NingBo Polytechnic

Students’ oral communication ability has become one of the Institution’s outstanding characteristics
The transition from test-oriented education to application-oriented education is a major issue that all Chinese universities are facing, particularly so for higher vocational education. NBPT, founded in 1999, is a full-time higher vocational institution, which ranks in the top ten of the top 100 national institutions of its kind. In 2008, DynEd was introduced to NBPT and used in an experimental program as one of the projects of English education reform. A year later, in the fall of 2009, the DynEd course was expended to the whole institution, replacing the former Public English courses (for non-English-major students). In the past four years, DynEd has helped train almost 9,000 students at NBPT.
Statistics show that, after one year’s study of DynEd, students’ average levels rose by 0.5 on DynEd’s scale of 0.0 to 3.5, which is a gratifying achievement. Students’ having good oral communication ability has become the Institution’s outstanding characteristic. As a fine example of English education reform NBPT has attracted many visitors from other colleges and universities.

Enjoyable learning has helped students regain confidence
At the beginning of study, the majority of students had a fear of studying English. Therefore, one primary difficulty that teachers faced was how to rekindle students’ English learning interest and rebuild their confidence. By using DynEd, students are no longer assessed merely by their written test scores, but their way of learning and their actual oral English ability. Students’ efforts are recognized and rewarded, their self-esteem is strengthened, and thereafter, their confidence is built up. Before using DynEd, more than 200 students among the 1500 students each year had to take the makeup exam or couldn’t graduate because of their failure in English. By studying DynEd, the result improved significantly —- in 2012, less than 10 students needed to take the makeup exams.

The change of education philosophy brought teachers and students closer
The use of DynEd closes the distance between the teachers and the students, which was one characteristic of traditional education. One of the advantages that NBPT teachers benefit from is the use of DynEd Records Manager. By monitoring and analyzing the records, teachers can trace each and every student’s detailed learning behaviors and progress, so that they can give students practical and individualized coaching. In the classroom, students’ and teachers’ roles reversed, with students playing the more active roles now. The change of roles also helped to enhance students’ respect and trust in their teachers, which is another reason why students become more interested in learning English.

Interactive and autonomous learning helped to develop student’s professional ability
It’s beyond our expectation that DynEd not only improved students’ oral English fluency, but also helped to develop students’ professional ability and interpersonal skills. Business scenarios and real communication practice in DynEd courses exert a subtle influence on improving students’ communication abilities. Students become more open and can express themselves more clearly and fluently than before, which will help them a lot when graduating and starting their working life. NBPT are proud of this achievement.

NBPT has enjoyed a good reputation from putting real effort on intrinsic qualification, vocational education and skill-oriented education. When the teaching reform with DynEd started, teachers as well as students, did not fully understand it. Yet, after just one year, the DynEd approach has become widely accepted. NBPT has become even more widely recognized for its high stands of OralEnglish education.NBPT has enjoyed a good reputation from putting real effort on intrinsic qualification, vocational education and skilloriented education. When the teaching reform with DynEd started, teachers as well as students, did not fully understand it. Yet, after just one year, the DynEd approach has become widely accepted. NBPT has become even more widely recognized for its high stands of OralEnglish education.

Mr. Zheng Weidong, Vice President of NBPT

Under the traditional education system, it’s hard to imagine how to interact with students in a big class with 50 students. The use of DynEd solved this problem and helped me to easily interact with students from seven different classes. DynEd Placement Tests enabled students to study at their optimum levels, and allowed the teachers to provide individualized teaching and coaching to the students, which brought students and teachers closer. The effective integration of multi-media courseware study and face-to-face classroom learning resulted in more interesting and
practical English studying.

Ms. Wang Xiaoyan, Dean of Public English Teaching Section

I told my teacher when I came to NBPT, that I had never passed any exam in English,and I didn’t like English. But when learning through the DynEd course, my teacher is not only concerned about my test results, but spends time coaching me, pointing out my weaknesses and problems in courseware learning. The whole learning process and my efforts are valued and respected. I am more confident to participate in classroom activities now.

Student Liu, year 2011 from Electrical and Mechanical Faculty