Affected by the epidemic, most of the international students in this semester cannot return to BIT campus. However, BIT has extensively implemented various forms of online teaching to ensure that every BIT international student continues to study. Now, it is over a half through the semester, the international students, lecturers, and teachers from the Office of International Students worked together and devoted their efforts. They are commendable! " Speaking of online teaching for international students this semester, Fang Yongfei, a teacher of the School of Mathematics and Statistics who just finished answering questions online with overseas students, said emotionally. Now, it is 9 pm Beijing time.

In the golden autumn season of 2020, with the remarkable results of China's epidemic prevention and control, the campus of BIT, which celebrated its 80th anniversary, also resumed its lively atmosphere and was full of vitality. However, due to the global epidemic, more than 900 international students of BIT cannot return to the campus to share this joy, and the arrival of the new semester has also brought new challenges to the international students who have just completed a full semester of "class on the cloud".

In the spring semester, all BIT students studied at home, and there was little difference in teaching arrangements between Chinese and foreign students. However, in the autumn semester, Chinese students all return to school on time to carry out normal offline teaching. Except for more than 200 students who have stayed in China, 80% of international students will have to continue to apply online teaching because they cannot enter the country. The teaching of international students in the autumn semester brings great difficulties and challenges.

"No matter where the student is in the world, we must ensure that every BIT international student can keep up learning!". In order to make every effort to ensure the smooth development of international students in the autumn semester, BIT decided to continue to adopt online teaching methods to ensure that the course content, teaching quality and academic progress are synchronized with the students on campus. In view of the special circumstances of the international student population, the Office of International Students has actively coordinated and communicated with the Undergraduate Academic Affairs Department, Graduate School, Network Security Center, Teaching Operation and Examination Center and other professional colleges since the summer semester, and formulated practical international student teaching working plan. At the same time, BIT organized forces to help international students connect with lecturers and tutors, and assist both parties to resolve difficulties such as poor communication, regional time lag, and low internet speed, to ensure accurate information transmission and effective curriculum connection, and to ensure the smooth development of this cross-continental online teaching. Finally, with the joint efforts of all institutes of BIT, the curtain of "online + offline" simultaneous teaching for international students this semester officially opened.

Peace of mind! We are the support team for live broadcast!

"A computer, a camera, and a microphone have become standard equipment that our live broadcast group carries with us. We must ensure that these equipment appear on the teacher’s podium on time, so that they can become an ‘amulet’ for international students to listen to online courses. We are also live broadcast assistants for focusing, microphone, recording and transcoding. We often appear in the classrooms of the two campuses. " Speaking of guaranteeing for online courses in this semester, the faces of the teachers and students of the Office of International Student and Lingwen Academy are full of pride.

A good land knows the meaning of autumn, and the golden leaves fragrant in autumn. At the beginning of this semester, BIT launched "Yanhe Classroom", a new online teaching platform, which provides strong support for international students to teach online. Through "Yanhe Classroom", students can watch live broadcasts and videos of courses online, and effectively combine with the functions of "Lexue Platform" such as courseware download, teacher-student communication and homework submission, which promotes the quality and upgrade of online teaching.

In order to better improve the teaching effect of "Yanhe Classroom", the Office of International Students has established a " Support Team for Live Broadcast" to organize forces and purchase equipment to provide a global live broadcast service guarantee for all "host teachers". From late summer to early winter, from thin clothes to cotton clothes, from Zhongguancun to Liangxiang, regardless of rain or snow, the "Live Support Team" fully protects every class of international students, even if there is only one international student to attend the class, teachers from the Office of International Students also went to the classroom to set up equipment for direct recording and broadcasting, and strive to achieve precise docking and comprehensive coverage. As of the end of November, the International Student Center has broadcast live broadcasts of more than 50 courses, with a total of more than 600 hours of filming, and "bringing BIT's classrooms to the front", becoming a "reassurance" for overseas international students!

In addition to guaranteeing the professional courses of overseas international students, the Office of International Students also undertakes the task of teaching Chinese for all international students in China. While resuming offline teaching for students on campus, 31 courses of 17 teaching classes in this semester have also been fully broadcast live, with a total live broadcast time of more than 2500 hours. The Teaching and Research Section of Chinese as a Foreign Language of the Office of International Students implements refined teaching management, formulates teaching plans in accordance with the "One Student One Case", records students' learning in detail, and makes timely interviews with students with academic problems to ensure that every student abroad continues the study. The teaching content is based on "telling a good Chinese story" and incorporates national conditions education and traditional cultural elements to help students further understand Chinese history, perceive China today, and cultivate Chinese feelings. In the classroom, international students actively participate in interactive discussions and knowledge sharing online and offline. The teaching effect is good, and the good feedback rate exceeds 98%.

Carefully, patiently, mobilizing the BIT to cultivate talents!

"I will work with the colleges and teachers of each course one by one to help teachers understand the specific situation of each international student in the class, pay attention to student attendance and learning performance, and carefully listen to teachers’ opinions and suggestions on online teaching. We provide timely feedback on the problems encountered by the students, and actively assist teachers in establishing a WeChat contact group to provide after-school Q&A and remote tutoring for international students. In response to poor network conditions, we also need to help solve them through various channels in a timely manner. " This semester, every international student counselor in the Office of International Students is doing their best to ensure the smooth communication between teachers and students.

In recent years, the number of international students in BIT has continued to grow, and the majors studied are all over the various schools of BIT, and the distribution of courses is very wide. After comprehensive statistical analysis by the Office of International Students, there are 420 compulsory courses involving undergraduate international students in the autumn semester, as well as 16 basic courses for first-year freshmen of Lingwen Academy; and the number of professional courses attended by graduate students reaches 62.

The Office of International Student has actively connected with the schools, teachers and student tutors in advance, and has established more than 30 various WeChat communication groups, and has actively communicated with postgraduate tutors, has fully considered the epidemic factors when formulating the 2020 postgraduate training plan, and has done a good job of guiding overseas students to ensure the smooth progress of the training work. On the other hand, the Office of International Students has actively done a good job of communication with overseas students, helping them maintain a good attitude, has actively responded to practical difficulties, and has strived to complete the training tasks in all links to minimize the impact of the epidemic.

Doing a good job in teaching international students in the fall semester has received strong support from all units of the school. The Department of Academic Affairs, Graduate School, Teaching Operation and Examination Center and other departments jointly issued notices to make arrangements and deployments for the smooth promotion of teaching work for international students; schools with a large number of international students, such as School of Mechanical Engineering, School of Management and Economics, and School of Computer Science and Technology, , cooperate fully to formulate work plans at the first time and continue to modify and adjust them during the implementation process; School of Information and Electronics, School of Automation, and School of Physics, which offer more compulsory courses for school-wide majors are precisely organized to adjust and concentrate international students who were originally scattered in different teaching classes into new teaching units, and concentrate resources to carry out online teaching; schools with a small number of international students, such as School of Materials Science & Engineering and School of Design & Art, took the initiative to establish a special WeChat work group for international students. School leaders, responsible professors, teaching officers and teachers in charge of the Office of International Students joined in to strengthen communication and solved problems in a timely manner; In order to ensure the direct recording and broadcasting effect of "Yanhe Classroom", the Network Security Center provided technical support and strong guarantee.

Study hard, BIT’s academic atmosphere comes to my home!

"Over a half of this semester has passed. I have kept up attending online classes. I have learned a lot of new knowledge. I have also trained my ability to learn independently, learned to arrange time and improve my learning efficiency. When I encounter content that I don't understand, I listen and watch it repeatedly. Although in the study at BIT, there are a lot of homework and pressure, the teachers at BIT have worked so hard for us, and I have to work hard to complete the learning tasks. The epidemic will always be over, and we must return to BIT with good results. ". This is the voice of Wang Yanzi, a 2018 international undergraduate student majoring in marketing in the School of Management and Economics. Overcoming the impact of the epidemic and launching online teaching require not only the joint efforts of various departments and teachers of BIT, but also the hard work of overseas international students.

While unfolding a map of the world, from Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, more than 4,000 kilometers away from Beijing, to Cairo, the capital of Egypt, more than 7,000 kilometers away, to Quito, the capital of Ecuador, more than 14,000 kilometers away... International students of BIT are located in more than 140 countries in the world, and the time difference between the furthest city and Beijing is more than 13 hours. Therefore, through online learning, international students who are abroad have to face many difficulties and challenges.

Although international students study at home all over the world, the academic atmosphere of BIT has also spread all over the world through the Internet. BIT’s online classes are non-stop and can be watched 24 hours a day, and the live broadcast is transmitted to students’ homes as soon as possible. Accompanied by the wonderful explanations from the teachers of BIT in the video, overseas students actively participated in the intense online discussion, submitted homework before the deadline, and innovated various methods to consolidate the learning effect. "Online learning is really difficult to achieve the same learning effect as classroom listening. I rely on this pile of notes in class and remote Q&A from teachers to consolidate it. Notes are very helpful for clarifying ideas and understanding problems. Only by taking notes can we do the homework and improve the test scores." Zhu Yuxiang, a student from Malaysia, his "3.0 version" online class notes are impressive.

Although the courses are taught online, the learning of overseas international students is not just "thinking". "Sports on the Cloud" has become one of the most popular courses in the autumn semester. The Physical Education Department of BIT has fully taken into account the reality of students’ learning and their physical fitness needs at home. It has launched a Tai Chi video course, and has successively released six issues of "Physical Education for Foreign Students" through new media to facilitate overseas international students to attend " Sports on the Cloud" to meet the requirements of physical exercise. Through online learning, the students’ tricks are tangible. In December, the Physical Education Department will also perform unified online acceptance of the students’ learning results.

In 2020, although the Covid-2019 disrupted the pace of international student training, BIT will always focus on the core work of the talent training, put students first, and spare no effort to ensure the learning and growth of overseas international students, and build a world-class university with Chinese characteristics tirelessly.

Thoughts from the lecturers

Teacher Fang Yongfei, from School of Mathematics and Statistics, Course: "Calculus" + "Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics"

Due to the impact of the Covid-2019, most of the international students in this semester cannot return to the campus to continue their studies, but BIT has carried out various forms of online teaching to ensure the smooth progress of international students' studies. I have undertaken the teaching work of calculus, probability theory and mathematical statistics for overseas students. Now, it is over a half of the semester, I think the majority of international students, lecturers and teachers in the Office of International Students are worthy of praise.

First, I would like to praise the vast number of international students who cannot return to the campus. During the online study period, the students overcome the disadvantages of internet and jet lag. The international students insist on attending classes online on time, completing homework earnestly, and actively communicating with instructors to ask questions. Their serious attitude towards learning deserves praise.

Second, I would like to praise each teacher. Two courses of mine apply online teaching mode, the teaching method that combines MOOC and music learning platform is used. It takes a lot of time and energy from the establishment of MOOC courses to the start of the course to the update of course content, as well as synchronizing MOOC teaching content in music learning, and arranging offline homework. Especially for the course of calculus, because there are no suitable MOOC resources, in order to better suit the characteristics of international students, it is necessary to reproduce the PPT of the course and upload it as a video file to the Lexue platform, which has required a lot of effort. At the same time, in order to better serve the students, the WeChat group established for each course is mainly used to answer questions. Due to the time difference, sometimes there are students asking questions at midnight or early morning Beijing time. I must do my best to give an answer promptly.

Third, I would like to praise the teachers of the Office of International Student. At the beginning of the course, they undertook a lot of work, with many courses, many students, and complicated situations. They must implement every link in every detail, and they must also contact the teacher to coordinate the opening of various subjects. I want to say that you have paid efforts!

Teacher Yan Xuemei from School of Information and Electronics, Course: "Basic Circuit Analysis D"

Because of the epidemic, many international students cannot participate in learning on campus. The teachers at the Office of International Students have worked tirelessly. Every time they go to class, they will go to my classroom to broadcast live videos for overseas students. After that, the video will be compressed into the corresponding format and sent to the students so that they can watch the recording and broadcasting of the previous day's course. Since overseas students do not have relevant teaching materials in their hands, in order to facilitate the learning of students, I sent them the electronic version of the "Basic Circuit Analysis" teaching materials through the WeChat group, and edited the content of the left homework into a pdf file for them to learn. In addition, questions can be answered online at any time through the WeChat group, and the problems encountered by international students in their studies can be solved in a timely manner.

Teacher Li Xin from School of Management and Economics, Course: "Accounting"

There are three overseas students in my class this semester. In special periods, although they could not attend classes on campus like other students, they tried to overcome various difficulties and insist on watching live broadcasts or recordings, and complete assignments on time and with quality. I hope that all the international students of BIT will continue to work hard as always and gain a lot and be satisfied with their studies in BIT.

Teacher Liu Wei, School of Physics, Course: "University Physics AII"

As a class teacher, in order to carry out the teaching work for overseas students this semester, I first conducted a thorough investigation of the learning conditions of overseas students and made a questionnaire to understand the students’ network conditions, time difference, whether the textbook materials are complete, and online courses, whether the video learning and online quizzes are going well, etc., to work with the teachers of the Office of International Students to help overseas students solve their learning difficulties. The Office of International Students has established a course group for students, adding students to the group one by one, and always paying attention to the learning tasks and course requirements issued by the teacher in the group, assisting the teacher in urging students to complete assignments and tests on time, and paying attention to the difficulties of students posting, helping teachers and students to solve problems such as online class results query. I hope the international students will study smoothly this semester and gain something. It's really hard, thank you all teachers in the Office of International Students.

Feelings of overseas international students

Liu Zhixuan, a 2020 undergraduate student of Lingwen Academy (South Korea):

The number of international students in BIT is really large, and the requirements of students from different countries and different majors are also various. I really thank the BIT teachers for their timely and patient responses. They strive to be responsive. This really touched me. When there is something in the homework that you don’t understand, the teacher will explain it in detail in the next class, and take care of every student as much as possible. When we learn that our students abroad cannot buy textbooks or teaching materials, the teacher will also send the electronic version of the learning materials to the WeChat group in time. Although during online lessons, we will face many difficulties, I believe that with the patience and help of teachers, the difficulties will be solved.

Su Yongbin (Malaysia), a 2019 undergraduate student from School of Materials Science and Engineering majoring in Materials Science and Engineering:

Thanks to Teacher Zhang Tong who taught us in the engineering drawing class, he helped me a lot when I was most helpless. At the beginning of this semester, I took the initiative to get in touch with Teacher Zhang. He was very worried that I would not be able to keep up with the progress of my studies, and he sent me courseware and problem sets in the shortest time, and he also arranged classes in the class to help me with my studies on behalf of the classmates. With the enthusiastic help of this Chinese classmate, I gradually mastered some of the principles and requirements of engineering drawing, and began to purchase books in a unified manner and slowly learn by myself. Later, for each assignment, Teacher Zhang clearly explained, and after finishing the assignment, he carefully corrected each time and commented on WeChat. Thank you so much!

Huang Taisheng, a 2018 undergraduate student majoring in Computer Science and Technology, School of Computer Science and Technology (USA):

During the live class, the teacher’s blackboard writing is sometimes unclear, so we told the teacher in the WeChat group. Almost every time we make a small request, the on-site teacher will help us solve it quickly. I really appreciate the teachers!

Huang Kaiwei (Malaysia), a 2018 undergraduate of Art Design from School of Design and Art:

Thanks to every teacher for the education, especially for tutoring me when they are busy. For me, the only foreign student in the class to come to China, teachers often connect to the Internet in advance in the classroom to prepare for online teaching. Studying with the Chinese classmates in the class allows me to truly enjoy the good atmosphere of studying together in the classroom.