The Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL) Armory Innovation Spaces had the pleasure of hosting visitors from Zhejiang University (ZJU) as part of a higher education management training program coordinated by Andrea Davis, Program Specialist with Global Education and Training (GET) at Illinois. Located in Hangzhou, ZJU is one of China’s leading higher education institutions. Nineteen faculty members and administrators who are leaders within and across their institution, representing many different colleges, were selected to attend a two week program titled “Building a World-Class University through Education Reform and Innovation”.
As part of their visit, ZJU guests experienced the newly renovated Armory Innovation spaces to observe and try technological innovation in education at Illinois. The guests spent time in one of CITL’s iFlex classrooms, the TechHub, Innovation Studio, and Virtual Reality Lab.
The overall goal for the visit was to help participants have a new understanding concerning current first-class university innovative teaching and research. Matt Rosenstein, Director of Global Education and Training and the UI Shanghai Office, explained, “Given the breadth of academic disciplines and range of responsibilities represented by the ZJU participants, we wanted to ensure comprehensive coverage of key, common issues that higher education leaders face today. Enhancing pedagogical approaches and connecting with a new, technology-oriented generation of students are topics of high interest currently at Chinese universities. We were especially pleased to collaborate on this program with CITL, who engaged extensively with the group during their visit. The ZJU participants cited their active learning experiences with CITL as a highlight of the program.”
Focus areas included:
- innovative teaching and learning
- application and equipment of new classroom teaching technology
- critical thinking pedagogy among teachers
- excellent engineering education
- outstanding academic achievement showcase from College of Engineering
- developing new curriculum and designing new degree programs
- new online education and large-scale online teaching, developing hi-tech schools
- global inter-school cooperation and innovation
GET hosted the ZJU training program through its China Executive Leadership Programs (CELP), an initiative that is certified by the China State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs (SAFEA) as an official China Overseas Training Program. The project at Illinois has provided superior, custom-design executive education programs since 1993.
This training program for Zhejiang University faculty and administrative leaders is part of a broader strategic partnership of considerable importance both to Illinois and Zhejiang University. The ZJU-UIUC Institute is a new cooperatively-run engineering college in Haining. By introducing top engineering curricula and resources from UIUC, complemented with contributions from counterpart colleges and departments from ZJU, ZJU-UIUC Institute will provide a world-class engineering education.
To learn more about the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning visit citl.illinois.edu.
Zhejiang University Faculty members who attended the visit.
Zhejiang faculty attending the Promoting Excellence in Teaching & Learning-Active Learning for Faculty-Student Engagement session taught by Cheelan Bo-Linn, Senior Specialist in Education with CITL.
Assistant Director for CITL, Robert Baird, discusses Creating Faculty Development Programs to Support, Maintain, and Assess Teaching Excellence inside the Innovation Studio.