The 2016 Virginia STARTALK Chinese Teacher Academy (VSCTA) in conjunction with the Virginia STARTALK Chinese Student Academy (VSCSA) at the University of Virginia marks a historical juncture to transition from blended classroom learning to online learning. Miao-fen Tseng, the Inaugural Director of the Institute of World Languages and Associate Professor of Chinese, led a strong forward-thinking team to create an online teaching model that was devised with the versatility of technology and innovative pedagogy.
This year, 140 people nationwide applied. Twelve teachers, five of whom were faculty from prestigious universities, and 36 students were selected in the US. The 5-week teacher program began with 2-week online training (June 21st - July 1st), followed by 3-week onsite training (July 5th-22nd) featuring a well-sequenced and structured practicum. Students in the student program embarked on their virtual US-China exchange program on July 7th and concluded their journey on July 21st.
The online component distinguishes the student program from others around the country. The team adopted the online platform WIZIQ to make possible student-centered instruction, frequent interaction, and active engagement. The three-stage curriculum design ensured systematic monitoring of students’ daily progress, including pre-class flipped learning, one-hour synchronous learning, and after-class review tasks on a daily basis. Learners were socially bounded in the online interactive community. The program successfully concluded with a miraculous success, maintaining a close to 100% attendance rate for the online course with zero credits.
The teacher program continues to offer graduate course credits. Upon the completion of the program, teacher participants created their E-portfolio to document their success and experiences in teaching Mandarin Chinese online. Please visit https://startalkuva.as.virginia.edu/ to learn more about the 2016 combination program and read about the experience of participants from previous years.
(photo by Sanjay Suchak published in UVa Today's NEW, ONLINE CHINESE LANGUAGE PROGRAM AT UVA REACHES BEYOND STATE BORDERS by Jane Kelly)