THU Orientation to the Goals of University Education—Tradition and Innovation toward Liberal Arts Education and Servent-Like Leadership
As a Christian university, THU trains students in the Christian faith to lead like a servant, who, albeit being a leader, does not see himself/herself to be on top by giving commands but to be caring, serving, and encouraging.
THU Office of Student Affairs, Office of Student Labor, General Education Center, Po-Ya School, the Chaplain's Office, and Placement and Alumni Office put together efforts in training team players with problem-solving skills and communicative social skills to cultivate leaders for the future.
THU started Student Labor System in 1955. Po-Ya School was established in 2009. In 2012, we further organized a “Po-Ya Learning Committee” to delineate 7 core abilities that all THU students should possess. Orientation to the Goals of University Education came in 2010, which was a 4-day-and-3-night event to consolidate a sense of belonging and identity.
In 2011, we introduced Alpha Leader incubation by focusing on caring for the freshmen, helping them with self-exploration to be upbeat and positive—all for the goal of training servant-like leaders of influence, which has been warmly received and welcomed since then by the participating students. Later, the Alpha Leader System further developed into 3 layers: Alpha, Senior-Alpha, and Coordinator-Alpha; Alpha Leaders by definition are people who are responsible, opting for changes, enthusiastic, humble, and appreciative.
Alpha Leader Support System
In 2013, THU launched the mechanism of Servant-Like Leadership to help cultivate the core THU value in becoming leaders by helping others as the priority; there were 189 sessions of lectures with altogether 12,544 participants, in which the 5 key aspects all geared to train team players with problem-solving skills and communicative social skills to cultivate leaders for the future (see the diagram below).
The 5 Aspects of Servant-Like Leadership
In reflection by giving an example, although we needed only 250 Alpha Leaders in the Freshman Orientation each year, there were often more than 500 Alpha upperclassmen who applied and above 2000 freshmen were willing to learn what Alpha Program is about. Over the years, we have trained more than 10 thousand Alpha Leaders. Each intending freshman for the Alpha Leader Program has to complete 50 training hours to become a Servant-Like leader, which includes knowing THU, caring for others, self-reflection, and other activities during the semester to serve and looking after freshmen. Twenty five experienced Alpha Leaders are chosen to be the Senior-Alpha as the core team to plan and host large-scale activities in THU Orientation; through this hierarchy with the Senior-Alpha advising, the Alpha Leaders take the responsibility in leading the freshmen each year and actualize the concept of Servant-Like leadership that is unique of THU.
Each year, there are about 3,500 freshmen in the Orientation with 300 assisting Alpha Leaders. 95% of the freshmen receive counseling help. The afterward survey shows that over 90% are satisfied with the help they get. In 108 academic-year, “Student Development and Leadership Incubation Center” were established to work with the Office of Academic Affairs to make the Alpha Program work even better; 83% of freshmen were happy with the program design and 90% of them thought that the program helped them to know more about THU and how they were going to spend their college life in the future.
2019 THU Orientation to the Goals of University Education
2019 was the 10th year of THU Orientation (3,517 freshmen; 19 Senior-Alpha members and 133 Alpha Leaders). Held from September 3 to 6, the Orientation featured the theme of CONNECT by inviting alumni in all fields to share their experiences.
We expect all THU students to walk out of their comfort zones and venture into different countries and areas to cultivate unique perspectives in response to this changing world. We believe that a university does not just teach; we help students connect and innovate.
The highlight of 2019 THU Orientation to the Goals of University Education was the “Night of Hope.” There were dancing, singing, and role-play performances; we also played videos of parents’ talks of expectation on the days when they helped their kids move into their dorms. The climax of the event ended with the lights off and the led lights on the students’ thumbs were all on and everybody was singing a congregational song-- Miracle Comes When Love Is Here!
On that evening, the graduated Alpha Leaders also established an Alpha Plus alumni organization. They wore the T-shirts particular to their respective year in which they serve the freshmen, which was a very inspiring scene and must have made the freshmen feel proud of the THU tradition and connection!
“The Night of Hope” in THU Orientation to the Goals of University Education
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Activity Pictures: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmGFakgq
Mission Mars：a New Mode of Inter-disciplinary Learning with University and High Schools Hand in Hand —
2019 Science Project Competition
2019 Mission Mars
More than seventy teams participated in the 2019 Science Project Competition—Mission Mars on November 9 and 10 at the National Museum of Natural Science. The Competition was co-hosted by Tunghai University (THU) and the Museum and this has been the 4th year. One of the attractions for high school kids was to have their exploration vehicles land safely from high as if to the surface of Mars!
2019 exploration vehicles landing
Another feature of this year was a science expo, in which high school students used their science knowledge to solve possible problems that might occur on Mars; the results turned out to be fruitful, creative, and challenging! Still another task was designing vehicles that could detour or pass obstacles; this activity attracted many smart vehicle experts with products drawing admiring eyes and exclamation! THU College of Science and THU-DDS AI Center also arranged an exciting exhibition and live broadcast, in which remote control took place to allow steering the vehicles from anywhere on earth (with a wifi connection).
Science Expo in Mission Mars
Vehicles on Mars Competition
Remote Control Smart Vehicles from THU-DDS AI Center
Inter-disciplinary and Problem-Based-Learning (PBL) Model
As a complete university with 9 colleges (Liberal Arts, Sciences, Engineering, Agriculture, Management, Social Sciences, Arts, and International College), THU expects to cultivate students with liberal arts foundation, expertise in respective fields, and well-rounded inter-disciplinary knowledge for the crucial issues in the future society.
The highlight of this year is that the Deep-Plow Project invited the College of Science to involve 4 other colleges (Engineering, Agriculture, Arts, and International College) for inter-disciplinary cooperation, There were altogether 30 teachers from 15 departments with 14 expo stands this year.
University and High Schools Hand in Hand
In recent years, THU actively involved high schools for many activities. For example, THU Da Vinci Center held an Issue-based Hackathon (forum) at the Affiliated High School of THU. In 2016, THU held the first Open Campus Event for parents and incoming freshmen from central Taiwan to visit THU campus and view an exhibition of nearly 100 presentations to see our efforts in all fields: teaching innovation, industry-academia cooperation, and several edge-cutting inter-disciplinary cases that combined humanities, science, fine arts, and design. All in all, this event showed that THU is an upgrading university that never ceases to solve problems for our society and environment!
The 2019 Mission Mars attracted an audience of more than 1000 caps, in which altogether 26 high schools participated; there were 26 groups for Mars Vehicles Landing (all high schools), 15 groups for Obstacle-detouring Vehicles on Mars (all high schools), 21 Science Expo Stands (5 from universities and 16 from high schools). This 2-day event was quite a success with profound educational significance.
A New Model of Learning: Issue-based and Inter-disciplinary Team-up
THU is determined to base on its traditional humanitarian care and liberal arts foundation to venture into the sustainability of future economics, ecology, society, and culture. The 2019 Mission Mars featuring inter-disciplinary cooperation was a good demonstration of our beliefs and goals. We showcased what the surface of Mars looks like and experimented with irrigation systems and artificial meat from flesh stem cells. We will continue our devotion to foreign language education, including programming as a new language, and digital learning!
The course--Seminar of Hands-on Scientific Innovation (I)—offered by the College of Science is inter-disciplinary by joining the efforts of many colleges as the above course list would show. The Department of Animal Science and the Department of Biology experimented with artificial meat on Mars; the “Credit Program of Innovative Technology and Arts” came up with sustainability and AI city for future space of life; the International College demonstrated “GL: Trends in Global Ecology & Environmental Change” by converting CO2 to Oxygen with algae; the Music Department held a show of music and the Department of Fine Arts mimicked the surface of Mars.
Artificial Meat from Flesh Sten Cells（Animal Science and Biology）
Algae and Oxygen（Sustainability Science）
H2-GEN（Sustaaainability Science）
Dye-sensitized Solar Cells（Chemistry）
Smart City on Mars（Architecture）
Music on Mars（Department of Music）
A Play of Resource Depletion（Landscape）
Surface of Mars（Fine Arts）
Radiative Transmittance Power Generator (RTG)（Applied Physics）
Remote Control Vehicles on Mars （Electrical Engineering and Undustrial Design）
Function and 3-D Printing（Applied Math）
Fungi on Mars（Biology）
The 2019 Mission Mars at the National Museum of Natural Science was like a feast to the eyes to expand the horizon. In the face of the fast climate change that threatens human existence, we need to cultivate students’ ability in fast adaptation to future challenges! This activity combined expert knowledge and popular science. When the future calls for help, THU will surely be there for all!
Group Picture at the Opening Ceremony
Under the support of the Deep-Plow Project, THU has been forming a network of universities. high schools, and communities. We see ourselves as a well-rounded institute of higher education that reaches out to have a more profound social influence. Base on our traditional liberal arts foundation, in the future days to come, we will continue to improve teaching quality and diversity of curricula (such as digital learning and cooperation with local industry).
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Video Clip of 2019 Mission Mars
【 MISSION MARS】｜THU Da Vinci
Tunghai University—A Cradle for Inter-disciplinary AI Talents of Well-rounded Specialty
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a global trend and is now being widely used to assist human beings in all issues and aspects as a key factor for the future society and enterprises in manufacturing. To nurture AI talents, Tunghai University began innovating curricula as well as systematically upgrading software and hardware across campus in 2018. With our rich liberal arts foundation, THU expects to become an incubator of talents in managing and applying AI innovation to future industries.
To sync with the top-notch universities in the world by heralding all the universities in Taiwan, THU cultivates computational capability and problem-based learning (PBL) in requiring all students to learn computer programming. As a complete university with 9 colleges (College of Liberal Arts, Sciences, Engineering, Agriculture, Management, Social Sciences, Arts, and International College) with students from diverse backgrounds, THU began in 2018 to upgrade teaching material and classrooms to enhance teaching quality so as to cultivate logic thinking and programming capability. In 2019, all undergraduate freshmen (3,302 caps) were required to take computer programming as a required course.
In the aspect of enhancing teaching quality and under the support of the MOE Deep-Plow Project, THU developed teaching material (methodology/ AI-assisted Learning) for the “Computational Thinking and Programming” course. We also trained 94 assistants to help reduce the frustration of students from non-computer backgrounds. Meanwhile, we developed 2 software (CT2Flow and CT2Code) that help guide students with a flow-chart concept besides an App to help review course content with segmented clips. In terms of classroom renovation, we remodeled several traditional classrooms into e-PBL and i-PBL ones in 2017 and 2018. Teachers thus are able to guide students (placed into several groups) to learn with a problem-solving methodology through co-learning, cooperation, and competition with a heightened motivation.
New course material and renovated classrooms to enhance efficacy of “Computational Thinking and Programming” Course
With the previous preparations, in the 1st semester of 108 academic year (2019 Fall), 4,539 caps (33.59% of the whole student population) took the course, which is a feat that attracted admiring eyes. In April 2019, THU hosted a demonstration of “Innovative Teaching of Programming for non-computer Majors;” In September 2019, THU assisted in hosting a consulting conference for curricular design -- “Gearing toward a General Office for Teaching Programming in Universities.” By sharing our efforts with other universities, THU attracted arduous feedbacks and was hailed as the model for teaching computational thinking skills in programming.
With “Computational Thinking Programming” as the foundation, students are equipped with digital learning skills to advance to other areas of information science. In March 2010, THU launched a joint venture with Amazon Web Service (AWS) in establishing the 1st Cloud Innovation School in Taiwan, which is a cross-department institution comprises of 6 departments: Computer Science, Information Management, Industrial Engineering and Enterprise Information, Electrical Engineering, Business Management, and Applied Mathematics. In fact, starting from the 2nd semester of 106 academic year, these departments began forming a Capstone team and offered courses that count toward respective graduation credits. Besides, Cloud Innovation School also provides “New Economics Program” and “Cloud Technology Program” for students with different backgrounds—the former focuses on AI, Big Data, IOT, Cloud Computing (the intending students need to have programming capability or having passed courses of programming); and the latter focuses on innovative cloud technologies, services, and digital marketing. The curricula are listed as the following. Besides interdisciplinary training with local as well as global economic perspective, we offer THU-DDS AI Center (funded by DaDuShan Society), Da Vinci Center, and many academia-corporation projects for students to put theory into practice and to enhance market competitiveness; we also assist students and faculty to acquire AWS certificates by offering a course on “AWS Cloud Service Certification,” which attracted 116 students.
Course listing of “Cloud Technology” and “New Economics” Programs
In 2019, under the generous funding of DaDuShan Society (DDS) for NT$ 3 billion in 3 years, THU and DDS signed an MOU to advance AI education under the mutual awareness that AI is becoming increasingly important. THU will consolidate this AI idea in university-wide courses in the 2nd semester of 108 academic year to equip students with practical skills; we will teach Python with a flowchart concept in programming besides PBL methodology, so as to prepare learners to advance to the next step for independent programming tasks. In estimation, there will be above 200 students in 5 classes, who, after taking these courses, will be able to connect colleges and departments with corporations in solving real problems with the assistance of AI for a better future.
CEO of DaDuShan Society, ChingHo Cheng (left), generously funding THU AI development.
THU is deeply aware of how helpful AI can be to the enterprises in central Taiwan and believe that we as a higher education institute should cultivate capable talents for this prospect. Besides offering a “Training Class for Central Taiwan Managers” with “Central Taiwan AI School” in 2018, THU further founded “THU and Corporations Innovation Alliance” by allying corporations at Central Taiwan Science Park, Taichung Industrial Park, The Taichung City Precision Machinery Innovation Technology Park, Dali Industrial Park, and FengZhou Industrial Technology Park; we are committed to innovation and connecting to the world. As a result, THU has signed agreements with many of those corporations to help upgrade the traditional industry.
Opening ceremony of THU and Corporations Innovation Alliance
In terms of academia-industry cooperation, THU signed an agreement with the Taiwan branch of Fujitsu Cloud Technologies Limited on October 7, 2019 to apply “NIFCLOUD mobile backend” technology for agricultural Cloud Monitoring, Big Data Analysis, and IoT to create successful examples of academia and industry cooperation.
Alongside, in terms of cultivating AI talents, THU-DDS AI Center (under the funding of DaDuShan Society by distinguished alumni) developed inter-disciplinary and cross-college curricula featuring themes on Smart Marketing, Smart Ecological Devices, Smart Agriculture, and Smart Medicare.
Opening ceremony of THU-DDS AI Center
Take Medicare for example. THU cooperated with Taichung Veteran General Hospital in January 2019 to apply AI technology, Big Data analysis, instant computational information feedback, and monitoring to upgrade the Medicare quality if Taiwan.
Besides, THU also partakes responsibilities in solving problems in the traditional industry. For example, sheet metal industry is closely related to machinery, architecture, aerospace, furniture, and semi-conductors; there are at least 3,000 to 4,000 corporations that involve 2 to 3 hundred thousand employees with a total gross product value of over NT$ 2,000 billion. And yet, as representative corporations in traditional industry, sheet metal companies are often in the plight of having to take various orders in small amounts within only very short due dates; imprecise scheduling in manufacturing line; ill-favored productivity; heavily manual; with too little add-on value; unstable employees; and insufficiently digitalized without enough data for analysis. To ease these dilemmas, THU and Microsoft AI Center formed a “Strategic Alliance of Sheet Metal Industry” to help these corporations to upgrade. Furthermore, THU-DDS AI Center also allied with 5 sheet metal corporations (台中精機、台華精技、明昌國際、迎盛公司、炬將科技) under the name of “Taiwan Team of Sheet Metal Industry”. It is hoped that through mutual cooperation, traditional sheet metal companies can be digitalized and upgraded.
“Strategic Alliance of Sheet Metal Industry”: THU President (5th left); Executive of Taiwan Sheet Metal Association, Mr. Lin (3rd right); Executive of Taiwan Microsoft R&D, Mr. Chang (2nd right); Minister of Economic Affairs, Mr. Shen (5th right)
As a higher education institute of solid training, Tunghai University continues to be exploring, innovative, and inter-disciplinary through co-learning. We strive to usher in top-notch digital technology under new economics for the local industry in central Taiwan by putting theories into practice and solving problems in the real world.
Consolidating Teaching Innovation: New Learning Environment for Redefining Computer Programming as a New Language
THU was keen on the global trend of the digital economy. Besides founding a “Master Program of Digital Innovation,” all THU students are required to learn 2 languages and one of which is computer programming. Beginning in the 2nd semester of 105 academic-year, several programming courses were offered by the General Education Center, and in the process of which, several challenging issues surfaced up that called for amendments. First of all, although THU is a complete university with 9 colleges and our curricula are varied with liberal arts aura, the syntax and logic of computer programming indeed proved to be demanding for non-computer majors and the students’ motivation dwindled as the course content became more advanced. Secondly, programming took close-by assistance due to hands-on practice, traditional computer classroom with seats and monitors in files and rows did not help with timely interactions.
To solve this problem, THU focused on Problem-Based Learning (PBL), trained teaching assistants, and made course content more interesting with a flowchart concept to guide students step by step. All these innovative measures proved to be highly effective and were warmly welcomed by the students.
PBL Classroom
After the experimental course on “Computational Thinking and Programming” in107 academic-year, we added “Logic Thinking and Computation” as a required General Education course for all THU students (except students in Information Management and Computer Science). In the 1st semester of 108 academic-year, 25 sections of “Logic Thinking and Computation” were offered, including one section in Extension B.A. Division and one in International College (taught in English). There were altogether 1285 caps; in the 2nd semester of 108 academic-year, 27 sessions were offered. Particularly worth mentioning is that Flowchart-Based Programming (FBP） is a THU innovation to assist students of different levels with diverse disciplines in computer programming. The feature of this methodology is to conceptualize logic thinking in programming into a flowchart procedure, through which, the students learn CT2Flow and CT2Code to turn logic steps into coding. Besides, the teachers can decide to divide the process into as many steps as were needed by asking students to fill in the blanks.
Flowchart Programming Software: CT2Flow(upper) and CT2Code (under)
To ease the challenges in learning programming, THU developed an APP for students to review or even preview the course content. We intend to put the 15-week course content of “Computational Thinking and Programming” into 29 theme-based video fragments; in another word, students can learn in action and study wherever they go. Each video fragment is 3-5 minutes in length. For the present the screen view is of the smartphone size and primarily in diagrams and explanations; gradually, we will gear toward interesting animations. So far 27 fragments have been completed on Android and IOSsystems. With the support of the Deep-Plow Project, we will put our experience, course content, and software (CT2Flow & CT2Code) on the website of THU Programming Curricula for all to access.
APP for “Computational Thinking and Programming”
In 106 academic-year, THU came up with the 1st PBL (Problem-Based Learning) classroom with circular monitors around, so the teacher could stand in the middle, thus eliminating the difference of distance between the teacher and students. Students were also close to one another to work as teams. The teacher conducted teaching right in the center and projected content in the monitors around; students’ questions or problems could also be instantly sent through remote control to the central panel as in an NBA basket court. The director of the Master Program of Digital Innovation, Dr. J. S. Zhou (周忠信) indicated that such a classroom setting allows simultaneous feedback and sharing ideas to spark inspiration. In 108 academic-year, another PBL classroom was added to the College of Management.
Newly refurbished PBL classroom at the College of Management in 108 academic-year
After the course had run for a year in 107 (academic year), students gave very positive teaching evaluations in the 2nd semester by indicating that the school’s efforts in new PBL classrooms, the software with a flowchart concept, and the APP to learn in action had indeed helped them tremendously. We will continue to improve toward perfection based on the students’ feedback.
To popularize tools in teaching programming, THU General Education Center co-hosted a conference on “Teaching Programming for non-computer Majors” with Central Taiwan Software Development Ally on April 26, 2019. The deputy director of the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education, Ms. Liu (劉文惠) spoke at the conference to the representatives of participating universities, indicating that the website of THU Programming Curricula is a good resource for all intending to popularize programming courses.
Sharing and consultation session of challenges and experiences in teaching programming
Under the support of the Deep-Plow Project, THU helped Chengchi University in setting up an “Headquater Office for Teaching Programming” to offer district consultation sessions. In the opening ceremony, Professor Li (李蔡彥) gave a keynote speech and many representatives from different universities also shared their experiences. THU is determined to push head-on in popularizing programming courses.
Sharing and consultation session of challenges and experiences in teaching programming
On December 16, 2019, THU held a programming competition for non-computer majors. Each participating team (from a class) is composed of 2 members; they had to use CT2Code to solve 5 questions in 3 difficulty levels; those getting 5 questions right were awarded a golden plate; 4 (a silverplate); and 3 (a copper plate). It was hoped that through this competition, the students could apply what they had learned in class to solve problems in the real world.
In the programming competition held on December 16, 2019, twenty-three teams participated. After 2 hours of fierce competition and close cooperation, 5 teams were awarded the golden plate; the silver plate went to 6 teams, and 5 teams obtained the copper plate. For students of non-computer background and having taken the course for just one semester, their performance was outstanding and worth praise.
In sum, THU is dedicated to being a role model for other universities committed to popularizing programming courses. We are willing to share what we have achieved with other partner universities in central Taiwan for closer cooperation and networking in the future.
Related Website：
東海大學運算思維與程式設計網站：http://ct.thu.edu.tw/
