Teaching, practice and research, which one is the focus in teaching practice research project? Starting with this question, Assistant Professor Hui-Chun Hung from Graduate Institute of Network Learning Technology, National Central University asked his audience. On October 14th, Center for Teacher Professional Development held the Achievement Sharing of Outstanding Teaching Practice Research Project of 2020 Academic Year. The topic of the event was Course design for Independent-Study-Oriented Skill Learning: Thinking and Practice of Teaching Practice Project. About 20 teachers were at present.
Teaching is the prerequisite, while practice refers to the content and research focuses on the analysis and report of the result which may become reference for the project review in the next year. Each has its own significance. Hui-Chun Hung firstly introduced the role of the above-mentioned three in teaching practice research project. Taking his own class as example, he then discussed a series of topics including research motivation and purpose, literature review, research question, research methodology, teaching result sharing, as well as suggestions and reflections. He pointed out his determination, suggestion, and idea. “When I decide to put forward the project, I will implement it anyhow.” “Implement the project in fall semester and there will be enough time to finish it.” “Make sure to resolve teaching problems.” “Therefore, I usually make plans before new semester begins and run the project immediately when classes start.”
In terms of class implementation, Hui-Chun Hung integrated independent-study-oriented practice and skill cooperation between industry and academia, arranged interdisciplinary teaching and students from different departments to study together, and conducted independent-study-oriented circulatory teaching with the use of PBL mode. Through group preparation for topics before classes, group demonstration of practice in classes, discussions and interactions among instructors, practice of data from industry, and practical skill learning, he guided students to the topic of the next class. The topic of the whole semester is then gradually contoured. The learning effectiveness can finally be measured with students’ technical achievement. In order to help students to attain the desired goal, he specially invited industry insiders from different fields to lecture. He also collected diverse industry data for students to practice with. The final results met expectations. Besides motivating students, all these works effectively train them to resolve and learn from problems, communicate in teams, and the ability of metacognition and reflection.
Hui-Chun Hung finally shared his experience in project writing. There are quite a few important items, including the highlight of the importance, urgency and uniqueness of the course, the feasibility and continuity of practice innovation, the perfection of the research methods and measuring tools, collaborative study, making the project warm, as well as teacher’s awareness of problem, listening and communicating, and providing solutions to research questions. Meanwhile, some others are worthy of thinking: the makeup teaching for the underprivileged groups, the reason for choosing a certain teaching method, and diverse cross validation.
After his sharing, some teachers asked questions about grouping students and data acquisition. Hui-Chun Hung answered that grouping students can be based on the number of students in class and the departments they come from. He would double check through feedback from students. Sometimes he may find the topic for future project from it. Regarding data acquisition, he emphasized that it would only be used in class. Students may obtain official data for their reports via different ways, so as to present the report more completely. This meets the expectation for student spontaneous study.
Professor Pei-Chien Lin from the Department of Industrial Economics shared her experience. Her application of teaching practice research project has been approved this year. The inspiration of her project stems from the project of the lecturer, so she would like to know more about the project as reference. She mentioned: “I’m currently teaching a course about data visualization to freshmen. Students learn to present by Excel. From your sharing, I have affirmed my teaching direction in advanced classes to junior and senior students in the future. I hope I can enrich my class and improve the learning effectiveness of my students and competitiveness upon their graduation.
