Technology and Curricular Reform in China : A Case Study

This paper reports on a five-year study of a technology-enhanced educational reform initiative at a university in eastern China. A faculty team attempted pedagogical and curricular reform to better prepare English majors for international communication, collaboration, and research using new technologies. The effort resulted in the development of several project-based courses as well as incorporation of technology as a supplement to traditional lecture courses. Participant observation, interviews, surveys, and text analysis were used for focused examination of two project-based courses within a broader study of the reform program. The project-based instruction brought about several positive changes in learning processes and outcomes, including increased amounts of authentic interaction, greater learner autonomy, and more relevance of content to students’ lives and careers. However, few faculty were willing to teach project-based courses due to the great amount of time and effort that such instruction demanded, as well as the mismatch between student-centered learning and traditional norms and incentives in Chinese higher education. The study concludes by assessing the overall gains and shortcomings of the reform effort and the implications of these results for future attempts at educational restructuring in China.