(Source:World Education Information Magazine, Issue 23, 2014)
Abstract:The teaching quality assurance system of the University of Nottingham Ningbo Ningbo focuses on improving the quality of education and teaching by promoting student learning. Specifically, it includes a strict admissions system, a professional selection system that encourages advanced students, a service-oriented learning support system, a strict evaluation system, and a three-level degree system.
Keywords:Student learning; education quality; teaching quality assurance system
Teaching is the central work of the w88 casino and is the unity of teachers’ “teaching” activities and students’ “learning” activities. Teachers' "teaching" and students' "learning" are not in parallel relationships. The former is to promote the latter. Therefore, students' learning activities are the core of all w88 casino activities. For a long time, teaching quality assurance activities in colleges and universities have only focused on how to evaluate and promote teachers' "teaching" activities. As for whether students study hard and the effect of learning, they have not received due attention. As the first Sino-foreign cooperative university in mainland my country, the University of Nottingham Ningbo Ningbo aims to introduce high-quality educational resources from foreign universities through Sino-foreign cooperation. While comprehensively introducing the teaching and management systems of British universities, the w88 casino has also established a teaching quality assurance system oriented to promoting student learning based on China's national conditions. Studying this system has reference significance for promoting the theoretical and practical development of my country's higher education quality assurance.
1. Learning quality is the key factor affecting the quality of college education
There are two main views on university teaching. One is to regard teaching as a process of transferring knowledge, and the other is to regard teaching as a process of promoting student learning [1]. The former teaching concept is the traditional teaching concept, which believes that teaching is to convey information to students through appropriate methods and to enable students to understand the information conveyed. The latter teaching concept is the teaching concept advocated by modern society. It believes that teaching should promote students to become independent learners and meet students' learning needs. In general, the latter teaching concept is a more advanced teaching concept that aims to promote the growth of individual students, develop students' learning interests, master the learning methods of this subject, and thus become learners who are responsible for their own learning, not just containers of knowledge [2]. From this perspective, judging the quality of a university's education should not only look at the w88 casino's curriculum, teachers' teaching level and other means of transmitting information. Whether there are corresponding measures to promote student learning should also be an important aspect of the investigation.
However, in today’s higher education sector, students’ learning issues have not attracted enough attention. As former U.S. Federal Secretary of Education Spellings said, none of the current university ranking systems involves measuring the most critical thing, that is, student learning and its effectiveness [3]. The situation in our country is also the same. Neither the government nor the universities themselves pay much attention to students' learning willingness and process. According to the evaluation index system adopted by my country's "Evaluation Plan for Undergraduate Teaching Level in General Universities", its process indicators involve three parts, namely professional construction and teaching reform, teaching management, and study style. The first two of them mainly involve how schools, teachers and administrators regulate and improve their own behavior. As for students' learning behavior, it is only mentioned in the "study style" section, requiring colleges and universities to take measures to mobilize students' enthusiasm. As for the measures to be taken, there is no specific explanation. There are no further secondary indicators to evaluate the corresponding behaviors of colleges and universities.
So, how to improve the quality of teaching by promoting student learning? As far as students' learning is concerned, it has a certain degree of continuity and process. Problems in any link or factor in the continuous process may lead to a reduction in the quality of learning. Generally speaking, there are two reasons for the low quality of students' learning. First, students lack enthusiasm and initiative in learning and are unwilling to study hard. As the American psychologist Sternberg said: "Successful learners are proactive, goal-oriented, and have a sense of responsibility for learning" [4]. Therefore, it is difficult for a student who does not like to learn to learn well. Second, although students are willing to learn, they do not master the correct learning methods, resulting in low learning efficiency and thus affecting the quality of learning. For the current colleges and universities in our country, on the one hand, it is because students in universities have more learning freedom compared with middle schools, but because many students have not developed independent consciousness and the ability to learn independently, they are helpless in the face of the sudden increase in autonomous time and the rich information resources in universities. On the other hand, some students' specific learning methods are inappropriate. In order to cope with the exam, they just memorize the knowledge points in the textbook and cannot use them flexibly in practice. As a result, the knowledge is not internalized into their original knowledge structure and is quickly forgotten after the exam.
Faced with the complex problems that arise during the learning process of students, colleges and universities should emphasize the process management of student learning when building a teaching quality assurance system, split the learning process into several key links, and establish a corresponding quality monitoring system for each link to prescribe the right medicine for different problems, thereby ensuring the quality of the entire learning process.
2. Teaching quality assurance system of the University of Nottingham Ningbo China
The teaching quality assurance system of the University of Nottingham Ningbo China is built on the basis of the quality assurance system of the University of Nottingham in the UK. It attaches great importance to students' learning activities and focuses on stimulating students' learning enthusiasm in multiple aspects such as schooling, major selection, learning support, examinations, and degree awarding to ensure that students' learning activities receive timely and adequate support.
(1) The schooling system of strict entry and strict exit
Most colleges and universities in the country have the characteristics of "strict entry and easy exit" in terms of education system, that is, the competition for admission is very fierce. Students who can cross the threshold of colleges and universities are "killed" through the "college entrance examination" among the "thousands of troops". However, once you enter a college, it becomes very easy to graduate. As long as you pass all the exams and do not make any big mistakes, you can successfully get a degree. Contrary to the situation in our country, foreign colleges and universities generally implement the policy of "easy entry and strict exit". That is, it is easy to enter the university. You only need to submit an application and do not need to go through the "college entrance examination" similar to our country. However, it is very difficult to graduate. Strict academic standards and evaluation systems have created a situation where "one person is in charge and ten thousand people are not allowed to open" at the exit of higher education. If you want to successfully pass the test, you must work hard during college to finally get the fruit of the "degree". Statistics show that in the six-year university education in the United States, the graduation rate is only 63%[5]; the graduation rate of British universities is slightly higher, but only 78%. Among these students who failed to graduate on time, some were dropouts, while others repeated a grade because they failed to meet course requirements.
The University of Nottingham Ningbo Ningbo not only implements the "strict exit" policy of British universities in terms of student enrollment, but also has the characteristics of "strict admission" in terms of entrance. This is because it admits students through the domestic "college entrance examination" when recruiting students. The scores of the students recruited must reach above the first-tier level, and the quality of students is strictly controlled. The result of "strict advancement" is to ensure the quality of students, which determines that most students can obtain their final degree through hard work. The result of "strictness" is to improve students' learning initiative and encourage students to put in more effort in the learning process. During the interview, the author learned that because the University of Nottingham Ningbo Ningbo has always adhered to high standards in terms of "exports", it is very rare for students to hang out in the w88 casino. For a small number of students who failed the exam due to not studying seriously, the w88 casino adopted a "dissuade" system to rectify them. It is reported that the w88 casino’s annual dismissal rate for undergraduates is about 2%. Although the number is not large, it is still a larger proportion compared with ordinary domestic universities.
Due to the strict requirements of the w88 casino on students, students who fail one exam and still fail the re-examination will be given a repeat grade. This means that these students will be allowed to retake courses to make up for their academic deficiencies until they can meet the requirements of the exam. The author learned through interviews with relevant teachers at the w88 casino that dozens of students repeat the grade at the end of first grade every year, which shows that the w88 casino's teaching style is very rigorous.
(2) Incentivizing advanced professional selection system
Improving students' learning enthusiasm can be achieved not only by stimulating students' external learning motivation, but also by expanding students' learning freedom and stimulating students' internal learning motivation. In foreign universities, it is very common for students to change majors. Students can change their major direction at any time according to their own learning interests, ensuring that students always have strong enthusiasm for the content they study. Confucius said, "Those who know well are not as good as those who love to know, and those who love to know are not as good as those who love to know." This means that those who master knowledge are not as good as those who are willing to learn knowledge. This is because only a person who loves learning can have the inexhaustible motivation to pursue the truth, and his learning and research level can continue to reach new heights. Therefore, allowing students to change majors in a timely manner can enable students to always conduct learning and inquiry activities based on their learning interests, and avoid limiting students to majors that are not suitable for them and causing them to lose their learning motivation.
The University of Nottingham Ningbo China is not as flexible as foreign universities in terms of major selection and conversion, but it still opens up a way for students with excellent academic performance to change majors. According to the relevant regulations of the w88 casino, students can change majors at the end of the first semester of their freshman year, but only the top 10% of students in this semester can get this opportunity [6]. Although not everyone has the opportunity to change majors, the 10% proportion is still considerable compared to ordinary domestic universities. In addition, allowing students with excellent academic performance to change majors can not only better develop the potential of these students, but also encourage students to study hard, which plays a role in promoting the improvement of students' learning quality.
(3) Service-oriented learning support system
Compared with middle schools, universities place more emphasis on students’ independent learning, which places higher requirements on students’ independent learning abilities. However, with the gradual development of the popularization of higher education and the continuous expansion of college enrollment, the quality of college students has also become more differentiated. Some students lack self-decision-making and self-management abilities in learning, and colleges and universities lack a complete learning support mechanism, resulting in unsatisfactory learning results for some students. In order to better provide support for students' learning, the University of Nottingham Ningbo Ningbo has established a complete learning support system to promptly assist students in solving learning problems and help students better arrange learning activities.
1. Personal tutor system
The University of Nottingham Ningbo China has inherited the tradition of personal tutoring system in British universities and assigns a personal tutor to each student. Personal tutors are responsible for monitoring students' progress and helping students solve various difficult problems in their studies. Personal tutors are generally served by foreign teachers. The w88 casino arranges for students to meet with their tutors in the first week after freshmen enroll, so that students and tutors can get to know each other and lay the foundation for further communication in the future [7]. In addition to three regular meetings with personal tutors each semester, students can also consult their tutors if they encounter learning problems at other times. The specific way is to first send an email to the tutor and then make an appointment to go to the office for consultation. The personal tutoring system plays an important role in improving students' learning methods and improving the quality of students' learning. Frequent exchanges between students and tutors can also help students learn more about Western culture and ways of doing things, which is also of great significance to the cultivation of international talents.
2. Professional course tutoring system
The teaching of professional courses is the core of all teaching work in colleges and universities, and the quality of students’ professional course learning is directly related to the entire teaching quality of the w88 casino. In the process of learning professional courses, it is important for students to acquire new knowledge by listening to teachers' lectures, and whether they can take measures to effectively consolidate knowledge after class is even more important to the success or failure of learning. At the University of Nottingham Ningbo Ningbo, the type of professional courses is not a single lecture format. Some courses, especially those in science and engineering, also arrange a certain number of tutorials, focusing on using exercises to help students consolidate the knowledge learned in lecture courses, so that students can get answers to questions from teachers at any time during the practice process and deepen their understanding of the knowledge they have learned.
In addition to consolidating the content learned through formal tutoring classes, each teacher must allocate a certain amount of time to answer students' questions, and the specific time and place for answering questions must be clearly written in the "Course Introduction". In addition, if students want to consult the teacher outside the specified time, they can also make an appointment with the teacher by email or phone. In short, as long as students need help with learning problems, they can always get help from teachers at the right time.
3. Online learning support system
With the development of information technology, the University of Nottingham Ningbo Ningbo also focuses on using network technology to provide support for students' learning. The main way is to create a Moodle online learning support system to assist students in extracurricular learning. Students' inability to well understand certain knowledge points they have learned is an important reason for low learning quality. Long-term unresolved problems in learning will lead to students' lack of interest in learning [8], reduce investment in learning, and further cause a decline in academic performance. In order to prevent such problems from occurring, the University of Nottingham Ningbo China established the Moodle online learning support system as a platform to assist students in learning. On the one hand, Moodle allows teachers to send all courseware, bibliographies, materials, teaching regulations and requirements to this platform, allowing students to easily obtain course-related information, and students can also submit assignments through this platform, making it easier for teachers to obtain students' assignments; on the other hand, Moodle In terms of aspects, Moodle can also play the role of a "blog", allowing teachers and students to communicate in a timely manner about course issues. This includes not only teachers' answers to students' questions, but also students' mutual discussion and explanation of doubts, thereby avoiding a decrease in learning enthusiasm caused by students not understanding the learning content. In addition, since the professional courses of the University of Nottingham Ningbo Ningbo are exactly the same as those of related majors at the University of Nottingham in the UK, and this Moodle is also directly connected to the Moodle of the University of Nottingham in the UK, students at the University of Nottingham Ningbo Ningbo can not only communicate with their classmates through Moodle, but also directly communicate with their peers in the UK. This not only communicates Chinese and British academics, but also communicates the lives and cultures of Chinese and British students, allowing them to devote themselves to learning with greater enthusiasm.
(4) Strictly controlled evaluation system
The evaluation of students is a key link in the teaching quality assurance system of colleges and universities. It is not only a ruler to measure the quality of students' learning, but also a beacon that encourages students to study hard. The University of Nottingham Ningbo Ningbo attaches great importance to checking the w88 casino's teaching quality through a strict evaluation system.
1. Coursework Assessment System
At the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, students' academic performance is not only measured by test scores, but also their usual coursework is included in the total score. Coursework is not intended for students to memorize knowledge points by rote, but through open-ended questions, allowing students to collect and read information, master knowledge, and use it to analyze and solve problems. As for a business w88 casino course and an economics department course that the author has attended, the former is a graduate course. Therefore, the remaining course assignments are three research questions. Students choose one of them and conduct research using relevant research methods. Finally, they write a 2,000-word research report to exercise their research abilities. The latter is an undergraduate course. The course assignment is also an open-ended question. Students discuss it in groups, and finally the group representative presents the research results to the whole class in the form of an oral report. In addition, the author also listened to a course in the Department of Computer Science. As a science and engineering course, its course assignment is to allow students to make a computer hardware as required, so that students can apply the knowledge they have learned in class in practical operations and give full play to their wisdom and creativity.
The score of coursework generally accounts for 25% of the total score of a course. In this way, students cannot just deal with it in order to obtain higher scores, but must prepare carefully. In this way, students' learning initiative is greatly improved. Specifically, the role of coursework in improving students' learning quality is mainly reflected in three aspects. First, coursework can encourage students to actively use their spare time for self-study and improve the utilization of their spare time. Coursework does not simply require students to recognize and reproduce knowledge, but requires students to use the knowledge they have learned and more relevant knowledge to creatively solve problems. Therefore, coursework cannot be easily completed in a short period of time. Instead, it requires students to spend a lot of spare time and actively consult materials through the library and the Internet after class to solve problems. Through interviews with students at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, the author learned that homework is very stressful and students have to spend most of their time studying in order to successfully pass the exam and can only relax occasionally. Second, coursework can prompt students to listen to lectures with questions and improve learning efficiency in the classroom. Due to the psychological need to complete coursework, students can listen to the class with questions and do not passively accept the knowledge points taught by the teacher, but actively think, analyze and evaluate, which is conducive to enhancing concentration during class and improving the efficiency of class listening. Third, coursework is completed in English, which can further stimulate students' active investment in learning. The University of Nottingham Ningbo Ningbo uses all English teaching, and students must write homework entirely in English. After all, English is not the students' mother tongue, so students have to spend more time and energy to complete high-quality homework than students of similar majors in other domestic universities, which further supervises students' learning. Although students pay more than students of similar majors in other universities, by completing coursework, students not only consolidate professional knowledge and develop professional abilities, but also greatly improve their English writing skills, doubling their learning results.
2. External examiner evaluation system
The University of Nottingham Ningbo Ningbo focuses on using the external examiner review system to review students' examination papers, so that the w88 casino's teaching quality is consistent with that of the University of Nottingham in the UK. For all undergraduate courses and taught master's courses, the University of Nottingham hires independent external examiners to review the examination procedures and results. For the University of Nottingham Ningbo Ningbo, all test questions written by teachers must be sent to the Nottingham campus in the UK before the exam. They can only be sent back after being reviewed by external examiners and used in the exam. After the exam, the exam papers scored by the teacher must be sent back to the University of Nottingham, UK, for review by external examiners to determine whether the scores given by the teacher are appropriate. In addition to reviewing the questions and scores of the test paper, external examiners also review the examination procedures to determine whether they comply with the relevant regulations of the w88 casino and whether people strictly follow the procedures during the examination [9]. It can be seen that the entire examination process of the University of Nottingham Ningbo Ningbo is very strict. This not only ensures that the academic standards of the University of Nottingham Ningbo Ningbo are consistent with those of the University of Nottingham in the UK, but also ensures the accuracy of scoring, puts an end to the randomness of teachers' scoring and the bad habit of privately changing scores for students, and strictly controls the quality of teaching at the outlet.
3. Strict invigilation system
During the examination process, the University of Nottingham Ningbo China attaches great importance to strict examination discipline and resolutely eliminates cheating. According to the author’s interviews with students at the w88 casino, the w88 casino has very strict supervision during examinations. In terms of seating arrangements for candidates, there should be a row of desks and chairs between the front and back rows of students, and several seats between the two rows of students on the left and right. In this way, a large auditorium can only accommodate 20 to 30 students, and there are three teachers to supervise the exam. On average, each teacher supervises more than a dozen students, and every move of the students can be seen at a glance. In addition, students are required to take off their coats during exams. This not only prevents students from plagiarizing from each other, but also makes it even more difficult to bring cheat sheets with them, making cheating in exams almost impossible.
(5) Three-level degree system
At the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, another way to promote student learning is to establish a three-level degree system, where students' test scores are directly linked to the degree level they obtain. The three-level degree system is a degree system commonly used by British universities, including first-class honors degrees, second-class honors degrees and third-class honors degrees. Among them, second-level honors degrees are divided into two levels: first-class and second-class. Which level of degree a student can obtain is calculated based on the test scores. The specific conversion method is to use the sum of the scores calculated according to the weights of multiple test scores of a course as the total score of the course, and then average the total scores of multiple courses. Finally, the total average score of a student is calculated, and the corresponding degree is awarded to the student based on the corresponding relationship between the total average score and the degree level (see Table 1). The grade of a degree has a significant impact on students' future studies and employment. Therefore, students cannot just be satisfied with "60 points" like in ordinary universities in China, but must achieve better results as much as possible. In this way, students' enthusiasm for learning is fully mobilized, and the improvement of students' efforts in learning can also play an important role in improving the quality of teaching.
3. Conclusion
Students’ learning quality is an important factor affecting the quality of education in colleges and universities. Therefore, colleges and universities should actively take effective measures to promote students’ learning activities when designing teaching quality assurance systems. By examining the practice of the University of Nottingham Ningbo Ningbo, it can be found that the w88 casino focuses on guiding and motivating students' learning behavior from all aspects of schooling, major selection, learning process, examinations, degree awarding, etc., so that students who lack the willingness to learn can actively invest more time and energy in learning, so that students who are deficient in knowledge and ability can get help from the w88 casino in a timely manner, and achieve in-depth mastery and true internalization of knowledge through practical application. Relevant statistics show that the enrollment and employment rate of undergraduate graduates from the University of Nottingham Ningbo has reached 100% for many consecutive years. Among them, more than 50% of the graduates have entered the world's top 200 universities to study for master's degrees, and the vast majority of those who are employed are employed by the world's top 500 companies. In addition, the w88 casino has achieved outstanding results in a number of student competitions and examinations. It can be seen that the w88 casino's teaching quality assurance system that focuses on promoting student learning is quite effective. This not only enables the talents cultivated by the w88 casino to be recognized by society, but also plays an active role in improving the quality of education in colleges and universities and promoting the connotative development of colleges and universities.
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