[2012-07-19] President Began the Journey in China: Visit Schools and Assist the ECTT Programs

On July 7th, President Steve Ting took off with his wife Baoying back to China, to begin their 4-month journey of rural school visits and program evaluations. Meantime, they will also participate in the ECTT programs in Gansu and Hunan, serving as teaching assistants (TAs) and ensuring the success of the programs.

Their first stop was Beijing, where they had productive and fruitful meetings with the Directors of Department of Basic Education I of Ministry of Education and the Dean of School of Educational Technology at Beijing Normal University.

The purpose of the meeting on July 11th with the Ministry of Education was to understand their visions, policies and priorities for the primary schools in rural remote and impoverished areas, as a reference indicator for Shin Shin's efforts and programs that aim at reducing the disparity of the education quality between urban and rural areas in China. A detailed report is attached, written by Steve Ting in Chinese.

In the meeting on July 14th at Beijing Normal University, Dr. Shengquan Yu, Dean of the School of Educational Technology, shared his effort and experience of applying technology as a tool to educational methodology, improving teaching and learning in new ways. He also offered many good insights for the E-learning programs, and discussed the impact of digital books (tablets, E-readers, etc). Based on his expertise and extended involvement, he strongly believes that reading can not be equal to learning, and education should be based on a holistic approach. Dr. Yu also kindly invited Steve and ten ECTT trainees to attend a conference on modern educational methodology to be held in Changsha, Hunan from July 22nd to 25th.

With the help of a Shin Shin E-Learning team member in Beijing, they also arranged meetings with Wyse/Dell and Changhong system integration vendors to gain valuable insights regarding the "Virtual Desktop" Platform, the key element for the E-Learning program. Steve was very glad to know that one of the senior staff in Changhong System graduated from a Shin Shin school in Heilongjiang.

Immediately after their short stay in Beijing, they headed to Lanzhou, Gansu on July 15th to attend the opening ceremony of the ECTT program and serve as TAs during the program. The ECTT partner's leader and institute director welcomed them, and in turn, they recognized the partner's contributions to the Gansu ECTT program. In the following weeks, together with a few more Shin Shin volunteers (Wang Can and Bai Qing) from Beijing, they will be interacting with 80 elementary school teachers as well as working as the ECTT TAs.

Related Press Release: World Journal| Singdao Daily