new series of courses focusing on English short stories developed by a faculty team of Shanghai International Studies University (SISU),was launched on Chinese MOOC, which is a popular online education platform in China. The first class can be accessible to learners from May 22 to to July 30, 2018. 

The courses, including introduction and 12 units, are all taught in English and are mainly designed for undergraduates and graduates in English major as well as those who have a good command of English and show their interests in English novels. The developers base the lecture content on the textbook Short Story in English:a Reading Course (edited by Professor Yu Jianhua, one member of the team), which was awarded “Elaborate Textbook” by National Educational Ministry.

Different from the traditional way of teaching, they add more interests to learning by turning contents in the textbook into online video courses, overcoming the passivity and low efficiency of traditional classroom learning.

Additionally, learners can play an active role in the process of studying. No longer limited by time and space, they can study courses according to their own schedules. It’s possible for them to skip over what they are familiar with and review the parts hard to understand, which satisfies students’ individual needs.

After class, students can consolidate what they have learned through the discussions, assignments, peer responses and tests. Meanwhile, offline tutoring from teachers are accessible, helping to construct a comprehensive knowledge systems.

The production of the whole courses started from October last year to this March, under the cooperation of two main teams -- the faculty team consisting of Professor  Yu Jianhua and Associate Professors Mei Li, Cheng Xin and Liu Siyuan; the educational technology team made up of 15 members, faculty group of teachers Jin Hui and Wei Yu, as well as student group. 

Learn more about this course: https://www.icourse163.org/course/SISU-1002609067/