Date: March 30, 2020
Source: JNU News Service
Author: Li Yating

Responding to the call of nonstop of teaching and learning, JNU teachers have become network anchors to show their skills and wisdom. Prof. Huang Boyan of the College of Life Science and Technology has transferred to his home a national project he is leading: Virtual Simulation Experiment on Biological Characteristics and Behavior Observation of Marine Mammals: A Case Study of Chinese White Dolphins (Sousa chinensis). The project not only makes it possible to perform an experiment online but also can automatically generate an experiment report, stimulating students' enthusiasm of learning.
 

 (Virtual experiment operating interface)
Experiment in Animal Biology is the basic course in specialty practice teaching for college students majoring in animals. For various reasons, it is difficult to carry out this kind of experiment in a traditional laboratory, but virtual simulation makes it possible. 
This experiment is the second national virtual simulation experiment teaching project led by Huang. His Virtual Simulation Project of Field Practice of Coastal Animals was previously approved as a national virtual simulation experimental project, with the highest score in its field.
 

(National project certificate for Virtual Simulation Project of Field Practice of Coastal Animals)
In 2008, he and his team won first prize in the National Multimedia Software Competition for their project Underwater World. From 2011 to 2013, they twice partnered with the WWF Hong Kong and Aupres to conduct the science popularization project on conservation of Chinese white dolphins.    

This semester Huang is teaching five courses -- Animal Biology, Introduction to Nature Conservation, Experiment in Animal Biology, Introduction to Natural Science and Computer Application -- to eight classes totaling more than 1,000 students.
 

(Huang giving an online class)
To achieve better online teaching, he adopts different methods according to each course's requirements, such as virtual simulation experiments, Sync SPOC, Async SPOC, ICC e-learning platform and MOOC, offering students diversified choices.
 

(Screenshot of a Q&A on a MOOC taught by Huang)
 

(Huang's photograph of an insect)
As a JNU graduate in biology rather than computer science, Huang has harvested fruitful awards in new-media teaching software and educational informatization competitions. His project Online Course of Biological Field Practice won 16 first prizes in the National Multimedia Software Competition.
 

(One of Huang's awards for educational informatization)