SMBU starts new semester by launching online courses

On March 2, SMBU started the new semester through online teaching as most students and teachers have not returned to the campus due to the coronavirus pneumonia outbreak. Combing live streaming and recorded teaching content, nearly 90 Chinese and Russian teachers meet their students in virtual classrooms, co-starting their first classes of the new semester.

Following the administrative measures issued by the government and the principle of “Resuming classes without returning to school”, SMBU provides online courses for undergraduate and graduate students alike. The Academic Affairs Office, Information Center, and CCP & Student Affairs Office have taken prompt reactions and made thorough preparations to ensure the online programs commence on time. In a short span of two weeks, SMBU has successfully co-developed a live streaming system and a video recording platform with MSU.

The teaching plan formulated by SMBU, which is based on the original programs, includes nearly 70 courses and more than 170 online sessions. Undergraduate students can have their class in the form of recorded video or live streaming while graduate students can only learn by meeting their lecturers in real-time on the Internet. Students can take courses according to the academic schedule every day. To help students better adjust to the new mode of study, teachers design their teaching plan with painstaking attention and go through repeated rehearsals. What is worth mentioning is that more than 70 teachers from MSU have overcome time lag and technical difficulties and upload course videos and materials to the platform one day in advance.

According to the Academic Affairs Office, undergraduate students enrolled in 2019 continue their learning of Russian language through live streaming; take online courses on ideology and politics every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning through MOOC platform; participate in online college English classes every Tuesday and Thursday morning, and watch a series of special reports titledThe First Lesson in the 2020 Semester for University Students of Guangdong Provincespearheaded by the Department of Education of Guangdong Province,which features interpretation of President Xi Jinping’s instructions on novel coronavirus pneumonia prevention and control, interpretation and case study of Law of the People's Republic of China on Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, and understanding, prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Sophomore, junior and postgraduate students attend online courses in respect to their original programs. The Chinese Language Center also provide Chinese language courses to international students who stay at home.