Dr. Xudong Zhu - Dean, Beijing Normal University

“Collective Individualism Model” of Classroom Culture: Evidence from China

Livestream link: https://ca.bbcollab.com/guest/48a2b06209ac41df924758a6e981d289

Abstract
In recent years there is a global push to examine diverse and complex approaches through which classroom culture contributes to the shaping of students’ learning cultural identity. Classroom culture plays a fundamental role in constructing students’ learning competencies, perceptions and behaviors. This study constructs a collective individualism model to explicate a specific classroom culture in Chinese school context traditionally. The collective individualism model is identified as students’ individualized learning style in Chinese classroom culture which is characterized by eight symbolic objects, including a textbook, an exercise book, a pen, a blackboard, a screen, a computer, a table, and a chair. The implications for examining the collective individualism model of Chinese classroom culture are likewise linked to innovative talent cultivation and fulfillment of the national goal of “Four Good Teachers”. The talk will discuss and conclude the practical construction of promising classroom culture in Chinese context.

Speaker Biography
Professor ZHU Xudong, Dean of BNU Faculty of Education, and Professor and Director of BNU Teacher Education Research Center, is a globally renowned educator and researcher in the field of teacher education policy, with a PhD in comparative education from BNU (1995). He has led numerous national and international research projects on teachers and teacher education policy, and has published more than 80 papers, 10 books, and 4 edited book series. Among his publications in recent years are Research on Teacher Learning Models: Experiences from China (Co-author, 2017), Constructing a Modern System of Teacher Education in China (Chief-editor,2014), Preparing Teachers for the 21st Century (Co-editor, 2013), Conceptualizing the Ontology of Higher Education with Chinese Characteristics (1st author, 2018), The Construction of a Theoretical Model of Teachers’ Professional Development (1st author, 2014), A Design for the Administration Procedures of the Teacher Qualification Examination (1st author, 2016), etc.

Coffee and cookies will be served. Please RSVP to jheidenh@uwo.ca by April 3, 2019 if you would like to attend.