Higher Education SPROUT Project

 

 

To increase the flexibility of students’ independent study, reduce graduation credits, increase cross-field courses, diversified courses such as micro courses, honor courses, etc., with innovative methods of cross-domain learning and collaborative teaching, plan the general education micro-learning program, and cooperate with each department to implement the deepening and broadening and the capstone course overall curriculum, supplemented by the establishment of employment courses, off-campus internships and awards of professional licenses for students, the students' practical ability will be comprehensively improved. In terms of cultivating key capabilities, we offer innovation and entrepreneurship courses, tier program courses, courses conducted in English and reform of the "Chinese Language Proficiency Course", improve students' innovation and entrepreneurship, logical thinking, foreign language and Chinese reading and writing skills, and assemble the iClass learning platform and iSignal early learning warning system, take early counseling actions to ensure the effectiveness of learning. In terms ofteacher teaching innovation, we design workshops, observe lessons and exchanges, establish cross-domain communities according to the needs of teachers at different stages. Improve teachers’ teaching and innovation knowledge, through "Inheritance and leadership of mentor and mentee", award-subsidy teaching practice research and publication of results on practical experiences, and the establishment of "uniting realistic and virtual" model to encourage teachers to invest in digital teaching.

 

       ■Perspective Two [Globalization & Great Distancing Competition]

 

In terms of promoting internationalization, the number of affiliated sister schools increased by 27 from 2018 to 2019 and there were a total of 229 affiliated sister schools throughout 38 countries by the end of 2019. Two cooperative projects were added to our transnational dual degree program, the number of participants increased by 51 students. A total of 3,067 students participated in the international learning mobility, 17 scholars were invited by Tamkang Clement and Carrie Chair to conduct lectures, and more than 5,000 teachers along with students attended the lecture to cultivate TKU’s English and foreign language skills. From 2018 to 2019, a total of 2,482 people obtained English and foreign language licenses, reaching the predetermined goal, which helped improve the internationalization of TKU. In terms of recruiting international students, there are 2,000 students in the academic year of 2018 and 1,912 students in 2019, slightly lower than the expected target amount. In terms of enhancing research capabilities, 100 outstanding foreign scholars were invited to give lectures and exchanges in the school in 2018, 122 in 2019, 26 full-time teachers participating in overseas stagnation points in 2018, and 29 in 2019, all of which have met the anticipated objectives. In terms of co-publishing academic journals with international scholars, a total of 146 articles were published from 2018 to 2019 with remarkable results. In terms of strengthening industry-academia cooperation, the number of establishments of teacher-industry-academia groups, the number of teachers and students involved, and the number of research or industry-academia projects proposed through the industry-academia groups have all reached the predetermined goals. The "Da Vinci Creation Base" has been established. The number of departments participating in the base and the number of creative courses, lectures or workshops held in the base have also reached the goal. It has also been organized with the Excellent Long-Established University Consortium of Taiwan (ELECT) to complete the publication of the research results, which is to improve the results of industry-academia cooperation. In terms of cultivating superior talents, the completion of the course credit program planning of "Dual Foreign Language Economics and Trade Talents" and "Engineering Professional Leadership Cultivation", and the continuation to promote the "Intelligence Manufacturing" and "Aerospace Joint Degree Program" courses to promote foreign and Chinese language teaching talents international exchanges, etc., have reached the predetermined goals.

 

 

Establish a "One-stop " learning guidance and effectiveness tracking mechanism for disadvantaged students to provide support for academic learning, mental health, and career improvement. Revise the implementation method of flexible salary; and inaugurate the rules for the establishment of distinguished professors. Establish school affairs research and analysis platform emphasizing data support and publicizing school information; cross-school cooperation to develop a digital Chinese teaching system, and establishing cross-school Chinese question database alliance.

 

 

Make great use of professional resources within the university, promote environmental education field certification, care for the visually impaired students, promote elders’ lifestyles of health and sustainability, and continuously cultivate Tamsui, develop domestic creations, and promote science education through the mobile chemistry museum; cooperate with local schools using Lanyang campus’s English teaching features, carry out international localization, commit to fulfilling the university's social responsibilities.

 

a.       Method:

In the 2011 academic year, the university takes the lead in the country. Based on the demands of students, clubs, and society, providing compulsory “club learning and practices” courses, comprehensive, systematic planning and design, let the introductory course of club management and the participation and implementation of activities reinforce one another, cultivate student communication, teamwork, innovative thinking, planning and marketing, and problem-solving abilities. The field of student practice is to participate in clubs, manage clubs, so students may learn while taking on responsibilities, enhance competitiveness while learning to provide, casting multiple capabilities through club activities, and deepening core competition values. The project is a combination of theories and practices to demonstrate what the freshmen learned in the introductory course, conducting “New show planning-activity planning competition,” each class will nominate 1-2 teams to participate in the competition. The participating team will explain the characteristics and contents of event planning with a presentation, and professional judges will be invited to evaluate the competition.

 

b.      Effectiveness:

“New show planning-activity planning competition” is expected to have 90 participating teams, 111 teams submitted their application, 66 teams entered the preliminary round, 10 teams made it to the finals, and the top 5 teams were chosen. Approximately 100 students participated in the finals, the presentation team presented a creative introductory to the content and the characteristics of the event, posters and skit performances presented the results of teamwork.Through the questionnaire feedbacks, the average participant’s satisfaction is 5.2 (on a 6 points scale), students improved on structure planning and concepts, high recognitions were made on focusing more on feasibility evaluation and cooperation with team members while planning activities.

 

a.    Method:

To cultivate student’s innovative and entrepreneurial abilities under the response of the needs of the future society, business management and informational disciplines will be promoted under cross-field collaboration, initiate workshops for innovation and entrepreneurship every year, and discuss the innovative cross-field design of smart interactive architecture related to climate change. Incorporating the design and service of automatic intelligence, conducting “Green Elf Workshop,” proposing innovative smart designs and business models for systematic furniture and vertical edibility greening system. In the “Green Elf Workshop,” through designing participation, teachers jointly plan the greening connection points of living spaces, and organize groups of students with the “Green Elf” thinking as the “innovative entrepreneurship seed students.” With the goal of innovative design, students were able to learn cross-domain thinking, incorporate smart services and design information that integrates life and environment, integrate entrepreneurial business models and fund-raising plans, and continue design services and diversified creative thinking, and propose new product suggestions and prototype implementations. Based on the above foundation, the teachers and students further formed the "Innovation and Entrepreneurship Seed Trainees-Green Elf Team" crew to cooperate with the innovation, entrepreneurship and creation series of lectures and guidance, and proposed the Kandelia system furniture and the Green Elf vertical greening external system. Through several workshops and intensive design discussions, the usage of Arduino to intelligently detect and plan entrepreneurial group screens, proposing design results. In 2018, 3 teachers and 11 students participated, and in 2019, 3 teachers and 6 students participated.

 

b.    Effectiveness:

Participated in the New Taipei City Government's Sustainable Development Index Project; applied for the International IF Social Innovation Award held in Germany for design results; participated in the Ministry of Education’s “Climate Change Creative Practice Competition” and entered the semi-finals and won the award.

 

a.    Method:

Lanyang’s Three-All Policy campus is based on all English teaching, all juniors abroad, and all residential college to demonstrate the educational goals of Lanyang campus to enhance professional English knowledge, expand international value recognition and strengthen character cultivation practice. The Lanyang campus of our university is a "campus without juniors." Students must go overseas to study at our affiliated universities for one year in their junior year. After all English education and experience sharing seminars for seniors from overseas schools, students may follow their own interests for the experience of studying abroad, and discuss with the teacher for personal selection. The all residential college focuses on designing extracurricular activities with critical thinking and characterized education. In the discussion, students are led to think critically and expand their horizons. At the same time, in order to enable all students in the university to have the opportunity to receive the Three-All education and maximize the usage of educational resources, the Global Development College is anticipated to be moved back to the Tamsui campus in the 2021 academic year to fully transplant the Three-All education system and practices.

 

b.    Effectiveness:

All courses offered in the Lanyang campus are in English, at the same time, all students with the nationality of Taiwan have implemented the all juniors abroad program. Even the foreign students who do not need to go abroad during Junior year according to the policy have also begun to apply for their Junior year abroad. The all-residential college activities were changed to instructor-led book clubs, and a total of 18 activities were held. To enable students to have a better understanding of how to choose an affiliated university to go abroad in the junior year, the college held a total of 25 experience sharing sessions from senior students. The rate of juniors enrolling in formal courses at affiliated universities in 2017 was 81.9%, 83.8% in 2018, and 84.1% in 2019, increasing every year.

 

a.    Method:

The first to establish the " Juniors Study Abroad Program" in Taiwan and assisted a large volume of junior students to study abroad every year.

 

b.     Effectiveness:

In the 2018 academic year, a total of 648 students went to 19 countries and 111 universities for training; in the 2019 academic year, 573 students went to 21 countries and 108 universities for training, and they traveled all over the United States, Europe, and Asia. A total of 3,067 active international students were calculated from 2018 to 2019. It enhanced students' internationalization, foreign language proficiency, international mobility, and exercised maturity and independent personality traits.

 

a.    Method:

The founder of the Tamkang University, Dr. Clement C. P. Chang and his wife, donated $300 million NTD to set up the "Tamkang Clement Chair" to invite foreign Nobel, national academicians or top scholars to conduct lectures and share research experiences.

 

b.     Effectiveness:

By the end of 2019, 17 international master scholars were invited and more than 5,000 teachers and students have participated. This effectively enhance the understanding of important academic knowledge among teachers and students within the university, and further exchanged and cooperated with international academic units.

 

a.    Method:

Established a smart automation and robotic center to cultivate outstanding talents in the AI industry.

 

b.     Effectiveness:

The teachers and students of the Department of Electrical Engineering participated in the FIRA RoboWorld Cup. In 2018, TKU won 1 gold, 4 silvers, and 1 bronze; in 2019, TKU won 7 golds, 2 silvers, and 2 bronzes; which greatly improved the visibility of the university.

 

a.    Method:

Established a "Da Vinci Creation Base" for the University’s’ faculty, staff and students, and provided multiple learning courses, lectures, or workshops.

 

b.     Effectiveness:

By the end of 2019, 38 departments have participated in the Creation Base, offering 22 courses, lectures or workshops, which enhanced the innovative and entrepreneurship capabilities of students.

 

a.    Method:

Promote Elite project awards, and award-winning students are arranged to visit alumni companies and submit their learning experience during the visits, proximate to industry practices; open up the opportunity for disadvantaged students with excellent grades to serve as tutoring assistants, and conduct research activities to improve their teaching ability; disadvantaged students whose academic performance has improved greatly will be rewarded based on the merits. The positive incentive measures of the Star of the Dawn Learning Progress Award which support students to pursue their study at ease.

 

c.     Effectiveness:

The effectiveness of self-evaluated tutoring learning by disadvantaged students in 2019 was 5.85 (6-point scale), and the passing rate of tutored subjects was 76.47% (as of November 2019).

 

a.    Method:

Use of virtual reality or augmented reality teaching materials (VR/AR) to effectively create a local language circumstance in Taiwan; in line with the "Modern Chinese" course theme, 360-degree images and teaching information points are implanted, as if one is immersed in it.

 

d.     Effectiveness:

Through reality teaching materials, overseas Chinese learners may directly understand the Taiwanese culture, effectively enhancing their learning motivation and classroom concentrations. Two volumes of "Modern Chinese" textbooks jointly developed by 7 universities have been completed; digital teaching platform has been completed; nearly 5,000 people browsed and utilized it.

 

As a member of the Northern Coast community, actively promote the establishment of the "Northern Coast Partner School Strategic Alliance." Based on the existing cooperative teaching in the past, a letter of intent was signed with three elementary schools including WenHua, DengKong and XingRen. Local schools and community development associations at all levels will continually be invited to encourage talent cultivation and regional governance with environmental education and practices, and fulfill social responsibilities for environmental education.

 

The chemistry tour fun activity is one of the few activities that may be carried out for many years in the promotion of chemistry science education in Taiwan. It has been implemented for the eighth year, and the medias are eager to make a report. The operation team is composed of teachers, students and alumni of the school. Through continuous innovation, the activity content may conduct super large-scale experiments with nearly 1,000 people in public places, and also open up to the public in tourist attractions, allowing students to participate in public science activities, and continuously develop the practice of chemistry science within Taiwan’s communities. Experience the environment of life chemistry and fulfill the school's social responsibility for science popularization.

 

The University has been deeply involved in the field, and has invested in relevant research on the theme of Tamsui for a long time and made documentary films. It started to record social practice in 2018 and produced 62 documentaries by the end of 2019. Professor Weitsy Wang from the Department of Mass Communication led the students to shoot the "Street Rebuild Workshop" in the summer of 2018, and participated in the "2019 MOD Microfilm Golden Film Creation Competition" co-sponsored by Chunghwa Telecom and Taipei Film Commission in 2019, and won the third prize with a total of $400,000 NTD.