News

2010.1109

CD-ROMs of Holistic Education Project Given to Freshmen to Raise Awareness for General Knowledge

<div> <p>    Thanks to the collaboration among teachers from 12 departments/graduate institutes at the NTNU, a knowledge database of holistic education, comprising 1000 entries, has been built. Now apart from taking general education courses, freshmen are also encouraged to take a knowledge quiz on these entries.</p> </div> <div> <p><span>    </span>Apex Lin, Vice President of the NTNU, said that establishing a database of holistic education has been a major goal for the school. The online database can be divided into ten topics, such as literature, geography, history, fine arts, music, physical education, popular science, health care, ecological protection, politics and economics. For each topic, 100 entries are selected based on whether they are practical and related to our life. The database is also available as hardcopy, published in ten volumes enclosed with CD-ROMs. Therefore, Students can either browse the website online or leaf through a hard copy to acquire general knowledge.</p> </div> <div> <p><span>    Given that the NTNU emphasizes all-round student development, one of the keys is equipping students with literacy in such fields as language, art, technology and humanities. The e-portfolio system can also test students on general knowledge, language proficiency, information literacy, physical fitness, etc.</span></p> </div> <div> <p><span>    Freshmen are required to take an English placement test and a Chinese proficiency test at the beginning of the first semester, and toward the end of the second semester take an English proficiency test to see if any progress is made. As for the Taiwanese proficiency test and physical fitness test, students can check with the Graduate Institute of Taiwan Culture, Languages and Literature and PE Department respectively for registration. The tests for information literacy and career competencies are currently in the pipeline and expected to be administered next year.</span></p> </div> <div> <p><span>    Now that holistic education project is listed in NTNU's development plan, all the faculty members have started to take measures that encourage freshman students to not only enroll in general education courses but also take quizzes on entries of the ten topics, in the hope that NTNU students could all have what it takes to become generalists.</span></p> </div> <div> <p><span>    The entries in the database were first drafted by 135 graduate students, then edited by professors at the NTNU, and eventually reviewed by 31external experts and scholars including presidents of other universities, high school principals, legislators/alumni, art gallery curators, deputy ministers of education, etc. Here are some examples from the 100 core entries: biodiversity convention, global warming, physical fitness, sport injury, famous musicians, abstraction, golden proportion, earthquakes, typhoons, semiconductors, Internet, democracy and politics, globalization, business cycle, public goods, progressive historians, world cities, and literary criticism. (For details, please visit the website: </span><a href="http://hep.ccic.ntnu.edu.tw/">http://hep.ccic.ntnu.edu.tw</a>)</p> </div> <div> <p><span>    There are many familiar entries, such as Kyoto Protocol, where we read</span>“84 countries signed and ratified the protocol in 1998 with the goal of achieving stabilization of greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.” On the front of economy, included are such heated issues as “22000 Internship Program,” where we learn that the government aimed to help college graduate find jobs, only to drive down their average salary. Other entries worth reading are romantic relationship, Internet addiction, and stress management, to name just a few.</p> </div> <div> <p><span>    Besides, the school has also prepared 1800 multimedia CD-ROMs of NTNU Holistic Education Project and delivered them to freshman students. It is hoped that such resources could serve as a companion to general education courses and facilitate both teaching and learning.</span></p> </div> <div><span>    An online quiz database for Holistic Education Project is expected to be created next year. Students will be able to take quizzes to see how much they have learned. By so doing, upon graduation, students will be not only well-versed in their own fields but also able to grasp the basics of other disciplines, thus laying a solid foundation for their careers.</span></div>