A Study On The Reform On The System Of Teaching Methods Of College Ideological And Political Theory Courses

As the main channel for the ideological and political education to the college students, college ideological and political theory courses play an irreplaceable role in the development of their outlooks on the world, life, and values. It is the important way to cultivate qualified contributors and reliable successors of the Socialism with Chinese characteristics. Moreover, it embodies the essence of Socialist universities. In recent years, due to the great attention to the courses and joint efforts from the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, party.committees at all levels and all the colleges and universities, a great achievement has been made in the education of college ideological and political theory courses. However, there still exist some difficulties and problems to be solved. Of them, how to reform on the teaching method is the main factor and key points, which restrains and influences the teaching effect. Therefore, the in-depth research on the reform and construction of education and teaching method theory system is of great theoretical and practical significance to enhance learning, publicity and education of Marxism-Leninism, and Mao Zedong’s Thoughts and systematic socialist theories with Chinese characteristics, to promote the construction of Socialist core value system and advanced culture, to advance the socialist modernization construction, to improve the pertinence, practicality, attractiveness and appealingness of the education and teaching of this course, to help the college students to be useful talents.Focused on the reform of education and teaching theory system of this course, this paper tries to build logic framework of this reform by combining history, theory and reality and applying the following research methods like the method of combining literature review and empirical study, historical study and logic analysis, deduction and induction, and general introduction and focused study. The author studies the evolution of this reform and process of development of the teaching method from the historical perspective, analyzes its positioning, nature, function and feature from the theoretical perspective and the chances and changes during the reform from the practical perspective. Moreover, the author explains the main principle, basic requirements and general law of this reform. To be more specific, the analysis on this theme will be expanded in the following five chapters.Chapter One starts from the study on the developmental process of college ideological and political theory courses and the corresponding teaching methods since the analysis on the developmental process of them is the foundation for historic study and logic study. It is necessary to start the study with the historic perspective when we study on the reform of the teaching methods so that the objective principles can be observed in the development of the course and the teaching methods. Based on the different tasks of the college ideological and political education in the different historical period, six stages of the development are specified, ranging from the founding of the People Republic of China to the present, namely: the initial development period (1949-1956); tortuous development period (1956-1966); seriously tortuous development period (1966-1976); the period of recovery and sustainable development (1976-1992); comprehensive development period (1992-2004) and the period of reform and perfection (2004-present).Accordingly, six stages of the development of teaching methods of the courses are concluded. Afterwards, brief analysis of the development situation and features in terms of these courses and their teaching methods is made in this chapter. At the end of this part, the enlightenment of the analysis results in the six points observed during the developmental process.Chapter Two analyzes the chances and challenges of this reform objectively from the practical perspective. In terms of chances, the characteristics of "peace and development" in this era provide excellent international environment for this reform; economic globalization supplies new source for the reform of teaching content and methods; the policy of reform and opening-up and building a well-off society provides powerful power for the reform of teaching methods; information network supplies technological means for the reform of teaching methods. As for challenges, many factors have raised challenges for this reform, such as economic globalization, social transition, ideological diversity and information network. Apart from this, four new requirements related to the reform are also analyzed. Namely:we must always adhere to the concept people-oriented, quality-oriented education; we must always insist on arming students with developing Marxism; we must always adhere to the combination of positive education and critical thought of society; we must always keep pace with times and reform and innovate education and teaching methods.Chapter Three, from a theoretical perspective, explains the basic principle related to the nature, function, characteristics of this course. To deepen this reform, the orientation of this course should be made clear. That is to say, the nature, function, feature and its role in the whole system should be made clear since they are the basis for this reform. Based on the clear orientation of this course, four functions, such as awareness, guidance, protection, and education are inducted for the course. Teaching and learning of this course in colleges and universities is featured with a strong political, theoretical, scientific, practical, targeted, instructive and educational nature. These features lead to the fact that this reform must observe such basic principles as the conformity of the orienting, ideological and scientific characteristics; student centered, teacher directed classes with the help of the education from society; combination of education for all, tailored-education and life-long learning; lecturing, inspiring and associating reality; providing knowledge, developing capacities, nurturing moral characters.Chapter Four illustrates the connotation, classification standard and main content of the system. Teaching method is the core part and key link for delivering teaching content, realizing teaching aims and improving teaching effect. Also, it is the general term of all the channels, ways and means of contributing to the successful communication between teachers and students and realizing the teaching task and purpose. Besides the features above, this system still has its unique features. It combines theory with practice, education with inspiration, elaboration on abstract theory and case study, and convincing people with reasons and emotion. This paper, in terms of the specific teaching way, systematically analyzes the following ten types of teaching methods:classroom teaching method, and heuristic-type teaching method, and participation-type teaching method, and inquiry-type teaching method, and topic-type teaching method, and case teaching method, and practice teaching method, and multimedia teaching method, and thought-politics teaching method. This paper also explains their mutual relationship, which constitutes the grand system of the teaching methods.Chapter Five mainly discusses the basic principles on the reform and construction of the system of teaching methods. This chapter abstracts five conclusions from these factors influencing the reform and construction. First, the combination of theory and practice is a prerequisite. The fundamental principle of integrating theory with practice is determined by the nature and function of this course. During practical teaching process, we should pay special attention to the real situation in society, that is to say, combining opening up with socialist modernization construction. Also, we should help college students solve puzzles and raise their awareness through the combination of their thoughts, psychological situation and their lives. Secondly, the optimizing use of various teaching methods and means is the key point. The optimizing degree is determined by the integral optimizing law. We should flexibly choose a teaching method according to the teaching purpose, task, course nature, content, teaching objectives and teaching conditions. Third, cultivating high-quality teachers is the key point. These teachers are an important force in colleges and universities. They are not only the main preachers of the party’s theory, routine, and policy, but also the mentors and leaders for the development of college students. It is necessary for us to build a reasonably structured team of teachers who is enthusiastic and beloved by the students and have firm political stand, expertise and capacity. Fourth, it is essential to have a proper handling of a series of relationships between discipline system and teaching system. The ignorance of discipline construction and scientific research is the general problem in the teaching. To reform and build a reasonable method system, and improve the effectiveness of this course, we must correctly handle the relationship between theoretical system, discipline, curriculum, teaching materials, teaching methods, and the theories on teaching methods. Fifth, the support from the Party Committee and the good atmosphere are the guarantee. This reform is a systematical project, which need strong leadership, general planning and close cooperation. We should strengthen and improve the orientation of this course, promoting the level of general guidance, and strive to form the focused power and excellent atmosphere, providing strong security for the improvement of this course.The conclusion part mainly looks to the future of the reform and the developmental trend of college ideological and political theory courses. It is also pointed out that the reform, innovation, and development of the courses embody a trend of times, integration, modernization, invisible development and diversification. This part is also the conclusion of this paper.