Injecting Momentum to Digital Education: Unveiling Ceremony of "Smart Classroom Hub" at GZIC

Recently, South China University of Technology (SCUT) and Treenity jointly inaugurated the "Smart Classroom Hub" at the Guangzhou International Campus (GZIC). The ceremony was attended by Vice President Li Zheng, Treenity CEO Wang Hui, Treenity's South China Regional General Manager Gao Yue, Directors of relevant Offices of GZIC, Deans for teaching affairs from the schools of GZIC, and course development faculty, totaling 30 participants.

Unveiling ceremony

During his speech, Li Zheng introduced the University's initiatives and achievements in digital education construction. He emphasized the University's commitment to leading with world-class course development, continuously increasing efforts in course construction and reform. SCUT has initiated and developed massive open online courses (MOOC), with 117 courses launched in 9 batches. Among them, 16 online or blended courses have been approved as national-level ones. Approximately 2.04 million learners from the society have enrolled, and the courses have been used for teaching purposes about 300,000 times within the universities. MOOC has been widely praised, especially playing a crucial role in ensuring teaching during the pandemic.

Li Zheng pointed out that the "Smart Classroom Hub" at GZIC is the second "Hub" established by Treenity at the University. It will provide a better platform for faculty at GZIC to conduct teaching research and innovative reforms. He encouraged all schools to make full use of this platform, utilize the "Knowledge Graph" and AI tools, accelerate the digital reform of course construction, promote the development and sharing of first-class courses at GZIC, build various high-quality teaching resources, and advance digital education to a new level.

Following the unveiling ceremony, teaching leaders and core teachers from various schools engaged in in-depth discussions with experts from Treenity regarding the construction duration of the knowledge graph of majors and courses, the consolidation of interdisciplinary knowledge units, and the AI course support system.

"Smart Classroom Hub"

It is reported that the newly launched "Smart Classroom Hub" is located at F3b-411 in GZIC, including office zones, filming areas, and teaching development zones. The hub aims to provide a space for faculty to create MOOC courses and host teaching salons. It is equipped with smart course coordinators who assist teachers throughout the entire course development process. Additionally, the hub serves as a teaching community, offering a platform for extensive communication and exchange among faculty, thereby sparking inspiration for teaching reforms.

Translator: Yaxin Zhang

Initial Proofreader: Sheng Gao

Final Proofreader: Zhaosheng Wu