News

Visit from Ecole du Louvre Forges Academic Exchange and Cooperation between France and Taiwan

The Director of the Ecole du Louvre, Claire Barbillon, visited National Taiwan Normal University on 27 April. During her visit, she not only led students in exploring the beauty of classical sculptures, but also established with NTNU a channel for greater academic exchange and cooperation between France and Taiwan as the Ecole du Louvre and NTNU reached a consensus to sign a memorandum of understanding for academic cooperation as well as an agreement for student exchange.

NTNU’s Visit to Australia: Cultivating Academic Exchange, Benchmarking, and Alumni Relations

With the goal of strengthening and advancing academic cooperation and exchange with institutions of higher learning in Australia as well as learning more about administrative benchmarking already underway in the management and planning of university campuses, President Cheng-Chi Wu of National Taiwan Normal University led a seven-member delegation to visit Queensland, Australia on April 3-9, 2023. The delegation included Vice President for International Affairs Yi-De Liu, Vice President for General Affairs Horng-Sheng Mii, University Head Librarian Shyue-Cherng Liaw, College of Liberal Arts Dean Chiou-Lan Chern, Graduate Institute of Translation and Interpretation Director Daniel Hu, and Graduate Institute of Taiwan History Professor Su-Bing Chang. In a span of seven days, they visited the University of Queensland (UQ) and Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane as well as Griffith University in the Gold Coast.

An Accomplice to Alzheimer's Disease: Protein TDP-43

Of all patients with dementia across the globe, approximately 60-70% are confirmed cases of Alzheimer’s disease, the vast majority of which are seniors over the age of 65. New studies have suggested that around 30-57% of Alzheimer's patients were found to have abnormal levels of protein TDP-43 inclusions, which presents faster disease progression and greater brain atrophy. To this day, treatments for Alzheimer’s disease continue to be limited. Therefore, in order to develop better treatment strategies and gain a further understanding of the disease, the importance of TDP-43 must not be overlooked.

Helping Taiwanese Children Cultivate Strong Emotional Skills

Emotional intelligence forms the foundation for a happy life, and is an important aspect of lifelong education. The preschool years are a particularly crucial period for the development of a child’s emotional abilities, and as research has consistently shown, family environment has a strong influence on their cultivation. How can parents and caregivers ensure that their homes are conducive to nurturing emotional development? Below, members of the “Kids in Taiwan: National Longitudinal Study of Child Development and Care” research team, led by Professor Chien-ju Chang of the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at National Taiwan Normal University, will share some insights on the development process of preschool children’s emotional abilities, as well as some of the key factors involved in cultivating emotional intelligence. The researchers encourage parents to pay attention to their children’s social-emotional skills, and urge relevant government departments to cooperate to prioritize parenting education.

NTNU and Japanese Scholars Co-organize Emerging Technology Workshops

Department of Technology Application and Human Resource Development and office of International Affairs from National Taiwan Normal University (henceforth referred to as the Dept. of TAHRD) conducted a Virtual Worlds teaching workshop on February 4, 2023 in cooperation with Prof. Irina Kuznetcova from Akita University, Japan. The workshop was organized by Yi-Yao Hsu, a senior from the Dept. of TAHRD, and assistant, Chia-Ju Chou, and was a continuation of the ICT workshop previously held by the Dept. of TAHRD for the School of Teacher Education. In this 5-hour workshop, participants learned practical applications of Unity, a game development engine along with the theoretical foundations of integrating virtual worlds created in Unity in teaching. Participants were tasked with designing a lesson plan integrating pedagogical theories and technology. Yi-Yao Hsu and Prof. Kuznetcova noted that the workshop was quite challenging because most of the participants had no experience with Unity.