On 2 March, the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) College of Dance officially opened classes in the form of online teaching according to the original academic calendar.
Since the beginning of February, all staff members of the STA College of Dance have actively explored the new online teaching mode to prepare for the launch of online courses. The college has developed the overall online teaching plan and online teaching schedule, and teachers of all specialized courses have developed practical and detailed teaching plans and progress schedules for their respective courses accordingly. Teachers of the Dance Theory Teaching and Research Office have recorded and edited the videos of theoretical courses in advance to ensure the timely completion of all tasks related to online teaching for undergraduate and postgraduate students.
At the same time, the leaders of the college formed an inspection group to supervise and undertake the standardized management of the content, progress and quality of the online classes, so as to ensure the progress and quality of teaching in the special period.
In addition, the college also organized teachers to learn the basic skills and understand the forms and requirements required for online teaching, so as to help teachers get familiar with the characteristics, functions and operation modes of each platform as soon as possible. Since the middle of February, the college has organized teachers to conduct online course testing in various forms such as video and live broadcast, and to exchange course preparation, experience of using online platforms and problems to be solved in WeChat groups.
The head teachers and counselors inquired about the students' relevant situation, to ensure that nobody is missed, nobody is left behind in the online teaching process, so that every student in the STA College of Dance can participate in the teaching arrangements and integrate into the online classes during the epidemic prevention and control period.
A few days before the first lesson of the new semester, teachers have uploaded the prepared teaching resources such as video, audio and PPT files etc in advance, so that students can preview and the online teaching can progress smoothly.
Before the formal start of the classes, the teachers for various courses expressed their care and greetings to the students. While regulating the classroom discipline, they also stressed the importance of independent learning and self-disciplined practice. They also hoped that the students could be more understanding, give feedback frequently, enhance the awareness of network security and copyright protection, and actively cooperate with the arrangements made by the college and the teachers. At the same time, teachers also consciously implement the connotation construction of curriculum ideological and political in online courses, care about students' ideological trends, and guide students to adhere to the correct guidance during the epidemic prevention and control period.
Inspired by the teachers, the students of the STA College of Dance have made full use of the furniture resources, i.e. taking tables and chairs as barres and props for practice and performance. In the process of online teaching, teachers and students have maintained a good real-time interaction. Many students expressed that although the online classes are conducted on the screen, there is no feeling of distance, and that the contents of the classes are solid and substantive. They also expressed that the timely feedback of teachers had made them feel like in the school classroom, and such a new way of course delivery have made them more enthusiastic.
The teachers also expressed their relief after the actual online course delivery, not only putting down their previous worries about the inability to complete the teaching schedule, but also feeling the convenience of online teaching during the special period. They felt that becoming an online anchor could take their computer skills to a higher level, and had also improved their teaching ability.
At the same time, according to the daily feedback of the students in the videos and photos, most of the students did not relax in the winter vacation and were persistent in practicing their skills. This has reflected the spirit of hard work and self-discipline of the students of the STA College of Dance, and also made the teachers very gratified.
The opening of the new semester also represents that the STA College of Dance has formally made the first step in no suspension of classes without suspension of learning. In the process of implementation, we will continue to learn from experience and make timely adjustment. The heads of various teaching and research office, the heads of various departments and the leaders of the college shall check the quality of online teaching at all levels, and regularly organize teachers to conduct exchanges and reviews, so as to ensure the quality of online teaching and the quality of the offline teaching are essentially the same. This is also an exploration of the teaching mode by the STA College of Dance, so as to improve teachers' ability and level of online teaching, and to cultivate students' ability of independent learning and self-management. At the same time, the STA College of Dance is also actively preparing for returning to campus later on, ensuring the effective connection of online and offline courses, and looking forward to bringing more highlights to students after the resumption of offline classes.
