2020 is an extraordinary year. The sudden epidemic prevented students from going abroad for exchange and study, but it could not stop everyone's curiosity and desire to broaden their horizons. The International Cooperation and Exchange Office actively expands high-quality overseas Students Exchange programs and builds bridges through online programs. Looking back on 2020, the International Cooperation and Exchange Office has established friendly cooperative relations with more than ten outstanding universities abroad, added more than 20 online and offline Students Exchange Programs，and send the program information to all the students through the university's official website, WeChat, and the International Office's official website. These programs include high-quality courses from universities in different countries, and it is a good opportunity for students to use spare time to recharge and improve themselves. The following are some of the experiences of students participating in the online programs. Let’s take a look at what they say.
Wang Yuansheng, grade 2017, major of Public Utilities Management, Business School.
In 2020, he participated in the Harvard University Online Course Program "Leadership and Human Resource Management from a Complex Perspective", with Excellent Academic Result and won the online course scholarship.
"Due to the impact of epidemic, going abroad for experiencing foreign teaching method has become a luxury hope. Fortunately, the university has provided us with a new choice by participating in online courses. The courses provided by the Harvard University online program are highly compatible with my major. The original intention of application at that time is that I hope to further improve my professional knowledge and personal leadership. The biggest worry before class begins is that whether I can understand the teaching in English, and whether I can catch up with the speed of reading the English literature review. After all, English is a barrier for most students. After the first class, this worry was quickly dispelled. Although the professor's courses are all in English, they have taken account of the students' listening level. Their speaking speed and vocabulary use are just right, and the students can understand and give feedback, the degree of involvement in the online classroom is very high. Online courses are taught in small-size classes, and the group learning mode prevents the quality of the courses from being reduced due to the large number of people. The professor remembers the name of each student and the group discussion is also very high, which is relatively rare in domestic classrooms."
"The biggest gain from this study is that I have improved my ability to read and summarize literature, and have a more detailed understanding of the frontier research of human resources. At the same time, it has also helped me broaden my horizons. It is no longer limited to lecture records, but more accustomed to thinking and exploring.Generally speaking, the online courses at Harvard University have made me fruitful, and I feel the joy of active learning."
Li Xinlu, Grade 2020, Major of Fashion and Design, School of Textile Garment and Design.
She participated in the online program of Liverpool John Moores University Winter School in 2020.
“At first, I learned it from the International Office’s Website about the International Exchange Programs. This year, it was changed to online courses due to the epidemic. It was my dream to be able to experience courses of British universities without leaving home, so I summoned up the courage to apply for the program. At last, I gained a lot form the online courses, mainly in the following three aspects:
First of all, it is very important to learn English well. The university has built a bridge for us to connect with foreign universities, and we should at least have the ability to communicate in English. I am a student major in Japanese and did not continue to study English since the second year of high school. This time the course is taught in English, which is a challenge for students of art. Fortunately, the foundation is still there, and the British university has also taken this into consideration, and equipped us with simultaneous interpretation, so that I can successfully complete the course on the basis of listening to most of them and relying on simultaneous interpretation for a small part.
Again, although I have always heard that the teaching methods abroad are not the same as in China, it is better to see it after hearing it. This time I really realized the differences between them. The atmosphere of the online class is quite good, and it completely dissolves my nervousness, as if there is a hand holding it, guiding me a little bit forward. This is a feeling I have never experienced before. Online Classes are more open and free, and everyone has the opportunity to show. British teachers have always been very patient in answering various questions raised by everyone. The head teacher in the group and the director of the international department of the British university followed the whole course to ensure that the course proceeded smoothly and everyone could catch up. The students come from different universities in China, and feel like old friends at the first meeting.
Finally, this online course also gave me a lot of professional gains. When I was thinking about originality, I always subconsciously looked at things from one angle from beginning to end. This time works I made were basically carved out of the mold. The topic of "tactile painting" in this course released me from the fixed mindsert, as if opening up a new world, completely merging with everything in the world, it is a very strange feeling. In addition to the improvement of professional skills, I also learned about British culture, improved the English level, expanded my social circle, and improved thinking way. It is indeed a valuable experience! I would like to participate in a similar online class next time.
"Tactile Painting" by Li Xinlu: "Walnut"
Xu Shiya, Grade 2019, Major of Environmental Design, School of Textile Garment and Design.
She participated in the online program of Liverpool John Moores University Winter School in 2020.
“Online learning at Liverpool John Moores University is a rare and valuable experience for me. First of all, I would like to thank the University of Liverpool for the free places offered that allowed me to have direct access to the British teaching model. This time I feel the difference between domestic and foreign learning directly. Domestic university may be more inclined to applied technology, learning more practical software courses, while the University of Liverpool prefers guided learning to lead your understanding and feelings of a certain object.”
“Online classes are English-style teaching, which is a great challenge for me. Sometimes I don’t understand what the teacher is saying. Some professional terms can only be translated by Baidu Online Translation. On the first day of class, there was a senior student joining classes helping us to translate and communicate with the teacher. In the next few days, we relied on ourselves to communicate with the teacher. In class, the teacher will throw up a topic for us to find answer by ourselves, and then we will discuss face-to-face in small groups and exchange ideas. So far, we had recognized the students from different universities. We also had some communication after class. These students are all excellent and we all have a good luck, hahaha.
There were two classes that impressed me most. In one class, the teacher asked her graduate students to introduce to us some of the seminars they were doing. Everyone's ideas were wonderful and superb! Another class was tactile painting. It required one hand touches an object and close your eyes, use your hand to feel the object, draw what you feel, and use different brush strokes and different angles to feel it. It is a different painting process. In just one week, I was exposed to different cultures, different ways of thinking, and felt that art has no borders. It was a great experience.”
GuGong Songyi，Grade 2019, Major of English Teacher Training, Foreign Languages School.
He participated in the U.S. Wisconsin-Madison Summer Online Course in 2020.
"I'm GuGong Songyi from Class 191 of the English Teacher Training. Because of an accidental opportunity, I saw the course notice on the university's official WeChat account with my classmates, so I enrolled for the online program. Although some courses were arranged at night, it had no effect on me as a night owl during the holidays. There were two foreign teachers taking turns in the whole courses. The content of the course is very interesting. Each lesson has a different topic and direction. The students in the program are divided into two groups. Although sometimes my English expressions were not very clear due to lack of vocabulary, the teacher would be very tolerant to correct me and encourage me. Not only the course content was very vivid interesting, but also the professor’s qualifications and abilities were very good. Teacher Dan, who impressed me, prepared a lot of high-level vocabularies and common composition language sentences for us. Although the course time was not long, it was a full-English discussion class which was still fresh to Chinese students. This was not only an exercise in daily oral English, but also an exercise in their body, mind and courage. This online course provided China Students with a very good communication platform, allowing students to learn in a native English-speaking environment. All in all, such an experience is definitely worthy."
