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| ▲ Changwon University's Outstanding Lecturer Award Ceremony held on the 24th for the first semester of 2021. (Source: CWNU) |
On August 24, Changwon National University selected 38, "Outstanding Lecturers," for the first semester of 2021. It held an awards ceremony through the online platform, ZOOM, to encourage lecturers who have continuously worked hard to improve the quality of their teaching by using high-interest and effective learning media, in the non-face-to-face educational situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic. CWNU's Creative Convergence Education Center selected the 38 outstanding lecturers for each of the four categories and awarded them with certificates and prize money: Outstanding Teaching Lecturers (22), Outstanding Lecturers for Video Teaching Portfolio (6), Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) (4), and Outstanding Teaching Lecturers for Smart Teaching Portfolio (6). In addition, the selected lecturers were awarded a certificate in the name of the university's president and a prize of 500,000 won per person.
Twenty-two Outstanding Teaching Lecturers were selected based on the results of the lecture evaluation of the entire curriculum for each college, and six Outstanding Lecturers for Video Teaching Portfolio were selected through an online class management video contest. Among lectures conducted, more than 70% were non-face-to-face programs. In addition, four Outstanding CQI Lecturers were chosen for brilliant CQI reports amongst all the courses that completed the teaching design consulting during the semester. Six Outstanding Teaching Lecturers for Smart Teaching Portfolio were selected among the lecturers who participated in the Smart Teaching Portfolio contest. They had an excellent teaching portfolio. However, major courses with fewer than 15 people, liberal arts with less than 30 people, absolute evaluation and S/U evaluation lectures, military science, and graduate school subjects were excluded from the selection.
On August 31, The Campus Journal interviewed Lee Jin-woo, professor of the Department of International Relations, who was selected as an Outstanding Teaching Lecturer for Smart Teaching Portfolio. In the interview, he said, "In situations where non-face-to-face classes are required, the summary of each class helped students understand what they missed in class, once more. I also made efforts by adding points to those who asked questions about the content of the lecture to participate in learning." In terms of teaching methods, he explained that a two-way class, involving students' questions, is his key for success. In addition, as for the reason he was selected as an outstanding lecturer, he said, "The most important thing in the lecture is the active participation of students. It was easy to attract active participation from students in face-to-face lectures, however, it was not easy to attract active participation in non-face-to-face lectures. Nevertheless, our students participated in the class with great effort, and it was a big help."
Furthermore, in response to the prolonged coronavirus situation, he said, "So far, most of the education has been done in a way that one teacher delivers knowledge to a large number of students in the classroom. This teaching method does not provide optimized learning for individual students. Weak-willed students often lose interest in classes. It is now necessary to change our atmosphere to a learner-centered teaching method; not a professor-centered teaching method. The alternative to this is flipped learning." Flipped learning education has the great advantage of enabling students to study as much as they want, at any time, at any place, and to learn what they can't understand through online learning, by interacting with students.
After the awards ceremony, President Lee Ho-young said, "I would like to thank the professors for their hard work for providing a good lecture, even though it is not easy to meet students in the classroom due to the prolonged coronavirus restrictions." He added, "If the experiences and know-how of professors who won the Outstanding Lecture Award are shared with students, the competitiveness of our university will greatly increase." Accordingly, Changwon National University plans to share and spread the unique and excellent teaching know-how of selected lecturers by releasing lecture plans, CQI reports, teaching tips, class videos, and teaching portfolios on the website of Faculty Learning Center of Creative Convergence Education Center. Various award ceremonies should be held to effectively improve and spread the quality of lecturers' classes to revitalize university education.
By Park Jung-hyun,cub-reporter jhgongju0903@gmail.com
