On Dec.22th, the former vice-president of San Diego State University Dr. Ethan Singer, together with Prof. Mingjuan Wang visited our School of Information Technology and delivered two academic lectures on the theme of “The Trend And Challenge Of Higher Education In The United States” and “The Evolution Of Learning: From The Classroom To The Internet”. The lecture was chaired by Professor Zhiwen Zhao, Dean of BNUZ School of Information Technology.

In the lecture, Dr. Singer introduced the five trends of the development of education technology. He pointed out the trend of smart classroom and blended learning and put forward the rational view on the current hot issue MOOCs. Professor Minjuan Wang made a vivid introduction about the evolution process from classroom teaching to mobile learning even to the Internet with many case studies. She believed that in the network study, there are three essential elements namely interpersonal interaction, self-cognition and emotional caring. Then she introduced how to design the teaching according to the characteristics of students, cultural history and other factors.

After the lecture, Dr. Ethan Singer and Prof. MinJuan Wang had an in-depth communication with the teaching faculty of School of Information Technology. The two universities also have many potentials to carry out cooperative programs in the near future.