Professor Li Jiahou, Dean of the Department of Educational Technology, Mathematics and Science College of Shanghai Normal University, delivered a lecture on the Internet-integrated reform of College English Teaching (Teaching English to the non-English majors in colleges and universities) in the Information Era on March 31st. Prof. Li’s lectures on the same theme aroused great interest among the college English teachers in Shanghai, Wuhan and other cities. Adding his analysis of the latest policies released by the Ministry of Education, Prof. Li gave an insightful speech to the faculty of SFL.
With the requirement of less class hours but more self-learning after class in college, the top priority of college English teaching at present is teaching methods and materials. Prof. Li thus put forward that Internet-integrated teaching must be one solution in the Information Era. A smart phone is regarded by Prof. Li as an almighty gadget, with which everything is possible. He passionately recommended some useful apps for interactive teaching. For example, he did an on-spot survey with “SOJUMP”, “the biggest online survey website”, asking the present teachers to scan the QR (quick response) code, answer the questions on their smart phones and submit their answers. Almost simultaneously, the teachers’ answers were shown and sorted out on the big screen. Another example. He asked the teachers to choose the unfamiliar ones from the 10 hot words closely related to educational technology in 2014 China, using another app called “Bullet Screen” to highlight their choices on the screen.
Internet Plus strategy proposed by Premier Li Keqiang in 2015 government work report was attached great importance to by Prof. Li when he talked about how to improve the language learning efficiency and quality on the students’ part without increasing the teachers’ working time and intensity.
According to Prof. Li, the college students, as digital natives, are greatly benefitted from information technology. But unfortunately most of them are phubbers addicted to smart phones even in class. Why can’t we attract the phubbers to raise their eyes with some interactive apps on our smart phones? Then he shared with the teachers some valuable apps for effective and meaningful teaching and learning.
Prof. Li put forward a brand new “maker teaching method”, a practical form of the strategy of “Learning by doing it”. Maker teaching method matters because it directly turns the output into creation. In order to demonstrate the method, Prof. Li cited a few examples of his students of Shanghai Normal University who became makers and started their own online stores on Wechat. “Every student and every teacher can make a difference. In other words, they are the makers in the information era,” Prof. Li concluded his lecture. The SFL teachers present were inspired and benefitted.