China E-Learning
We visited several universities during our ten-day trip through China. Although I'm having problems locating all of my notes, some of the e-learning numbers were staggering. At Shaanxi Normal University in Xi'an they have only been offering e-learning opportunities to students for the past four years, however they have already grown to 30,000 enrollments in the most recent year. Their largest group of enrollments is in Chinese language and literature, followed by (2) technology and computers, (3) law, and (4) math and physics.
East China Normal University in Shanghai actually has a Distance Education College (DEC). The picture below is of the Director of the DEC showing us the IMS that he built for their e-learning courses. They have over 13,000 enrollments per year in e-learning. One thing that struck me about their e-learning is that they don't seem to be concerned about providing interactivity for the learners. My impression was that these courses are largely what I would call electronic correspondence courses or "EIS" (electronic independent study).
East China Normal University in Shanghai actually has a Distance Education College (DEC). The picture below is of the Director of the DEC showing us the IMS that he built for their e-learning courses. They have over 13,000 enrollments per year in e-learning. One thing that struck me about their e-learning is that they don't seem to be concerned about providing interactivity for the learners. My impression was that these courses are largely what I would call electronic correspondence courses or "EIS" (electronic independent study).
Comments
What do we need to think about? We need to understand their culture, and that takes time. We need to build relationships, and that takes time. They don't cut a deal with you after your first one-hour meeting. Kent Kedl has a podcast about "guanxi" (pronounced gwan-she) which is something we need to understand since it is very important in the Chinese culture.
Hear it here.
BD