December Issue｜Academy of Future Education Newsletter

 Academy Highlights

Supporting lifelong learning

The Effective Learning with WING+ Session 3 Programme Summary & Sharing Meeting 

The Effective Learning with WING+ Session 3 Programme Summary & Sharing Meeting was successfully held on December 14. The Learning Institute for Future Excellence, the English Language Centre and the Student Affairs Office-Student Development Advice Centre about 50 undergraduate students who struggle with academic learning have received targeted assistance from us to better grasp their undergraduate learning methods, restoring their faith in their studies, enhancing their learning effectiveness, and making academic progress. We have also assisted them in becoming independent lifelong learners by providing training in self-learning and time management skills and strategies. The programme has been running with excellent results and response. Graduate mentors filled 76 academic companion records with a combined word count of nearly 10,000, while undergraduate students completed 273 study journals with an average daily program study time of 1.2 hours. Several well-executed learning groups were awarded by the program team. We will continue to evaluate the feedback and future prospects of the Effective Learning with WING+ programme.

Talk to Your Future Forum in ACY2022-23 S1 was Successfully Concluded

Talk to Your Future Forum in ACY2022-23 S1 jointly initiated by Learning Institute for Future Excellence (LIFE) and the Organization Committee of Asia-Pacific Youth Model APEC Conference (Model APEC) has come to a successful conclusion, and the guest lineup for the second semester is being negotiated smoothly. The abilities required to career development vary as the world changes. LIFE offers a series of lectures in this forum to enable XJTLU students grasp the wealth of employment options, get on the track to achieve their goals, and be acquainted with necessary workplace skills early. Students could obtain a good comprehension of the professional backgrounds of guest speakers, and converse with young talents about potential job issues, including a lack of real-world experience and challenging working environment. From November 3rd to December 14th, a total of 371 students signed up for this forum, four guest speakers working in various international organizations were invited to assist XJTLU students in exploring the relationship between their career planning and university study, making appropriate plans and preparations for field work, and seeking more possibilities for future development.

Enlightening the Future - Academy of Future Education Job Fair and Capacity Building Forum for Innovative Talents in International Education for the Future" jointly organized by XJTLU and GEC Academy was successfully held on December 18, 2022. 

In order to better support the growth and development of students enrolled in the Academy of Future Education at the XJTLU, to bring more guidance and promotion for students' academic research and career planning, and to help build links and exchanges between students and outstanding institutions and educational institutions, the "Enlightening the Future - Academy of Future Education Job Fair and Capacity Building Forum for Innovative Talents in International Education for the Future" jointly organized by XJTLU and GEC Academy was successfully held on December 18, 2022. 

The event was divided into two sessions. The morning session focus on Student Talk, which invited students who are pursuing a PhD degree, and students who have graduated and successfully obtained a job offer sharing their experiences. The afternoon forum included keynote speeches, roundtable discussions, workshops and job fairs. Dozens of international students and institutions from Oxford University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Soochow University, GIS Institute of Higher Education, XJTLU affiliated school, Suzhou High School, Suzhou Foreign Language School, Suzhou Industrial Park Foreign Language School, Suzhou Singapore International School, Suzhou North American International High School, Suzhou City Foreign Language School, Suzhou Industrial Park Dewey Joint College, WestJet Liverpool Affiliated School, Suzhou Nord-Anders International School and other outstanding international institutions and organizations in and around Suzhou. Dozens of experts, scholars, administrators and educators in the field of international education were invited as guests, and nearly 70 students from Academy of Future Education gathered together in a mixed online and offline way to discuss academics, exchange ideas and share practices.

Supporting future education

New Higher Education Group Yunnan Business and Technology College experience exchange series online forum successfully held

From 25th November to 14th December, 2022, the online series of colloquia for Yunnan Technology and Business University were successfully held via Tencent Meetings. These 11 online sessions focus on four main topics of learning and teaching enhancement in higher education, including the implementation of Quality Assurance System with Outcome-based Education, how to improve the quality of learning and teaching in higher education, the improvement of programme specifications with Outcome-based Education, as well as the improvement of module specifications. Professor Yong Yue, Department of Computing, Professor Chunping Liu, Deputy Dean of the School of Computer Science and Technology,Soochow University, Senior Associate Professor Xiaojun Zhang, Executive Dean of the Academy of Future Education and the Acting Dean of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Hub in Entrepreneur College (Taicang),  Associate Professor Xiaoming Ding, Department of Finance, Assistant Professor Xiaohui Zhu, Programme Director of Computer Science and Technology, Assistant Professor Lingyan Zuo, Programme Director of Accounting were invited as guest experts to share a series of online sessions. During the online colloquia, participants actively interacted with the guest speakers and the sharing topics were highly praised by the participants.

Academy of Future Education of XJTLU officially awarded Princeton International Education Group Shenzhen the title of "Education Base of the AoFE of XJTLU"

On November 25, 2022, Academy of Future Education of XJTLU officially awarded Princeton International Education Group Shenzhen the title of "Education Base of the AoFE of XJTLU" and held a plaque awarding ceremony online.

This strategic cooperation marks the opening of a new chapter of cooperation in the direction of joint exploration of internationalization, student-centered exploration in the field of K-12 education and the cultivation of educational leaders, as well as a long-term joint effort in base demonstration, teacher development and educational teaching research, to jointly build a lifelong learning incubation community for learners and educators.

Nanjing Vocational College of Information Technology visited XJTLU and reached cooperation with the New Professional Education Division

On December 15, 2022, Secretary Wang and a delegation from Nanjing Vocational College of Information Technology paid a visit to XJTLU to discuss the new professional education model based on the case study of Nanjing Vocational College of Information Technology. In the end, the two sides signed a memorandum of cooperation, and held the opening ceremony of "Nanjing Vocational College of Information Technology Education Reform Cooperation Organization".

During the cooperation and exchange meeting, Professor Youmin Xi, Executive President of XJTLU, briefly reviewed the development history of XJTLU and shared the positioning and educational philosophy starting from the 1.0 model, 2.0 model, and the 3.0 education model being explored.

Danzhong Wang, Secretary of the Party Committee of Nanjing Vocational College of Information Technology, introduced the general situation of their college, the advantages of the school and the characteristic majors. He said that next year will be the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Nanxin. Since its establishment, Nanxin Institute has been trying, innovating and making breakthroughs, and the construction of elements and capacity has achieved obvious results. Secretary Wang also hoped that through the characteristic school-running orientation, exploration and practice in the future, they could continue to improve the development ability of education service industry and form a unique "Nanxin model".

At the end of the meeting, XJTLU signed a memorandum of cooperation with Nanjing Vocational College of Information Technology and held the unveiling ceremony of "Nanjing Vocational College of Information Technology Education Reform Cooperation Organization". In the future, the two sides will carry out in-depth cooperation in the construction of educational reform cooperative organization and research on new professional education.

EDU Podcast Ep4: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning & Pedagogic Publishing Support

Have you heard about scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) as well as pedagogic research? Would you like to know how SoTL is developed and supported in universities? This episode will share ideas and cases from instructors, academic leaders and educational developers in international higher education. 

Highlights of the Episode:

1. What is SoTL and why should academics value SoTL in higher education?

2. What is your SoTL story?

3. What are some challenges of SoTL development in universities?

4. How do you suggest to develop SoTL and SoTL support in higher education?

Guest Speakers of the Episode:

Prof. Eng Gee Lim, School Dean of Advanced Technology, XJTLU

Dr. Yanning Huang, Assistant Professor of Department of Media and Communication, XJTLU

Charlie Reis, Director of Educational Development Unit, XJTLU

Host:

Yu Wang, Educational Developer and Deputy Director of EDU, XJTLU

Link:

https://m.ximalaya.com/selfshare/sound/591932206?shrpid=185339df95710ed1&cId=13&albumIds=64486460%2C69647153%2C67278560&shrdv=2138DD81-5B22-4C06-8492-7BEA3D6B85DD&shareLevel=1&srcType=7&commandShareId=eeb750ee54639f183a4ac26fb2e67cac&srcId=591932206&shrh5=iphone&shrid=185339df95711556&shareTime=1671608269143&uid=187541558&shrdh=1&subType=1015

Welcome to subscribe! Please contact [e-mail] or [e-mail] (Lissy) if you are interested.

Staff Wellbeing and Zhuangzi as a Medicinal Philosopher 

EDU, in coordination with XJTLU’s Academic Board’s Staff Wellbeing Working Group, hosted the first Staff Wellbeing event on December 15th, 2022 with a round table interactive discussion on Zhuangzi as a Medicinal Philosopher. Panellists included Charlie Reis, Director of EDU, Alessandra Cappelletti, HoD of International Relations and Pawel Zygadlo, Deputy HoD of China Studies. 

The topics discussed by attendees were paradoxical notion of the usefulness of uselessness and keeping horizons open and boundaries blurred, the notion of Wu Wei (non-action) and the philosophy of non-attachment as attachment as a way of attunement and creative response to situations of distress, and taking care in carelessness and how being without concern takes place in normal, human contexts, but that the Zhuangzian person does not grasp for what is beyond this.  

Next steps are to hold further interactive sessions on topics of interest to staff, such as the interpretation of contemporary culture through a Zhuangzian lens, philosophical and psychological approaches to wellbeing and how being ‘wu wei’ can help with everyday life. EDU will be offering other events for Staff Wellbeing, such as runs, nature walks and hikes, and mindfulness exercises.

Empowering educators

The second academic seminar of Sino-Foreign Cooperative School Running Research Branch of Guangdong Higher Education Association

On December 10, 2022, Jian Chen, head of NPE, was invited to deliver a speech at the second academic seminar of Sino-Foreign Cooperative School Running Research Branch of Guangdong Higher Education Association.

Jian Chen delivered a wonderful report on the theme of "Promoting Sustainable Development of Chinese-Foreign Cooperative Education in Higher Vocational Schools through New Professional Education Concept". Starting from the unique positioning and strategy of XJTLU, he explained the goal and exploration of new professional education in XJTLU, and shared it from three main aspects: "Transnational education", "International vocational education and internationalization of vocational education", and "Sustainable development of Chinese-foreign cooperative education in higher vocational schools".

At the end of the report, Jian Chen cited relevant statements in the report of the Party's 20 National Congress as a summary. At the same time, he also proposed to higher vocational colleges, hoping that Sino-foreign cooperation in higher vocational schools can "gather consensus, coordinate development, and integrate vocational and general education".

Creating future education community

Early childhood education community teaching plan design competition

Starting from 21 November, Child Development and Education division from Future Education Academy initiated a 21-day lesson plan design competition for early childhood education community. The event helped the community of early childhood education teachers to improve their ability to observe, extract information and design activities for children's day-to-day lives, to enhance their grasp of curriculum design and to inspire more ideas through mutual support! The community members discussed and design lesson plans together which will enrich perspectives and promote teaching and research! Teachers in the community shared and supported each other on distinctive perspectives course design, activity design and etc.

Ongoing Projects

Supporting lifelong learning

The 4th XJTLU Interdisciplinary Social Innovation Course and Association Seminars

The 4th XJTLU Interdisciplinary Social Innovation Course organized two online student project seminars on November 23 and December 14, 2022. The representatives of the eight project teams in the course summarised and reflected on the progress of their research projects. Afterwards, the eight advisors from Learning Institute for Future Excellence (LIFE) provided many valuable comments and suggestions, which greatly supported students to make further improvement on their topic exploration. 

In December, the Association of Interdisciplinary Social Innovation Course launched a series of course sharing sessions presented by partner universities, aiming to allow teachers to get a better understanding of each other’s course and learn the excellent practical experiences, as well as to discuss and exchange ideas and suggestions for overcoming the challenges encountered by each university. The first and second sessions were successfully conducted on December 10, 2022. Five course teams from four universities were invited to introduce the implementation and features of their courses, including learning outcomes, teaching and learning activities, instruction approaches and challenges, etc. Over 50 teachers joined online and actively participated in the communication and discussion, contributing to the development and promotion of the Interdisciplinary Social Innovation Course.

Creating future education community

The Family Education of University Students Open Class Series

The family education of university students is crucial to their growth and development and is also the most easily overlooked. ILEAD is currently launching a series of family education online open classes every Thursday from 15th December, 2022 to 12th January, 2023. These classes systematically introduce and address the challenges faced by parents of university students around five topics, including emotional management, attachment, intergenerational communication, family education from an international perspective and college students' academic and career planning. This series of public courses aims to help university students' parents better understand and support their children's growth in the university, and establish a good family relationship in the transition period. The first two online sessions have attracted more than 20,000 online viewers accumulatively. The audiences actively participated in the live stream by raising questions and actively participating in the comment area.

Upcoming Events

Empowering educators

ILEAD Launches the Online Series Training Programme

The Online Series Training Programme will be offered in from January to March, 2023. Thesetraining programmes aim to respond the needs to accelerate the reconstruction of the higher education system and the reform of teaching content. Specifically, the online series will focus on the four topics of the advanced learning, teaching and student support practices in higher education, including how to promote the construction of high-quality education system in higher education and the establishment of ‘Emerging Engineering Education, Emerging Art Education, Emerging Agricultural Education, and Emerging Medical Education’, How to improve the learning initiative of students by implementing the research-led learning and teaching methods, How to design high-quality courses to meet the needs of student in blended learning, How to promote the informatization, systematization and professionalization of Student Affairs service and management in the universities.

Future Education Research

Updating the Revised Classroom Practices Survey: An Instrument to measure teachers' classroom practices

About us

Academy of Future Education

The Academy of Future Education of Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University is an educational innovation ecosystem that focuses on research, exploration, support, and dissemination of philosophy and best practices for future education. The core mission of the Academy is to impact education innovation and reform in China and beyond through a variety of projects and programmes, based on fundamental approaches in educational innovation and systemic development, designed to contribute to the future of education. The Academy supports individuals and institutions at all levels including all the K-15 schools as well as vocational education and higher education institutions.

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