The Second Session of Teaching and Learning Forum (Global Version) Was Held Successfully

2022-12-15 1667

The latest Teaching and Learning Forum (Global Version) was successfully held on December 13, 2022. Around forty teachers and students from different schools and other institutions attended this forum online or in person. Prof. Alain Chillès and assistant Prof. Xia Meng from Ecole d’Ingénieurs Paris SJTU (SPEIT) were invited to collaboratively give a speech on Promoting the student’s motivation and engagement: A multidisciplinary approach.

 

To start with, Prof. Chillès exemplified several challenging contexts frequently experienced by students accepting professional training through their foreign language such as those in SPEIT, which have provided a starting point for the following discussion. At SPEIT, courses are usually taught by mixed teaching teams consisting of Chinese and French teachers. Prof. Xia pointed out noticeable differences in the teaching style of most French teachers from Chinese ones when teaching fundamental courses. For example, instead of frequently using textbooks and handouts as most Chinese teachers tend to do, French teachers prefer to convey the content of courses through blackboards and have flexible lesson plans. Hence, adaptations and exchanges between Chinese and French teachers are necessary to integrate advantages of both teaching styles and strike a dynamic balance so that students can learn better.

But more importantly, regardless of the teaching methods chosen, one main concern has been generally related to the student’s motivation and engagement in classes. Some students, especially in those more practicality-oriented majors, have asked questions like “Why do I need to learn these?”. This, for instance, frequently occurs in teaching mathematics to future engineers.

Therefore, it’s of great significance for instructors of relatively abstract courses to build the link between courses with a clear purpose as well as those with a seemingly less obvious one to build student’s motivation. To achieve this goal, Prof. Chillès proposed to show students examples and real situations that link multidisciplinary knowledge. Then Prof. Chillès and Prof. Xia demonstrated some vivid problem-based learning instances that require students to simulate, model, predict or visualize physical, financial, biological or chemical phenomena using mathematics. By doing so, student's motivation and engagement are significantly enhanced in most scenarios.

After the sharing session, several participants raised questions. For instance, compared to the traditional one commonly adopted in France, what the distinctions or merits are in the pedagogy currently adopted in SPEIT, and how could Chinese teacher adopt this multidisciplinary method in their own course, etc. Two lecturers answered these questions in detail and provided feasible solutions.

Special thanks are extended to Prof. Lu Jialiang, the vice Dean of SPEIT, and Gao Xiaonan for their invaluable support in preparing for this forum.

Reported by Suyun Xu

Proofread by Wenting Xing

Reviewed by Yihong Qiu