# The power of models and examples, understanding the role of the Top Level Courses Project in China


In [the previous
section](http://reganmian.net/blog/2010/12/07/two-metaphors-for-professors-and-course-delivery),
I discussed different European models of the university, showing the
role of teaching and research in the German university, which would
become the inspiration for the North American research university, and
the French university, which would inspire the Soviet Union, and in time
China. I also showed how the role of the professor at traditional
research universities and newer distance universities could be seen as
an artist or an artisan. However, there are also important differences
between the history of educational thought in China, and the West, which
might have had an influence on the development of the Top Level Courses
Project.

One of the important differences between education in China, and the
West, was the much larger emphasis on the written word in China. While
Clark (2006) spends much time discussing the oral traditions in the
European medieval universities, China had already instituted the first
anonymous written exams much earlier (Thomas H. C. Lee 2000). Students
had access to a wealth of earlier writings, and were expected to imitate
these as a form of learning. Reed (1992) talks about modelling as a
pedagogical technique in China, whether in the case of art students
carefully copying the master’s strokes, or scholars copying the
Confucian classics. She believes that “modelling is more than mere
imitation, as we so often tend to view it in the West; rather, it is a
process that should lead to inner transformation” (ibid, 78).

The Communist Party frequently chose outstanding people to act as
exemplars for the nation, the most famous being the soldier Lei Feng,
whose post-humously published diaries were widely read and discussed.
Lei Feng could be seen as a “proletarianized version of earlier
Confucian prototypes”, cultivating the same virtues, loyalty, filial
piety, self-cultivation, modesty, frugality, diligence and benevolence,
as those of his Confucian forebearers (Reed 1998, 360).

It might be a stretch to see the current-day Top Level Courses
professors as moral examples, and there is no mention in the official
government policies about patriotism, selflessness, or sacrifice.
Rather, it is a much more utilitarian focus on promoting excellent
courses. However, the use of models might still be relevant, when
discussing different approaches to teaching and the role of teachers.
Stevenson and Stigler (1992, 167-168) have surveyed teacher attitudes in
the US and China, and found significant differences related to building
on a common core, versus having to invent everything from scratch.

In Asia, the ideal teacher is a skilled performer. As with the actor or
musician, the substance of the curriculum becomes the script or the
score; the goal is to perform the role or piece as effectively and
creatively as possible. Rather than executing the curriculum as a mere
routine, the skilled teacher strives to perfect the presentation of each
lesson. She uses the teaching techniques she has learned and imposes her
own interpretation on these techniques in a manner that she thinks will
interest and motivate her pupils.

In America, teachers are judged to be successful when they are
innovative, inventive and original. Skill presentation of a standard
lesson is not sufficient and may even be disparaged as indicating a lack
of innovative talent. It is as if American teachers were expected to
write their own play or create their own concerto day after day and then
perform it with expertise and finesse. These two models, the skilled
performer and the innovator, have very different value in the East and
West.

Stevenson and Stigler are discussing the attitudes of K-12 teachers, but
it is possible that there are similar differences in attitude among
university professors, where the requirement to be unique and
independent is much stronger in North America.

In the two sections above, I have shown how the Top Level Courses
Project exists in a higher education system that owes more to the French
centralized teaching-focused system than the German research-university
model that influenced North American universities so profoundly. It also
exists in a culture where models and examples, and building on the work
of others – also in teaching – have a long history. These are factors
that might make it difficult to implement a similar program in North
America, but also factors that make us understand and appreciate the
Chinese system much better, and could inspire us to rethink university
teaching in North America.

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The quotes in this text is from the MA Thesis "The Chinese National Top
Level Courses Project: Using Open Educational Resources to Promote
Quality in Undergraduate Teaching" by Stian Håklev, University of
Toronto 2010.

-   Download this thesis:
  [PDF](http://reganmian.net/top-level-courses/Haklev_Stian_201009_MA_thesis.pdf)[DOC](http://reganmian.net/top-level-courses/Haklev_Stian_201009_MA_thesis.doc)
  [ODT](http://reganmian.net/top-level-courses/Haklev_Stian_201009_MA_thesis.odt)
  [RTF](http://reganmian.net/top-level-courses/Haklev_Stian_201009_MA_thesis.rtf)[ePub](http://reganmian.net/top-level-courses/top-level-courses.epub)
  [Mobi
  (Kindle)](http://reganmian.net/top-level-courses/top-level-courses.mobi)
-   [Central page collecting all blog posts, many different download
  formats, and supplementary
  material](http://http://reganmian.net/top-level-courses)

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