Video Clip Exercises for Intermediate Chinese
Abstract:
Neither Kenyon nor Denison can offer a full year of advanced Chinese because of lack of staffing. To satisfy students' demand for taking advanced Chinese Professors Bai and Lian would like to work collaboratively by sharing resources and utilizing the teleconferencing and multimedia technology. For the 2001-02 academic year Professor Bai will teach CHNS321: Empower Reading by Reading about China during the fall semester and Professor Lian will teach CHNS305: Philosophical Daoism in Chinese Literature during the spring semester. Both courses will be taught in the teleconferencing classrooms and made available for both Kenyon and Desnison students. Under the support of grants from Denison-Kenyon Collaboration Projects both Professors Bai and Lian have taught courses through distance learning and they are adequately trained for using the teleconferencing facilities. We hope that we can make this kind of collaboration on a long-term basis and, in the future we would like to post the course descriptions on the course of studies of both Denison and Kenyon so that students from both campuses can cross-register. The significance of this kind of distance learning collaboration is that it helps broaden the curricular options at both Kenyon and Denison.
Tentatively we have decided that the distance learning will meet twice a week in the teleconferencing classrooms and each class consists of three integral components: 1) the pre-class tasks with the CD and on the web that engages and helps students in reading the assigned readings. 2) The during-class TV conferencing lecture and activities that allow students to practice listening and speaking skills and increase their knowledge about aspects of Chinese culture and society. 3) The post-class tasks that reinforce and assess learning outcome through the conventional paper-pencil exercises and the use of web-based threaded discussions, reports and collaborated group projects.
In addition to the regular class meetings and the pre and post class activities we would like to have all the students meet a couple of times during the semester so that they can know each other better and can have the opportunity of face-to-face interaction. We have found that the meeting at the beginning of the semester is very effective pedagogically. As soon as the students meet face-to-face their interaction via ITV becomes more personal. In order to help students' practice speaking on an individual basis we would also like to hire a teaching assistant. If our schedule permits we would also like to travel to the remote campus a couple of times during the semester.
Jianhua Bai, bai@kenyon.edu
Xinda Lian, lian@denison.edu