February 24th marked the first day of the Spring 2020 semester. Online classes went smoothly and according to plan, with international students and foreign teachers facing but a few challenges caused by different time zones and network instability. CICE had the foresight to prepare for all possible difficulties such new circumstances brought with it. Under the principle of “one teacher, one teaching plan” and “one head teacher, one class plan”, CICE had worked out detailed action plans for international students, which covered 17 classes and 64 courses, and for 2+2 program students, which covered 23 classes and 20 courses. Teachers of all courses had prepared their teaching materials at least 2 weeks ahead of time and set up QQ or WeChat groups ahead of time. All students except one from East Timor were clearly notified about this.

The CICE online teaching structure has the following features:

1. Complete Class Implementation: International students’ attendance rate is currently higher than usual. Q&A and interactive sessions vary from class to class and are set for times that are convenient for both teachers and students in different time zones. Teachers are maintaining records and collecting feedback on students’attendance, assignments and learning experience. In addition, problems and their solutions concerning the use of platforms and forms of online teaching are also being surveyed.

2. Innovative and Multidimensional Assessment of Teaching Process: We uploaded shared open documents in QQ and WeChat groups, which can be seen, edited, and shared by all teachers. Class assessment comes from both students and teachers, who fill in the “course feedback forms” found in the shared open documents. The form consists of both subjective and objective evaluations and 30 key bits of information and was collected on February 24th.

Teachers and students are actively adjusting themselves to the change in teaching, learning, assessment and administration. Everything has gone smoothly according to plan.