【TheAchievement & Highlights of Providence University’s Higher Education SPROUT Project in 2021】
I. Implement Teaching Innovation & Optimization
A.Intensify the school-wide model of innovative teaching and learning
1.Be nominated by the CHEERS Magazine as The Top 20 Best University Performance in 2021. We were not only ranked No.7 in Taiwan but also famed No.2 among private universities. Additionally, in the 2021 Best University Ranking of Global Views Monthly, we were at No.10 among the Colleges of Liberal Arts, Law, and Business, and at No. 16 among comprehensive private universities.
2.Accomplished the reformation for the courses of microcredit and service-learning. Since 2021, we have integrated the courses of “Microcredit Interdisciplinary Learning” and “Design Thinking & Practices” into the general domain of “Interdisciplinary Learning & Design” to enhance the flexibility of credit taking process.
3.Since 2021, we have officially promoted the new system of General Education. The domains of the courses could be categorized into “Sustainability & Locality”, “Technology & Service”, “Religion & Belief”, and “Interdisciplinary Learning & Design”. This action has innovated courses and achieved the objective of Interdisciplinary Learning.
4.Since 2021, the 24 departments of PU have collaboratively promoted the courses of “Exploring-style Independent Learning” to assist freshman students to explore their specialties and adapt their college lives. This way is beneficial to construct their sense of identity not only on their majors but also on the university.
B. Steady support for students to practice Interdisciplinary Learning
1.Follow the success of TEDx Annual in 2018 and 2020, the student team of PU TALK continually planed and organized the annual event. For this, the team further held “Teacher-Student Exchange (inter-collegiate event)—TEDx Annual Project” with the team of NCUE.
2.The PU TALK student team cooperated with the teachers from different areas to improve the school-wide training modes of oral expression skills. In 2021, the first group of participants in the workshop got the significant improvements in their “learning motivation and attitude”, “independent learning efficiency”, “collaborative learning”, “problem-solving skills”, and “critical thinking”.
3.The broadcast production team has transformed into a new media production team. They cooperated with the National Education Broadcasting Station to promote the transformation of broadcasting, by the means of live studio broadcast and pre-recorded broadcast programs. The university tries to break through the shackles of traditional broadcast styles by being familiar with the applications of new media technology.
4. To achieve the objective of deepening professional courses with the Department of Ecological Humanities, we established a training module for professional drone operation and examination in the university. We trained students to learn on-site, assisted them to obtain drone operation certificates, and established a student pilot team. In this sense, students can cultivate their learning autonomy and the professional expertise of their majors.
5. The College of Computing and Infomatics continually promotes the organizations and teams of CloudMobiler R&D Base and PU MELON. These divisions could develop Information System inside and outside the university, offer the counselling services on technology, and organize some related workshops. These resources are beneficial for students to foster the practicality of their Interdisciplinary Learning.
C. Prompt teachers to dedicate themselves in school-wide teaching innovation
1. Based on the implementing experience from 2018 to 2020, we have innovated many of our courses since 2021. With the guidance of multi-rewards and encouragement, teaching promotions, teacher evaluation, and other administrative mechanisms, 73.8% of our tenure teachers have been involved in multi-teaching innovation systems.
2.Since 2021, we have promoted “Certification of Innovative Teaching” for all of the teachers throughout the university. By means of a wide range of workshops, teacher’s teaching cognitions and the notion of flip courses have been improved and activated. Until 2021, there were 235 teachers in total have accomplished the certification.
3.The university has been consecutively entrusted by the Ministry of Education to organize the planning project of 2020-2021, “The Annual Teaching Practice Research Plan Regional Base Planning Project”. We are regarded as the central base of the five district bases in the country and we are the only private school among the base schools. We have pragmatically gathered the energy of cross-school exchanges in the central region.
4.To establish an intensified module for the courses of core competent literacy, we incorporated SDGs issues into the new edition of literacy textbooks, and integrate the competence evaluation mechanisms with module development. We expected to optimize the efficiency of undergraduate students' competent literacy by means of this practical module.
II. The Development of University Features
1.We got four items of subsidies for “Study Abroad Project” from Ministry of Education. Among them, the amount of subsidy on the item “International Exchange Project” was ranked the second high in the country.
2.In response to the impacts of worldwide COVID-19, we have organized many online teachers’ exchanging group and the online courses of language and cultures. Further, we keep the good terms with the sister schools for increasing the number of international students.
3.The College of Foreign Languages and Literature connected the language teaching with 2019’s syllabuses. We grouped a teaching team with the teachers and students from the English, Japanese, and Spanish Departments. We continued to compile teaching materials with different themes of foreign languages teaching, and we entered different high schools in the Taichung area with the forms of course cooperation, activity camps, and workshops. The project reached around 3,000 people, and it pragmatically deepened the local diffusion mechanism of language international power.
4.We updated the teaching materials for freshman students by integrating the issues of SDGs. We encourage students to wisely manage their time on improving language proficiency through participating SDGs related workshops, study groups, and the exchanging mechanisms with international students.
III. Promote The Publicity of Higher Education
1.With the University’s One Love, Three Strength fundraising grant, we could combine with the SPROUT project, and establish a place to provide an environment for minority students to train coffee roasting and pastry making. With the two Providence Café as the minority students’ intern fields, we provided a base for them to manage and operate independently. This way, we support minority students to construct their competitiveness for their future career during the school period, and we implement the spirit of learning to replace part-time jobs.
2.We gathered the resources throughout the university to lead minority student to achieve learning objectives through the flexible and multiple programs of financial support. To take Lin from the Department of Finance as an example, the student has got 11 financial certificates, the opportunity of internship, and an official position of the company under the supports of studying, testing, and employment resources.
3.We established resource integration system for our aboriginal students. By means of organizing counselling committees and forums, and questionnaire surveys, we could also recognize their learning needs to strengthen the tutoring mechanisms of the center.
4.Followed the principles of school development plan, we need to evaluate the conditions of autonomy all the time. Further, we would actively reveal the related information and details in public and fulfill the responsibility of self-evaluation.
IV. Fulfill Social Responsibility
1.We furbished a new type of International Volunteer Service during the period of post-pandemic. As a minority university which keeps conducting the service, we continued to follow the principles to strictly select and train our volunteers. In 2021, we have supported 6 volunteered students to asynchronously record the courses to assist the applications for our oversea partners. We have also cooperated with NSYSU to serve in domestic rural areas. For instance, we have cooperatively provided online teaching services at the elementary schools in the rural areas of Taitung.
2.Since 2021, we have organized 32 cross-field service teams to deepen the history and cultures of communities, look after the communities, set up the local-featured websites, deal with local long-term care, provide the services of health and sanitation, and so forth.
3.We prompted 5 teachers to use the USR HUB single-point plan to lead student teams into local communities. Through local topic-based learning mode, students not only can improve their professional knowledge but also can understand the local needs and try to figure out the suitable solutions for the problems.