On May 24 and 25, the “2019 National University Russian Online Course Construction Seminar” was held in JLU School of Foreign Languages. The seminar was sponsored by the Higher Education Press, co-sponsored by the Sub-committee for Russian Teaching under the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) College Foreign Language and Literature Teaching Steering Committee, and hosted by JLU School of Foreign Languages.
More than 90 experts, scholars and key teachers from Beijing Foreign Studies University, Shanghai Foreign Studies University, Renmin University of China, Nanjing University, Xiamen University, Fudan University, Shandong University, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Heilongjiang University, etc., attended the meeting.
The opening ceremony was chaired by Professor Liu Zuoyan, Associate Dean of School of Foreign Languages of Jilin University. Speeches were delivered by Professor Zhou Yifu, Dean of JLU School of Foreign Languages and President of China Japanese-Teaching Research Association; Professor Huang Mei, Dean of the Russian College of Beijing Foreign Studies University and Vice Chairman of the Sub-committee for Russian Teaching under the MOE’s College Foreign Language and Literature Teaching Steering Committee; and Professor Wu Xiaoxia, Director of the Russian Department of College of Foreign Languages of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Head of Russian Department and Vice Chairman of the MOE’s College Foreign Language and Literature Teaching Steering Committee. A welcoming speech was given by Ms. Xiao Qiong, Director of the Foreign Language Publication Department of the Higher Education Press, who also announced the opening of the seminar.
In his speech, Professor Zhou Yifu proposed that "academic research should contribute to the cultivation of talents to the greatest extent", hoping to cultivate professional talents who are of “proficiency in foreign languages, high professional abilities, broad vision, high quality and thorough knowledge of both overseas and China”. Professor Huang Mei pointed out that “curriculum construction is the core element in building a high-level talent training system, the emergence and rise of online education and related technologies have led to the reform of higher education in the Internet era”, and stressed the importance of online courses in the discipline construction of Russian major. Professor Wu Xiaoxia gave an introduction to the development of online Russian courses and digital foreign language courses, painting a rosy picture for the future construction of Russian MOOC courses. Director Xiao Qiong mentioned in her speech that Russian education in Chinese colleges and universities has ushered in a new stage of rapid development, during which the construction and application of online courses in colleges and universities have had a profound impact on the teaching reform of higher Russian education, and promote the sharing of excellent Russian teaching resources in a wide range.
Professor Zhou Yifu made a keynote speech on the topic of “Online Course Construction of Foreign Languages in the context of ‘Internet+ Higher Education’”and shared relevant experience of online course construction; with the title of “Exploration of New Forms of Russian Online Teaching in Colleges and Universities in the New Era”. Professor Huang Mei introduced in detail the national high-quality courses, MOOC, SPOC and other new forms of digital teaching modules. Professor Wu Xiaoxia took "New Measures for the Development of College Russian Teaching and Online Course Construction" as topic and expounded it in combination with the production experience of college Russian online courses. Professor Xu Qi, Deputy Chair of the College of Foreign Languages and Cultures of Xiamen University, gave a special report on the “Exploration of the Construction of Russian MOOCS Under the Background of Foreign Language Teaching Reform”, sharing his understanding and thoughts on the topic selection of general courses from four aspects: background, entry point, applicable object positioning and purpose; aiming at the problem of "Building Online Courses of General Culture with Characteristics of the Subject of Russian". Professor Li Xueyan from the Russian Department of School of Foreign Languages and Literature of Shandong University expressed his views on the background of course construction, conception of course content, main features of the courses, difficulties and solutions, etc.
The seminar included two round table forums, with the title “Exploration of the Application of Russian Online Course Resources” and “Exploration of the Practice of Resources Construction of MOOC and Micro Courses” respectively. Experts, scholars and key teachers discussed these two issues which are of great concerns among front-line teachers in the Russian teaching and research circle.
The meeting also had three branch meeting places, where the experts and scholars discussed “mixed teaching and online course construction mode of college Russian (public foreign language)”, “construction ideas of online courses for Russian majors (skill courses)”, and “construction ideas of online courses for Russian majors (knowledge courses)”.
The seminar was wrapped up on the morning of the 25th. The closing ceremony was chaired by Ms. Sun Yue, Editor of the General Languages Branch of the Foreign Language Publication Department of the Higher Education Press. Professor Zhao Jianchang, Director of the Russian Department of School of Foreign Languages of Shanxi University, Professor Liu Zuoyan, Associate Dean of JLU School of Foreign Languages and Professor Tian Jun of the same school gave summary speeches on the discussions of the three sub sessions. Professor Xu Hong, Dean of School of Russian and Eurasian Studies of Shanghai International Studies University and Vice Chairman of the Sub-committee for Russian Teaching under the MOE’s College Foreign Language and Literature Teaching Steering Committee, made a concluding speech and put forward "six expectations" and "three thanks" to all. Secretary Liu Changsong of the Party Committee of JLU School of Foreign Languages declared the conference a successful conclusion. He also expressed his gratitude to the Higher Education Press and all the attendees. He hoped to take this conference as an opportunity to enhance friendship, work together and achieve win-win cooperation.
The “National University Russian Online Course Construction Seminar” provided a platform for experts and scholars of Russian education in China to communicate with each other, made due contributions to the communication and cooperation of Russian education in China along with the promotion of Russian education for better adaptation to the development of the new era.
