2022 GEC New Faculty Orientation

On April 27th, we held the 2022 GEC New Faculty Orientation for all GEC teachers, engaging faculty and introducing faculty to the company history, our beliefs and mission, education philosophy as well as expectations about teaching. We would like to thank everyone who attended the orientation, especially thanks to the senior faculty who were invited to share their teaching experience and stories at GEC with all new GEC teachers. Below lists the recap of this year’s orientation. The complete orientation is also electronically available to all GEC faculty (please find the recording at the bottom of this page).

Greetings & Introduction

Miss. Nico Shen, Associate Academic Director of GEC Academy, started this year’s orientation by welcoming the group and inviting everyone from the Course Management Team to each do a short self-introduction.

Overall Introduction of GEC

 (Download Presentation (pdf))

Mr. Sheng Yan, Co-founder of GEC Academy and Academic Committee Chair of Path Academics, gave a detailed overall introduction of GEC, including its history, the current state and development, our mission statement, belief, and education philosophy. After a thorough introduction to GEC Academy, Mr. Yan gave a picture of what faculty can expect from teaching at GEC and reinforced GEC’s expectations for all GEC faculty. At the end of the speech, Mr. Yan also demonstrated a list of previous faculty seminars recap, encouraging every faculty to attend and offer suggestions for new seminar topics.

Senior Faculty Sharing Teaching Experience at GEC

Four senior faculty were invited to present on this topic. They led sessions and shared experiences and insights to assist in new faculty’s acclimation to GEC. Their sharing is as wide-ranging as teaching Chinese students, stimulating participation, suggestions for performance evaluation, and teaching physics programs.  

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Associate Professor of English Education at Teachers College, Columbia University

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Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz has been with GEC for several years teaching a Gender Equity program. She expressed her excellent impression of GEC students of all levels during her sharing. She said that it’s sometimes hard for her to distinguish who is a high school student and who is a college student. Through her program, she observed students enhancing their cooperation skills, research skills, presentation skills, and academic writing skills. “It’s a powerful experience for me”, she said. Concerning suggestions for new faculty, Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz recommended the “Name Story” activity with students to address the challenge of name pronunciation, as being culturally responsive, which is a great way to learn their names and make personal connections at the same time.

Daniel Prober, Professor of Applied Physics, Yale University

Professor Daniel Prober shared with the group his experience of teaching the “Energy Technology for the 21st Century” program at GEC. He talked about how involving China-related projects can better engage students in the classroom. Professor Prober also emphasized the importance of close communication with the mentor for effective teaching. He spoke highly of the mentors he worked with for their support and professionalism. In the end, Professor Prober suggested new faculty be very clear on the ratings for performance evaluation. He also expressed the hope to learn about the acceptance outcomes of GEC students.   

Arhat Virdi, Lecturer in FAME, Said Business School, University of Oxford

Professor Arhat Virdi has been teaching at GEC for more than 3 years. He gave recognition to the huge collaborative effort from the GEC team that has been put into the evolution of the education programs GEC supplies. Professor Virdi believes that GEC is a great place to explore different teaching methods, which may be unlikely at the faculty’s home institutions. He also suggested to the new faculty that it’s very important to make sure that the program content or evaluation is catered to students of different levels. In addition, Professor Virdi talked about the current incentive scheme GEC adopts to encourage participation and that grading participation is not intended to be punitive, rather, is to encourage participation.

Dr. Denes Szucs, Professor in Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, the University of Cambridge (since 2020)

Dr. Denes Szucs also highlighted the importance of engaging students in class discussions. He shared one tip for new faculty- ask effective and open questions that can really get students talking; if no one answers, then add another question to stimulate intellectual engagement. Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz also added up to Dr. Szucs’s speech by suggesting new faculty put students in smaller groups so that they can get more comfortable with speaking in front of a bigger group.

New Faculty Self-Introduction

The last session of this year’s orientation is for new faculty to introduce themselves to the group and asked questions if they have any concerning teaching at GEC and their roles and responsibilities. We would like to thank the new faculty who took the initiative to introduce themselves during the orientation. And for those who missed the meeting, please feel free to contact the Course Management Team for any questions you may have.

Finally, we want to again welcome every new faculty to GEC Academy! We are delighted that you are joining our community. The entire GEC team, in particular, the GEC academic team, is committed to creating the best possible environment for you to inspire students through teaching.

Here is the link to the recording of this year’s orientation.