Online Teaching

Since 2017, Chang Jung Christian University has offered an International Program for Sustainable Development (IPSD), with a majority of students coming from African countries. Twenty-seven freshmen were admitted to the program in 2020, but, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 26 students from four African countries may not be able to enter Taiwan in September for the coming academic year. In preparation for this potential problem, the IPSD department has decided to run a test of online teaching for all freshmen, and 5 sophomore who are already at CJCU in Taiwan. The trial run of online teaching was scheduled for August 27.

In this trial run, Prof. Chao-Hsing Huang, the program executive director, first gave a welcome speech and explained the purpose of performing this test of online teaching. Then, Prof. Hoda Fukour and Prof. I-Ting Hsieh described outlines for the courses "Environmental Sustainable Development" and "Biology" respectively. Afterwards, the students introduced themselves and were encouraged to interact with one another and engage in discussions with other students both in the classroom and online. Many students participated in the discussion.

To prepare for the test of online teaching, the IPSD seniors made sure ahead of time that the remote students had the necessary computers and mobile phones to participate in the online courses. This preparation helped the online teaching go smoother than expected. The overseas students expressed their gratitude to the CJCU for providing them with online learning opportunities.

Prof. Ching-Yi Horng, executive dean of International College of Practice and Education for the Environment (ICPEE), said that while the Ministry of Education in Taiwan allows most of foreign students to come to Taiwan to study, it is likely that some foreign students may not be able to arrive in Taiwan in time for the fall semester. The COVID-19 pandemic has had different effects on each country and each country has its own travel policies and restrictions. Since the fall term starts in September, there is not much time remaining for those who have not yet arrived in Taiwan. Thus, online teaching is a necessary pedagogical tool for students and teachers when faced with the COVID-19 pandemic. We will overcome the challenge of the pandemic and online teaching, and provide the best learning environment for our students.