Huaqiao University (HQU) started online teaching as scheduled on February 17th. Offered online were 600 courses for undergraduate and postgraduate students, and more than 10,000 faculties and students participated in teaching activities through live streaming, interaction, bullet screen, Interactive quizzes etc. With students getting actively involved, the first day of the online teaching saw a good start.

Statistically, 800 or more teachers from HQU have offered some 1,123 online courses for undergraduates and 216 for postgraduates on various platforms, such as China University Mooc, XuetangX, Zhihuishu, and Xueyinonline, which involves more than 800 teachers and over 20,000 platform certified students.

Such massive online teaching is surely unprecedented and it has posed great challenges on the school, teachers and students. Firstly, the great variety of the platforms makes it difficult to guarantee their stability. Secondly, the feasibility of the online education is affected also by the great number of overseas students, their accessibility of the internet and the time difference. In addition, the lack of e-teaching materials for some courses makes it impossible for students to access course materials.

In the face of great challenges of online teaching, the leadership of HQU is working around the clock to ensure the smooth operation of online teaching, and has convened related departments many times to discuss and handle the problems occurred Before the official opening of this university term. The university actively carries out the preparatory work, by establishing online teaching communication groups for each online platform and providing trainings through Wechat and QQ groups. Technical staff from the respective platforms, personnel from Office of Educational Administration, Graduate School and other departments are included in all groups to train group members and to answer questions about the use of each teaching platform. Through communications groups of Deans for Undergraduate Education and Postgraduate Education, Office of Educational Administration and Graduate School push more than 40 pieces of information related to online teaching for teachers to participate in relevant training activities. Teachers also actively prepare for multi-platform teaching, including purchasing necessary teaching equipment, setting up online teaching teachers’ groups to carry out online discussions and lesson preparation activities, and developing teaching communication groups to provide timely guidance for students in online learning, tutoring and question–answering. To improve and ensure the effectiveness of the online teaching, different colleges endeavor to coordinate, mobilize and encourage their students to work hard and adapt themselves to the new way of learning. Meanwhile, aiming at the problems such as the lack of electronic teaching materials and the limited access in online learning for international students, the university has developed corresponding programs to ensure that no students is disadvantaged in learning.