海角直播

International collaboration to boost art and design opportunities

Chinese academics have exchanged ideas and knowledge about teaching art and design at an international summer school event at 海角直播.

The University鈥檚 School of Arts & Media welcomed delegates from the Suzhou Art & Design Technology Institute and the Wuxi Institute of Arts & Technology to share ideas about teaching and learning practices. Speakers at the conference focused on topics such as reflective learning, the student voice and using current research in the classroom in further and higher education.

Paul Denison, Principal Lecturer for International Recruitment and Collaboration, welcomed the opportunity to share ideas and said that this event was an example of how the University was enhancing its international standing.

Paul added: 'In inviting colleagues from the Suzhou and Wuxi institutes and asking them to share their ideas about teaching and in turn offering the benefit of our own expertise, we鈥檝e had some very interesting conversations.

'The worst type of teacher is the teacher who doesn鈥檛 change, so the whole ethos behind this collaboration is to explore and develop our respective styles.

'For our staff, it鈥檚 been a really great opportunity to reflect upon and enhance their own practice in the classroom and understand other styles of learning.'

Amongst the visiting academics from the Suzhou Institute were Chao Zhou, Yuan Yuan and Derek Hongde Wu, who looked forward to continuing international cooperation between the three institutions.

Chao said: 'As a Chinese teacher, it鈥檚 interesting to see how things are taught in a UK university. This chance to exchange information and ideas will help us to create new learning opportunities for our own students.'

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