[Text and Photos: Center for Teaching and Learning Development; Edited by: Office of Public Affairs]

[United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Promotion Series]

2026-09-21    In response to the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), changing student learning patterns, and the growing demand for interdisciplinary teaching, National University of Kaohsiung (NUK) President Chen Chi-Jen led a delegation of 20 newly appointed and experienced faculty members to Yilan for a three-day, two-night professional development program at the beginning of the 2026–2027 academic year. Drawing on teaching expertise and resources from National Ilan University and National Taiwan University, the program covered a range of topics, including AI-integrated teaching, curriculum design, student learning, and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Through inter-university and intergenerational exchanges, the initiative provided faculty members with fresh perspectives and practical insights to enrich their teaching in the new academic year.

President Chen Chi-Jen emphasized, "Supporting teachers means supporting students." He noted that the university's investment in faculty professional development goes beyond providing one-time training opportunities. Rather, it aims to foster an environment in which faculty members can continuously exchange ideas, explore new approaches, and enhance their teaching skills, ensuring that every teaching effort ultimately contributes to better student learning outcomes. By bringing newly appointed and experienced faculty members together, the program also created valuable opportunities for dialogue and knowledge sharing across generations and academic disciplines.

With collaborative learning and experience sharing at its core, the program featured expert presentations, group discussions, and practical exchanges, encouraging faculty members from diverse academic disciplines and teaching backgrounds to jointly review their curriculum designs and teaching approaches. Drawing on their own classroom experiences, participants discussed ways to respond to students' learning needs and make effective use of emerging tools such as AI to support teaching. The goal was to transform the knowledge and insights gained during the program into practical teaching strategies that could be directly applied in the classroom.

The program also extended the learning experience beyond the university campus. Yilan's mountains, forests, plains, coastline, and cultural landscapes served as valuable resources for observation and interdisciplinary dialogue. Through firsthand experiences, faculty members explored ways to incorporate the natural environment, local culture, and knowledge from different disciplines into their curricula, thereby enriching the depth and breadth of their teaching designs.

Through the Higher Education Sprout Project, NUK continues to promote faculty professional development, peer learning, and inter-university collaboration, recognizing faculty support as a vital foundation for improving teaching quality. By starting with faculty members and ultimately benefiting students, the university aims to transform professional exchanges and shared learning into meaningful and tangible improvements in classroom teaching.