Construction and Implementation Strategies of the Social Practice Teaching System for Digital Media Majors in Chinese Private Universities

Construction and Implementation Strategies of the Social Practice Teaching System for Digital Media Majors in Chinese Private Universities

Lan Mo¹, Qimei Zhang², Xiaopu Zhang^3*, Asliza Bt Aris⁴

^1,2,3College of Arts and Media, Guangzhou Vocational and Technical University of Science and Technology, China

^1,4College of Creative Arts, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia

*Corresponding Author

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.806018

Received: 26 May 2024; Accepted: 07 June 2024; Published: 27 June 2024

ABSTRACT

This study examines the construction and implementation strategies of the social practice teaching system for digital media majors in Chinese private universities, aiming to improve students’ ability to combine theoretical knowledge with practical application and enhance their comprehensive competitiveness. Through quantitative research methods, this study analysed data from 402 respondents (students and teachers in Chinese private universities) and found that the availability of teaching resources, the effectiveness of practical teaching and the teaching level of teachers were the key factors affecting students’ satisfaction. The study’s results showed a significant positive correlation between teaching strategies and improving students’ practical skills and enhancing their overall competence. The study suggests strengthening industry-academia cooperation, investing in teaching resources, developing teachers professionally, and providing regular feedback and evaluation to promote continuous improvement of digital media education in private universities.

Keywords: Digital media education; Social practice teaching; Teaching system; Methodological innovation; Strategy implementation

INTRODUCTION

In the current era of rapid development of digital media, the construction and implementation strategy of the social practice teaching system for digital media majors in Chinese private universities is essential (Gao, 2023). This paper aims to discuss how to construct and implement a practical and effective teaching system so that students can better combine theoretical knowledge and practical application and enhance digital media professionals’ comprehensive ability and competitiveness. Through in-depth research and discussion on the construction and implementation strategies of digital media majors’ social practice teaching system in private universities in China, it provides a valuable reference for relevant teaching work.

Achieving the goal of social practice teaching for digital media majors in private universities requires systematic design in three aspects: teaching content, teaching methods, and practice links (MacBeath et al., 2018; Guarda & Helm, 2017). Firstly, it is to reasonably plan the curriculum of digital media majors and design forward-looking and practical course content by combining the industry needs and trends (Fang et al., 2019). Secondly, regarding teaching methods, we focus on combining theory and practice and stimulating students’ interest in learning and practical operation ability through case study and project practice (Li, 2022). In addition, in arranging practical links, it is necessary to cooperate with social enterprises and organisations to carry out all kinds of internships and practical training activities to provide students with broader practical platforms and opportunities (Turdiyev, 2021).

The social practice teaching system for digital media majors in private universities can be perfect and practical through the above construction and implementation strategies. Thus, it can cultivate digital media professionals with more practical ability and innovative spirit and inject more vitality and power into society’s digital transformation and development.

THE OVERVIEW OF DIGITAL MEDIA STUDIES

A. Educational Background and Development

Digital media majors are those majors based on digital technology and use various digital media platforms for information dissemination and creation (Zhou & Dong, 2021). With the rapid development of digital technology, digital media majors are gradually being paid attention to in college education (Yu & Jiang, 2021). In the current information society, digital media has become the primary way for people to obtain information, communicate and create, so it is essential to cultivate professionals with digital media-related skills and knowledge (Zhang, 2021).

With the increasing demand for digital media professionals in society, the education of digital media majors in colleges and universities has also received extensive attention (He & Chen, 2021). Regarding educational background and development, the education of digital media majors in private universities in China faces unique challenges and opportunities compared to public colleges and universities. On the one hand, the development of digital media majors in private universities is relatively late, and their educational resources and teachers are relatively weak, so they need to face the fierce competition from public colleges and universities (Naidu & Derani， 2016); on the other hand, the flexible and diversified school-running mechanism of private universities and the open educational environment provide more possibilities for the innovative education of digital media majors (Chen, 2020).

Under the background of the booming development of the digital media industry, the development of digital media professional education shows a diversified and international trend (Bridgstock, 2016). Taking the advanced education concepts and teaching modes of foreign countries as reference, digital media professional education in Chinese private universities has made great efforts to innovate in the teaching system and practical teaching and endeavoured to build a teaching mode that keeps pace with the times (Gu et al., 2023). In this context, the education and teaching system of digital media majors needs to keep pace with the trend of the times effectively, follow the development trend of the industry, adapt to the demand for talent in the digital media industry, and promote the improvement of students’ comprehensive quality and innovation ability (Fang et al., 2019).

Faced with this new educational concept and teaching mode, digital media professional education in China’s private universities must formulate corresponding development strategies and implementation programmes, actively explore and innovate, and constantly adapt to social needs and industry development trends.

B. The Current State of Practical Teaching in Chinese Society

In the teaching process of digital media majors, social practice is regarded as an essential complementary link which can strengthen students’ practical ability and innovative thinking (Oliver et al., 2016). This study aims to address the existing teaching status quo by conducting an exhaustive survey and analysis between January and March 2024. It utilises data published by colleges and universities on their official networks and information obtained through offline telephone consultations to sort out valuable data and trends. The survey shows that despite the continuous increase in colleges and universities in China, teaching social practice in digital media majors varies significantly among different provinces (refer to Table I).

TABLE I Colleges’ digital media technology majors in China’s regions

Through detailed statistical analyses, this study constructed a table in China containing the opening of digital media majors in each province, city, and autonomous region, which shows the number of colleges and universities offering digital media technology majors and their share of the total number of colleges and universities, as well as reflecting the related number of students, number of faculty members, and number of social practice bases (refer to Table 1).

The comparative analysis found that the social practice teaching environment for digital media majors in Beijing is more mature and that the number of colleges and universities offering such programs is higher than in other regions. According to statistics, for example, nearly half of the colleges and universities in Beijing offer digital media majors and have more social practice bases. However, in some backward provinces, such as the Tibet Autonomous Region, although the number of colleges and universities offering this major is relatively small, the proportion of practice teaching bases needs to be increased accordingly to meet the demand for teaching and the growth of students’ practice opportunities. Further analysis reveals that a systematic curriculum system needs to be constructed if the digital media major is to develop in a balanced manner nationwide.

RESEARCH METHODS

A. Research Design

This study aims to assess and collect opinions and suggestions on the implementation strategies of the social practice teaching system for digital media majors in private universities in China. The collected feedback will help improve the teaching system and its implementation strategies. To achieve this, the study adopted a quantitative approach by using a structured questionnaire to collect data from students and teachers. The data collected was then analysed using SPSS to perform ANOVA to ensure that the findings were statistically significant and reliable.

B. Sample Composition and Data Collection

A total of 402 respondents participated in the survey, including students and teachers from private universities in China. The sample was selected using stratified random sampling to ensure representation of different grades and levels of teaching experience. The questionnaire consisted of eight items designed to measure different aspects of the teaching and learning system, such as satisfaction with current teaching methods, availability of teaching resources, effectiveness of practice teaching, and the overall impact of teaching strategies on student learning outcomes and skills.

C. Reliability and Validity of Instruments

TABLE II Questionnaire Reliability Test

The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha (refer to Table II), which yielded a coefficient of 0.846, indicating that the questionnaire had good internal consistency and reliability.

Factor analyses were conducted to assess the instrument’s validity. The KMO measure of sampling adequacy was 0.861, and the Bartlett test for sphericity was significant (refer to Table III), supporting the correlation matrix’s decomposability.

TABLE III Validity Testing of Questionnaire

The factor analysis extracted three main factors:

Teaching and Learning Overall Evaluation Factor  includes items assessing satisfaction with teaching methods, availability of teaching resources, effectiveness of practical teaching, and teaching standards.

Instructional system impact factor includes items assessing the instructional system’s impact on student learning outcomes and skills.

The identity information factor includes identifying whether the respondent is a student or a teacher.

These factors explained 77.36% of the variance, indicating the questionnaire’s strong construct validity.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A. Results

The Survey data from students and teachers of digital media majors in private universities provide a comprehensive picture of the current status and effectiveness of the social practice teaching system. The SPSS analyses focused on several critical factors, including teaching methods, resource availability, practice teaching effectiveness and overall teaching strategies.

TABLE IV Descriptive Statistics

1. Descriptive Statistics: Table IV provides descriptive statistics, including means and standard deviations, for the critical variables in this study. The data summarises the participants’ perceptions of different aspects of the teaching system.

2. Correlation Analysis: Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to test the relationship between participants‘satisfaction with current teaching methods and other variables such as teaching resources, effectiveness of practical teaching, teachers’ teaching level, contribution of teaching strategies to learning outcomes, and improvement of practical skills.

TABLE V Correlation Analysis

As shown in Table V, the results showed a positive correlation between students’ perceptions of current teaching strategies and improvement in practical skills (r=0.65, p<0.01). Similarly, there was a significant positive correlation between the effectiveness of the teaching system in improving general competence and the improvement of practical skills (r=0.62, p<0.01).

3. Regression Analysis: Multiple regression analyses were conducted to understand the effect of various factors on participants’ satisfaction with current teaching methods. The regression model included the availability of teaching resources, the effectiveness of practical teaching, the teacher’s teaching level, the contribution of teaching strategies to learning outcomes, and the improvement of practical skills as independent variables.

TABLE VI Regression Analysis

The regression model was statistically significant, with F(5396) = 98.016, p = 0.000, R² of 0.553, and adjusted R² of 0.547（refer to Table VI）. This indicates that the model explains about 55.3% of the variance in participants’ satisfaction with teaching methods. The availability of teaching resources, the effectiveness of practical teaching, and teachers’ teaching levels were significant predictors of satisfaction with current teaching methods.

B. Discussion

The findings indicate several critical insights into the social practice teaching system of digital media majors in private universities in China:

Resource availability and practice teaching: The availability of teaching resources and the effectiveness of practice teaching are key factors influencing student satisfaction. The findings suggest that improving the quality and accessibility of teaching materials, such as developing specialised practical teaching materials and providing more effective practical experiences, can significantly improve students’ perceptions of teaching methods.

Teachers’ teaching level: Teachers’ teaching level was also a significant predictor of student satisfaction. This highlights the importance of hiring and training qualified lecturers who can effectively deliver theoretical and practical content, such as popularising dual teaching.

Teaching Strategies and Skill Enhancement: Although the usefulness of teaching strategies and the perceived enhancement of practical skills were positively associated with student satisfaction, they were not significant predictors in the regression model. This may indicate that while these factors are important, their impact on satisfaction is mediated by other variables, such as resource availability and teaching effectiveness.

Regional differences: The descriptive data highlights regional differences in implementing digital media programmes, with more developed regions such as Beijing having a more mature teaching and learning environment compared to less developed regions such as the Tibet Autonomous Region. This suggests the need for tailored strategies, such as tiered levels, to address specific regional challenges and ensure a balanced development of the digital media profession across the country.

Overall system effectiveness: There was a significant positive correlation between the perceived effectiveness of teaching strategies, improvement in practical skills and general competence, suggesting that the current teaching and learning system significantly impacts students’ practical and general skills development. However, there is a need for continuous improvement in resource allocation and teaching methods to maintain and enhance this impact.

CONCLUSIONS

This study explores the construction and implementation strategies of the social practice teaching system of digital media majors in private universities in China. Through in-depth analyses and empirical research, this study aims to provide actionable insights to enhance the effectiveness of practice teaching and improve the overall educational framework.

A. Key Findings

Correlation between practical teaching and skills development: The analyses revealed a significant correlation between students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of practical teaching and the improvement of their practical skills. This highlights the importance of a well-designed framework for practical teaching that directly contributes to improving students’ competence in digital media.

Teaching methods and resource availability: The study emphasises the critical role of innovative teaching methods and teaching resources in improving the quality of education. Effective teaching strategies, supported by adequate resources such as textbooks and course videos, significantly impact student learning experiences and outcomes.

Teacher Proficiency and Student Satisfaction: Teacher proficiency in providing practical and theoretical knowledge was a critical factor in student satisfaction and the overall effectiveness of the teaching and learning system. Continuing professional development and practical experience for teachers is critical to maintaining high standards of teaching and learning.

Impact of social practice bases: Establishing and utilising social practice bases was found to be an essential component in bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. These bases provide students with real-world opportunities, enhancing their practical skills and employability.

B. Recommendations

Enhanced collaboration with industry: Private universities should strengthen their collaboration with industry partners to provide students with more internships and real-world project opportunities. Such collaboration will ensure that programmes remain relevant and aligned with industry needs.

Investment in teaching and learning resources: There should be a concerted effort to invest in and update them to ensure they are current and comprehensive. This includes digital resources, practical tools and access to the latest industry software and technology.

Professional development for educators: Continuous professional development programmes should be implemented to keep educators updated with the latest teaching methods and industry trends. This will help provide quality education and meet the changing needs of students.

Regular feedback and evaluation: A vital feedback and evaluation system will help continuously improve teaching methods and programmes. Regular assessment and feedback from students can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of teaching strategies and areas for improvement.

In summary, this study highlights the importance of a well-structured social practice teaching system in improving the effectiveness of digital media education in private universities. Private universities can significantly improve students’ practical skills and overall competence by focusing on innovative pedagogical approaches, adequate resources, skilled educators, and strong industry collaboration. The findings and recommendations of this study provide valuable references for continued and future improvements in educational practices for digital media majors.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work was supported by the 2023 Guangdong Provincial Institute of Educational Research Private Education Research Base Project – An Empirical Study on the Social Practice Teaching System of Digital Media Major Courses in private universities (Project Number: 2023JD14).

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