PERFORMANCE SIMULATOR® is designed to prepare teachers for the future. In context of the Chinese governmental initiative, which aims at a middle- to long-term reform of the educational system, Prof. Zhiting Zhu and Prof. Hanbing Yan initiated a comprehensive training program. The primary goal of this program is to improve the educational opportunities and study achievements of pupils and students through the targeted use of digital media in classrooms.
The long-term program started in 2015 under the title “Technology Changes Teaching”. It focuses on five key-topics:
- How can digital media support students in individual self-learning processes?
- What relevance does the variety of modern information media have for school routines?
- How can information technologies be effectively applied in schools?
- How can information technologies and their application improve the learning experience of individual students?
- Which options concerning knowledge-checks and performance measurements do modern Learning Management Systems and E-Learning Tools offer?
S&P Consulting is proud to support this demanding program with its purpose built PERFORMANCE SIMULATOR®. Since 2013 we run the “ECNU-S&P Research Center for ICT-Enabled Systemic Changes and Innovations“ in Shanghai, in cooperation with the East China Normal University (ECNU) – a first-rate pedagogic university in China. The goal of the ECNU-S&P Research Center is the development and validation of appropriate concepts, models and methods in order to effectively implement modern information- and communication technologies within the framework of organizational change processes in the Chinese educational system.
The first tool to be developed, PERFORMANCE SIMULATOR® „Technology changes Teaching”, is currently being produced and will be made available for Chinese teachers throughout the country across various learning management systems as part of the reform project of the Chinese ministry of education
Making-Of
In cooperation with educational experts from ECNU, we developed critical situations for the application of information technology in the classroom, simulated them in video-based scenes and transformed them into an E-learning tool. The Chinese teachers taking part in the project will have the opportunity to study and evaluate these simulations. Neurological studies support this approach. In contrast to theoretical material, the simulated critical situations directly confront the teachers with possible opportunities and problems concerning the application of information technology in the classroom. They experience the situation as if they were actually happening. We are confident that the teachers can show a learning curve throughout the program, thereby directly contributing to the effective application of information technology in classrooms and ultimately increase sustained learning performance for students.
The program is taken up by the state and will be applied nationwide. It will function as a powerful tool to fulfill the goal of a long-term qualitative increase in the Chinese educational system.
