Last summer was special for the Creative Commons China Mainland team, Wenzhou Medical University, and Guokr.com. These three parties co-hosted an Open Education Resources (OER) summer camp on Luxi Island off the coast of China. For Wenzhou Medical University, the summer camp had been a part of their routine volunteering activities for five consecutive years, but it was the first time they partnered with the CC China Mainland Project; a team that brought a need in rural China to the camp's participants.
The first OER summer camp received great feedback, not only from volunteers of Wenzhou Medical University that participated, but from the officials of Luxi Island, and more importantly, from the students of Luxi Public School.
The first successful, but not flawless camp, greatly encouraged us to make the second one even better. The course, "How to make herbarium," was regarded as the most interesting course. We thought there was a lot of room for improvement overall, especially that more CC-licensed OERs should be included. In addition to OERs available online, we wondered if we could make some interesting online courses ourselves for the kids within our reach.
Photo by WANG Hongying / CC BY-SA 4.0
"We hope to make a difference,” said volunteers from Wenzhou Medical University. "Why not make some courses based on our knowledge as medical students? We believe that would be more interesting and flexible."
Wenzhou Medical University's student center provides opportunities for students to start small businesses within the campus, and they happen to have a photography studio, so their space was chosen as the "OER course studio" for making videos of the courses. About 12 volunteers participated and 16 different courses were recorded, of which 14 were used for the camp, including:
1. Traffic signs, an introduction. (video)
2. Comprehensive water treatment. Namely sewage treatment, flood prevention, drainage, water supply and water saving. The course was concentrated on how to identify water quality. (video)
3. Japanese languages. (video)
4. Traditional Chinese handwork: stamps, tri-colored glazed pottery of the Tang Dynasty, and blue and white porcelain. The courses teach students from ages 11 to 13.
5. Traditional Chinese Medicine. An introduction to basic knowledge, which is relevant to students' daily lives. (video)
6. China's history. An introduction to historical events that have had significant impact on China. (video)
7. Presentation skills. How to give a presentation or host an event, and how to present yourself in front of people with confidence. (video)
8. Basic knowledge for senior citizens on the island. On labor contracts if any of their family members are immigrant workers in other provinces, living knowledge on why some vegetables cannot be cooked together, and more. (video)
9. Pink ribbon. This course was designed for females on the island by Wenzhou Medical University volunteers. The presenter is a Clinical Medicine Science major student; she introduces relevant knowledge of breast cancer, including how to prevent it from happening. (video)
10. Muscle-bone strengthening exercise. Through proper adjustment in the human body and correct method for breath (muscle, bone etc.), the exercise can help to improve blood circulation and the functions of internal organs of the body (heart, spleen, liver, lungs and kidneys). (video)
11. Spoken English. Mr. Percy provides kids with some simple and easy spoken English examples. (video)
12. MOOC from Guokr. How to select good quality fruit, specially designed for kids. (link)
This is a guest post by LIUPing, members of the CC China Mainland Affiliate team, and the School of Open community. A verison of this article has been revised and reposted via Creative Commons license. For feedback from the students on the summer camp and more on The School of Open, go to the original article on the Creative Commons blog.
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