Episode 219 | Finding a HERO in Taiwan in Open and Online Education

Episode 219 | Finding a HERO in Taiwan in Open and Online Education, 7 pm Eastern, 1/18/2025

Episode #219 of Silver Lining for Learning will focus on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) and open education in Taiwan. We will have guests from the Research Center of Higher Educational Resources for Openness (HERO) at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University. The platform they use is called ewant. Ewant is an Open Education Platform established in 2013 by National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) in Taiwan. More on this is below.

About the ewant Open education platform: https://www.ewant.org/

The ewant Open Education Platform, established in 2013 by National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) in Taiwan, is a pioneering initiative in the realm of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). As Taiwan’s first MOOCs platform, ewant has made significant strides in democratizing education, offering over 1,100 courses to a diverse audience that includes more than 650,000 enrollments. This platform collaborates with 110 educational institutions and organizations to provide high-quality learning resources across various disciplines. Over the past two years, approximately 200,000 registered users were high school students.

Ewant aims to enhance accessibility to education by breaking geographical barriers and offering courses in both Mandarin and English. Its innovative approach includes hybrid learning models that combine online and offline experiences, fostering peer-to-peer interaction and collaboration among learners. The platform has gained international recognition for its engaging content and successful partnerships, such as its collaboration with the National Palace Museum and renowned educators like Professor Barbara Oakley. With a commitment to promoting lifelong learning, ewant continues to expand its course offerings, including specialized programs in emerging fields like Artificial Intelligence and Medical Science. One notable achievement is the collaboration with the National Palace Museum, which resulted in the award-winning course “A Visit to Treasures in National Palace Museum.” This course received a gold medal at the 2021 World Fest Houston International Film and Video Festival, highlighting its innovative approach to education and cultural engagement.

Additionally, ewant partnered with Professor Barbara Oakley to create a Chinese version of the highly popular course “Learning How to Learn.” This collaboration expanded the course’s reach, allowing Mandarin-speaking students to benefit from its insights into effective learning strategies. The platform also launched a high school version and a teacher education variant, further enhancing its educational offerings. Courses like “Mandatory Credits for College Students: Emotional Education,” developed by Professor Fei-Juan Chen, have seen significant enrollment success, with over 30,000 students participating in its first semester on a major credit-sharing platform in China. Such initiatives demonstrate ewant’s commitment to providing accessible, high-quality education that resonates with diverse audiences and fosters global connections among learners.

Sample project: NYCU Partners with VIS to Launch Digital Semiconductor Course: Advancing Educational Equity and Providing Quality Resources for Remote and Offshore High Schools: https://www.nycu.edu.tw/nycu/en/app/news/view?module=headnews&id=552&serno=fcf843a0-00da-4a97-b26d-bcb89cffaac8

More about our guests below the video

Kenzen Chen, Associate Professor of e-Learning; and also Associate Dean of the College of humanities, arts, and social sciences; Associate Director of Higher Education Resources for Openness (HERO Center); Associate Director of faculty choir (many associates, LOL); National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan.

Dr. Ken-Zen Chen is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Education at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan starting September 2015. Prior to becoming an academic, Kenzen was an instructional designer and research analyst at eCampus Center, Boise State University, Idaho, U.S.A. Kenzen specialized in retention research & provided instructional design consultation to support the design & delivery of online courses & programs at Boise State. In line with the state government’s mission of Complete College Idaho 2020, he assisted with learning analytics to improve online student success and provide faculty support with research collaborations for online scholarship of teaching & learning. Kenzen completed his Ph.D. in math, science & technology education in 2012, & M.S. in applied statistics in 2010 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC); he also received an M.A in curriculum & instruction & a B.Ed. from National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU). With his experience in educational foundations, MIS, and instructional design tools, he has broad research interests & backgrounds in the areas of educational technology, learning sciences, big-data analytics in education, and curriculum & instruction. Starting 2016, Dr. Chen collaborates with Dr. Barbara Oakley to transform her famous “Learning How To Learn” MOOC into a series of culturally responsive MOOCs for Chinese-speaking learners and won great success. Currently, the “landing” LHTL is onboarding in five MOOC platforms and one Podcast platform. Dr. Chen uses these MOOCs as research sites to generate a sustainable model for MOOC development. Presently, Kenzen co-directs the ewant Open Education Platform (https://ewant.org, literally: the education you want) – Taiwan’s flagship Mass Open Online Courses platform.

Topic: Two Seismic Shifts in the Educational Landscape: Pre and Post COVID
Outline	Key Ideas
K-12 Context	1.      2019: New curriculum guidelines (before) 2.      2021: “Every student uses a tablet (in class)” (after)
Higher Ed and MOOCs	Taiwan’s online education sector, constrained by limited market scale, remains heavily dependent on Ministry of Education funding incentives. Over the past decade, Taiwan’s universities have been undersized (150 institutions serving 24 million people, with only four having over 25,000 students), making MOOCs a crucial channel for inter-university resource sharing.
What does ewant do in the shifts?	A grand expansion to high school students: 1.      For self-directed learning 2.      Course Co-development among HEIs, high schools, and firms. 3.      virtual overseas study tours (VOST), Wendy may share details.

 

Dr. Hsin-Yun Wang (Jill)

Topic:  Collaboration in the digital age is less about hierarchy and more about the freedom to create, connect, and contribute on your own terms.
Outline	Key Ideas
WHO & WHERE (Context)	Dr. Chen noted, “Every student uses a tablet in class” (post-pandemic). This shift reflects a growing reliance on digital tools in education. EFL (English as a Foreign Language, rather than a Second Language) often raises the question, “Why English?”—especially among learners with insufficient cultural exposure, which hinders their motivation to use English effectively.
WHY (Challenges)	Converting static documents (e.g., Word or PDF files) into fully interactive digital formats (and then what?) Moving beyond teacher-dominant instruction focused solely on textbook English.
HOW	Break the constraints of time and space in traditional classrooms. Maximize the advantages of digital tools for learning and collaboration. Reduce the dominance of teachers in learning environments, empowering students to take a more active role. Foster self-directed co-creation, encouraging students to solve unstructured problems of real-world projects in selective courses.
WHAT	Self-Directed Learning Communities Virtual Reality Co-Creation: Utilize VR technologies to design immersive and collaborative learning environments that foster creativity and teamwork. Scratch-Like Coding with “CoBlocks”: Implement intuitive coding platforms, such as “CoBlocks,” to enhance problem-solving abilities and stimulate creative thinking. Algorithmic Dashboards for Multimodal Learning Analytics: Develop algorithm-driven dashboards to visualize multimodal data, offering actionable feedback for adaptive learning with a focus on behavioral and cognitive engagement. Learner-Generated Text in Q&A Interactions for Sentiment Analysis and Emotional Scaffolding: Analyze learner-generated text within Q&A inquiries to trace sentiments and emotions, providing emotional scaffolding, promoting engagement, and monitoring mental well-being. (Draft concept for a future do-research app)
Closing	Tools reshape the way we interact with the world, forging bridges between thought and reality — an echo of social constructivist and cognitivist perspectives intertwined.

 

Dr. Jo-Chi Hsiao (Anna)

• Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Center for Teacher Education at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology;
• Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Institute of Education at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University;
• Community leader of Dance with Stars, a professional learning network for high school English teachers in Taiwan
• English teacher at National Hsinchu Senior High School

Her research focuses on teacher professional development, TESOL, and Computer Assisted Language Learning.

Topic:  Global Teaching Partnerships: USA Pre-Service Teachers Supporting English Learning in Taiwan
Outline	Key Ideas
Context	●       Students in Taiwan learn textbook English. ●       Pre-service teachers in the USA learn to teach without direct interaction with students. (The situation is the same in Taiwan.) ●       I’m the bridge between Taiwanese students and pre-service teachers who are native speakers of English. ●       The project was a collaboration with Dr. Wu at the Adelphi University. ●       We were using Google Meet as the main platform.
Why	●       To expose students to authentic English interaction. ●       To provide pre-service teachers with international teaching experience.
How	●       I discussed expectations with Dr. Wu and reviewed pre-service teachers’ slides. ●       In my class, I taught my students vocabulary, sentence patterns, and reading to prepare them for genuine interaction with the pre-service teachers. ●       My students were divided into groups; each was facilitated by one pre-service teacher. ●       I was only an observer while the pre-service teachers were teaching. ●       Feedback was given by both sides. Students’ feedback helped pre-service teachers teach better, while pre-service teachers’ feedback helped students learn better.
Outcomes	●       Pre-service teachers valued the hands-on experience and used it to develop plans for their future teaching careers. (One said he was considering applying for the opportunity to teach in Taiwan.) ●       Pre-service teachers complemented my teaching with fresh perspectives and real-life engagement. (My students witnessed how vocabulary words were used in real-life interactions.) ●       My students demonstrated greater confidence in interacting with native speakers. (I also noticed their kindness and warm-heartedness when one teacher fell ill and could not join us one day—they sent him emails wishing him a speedy recovery.)
Closing	Collaboration enriches teaching, builds global connections, and prepares students for a diverse world.

 

Dr. Wen-Li Chang (Wendy)

Post Doc Fellow, Institute of Education, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan

Lecturer, General Education Center and Language Center, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan

Lecturer, Department of English and Language Center, National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan

Her research field encompasses English-medium instruction, technology-enhanced language learning, self-regulated language learning, and open educational practices.

Topic: Valuing Our Strengths Together – Local Focus, Global Perspective
Outline	Key Ideas
EFL Context	Local norms of English as a Foreign Language ●       English-taught MOOCs as partially open resources
ELF Challenge	Necessary global perspective on English as Lingua Franca ●       Translanguaging space in “wrapping” open courses
“Open” Solution	VOST (Virtual Overseas Study Tour) to connect high schools using ewant ●       Joint teacher efforts as translanguaging scaffolds in providing ewant courses that guide FutureLearn learning
Iterative Contribution	Glocalized MOOCs design and implementation ○       “Wrapped” courses with translanguaging scaffolds Continuous improvement toward a meaningful open learning environment ○       From VOST to “English and the World” on ewant, integrating multilingual and multimodal resources Parallel call to self-regulatory open learning practices ○       Toward an ongoing reflective feedback loop for lifelong learning
Takeaway	VOST as a scalable model for transformative education, showcasing the potential to refine openness with the power of integrating local strengths with global perspectives

 

Dr. Yi-Fang Lo (Elva)

• 

English Teacher and The Chief of Curriculum, Yong Zhen Elementary School, Miaoli County, Taiwan

Doctoral Student, Institute of Education, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan

Lecturer, Cool English website, MOE (The Ministry of Education), Taiwan

Review Expert of Examination, “Test My English” CEFR English Test System, MOE (The Ministry of Education), Taiwan

Community leader, a professional learning network for elementary school English teachers in Taiwan

Research fields:

• motivation on English learning
• online escape room game design on learning
• technology-enhanced language learning in elementary education
• self-regulated language learning

Topic:  Take Child to Find Out Their World- Online Resource with Learning English for K-12 learners
Outline	Key Ideas
Why online?	The experience of the mindset changing: Why I choose digital teaching rather than traditional textbook/e-book teaching?
Challenges for K-12 learners	SWOT for learners in digital learning scenarios
Further step	What the MOE did for K-12 learners’ digital learning? Lead the community: learning network for elementary school English teachers in Taiwan “If I could influence one teacher, I would be helping all his/her students.”
Next step: What will it be? Small MOOCs for K-12 learners	How about the International Exchange on K-12 learners’ “Small MOOC”? Should it be suitable for K-12 learners learning online? Could it be successful for K-12 learners’ learning? What will it look like?
Studio Portrait