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
Program Course( Minor course)Elective course
Water conservancy
Architecture and
management
Program Course( Minor course)Elective course
Program Courses: frontiers of civil engineering, metrology, engineering geology + X
Program Course( Minor course)Elective course
Architectural Environment
Program Course( Minor course)Elective course
Transportation
Program Course( Minor course)Elective course
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.
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Thanks and welcome to Tsinghua University