Case 4 : Mini Computer Science Courses

The Wolearn model provides an opportunity for academics to produce online resources, based on their existing teaching materials that could be used as an integral part of Chinese university courses.

Academics at the departments of Computer Science from the University of Manchester, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Southampton and the University of Glasgow have created a number of mini open courses. These were created as a result of negotiating suitable topics and content for Chinese students for different courses, including Foundations of Program Design, Principles of Compiler Design, Digital Signal Processing and Digital Image Processing.

The mini courses are openly and freely available for anyone to use or reuse in their own teaching, or for students to learn individually. Here Wolearn supports the organisation of seminars so that students have the opportunity to ask questions and engage with the academics involved in creatint the online materials. Online learning activities and discussions before and after the seminars are used as a part of formative assessment for students.