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Beyond Summative Evaluation: Improving the Quality of Teaching and Learning in China’s Higher Education

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Survival of the Fittest

Part of the book series: New Frontiers of Educational Research ((NFER))

Abstract

While the national undergraduate teaching and learning evaluation is a major initiative to improve the quality of teaching and learning in China, it is not as robust as originally intended. This is largely attributable to the tension between its use for accountability and for improvement purposes and to the tension between the bureaucratic hierarchy and the need for a mode of social coordination. Due to these tensions, policy makers and higher education leaders are confronted with a range of critical challenges. As such, institutional initiatives must be undertaken to give appropriate weight to the voice of various stakeholders, to engage faculty as catalysts for change, and to transform colleges and universities into learning organizations. This chapter examines national and institutional initiatives to improve the quality of teaching and learning in China’s higher education and anticipates their implications for future development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Qi Li

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  1. Qi Li
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Correspondence to Qi Li .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People's Republic of China

    Qi Li

  2. College of Education and Social Services, University of Vermont, Burlington, USA

    Cynthia Gerstl-Pepin

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Li, Q. (2014). Beyond Summative Evaluation: Improving the Quality of Teaching and Learning in China’s Higher Education. In: Li, Q., Gerstl-Pepin, C. (eds) Survival of the Fittest. New Frontiers of Educational Research. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39813-1_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39813-1_5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-39812-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-39813-1

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