Why and How to Forge “Gold Course”

Author: Prof. Zhou Wengui   

Ⅰ. Education modernization and realizing the “China Dream”

This year, 2019, is an important and significant time node in the history of our country. In October we will have the celebration of the 70^th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In a period of 70 years, especially in forty-year reform and opening up to the outside world China has successfully fulfilled the general task of economic modernization while in the other countries this process had to take several centuries. As a country with 1.4 billion people China is at a crucial point to build a comprehensive well-off society and to realize its great national revitalization.

Led by the Chinese Communist Party and with a hard working and long-term struggling of the Chinese people China has witnessed an earth-shaking change. We see a general prosperity in its social advance and economic development. The country is presenting a great vigor and vitality. Hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty and it has grown from a relatively poor country to the 2^nd largest economy in the world. The gap between China and the No 1, the United States of America, is steadily narrowing. According to the IMF, in 2018, China’s economy aggregately jumped up to the height of USD 13.5 trillion approximately as 65.9% of the United States, USD 20.5 trillion. While in 1978 when China started its reform and opening up this percentage was only 8%, USD 216.5 billion of China to USD 2.5 trillion of the United States.

We are very proudly to see that the great course of building a strong socialist modernized country with the Chinese characteristics is steadily advancing in depth and width and heart-stirring good news are coming from all walks of life. The Chinese people, passionately and confidently, are longing a beautiful future life when we finally make the “China Dream” come true at the middle of this century in 2049 when China will fully realize its goal of modernization.

However, we should always keep our mind cool since we sincerely know “Rome was not built in a day”. China is a large country with a so large population of 1.4 billion. Objectively, in its social advance and economic development there are indeed a lot of difficulties and problems. Different contradictions must be cautiously handled and some “short boards” must be speedily reinforced. From this point of view we are intensively aware of that realizing the overall modernization must be a great yet daunting endeavor for China. Strenuous efforts are absolutely needed if we really want to meet this goal. In one word, there must be a long way for us to go!

To reach the goal of realizing modernization is an arduous and complex system engineering covering rich connotations, namely modernization in industry, in agriculture, in national defense, in science and technology, in social service facilities, in infrastructure facility construction, in governance of social life, and so on so forth. In addition to what we have mentioned another sort of modernization, human modernization, must be of the greatest importance. From a philosophical point of view, just as the former Chairman Mao Zedong says: “All things in the world, people are the first to be valuable. Under the leadership of the Communist Party, as long as there are people, what human miracle can also be made”. Moreover education modernization essentially plays a critical role as the very foundation of human modernization. In line with the process of social advance and economic development this conclusion has been widely accepted in the whole society of China.

The basic task of education is to cultivate thousands and thousands of talents at different levels. The qualified talents, full of youthful vigor and ambitious ideal and armed with advanced science and technology, of course will turn to pour a tremendous boost of energy into the course of social advance and economic development. In this sense, we firmly insist that the human modernization is the key point to realize the overall modernization. It is exclusively dependent upon education modernization. In other words education modernization represents both the highest level and the deepest root of the overall modernization of our country.

Ⅱ. The current development of education: “Big is never equivalent to strong”

Indeed, education in China has greatly developed since the founding of the PRC and along with the deepening of reform and opening up. According to the National Education Conference at the end of 2018, China has established 512 thousand schools, colleges and universities with 15.78 million faculty members and an enrollment of 265 million pupils and students. Compared with the middle-and-high income countries China’s gross enrollment rate for kindergartens, 77.4%, was five percentage points higher; that rate for primary and middle schools, 93.4%, higher than the average of the middle-and-high income countries; that rate for high schools, 87.5%, five percentage points higher; that rate for colleges and universities, 42.7%, six percentage points higher. The average years of education for population aged from 16-59 increased to 10.35 years. In general, looking at the absolute aggregate, China incontrovertibly ranks the world No 1 in different levels of education. We can conclude that China is now a big country of education. But the key point here is that “Big is never equivalent to strong”. China is far from being a truly strong country of education, especially when we examine talent cultivation quality and development level of its higher-learning education.

There are different rankings to evaluate higher-learning institutions actually from different perspectives. But they can basically reflect development level and comprehensive strength of higher-learning institutions. According to the annually published QS World University Rankings 2019, 33 U.S. universities and 18 U.K. universities are ranked in the world top 100. Looking at the top 10 the U.S. and the U.K. displayed their overwhelmingly advantageous powerful position, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1^st), Stanford University (2^nd), Harvard University (3^rd), California Institute of Technology (4^th), University of Chicago (9^th), University of Oxford (5^th), University of Cambridge (6^th), Imperial College London (8^th) and University College London (10^th). Only one non-U.S. and NON-U.K. university being ranked in the top 10 is Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (7^th). Only 6 universities in the mainland China enter into the world 100 top with rankings of relatively not so illustrious. They are Tsinghua University (17^th), Peking University (30^th), Fudan University (44^th), Shanghai Jiaotong University (62^nd), Zhejiang University (68^th), and USTC (98^th).

Objectively, different countries are quite different from each other in social political systems, the core value-orientation, the mainstream ideology, and the overall level of social economic development. There must be a lot of controversies about and debates over educational philosophy, university-running pattern, the route of higher-learning education reform, creation of talent cultivation mode, and some other significant issues and subjects. It is hardly possible to employ a uniform or an identical standard to mechanically make a judgment about which is better and which is worse. Apart from those controversy and debate the most serious problem in the current higher-learning education in China which must have an obvious negative effects on the long-run development of Chinese higher-learning institutions to sustainably increase their overall university-running level and comprehensive strength and finally suspend the process of China’s education modernization should be a widely spread flighty and impetuous emotion of pursuing immediate interests and benefit but neglecting solidly endeavoring to well do the daily course teaching work.

So we see a lot of Chinese higher-learning institutions are especially keen on upgrading: junior college to undergraduate college, college to university, teaching-orientation to research-orientation, even the “211”, the “985” or the “Double First-class”. Faculty members are impelled to apply different sorts of research projects and to publish the so-called first class research papers in the top journals. Correspondingly, a considerable portion of instructors do not put their enough time and energy into their daily course delivery. They only teach courses sloppily in class by taking an irresponsible perfunctory attitude. At the same time some higher-learning institutions are sluggish in class and student management. In this environment undergraduate education, as the most important part of higher-learning institutions which plays fundamental role in higher-learning education development, has not been given the necessary priority and importance it deserves. It has been an undisputable fact that such situation has led a terrible declination in quality of undergraduate education. A lot of courses in undergraduate programs not up to quality standards, termed as “Shoddy Courses” or “Water Courses”, are delivered in colleges and universities. Thus, a weird and an unacceptable phenomenon appeared.

Students enter into colleges and universities after the world most horrible competition, Gaokao (the national college entrance examination). As college freshmen they would have finished a very significant transformation: transforming from passive receptive learning mode they were used to take in high school to an independent and innovative one with which they could absorb different sorts of knowledge in order to be cultivated into some kind of professional talents. However, it is unfortunate for them to suddenly find that undergraduate class teaching is dramatically beyond their imagination and expectation. How could undergraduate courses be taught like this? Of course, most of students indeed possess their learning consciousness. But it is an undeniable fact that a considerably large number of students actually enjoy their pathological college life with so much pleasure and relaxation without necessary studying pressure. What a paradox! Is it just a time for us to cause an enough alarm and to have a profound thinking?

However, we know that high quality course delivery or course delivery up to quality stands is just the real foundation and the very root for any higher-learning institution to shoulder its responsibility to cultivate qualified talents. In other words course teaching standard and high quality of course delivery, as the basic unit of undergraduate talent cultivation, exactly manifests teaching performance level and talent cultivation quality of higher-learning institutions and thus it determines their comprehensive strength and specific core competence. In this sense, we believe that course delivery quality is the key to increase talent cultivation quality. If it is not firmly held it is absolutely impossible to build a real first class college or university.

In order to fundamentally change this situation and truly lay a solid foundation for increasing quality of undergraduate talent cultivation a program to abandon “Shoddy Course” and to forge “Gold Course” is carried out.

Ⅲ. Specification and Standard of “Gold Course”

Strictly speaking, there is no unified and cleared specification and standard of “Gold Course”. Different people will give different description and illustration on this issue from different perspectives. Of course, for different types of course there must be different sets of specification and standard. However, in general, for a course, if it can be recognized and concluded as a “Gold Course”, instructors must deliver it by emphasizing on at least the following five aspects. In other words, a “Gold Course” should possess these five characteristics.

(Ⅰ) Strengthening morality education and fostering qualified talent 

Higher-learning institutes shoulder a historic mission to cultivate successors and builders of the socialist course with Chinese characteristics. Strengthening morality education and fostering qualified talent must always be put before all the other work of any higher-learning institution. “Developing higher-learning education meeting needs of the Party and the people”. That is not only the expectation and requirement of the Party and the people on development of higher-learning education but also a compelling obligation of higher-learning institutions and all faculty members.

In addition to providing students with high quality professional education in relevant disciplinary areas, instructors must endeavor to effectively implement morality education and to foster qualified talent from the following four basic perspectives and instructors must consciously submit themselves to an important political discipline in their course delivery in order to really forge “Gold Course”.

1. Firstly, instructors must to exercise effect education of patriotism and the socialism with Chinese characteristics. By organically integrating such education with class teaching activities instructors can help students form a correct outlook on the world, outlook on life and outlook on values. The ultimate purpose to implement and to strengthen ideological and political education for students is to foster qualified talents who wholeheartedly support and consciously devote themselves into construction of the socialism with Chinese characteristics. Graduates will never become some sorts of skeptics or challengers of the existing social and economic system. It is important to teach students to love our motherland and our people, to treasure the great victory in the course of the Chinese people’s liberation, to treasure the great achievements we have made as well as the valuable experiences and lessons we have got in the socialist revolution and the socialist construction, especially in economic reform and opening up to the outside world, and to treasure the hard-won theory and practice of building socialism with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. In one word, higher-learning institutions and instructors should teach students to consciously devote themselves into the great course of the Chinese national revitalization, in which they can realize their value of life.

2. Secondly, instructors must teach students how to observe the world, to observe China and to observe everything around them with a wide international vision. By doing so students are capable of penetrating complex domestic and international affairs and grasping basic laws and essential tendencies of development of the objective world facing a situation in which various international political, economic, cultural and safety problems and contradictions are intertwined, in which achievements in social economic development and a lot of difficulties and problems co-exist, and in which value orientation is objectively displaying a tendency of diversification. With such kind of internationalization education students could organically integrate their rational thinking based on international vision with their current study and future career development. Thus they can be fostered into qualified talents to meet the needs of social economic development in era of internationalization.

3. At the third, adhering to philosophy of taking humanism as foundation of education, instructors should teach students to enjoy and to revere life, to respect human dignity, to be good in correctly handling personal relationship with the nature, the society and the others. It is instructors’ duty to help and to teach students to firmly establish concept of awing of natural environment and natural laws, awing of social norms and ethics, and awing of benefit and rights of the social public and benefit and rights of the others. In a commodity economy it is especially important to educate students of firmly holding “mutual beneficial” and “win-win” ideology, with which students would be clearly aware of how to maximize their own interests based on a harmonious relationship with the nature, the society and the others and finally they would have developed an excellent personality and a high moral sentiment.

4. Fourthly, a special stress should be put on endowing students with critical thinking and innovation capability. To endow students with critical thinking requires breaking existing boundary between different disciplines. Any theorem or theoretical conclusion should be re-examined from perspective of criticism. It implies that critical thinking is not only a thinking skill but also reflects an excellent personal character or temperament. It not only represents a thinking capability but also prominently manifests modern humanistic spirit. The ultimate purpose of ours to put our stress on endowing students with critical thinking is nothing but to increase students’ innovation capability. Instructors of higher-learning institutions must set an example for students of practicing critical thinking and innovation. Just imaging, if one takes all the existing knowledge and disciplinary conclusions as the ultimate truth, if one search answers of every problem only from the existing classics, if one deals with every issue only guided by the existing knowledge and disciplinary conclusions, it absolutely leads to being conservative and conformism. No reform and innovation at all!

5. In addition to the above-mentioned four aspects instructors must strictly abide by political discipline in their class teaching. They must “spread positive energy” in class. That is to say nobody will be allowed to spread any thought or opinion inconsistent with the basic social political and economic system of our country and the mainstream ideology and value orientation of our society. Nobody will be allowed to absurdly discuss and evaluate the fundamental policies of the Party and the country. That is a “red line” which can never be touched! That is an “iron discipline” which must be abided by every instructor!

(Ⅱ) Lecture preparation

Suppose that instructors are really qualified professional teaching faculty members, as the first step of course teaching instructors must be so clearly and exactly aware of basic requirements of course delivery itself and the relevant class and student management regulations. Then, if they indeed want to teach a course well, to forge “Gold Course”, just like doing any other thing, they should have an earnest and careful lecture preparation.

Lecture preparation of a course basically fall into two sorts of work: the overall macro-designing of the course delivery in a semester or a year and the detailed micro-designing of each section, even each class teaching. All of those course delivery designing, both macro and micro, should finally systematized as a complete set of teaching documents as the followings: Precise course syllabus, elaborately selected text book, complete teaching calendar, carefully prepared teaching outline and PPT document for each class, carefully selected reading lists, sufficient reference materials and necessary on-line resources for each section of the course, elaborately designed homework, assignments and class presentations, scientific and rigid course evaluation system and high-quality examination, and other necessary teaching documents, such as student roll book, student attendance sheet, student class performance registration form, Q&A record form in class, homework and assignment completion record form, and etc..

(Ⅲ) Teaching content

Just as a saying goes: “Content is the King in course teaching”! Lecture preparation functions just as the necessary basis for instructors to excellently deliver courses. In some sense, those teaching documents only represent the external manifestation of course delivery. Actually, to excellently execute course delivery instructors should put their working emphasis on teaching content. In one word quality of course delivery will be finally examined and identified as “Gold Course” by the real teaching content. It is a very must for instructors to open a clear and bright window for students and to endow them with a wide vision to observe the colorful objective world and to search truth in some specific professional and academic areas. That is to say in order to forge “Gold Course” it is more important for instructors to work really hard on the internal teaching content of the course. Teaching content of a course basically consists of the following four important factors:

1. A general description of the course

(1) Firstly, in such description, instructors should precisely present students teaching objectives of the course delivery and the general methods and conventional tools of learning the course. That will be of very much helpful for students to be obviously aware of why to learn the course and how to learn the course well.

(2) Secondly, instructors should show students the unique disciplinary position of the course in specific academic or professional knowledge system as well as that position in course structure of particular undergraduate talent cultivation program. That helps students know how to understand and to handle the relationship between the course and the other relevant courses and to acquire a complete knowledge system.

(3) At the third, in order to help students have an exact overall perspective of the course instructors should display an outline of course delivery by presenting a complete framework of the course, namely the knowledge structure of the course, the main knowledge points of each chapter or each section and the logic relationship of those points, the basic requirements of course learning, the chosen text and references, reading lists and Q&A of each chapter or each section, the access to necessary information of the course, the evaluation system which will be taken, requirement of the final examination, and etc..

2. The concrete and substantial teaching content of the course

Just as “any coin must have its two sides”, teaching content of a course must have not only academic or professional content of the course itself but also behavioral content displayed by instructors in their class teaching.

(1) Firstly, for academic or professional content of a course we mean it should have a rich and substantial teaching content. Bombast without substance or deeply indulged in his/her own movie production should be entirely abandoned in forging “Gold Course”. That implies what an instructor teaches in class should well manifest combination between systematic feature of knowledge and frontier of academic development by covering the core of that course and representing the latest achievements in research and development tendency in specific academic and disciplinary area.

Here instructors’ teaching emphasis should be put specially on three key words, higher requirement, innovativeness and challenging. For higher requirement course delivery must manifest an organic integration between knowledge imparting and students’ comprehensive capability cultivation focusing on endowing students with critical thinking and increasing students’ ability to independently solve complex problems. Innovativeness implies that teaching content of the course should reflect disciplinary frontier and thus it shows characteristics of times. Innovativeness also requires instructors to employ some sorts of advanced and interactive teaching mode. Meanwhile in order to make course delivery innovative it should finally lead to some sorts of exploratory and personal learning outcome from students’ perspective. At present, challenging should be of greater importance. Courses without challenges, in other words those courses on which students are so easy to acquire credits not by endeavoring to learn are necessarily “Shoddy Courses”.

(2) Secondly, from perspective of epistemology, any kind of knowledge comes from the real advance and development of the mankind material production activities, intellectual and artistic products creation, economic development and social operation. The so-called knowledge is just theoretical generalization and scientific summation of the social practice. Separated from that colorful social practice any sort of knowledge, no matter how profound and abstruse it looks like, must be pseudo-science. If instructors intend to make their course delivery truly attractive and really received by students they must always be so sensitive to those progress and advance in science and technology, in culture and civilization, and in economy and society. By consciously integrating those progress and advance into course delivery and by continuously updating teaching content of the course according to the real scientific, technological, social and economic development instructors will actually be capable of abandoning or of saying bye-bye to “Shoddy Course” from perspective of academy.

(3) Thirdly, PPT documents and blackboard writing should be of enough professionalism to proficiently manifest professional and academic feature of the course. PPT documents function as important auxiliary means for instructors to implement course teaching. PPT documents’ preparation and application proximately reflect instructors’ mastering degree of specific disciplinary knowledge system and their overall academic level. In general, PPT documents should closely stick to teaching content reflecting knowledgeable character, should directly serve teaching requirement reflecting pertinence character, and should well adapt to learning needs and characteristics of the young people reflecting interactive character.

Wide application of PPT documents never rejects traditional blackboard writing. Actually current class teaching has raised a higher requirement for blackboard writing instead. Blackboard writing is required to be more concise and more exact. It must conform to writing standard of Chinese and corresponding foreign languages with a reasonable layout and neat handwriting, and in a distinct arrangement. Accurate words should used without ambiguity.

(Ⅳ) Instructors’ class behavior standards

Looking at the other side of teaching content of a course is equivalent to standardizing class performance of instructors. Instructors must deliberately standardize their own behavior in class and fully display their professional demeanor. In general, instructors should behave as gentlemen or faire maiden with a great reverence for course teaching, namely a graceful teaching manner, dignified clothing and dressing, and decent classroom verbal expression. Too casual and sloppy, too fashioned and modern, too heavy making up are all not appropriate for instructors to have course teaching.

Another important aspect is instructors’ classroom verbal expression which is required both professional and decent. Instructors should be perfect to explain, describe, analyze and illustrate professional issues and problems by systematically employing rigorous professional concepts and terminologies. Meanwhile, instructors’ verbal expression in class must closely comply with language standard of Chinese Mandarin or the relevant foreign languages. They should try to use simple and plain verbal expressions with clear logic and exact meaning but not spouting, flashy wording, talking without ideas, and creating inexistent terminologies. Those irregular concepts, cyber slangs prevailing only within a small certain range, vulgar and obscure metaphor, dirty and ambiguity jokes, and so on so forth, must be strictly prohibited.

In order to make class teaching more vivid and active instructors are also required to endeavor to reform teaching methods and teaching mode so that efficiency and quality of the course delivery could be increased. It might be imagined that students will be much easier and more convenient to understand teaching content, to increase their study efficiency, and to firmly grasp the knowledge points and the entire knowledge system of the course suppose that they are surrounding by such a classroom full of a vibrant and cheerful atmosphere.

(Ⅴ) Harmonious class environment and strict class management 

Class teaching is a fundamental teaching activity of undergraduate education in higher-learning institutions. It is an operation jointly finished by co-operation and interaction between instructors and students. In this sense we should put our emphasis on two points: On one hand, high quality class teaching or forging “Gold Course” depends upon a harmonious class environment. On the other hand, it is recognized that class teaching objectively needs strict and effective student and class management.

Simply in terms of physical properties classroom is just some concrete place to deliver courses. But from humanistic perspective classroom essentially is the common spiritual home of instructors and students.

Keeping that philosophy in mind, instructors should have full of love for all of their students. Teachers are respected as the engineers of the human souls. To shoulder such sacred and glorious mission instructors should constantly pay a great attention on the all-round comprehensive development of students, namely their progress in study, their college life, their treatment of interpersonal relationship, their inner emotional life and emotional fluctuation, and their psychological and physical health. 

Keeping that philosophy in mind, instructors should actually treat their students as those friends with whom they can convey teaching content, impart knowledge, exchange information, and share feelings and attitudes by verbal and nonverbal ways on the basis of equal exchanges and communication. In this way instructors will be highly respected and sincerely loved by their students. Their course delivery must be highly recognized and widely received by students. Even several decades passed students would still be very proud of being fortunately enough to have taken the courses when they were in their undergraduate study.

Fundamentally different from physical material production, in which producers are largely facing inanimate objects, instructors and students in course delivery operation are both the real people. They have emotion and value orientation. They are capable of making their respective decisions and judgment through independent observing and thinking. From this point of view, for instructors’ course delivery, which mainly represents production and creation of intellectual products, it is absolutely important and especially critical to have harmonious communication with students. Even one can say that such kind of harmonious class environment indeed plays a fundamental groundwork in forging “Gold Course”.

However, when we put stress on making a harmonious class environment we should be very much aware of that there is no contradiction between creating that environment and exercising a stringent class regulation and a rigid class management. Instead of that class regulation and management must be extremely needed for class teaching, let alone forging “Gold Course”. From perspective of dialectics these two subjects are of a typical pair of categories with a relationship of unification of opposites. The key point here is that quality of course delivery functions as both the real and solid foundation and the ultimate goal for the two subjects realize and manifest relationship of unification of opposites in class teaching operation. Therefore, students have recognized that they are really capable of learning the updated and useful knowledge with which they will have lifetime benefit. Taking such prerequisite students should sincerely receive and conscientiously abide by those sorts of class regulation and management. Of course, the relevant stipulations and tools must be truly reasonable and full of humanization.

(Ⅵ) Teaching effect and evaluation

If we want to identify a course as “Gold Course” the ultimate judgment could be made only by examining its teaching effect and by monitoring evaluation of the course delivery from all sides.

A specific undergraduate talent cultivation program actually provides a number of different courses. Those courses could be subdivided into different types from different perspectives. In terms of subject characteristics those courses usually fall into two groups: liberal education courses and professional education courses. In terms of academic feature they are divided as either disciplinary knowledge courses or tool courses. In terms of credit category we have elective courses and compulsory courses. In terms of assessment types we have summative assessment courses (testing with exam-paper) and comprehensive assessment courses (testing without exam-paper). Courses can be also categorized as theoretical description courses or practical operational courses in terms of teaching emphasis.

Anyway, in order to have a comprehensive survey on teaching effect of a course there are still some relatively objective indicators:

---- Examination result of the course, taking a qualified examination-sheet and a strictly regulated test as the prerequisite;

---- Excellence rate of graduation thesis and graduation designing;

---- Average scores of corresponding courses in the national postgraduate entrance examination;

---- Students performance in some standardized tests, for instance CET-4, CET-6, TEM-4, TEM-8, and the relevant tests for students in other foreign language majors;

---- Passing rate of specific professional certificate examination, for instance CPA (Certified Public Accountant), CIA (Certified Internal Auditor), Tourist Certificate, NAETI (National Accreditation Examinations for Translators and Interpreters), and etc.;

---- Awards acquired by students in different sorts of study competence and contests on provincial, regional or national levels;

---- Irregularly evaluation of teaching superintendents;

---- Semi-annually student evaluation of class teaching; and so on so forth.

In general, those indicators can largely manifest teaching performance of instructors and teaching effect of their course delivery. One point here is needed to put a special stress. Colleges and universities are shouldering a mission of cultivating qualified talents. If undergraduate education can be understood as one special kind of service industry students are of course the ultimate customers. Students have their right in nature to enjoy first class education after they are enrolled and registered into colleges or universities. Therefore, it is the responsibility of instructors to provide students with qualified and excellent course delivery. Is one course “Gold Course” or not? That must be finally determined by feelings and evaluation of students. Suppose that a course delivery is highly appraised and widely received by students and has been evaluated into an excellent course with relatively high scores in the most of the above-mentioned indicators it could be certificated as “Gold Course”.

Ⅳ. “Gold Course” assessment indicator system

In order to give a relatively objective and comprehensive assessment of teaching quality for a course and actually transform the traditional expressional assessment to a quantitative assessment, with which a direct comparison can be made among different courses, a “Gold Course” assessment indicator system is established. The system consists of 5 primary indicators and 16 secondary indicators. Each indicator is endowed with relevant weight in terms of scores.

Taking 100 as the total scores all courses can be identified into four grades after assessment: Grade A (Scored at 90 and higher), Grade B (Scored at 80-89), Grade C (Scored at 60-79) or Grade D (Scored at 59 and lower). Those courses scored at higher than 95 are excellent courses and can be identified as “Gold Courses”.

Table1: “Gold Course” assessment indicator system

Ⅴ. The key points to forge “English/bilingual-teaching Gold Course”

In general, to forge “English/bilingual-teaching Gold Course” it should closely follow the above-mentioned principles just as to deliver the other courses, such as excellent instructors in specific academic areas, serious work and professional attitude, harmonious interrelation with students and strict class management, scientific evaluation system, and skilled communication ability in English, among them English language ability plays the most important fundamental role.

Here I want turn my focus on some other non-professional aspects: professional integrity, working attitude and teaching skills.

In order to do any job well, one should insist the remarkable professional integrity. Then, how can we understand the essence of professional integrity of instructors? Teaching is a very lofty profession. In Chinese traditional culture, the Teaching Scholar Saint, Confucius, was ranked together with the Heaven, the Earth, the Sovereign and the Ancestors accepting worship from the people every day in thousands years. Confucius himself was esteemed as “the Teacher for All Ages”. It takes generations to make a gentleman. Instructors shoulder their responsibility to transmit wisdom, to impart knowledge and to resolve doubts. In some sense, the hope and the future of a nation is completely tied to the youth, to education, and finally and actually to instructors. Therefore, as English/bilingual-teaching instructors, we must always hold in awe and veneration toward teaching profession.

English/bilingual-teaching instructors should have a highly responsible attitude toward their professional work. To have English/bilingual-teaching professional course delivery is equivalent to doing any other work. Without a highly responsible working attitude nothing can be accomplished. In one word we say: “Attitude determines everything”! Holding such idea instructors should conscientiously to teach each class. At least they should put their emphasis on: pre-class preparation, class delivery and post-class activities. On the whole every teaching unit should be elaborately dealt with.

In order to do any job well one should firmly master and proficiently utilize some working skills. Just as some old Chinese sayings go: “A workman must first sharpen his tools if he is to do his work well” or “Grinding a chopper will not hold up the work of cutting firewood”. Actually, there are indeed some knacks to teach a course well.

Firstly, instructors should be professional in some academic areas by broadening their knowledge and professional view. English/bilingual-teaching instructors actually deliver professional courses. They are radically different from English language courses. To teach professional courses naturally requires that teaching content and teaching emphasis must be presented in professional terminology, by raising appropriate examples and utilizing a lot of appropriate cases. Only with solid professional background and wide professional view in specific disciplinary areas is it capable for English/bilingual-teaching instructors of becoming some sorts of experts to reach up to the state of achieving mastery through the comprehensive study of the subject and of teaching the course deeply, thoroughly, lively and clearly.

Secondly, instructors should skillfully master and apply necessary teaching techniques. Professional course teaching requires instructors to firmly hold the key points and difficult points on the basis of exactly grasping basic knowledge and systematic structure of the course in accordance with teaching content. In addition, those key points and difficult points should be highlighted, the teaching schedule should be controlled and all units of the course delivery should be presented in an organic connection and a mutual assistance. Instructors should be good in raising examples and using case studies according to the principle of combining theory with practice in course delivery. In addition, instructors should be kind enough to have communication with students and to encourage students’ creative thinking.

At the third, English/bilingual-teaching instructors must develop and finally form their own teaching style. Indeed, each instructor will have his unique teaching style. However, as a special group of faculty staff, teaching style of English/bilingual-teaching instructors must be at least in compliance with the relevant norms, namely conduct norm, language norm and professional norm. Focusing on the organic integration between knowledge delivery and language art, class teaching of an excellent instructor should have rigorous logic, clear and proper organization, prominence to the key points, elaborate illustration, and lively examples and cases. In class instructors must be full of energy and in good spirit with noble gentility or fair lady temperament, elegant teaching manner, standard blackboard writing, humorous verbal expression, and full of witty remarks.

South China Business College is an ordinary privately-funded independent college. It does not have a long history and is in a relatively small size but the college has gradually explored and developed its unique and obvious school-running characteristic: foreign language teaching and learning. That characteristic actually lays a foundation for SCBC to meet to the competition and challenges in the current development of higher-learning education and to realize its goal of building a first class privately-funded independent college. English/bilingual-teaching professional courses functions as both a real manifestation and an important measure to develop such school-running characteristic.

From this point of view, English/bilingual-teaching instructors comparatively enjoy the natural advantages in forging “Gold Course”. Therefore, English/bilingual-teaching instructors, as an important group of faculty in SCBC, can never be absent in program to forge “Gold Course”. Instead of that, all English/bilingual-teaching instructors should actively participate into the program and always be the vanguards and pioneers in improving quality of course delivery and to forge “Gold Course”.

May 11, 2019