The document discusses the Chinese Top Level Courses Project, which aims to produce high-quality open courses at universities in China. It is a selective and competitive project that identifies exemplary courses at the campus, provincial, and national levels. Selected courses receive financial support to develop online materials and are required to make the course available online for five years. The goals are to encourage full professors to teach undergraduate courses, promote innovative teaching methods using technology, and establish model courses for other professors. A multi-level evaluation process is used to select courses based on criteria like the teaching team, content, instructional design, and student evaluations.

1. The Production of Open Courses
as a Transformative Practice:
A Case Study of the Chinese Top Level Courses Project
Stian Håklev, PhD Student, OISE/University of Toronto
Presentation to OpenCoursewareConsortium Global 2011
April 7, 2011 - Creative Commons BY

2. What
kind
of
a
“thing”
is
OCW?

3. OCW
as
a
norm
CC
BY
allygirl520
@
flickr

4. free
software
6

5. http://fusionanomaly.net/informationwantstobefree.html

6. PD
English
Wikipedia

7. How
can
we
analyze
the
spread
of
a
norm?
Finnemore
&
Sikkink:
the
life-­‐cycle
of
norms
Women’s
suffrage,
land-­‐mine
ban
Realist
vs.
constructivist
view
of
international
system
Norm
entrepreneurs
Organizational
platform
Forming
vocabulary,
change
in
identity
and
motivation
Tipping
point:
1/3
of
all
participants
(states)?
Institutionalization

8. OCW
as
an
policy
innovation
CC
BY
txd
@
flickr

9. Universities working together to advance education and
empower people worldwide through opencourseware.
Connecting with Your University’s Goals
—Recruitment
• A 2005 Poll showed that 50% of incoming MIT
students were aware of MIT OCW.
• 35% of those students based their choice of MIT at
least in part on their experience of MIT OCW
• By mid
OCW Consortium Toolkit http://www.ocwconsortium.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=33&Itemid=
March 15, 2010 Open Sharing, Global Benefits 9

10. Universities working together to advance education and
empower people worldwide through opencourseware.
Connecting with Your University’s Goals
—Recruitment
• Builds a prior academic relationship with
bright, motivated students, their families,
their teachers and their advisors
• Showcases key departments, faculty and
courses
March 15, 2010 Open Sharing, Global Benefits 10

11. Universities working together to advance education and
empower people worldwide through opencourseware.
Connecting with Your University’s Goals
—Reputation
An OCW site can showcase areas of excellence in
our university, such as name specific programs.
Heightened awareness of these programs not only
will attract talented students and faculty to our
school but also will increase the visibility of our
faculty within their disciplines.
March 15, 2010 Open Sharing, Global Benefits 11

12. Universities working together to advance education and
empower people worldwide through opencourseware.
Connecting with Your University’s Goals
—Retention
An OCW site provides students with the potential for
self-paced review of study materials before, during
and after taking a course. Such review greatly
increases a student’s chances of success in both
that course and subsequent courses which build
upon its teachings.
March 15, 2010 Open Sharing, Global Benefits 12

13. Universities working together to advance education and
empower people worldwide through opencourseware.
Connecting with Your University’s Goals
—Advising
The ability to view OCW materials prior to
enrollment allows students to make more informed
choices about which courses and majors are right
for them.
Likewise, advisors will be able to base their
recommendations on concrete information about
courses, their requirements and their benefits.
March 15, 2010 Open Sharing, Global Benefits 13

14. How
can
we
analyze
the
spread
of
a
policy
innovation?
David
Phillips:
policy
attraction
more
likely
to
borrow
in
time
of
upheaval,
change
or
great
crisis
Mintrom
&
Vergari:
policy
networks
investigating
policy
on
school
choice
in
US
states
-­‐
what
causes
similarity?
closeness
of
states,
or
similar
attributes?
no,
attending
the
same
conferences!
The
role
of
MIT,
and
MIT’s
faculty,
international
conferences,
organizations
(OCW
Consortium,
CCLearn/CC,
UNESCO
IIEP)

15. OCW
in
East
Asia

16. 16

17. 17

18. 18

19. 19

20. Institutionalism
Meyer
&
Ramirez:
convergence
Large
quantitative
analyses
of
educational
systems
Every
aspect
of
education
is
becoming
more
similar,
one
model
is
becoming
institutionalized.

21. Mainland
China

22. Outline
what
is
the
Chinese
Top
Level
Courses
Project,
how
does
it
work?
how
did
it
come
to
be,
Chinese
historical
and
higher-­‐ed
context
some
thoughts
on
the
future
of
this
project,
and
distance
ed
in
China

23. My
research
approach
participating
in
an
international
conference
in
Dalian
in
2008
participation
in
many
international
conferences,
and
communication
with
people
in
MIT
OCW,
Hewlett
etc
analysis
of
Chinese
academic
papers,
and
government
policies
two
visits
-­‐
summer
2009
and
winter
2009-­‐10
formal
interviews
with
professors
and
academic
staff
at
two
universities
visits
to
a
number
of
Chinese
departments
of
education,
interaction
with
graduate
students
and
professors
researching
relevant
topics
a
number
of
presentations
in
China,
including
one
for
the
Top
Level
National
Courses
resource
center,
testing
my
tentative
findings

24. 24

25. Features
of
the
Chinese
OER
project
selective
and
competitive
three
levels
(campus,
province,
national)
teaching
teams
both
content
and
method
financial
support,
requirement
to
make
course
available
online
for
five
years
three
kinds:
undergraduate,
vocational,
and
online
courses

26. Purposes
induce
full
professors
to
teach
undergraduate
courses
encourage
professors
to
use
more
technology
in
their
teaching
encourage
formation
of
teaching
teams,
rethinking
of
course
material
and
teaching
methods
courses
function
as
“models”
for
other
professors
(course
material
used
directly
by
students?)

27. Evaluation
criteria
•
teaching
team,
including
responsible
person
and
main
lecturer
•
the
composition
and
quality
of
teaching
team
•
educational
reform
and
educational
research
•
the
course
content
•
the
organization
and
planning
of
the
course
content
•
the
practical
components
(removed
in
2008)
•
teaching
materials
and
other
resources
•
conditions
for
practical
components
•
online
teaching
environment
•
instructional
design
•
instructional
approach
•
instructional
practice
•
instructional
outcomes
–
evaluation
by
peers,
by
university
supervisor
•
student
evaluations
•
evaluation
of
recorded
materials

28. Lanzhou City University School gave certain amount of funding
case study Clear philosophy:
Construction of CQOCW will improve quality of
Have already been evaluating best courses all courses
internally since 2003. Developed system of Not just about putting old courses online, but
indicators of course quality rethink content, teaching methodology, etc.
Issue announcement, meeting of heads of Internal committee to evaluate courses, then
departments invited 20 external experts - used online
material, also sat in on classes
Teaching committee to identify basic and
advanced courses they could apply for In the end, 11 courses were selected for
provincial CQOCW
Brought teachers together with computer
department ( 议 课 , )

29. Honor JPKC diploma

30. Quality Project
( )
The OER project is a key part of the Quality
Project, but it’s not the only part:
The program targets 1000 universities with 10
million FT students, and will cost approximately
USD $365 million.
Targets:
Help 3000 professors and administrators to
develop peer training exchanges
Select 1000 national-level teaching teams
Give awards to 500 top national teachers
Develop
500 experimental teaching centers
500 individual talent development and creativity
areas
500 high quality bilingual classes

31. 31

32. 32

33. 33

34. 34

35. 35

36. 36

37. 37

38. 38

39. 39

40. 40

41. 41

42. 42

43. 43

44. 44

45. 45

46. 46

47. 47

48. historical
background

49. Not
quite
like
lightning
from
a
blue
sky
French
and
German
model
of
the
medieval
university
course
teams,
course
evaluations
go
way
back,
from
the
Soviet
Union?
massification
985
-­‐
evaluate
the
best
universities
(peer-­‐review)
and
the
key
disciplines
evaluating
best
courses:
natural
next
step
push
for
increase
in
use
of
computers
in
higher
ed
already
from
early
1990’s
(evidence
from
interviews)

50. future
trends

51. What
does
the
future
hold?
New
cycle
in
2011?
Education
Plan
2010-­‐2020:
less
focus
on
distance
ed
for
degrees,
more
focus
on
life-­‐long
learning
and
continuing
ed.
Encouraging
reuse
of
the
resources

52. Key
numbers
from
China’s
2010-­‐2020
education
plan

53. 53

54. Establishing
Beijing
and
Shanghai
Open
Universities
course
teams,
course
evaluations
go
way
back,
from
the
Soviet
Union?
985
-­‐
evaluate
the
best
universities
(peer-­‐review)
and
the
key
disciplines
evaluating
best
courses:
natural
next
step
push
for
increase
in
use
of
computers
in
higher
ed
already
from
early
1990’s
(evidence
from
interviews)

55. Foreign
open
course
craze

56. 56

57. 57

58. 58

59. 59

60. 60

61. 61

62. 62

63. Thank you!
shaklev@gmail.com
http://reganmian.net/blog
CC BY
Thesis can be downloaded in a variety of formats
from http://reganmian.net/top-level-courses