On the morning of November 9, 2016 (Wednesday), the 2016 autumn semester’s Seminar on Teacher’s Pedagogy was held in the conference room of the MBA Education Center. The seminar invited Associate Professor Chen Gang of Lingnan (University) College, Sun Yat-Sen University, and Associate Professor Weng Meiling of National Chin-Yi University of Technology in Taiwan, to share experience separately in action learning and combination of production and learning.
The seminar was chaired by Associate Professor Wang Gang, Director of the MBA Education Center, and a welcome speech was delivered by Executive Dean Zhu Wenzhong of School of Business. Dean Zhu first expressed heartfelt thanks to the two distinguished guests and warm welcome to all the teachers participated in on behalf of the school. Then he introduced the gratifying changes the MBA Education Center has obtained in student enrollment and teaching since 2015 when it obtained the AMBA international certification. At the same time, he also pointed out that the Internet and e-learning not only influenced students’ learning methods, but also brought about challenges to teachers. Therefore, it is hoped that the seminar can bring inspiration to teachers.
Afterwards, Chen Gang introduced the action learning project in Lingnan (University) College, Sun Yat-Sen University, including the development history, related curriculum, the concept, basic theoretical model, six elements, topic selection criteria, the role of teachers, and the basic stage of project forwarding. Meanwhile, he took the waste disposal project that students carried out as an example in order to help teachers understand the key to the student-centered learning method in the practice. In his mind, with the teaching methods evolving from traditional teaching, case discussion, to action learning, students can experience the transformation in learning methods, from learning by listening, learning by discussion, to learning by doing. Accordingly, the teacher will transform in his role from instructor, consultant, to facilitator, which is not only a challenge for teachers, but also a chance to learn. In addition, he shared that how he integrated the elements of action learning into the teaching design of a single course. The whole speech was so wonderful which benefited the participants a lot.
The second guest speaker Weng Meiling, through sharing her experience of studying in the United States, explained why she treated students “with great respect”, and shared her perception that the teacher is “an old hand at learning”, which lies in that she served as students’ classmate and guiding person rather than the coach during the process of teaching. In addition, based on her years of teaching experience in Taiwan, she shared her idea of combination of production and study, and put forward some valuable ideas and practices, such as understanding the industry’s needs, cultivating students’ ability according to the needs of the industry, and linking students and the industry through holding competitions. These ideas and practices were student-centered and enterprise-oriented, making the participated teachers deeply impressed.
Then, the participants discussed and proposed some suggestions centered on the wonderful sharing of the above two guests.
Finally, Vice Dean Yuan Denghua summarized the discussion. He highly appreciated the two guests’ sharing, and proposed that MBA education should cultivate students who can solve the problems according to the needs of employers, while teachers should also teach centered on how to improve students’ ability of solving problems and adjust their own roles timely.
The seminar was a teacher development activity suggested by AMBA international certification experts, aiming at promoting teachers’ teaching ability. The seminar attracted not only MBA teachers, but also other teachers from School of Business and some part-time teachers. In the future, please stay tuned for more such activities.
