


Oceanographic

first yearseco

nd

yearTh

ird &

forth

year

Category direction confirmed Minor focus confirmed

• Capacity to learn, work and interact with

others in a international and multi-

cultural context.

• Being divided into three domains:

cognitive, interpersonal and

intrapersonal aspects.

• Consistent to the idea of general

education in Tsinghua Univ.

To Do

Improving student’s global competence in Tsinghua

Globalcompetence

Curriculum Learning Academic Research

Social PracticeCultural Interactions• 2 types of Contexts

• Domestic learning

• Oversea’s learning

• 4 educational strategies

• Curriculum

• Academic Research

• Social Practice

• Cross-cultural Interactions

How to improve global competence for Tsinghua Students?

50%

25%

60%

0%

50%

100%

Bachelor Master Doctor

% of Tsinghua students withlearning experience abroad

2016-17

Performance assessment for global competence

• Well designed based on the global

competence framework

• Questions in a complicated cross-

cultural context

• Personal Report on global

competence

• Diagnosis and Suggestions for

improvement

Facilitate General education with High Impact educationalPractices (HIPs) in Tsinghua

• HIPs(Kuh, 2008; McMahan,2015,etc.) was introduced to China by CCSS(2009-) in Tsinghua team.• Specific strategies of general education in Tsinghua and other China Univ.• Move beyond classroom teaching• Involve meaningful interactions with faculty and peers• Require personal effort, engagement, and self-reflections

3 Types of HIPs in China

Type Practice

Extended Learning Activities (ELA)(Further learning beyond

curriculum)

Language learning outside formal course

Studying an academic minor

Studying abroad (long or short terms)

Research-Related Activities (RRA)(Deep learning and academic

research)

Working with a faculty member on research projects

Publishing academic papers

Participating in academic (and other) competitions

Social Practices (SP)(Enriching social experience)

Taking internships

Conducting social investigations/field research

Participating in social service/volunteering works

The second transcript forTsinghua students,

Inspired by HIPs.

The Effect of Hips on Student HolisticDevelopment:

Std. difference in learning outcomes(HIP participants minus non-

participants)

Hips Engagement in China General Education

Make China FGCS Succeed in General Education with HIPs

• Equal participation in Social

Practices, but less participation in

Extended Learning Activities and

Research-Related Activities.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2012 2013 2014 2015

FCGS in China

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

FGCS Non-FGCS

Extended Learning Activities

Research-Related Activities

Social Practices

• FGCS are students who are the first generation

in their families having higher education.

• 70% of college students are FGCS now.

Conclusion and Reflection

• No clear and agreed definition or practices for general education, yet similaridea are shared: cultivating the whole person by holistic education.

• Improving quality is the core issue in general education. How to assess and insure the quality, how to use the assessment improving practices need future study.

• General education in China is undergoing the reform and upgrading, from the experiment and partially implemented to the systematic design and implementation. from imitation to construct cultural characteristics.

28

Thanks and welcome to Tsinghua University

Documents

Designing the Innovative Practices of General Education on ... · •Knowledge-based society and knowledge-driven” growth model; •World village and global citizen; •(Higher)