Connecting with high-quality resources for teachers' professional growth involves collaborating not only with experienced and matured educators and educational communities but also actively developing experimental innovative courses and international education exchange channels. This provides teachers with a platform to expand their knowledge, continuously improve, and learn from each other.
▌ Education Leadership Co-Learning Workshop │2015, 2016
The "Education Leadership Co-Learning Workshop" is Chairman Yen's initiative to apply his personal experience from participating in the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) Forum to the field of education. He hopes to inspire teachers to form cross-school learning groups of 8-10 members, where they can share experiences and seek solutions to overcome challenges. In 2015, the Unified Teacher Training Center invited principals and administrators from the Hualien area to participate in the Co-Learning Workshop led by Chairman Yen himself. The aim was to kickstart practical implementation among teachers in Hualien, building positive long-term partnerships. The "Education Leadership Co-Learning Community" continues to accumulate operational methods and is actively promoted.
▌The Sharestart Method Workshop│2015, 2016
In 2014, the Alliance Cultural Foundation provided administrative support to facilitate the promotion of the Sharestart teaching method by Mr. Zhang Huicheng, who was then teaching at Taipei Zhongshan Girls High School. That same year, he was invited to Taitung to conduct Sharestart workshops, initiating the adoption of the method by a small group of teachers in the Hualien area. By 2016, Sharestart had trained its first generation of core teachers to join the promotion efforts. The Teacher Training Center organized two Sharestart workshops in Taitung and three campus promotion sessions, utilizing lectures, open classroom observations, discussions, and collaborative lesson planning to help participating teachers better understand the Sharestart teaching approach, including lesson preparation, question design, facilitation, and group learning. (Mr. Zhang Huicheng and the Sharestart teaching community officially established the Sharestart Education Foundation in 2020.)
▌Taitung Collaborative Lesson Planning Workshop│2015 till present
Ms. Lan Weiying, former Director of Academic Affairs at Taipei Lishan High School and Curriculum Supervisor at the Taipei City Department of Education, has long operated a cross-school subject teacher collaborative planning community based on the concept of "learning communities." In the summer of 2015, she led a group of passionate teachers to organize the first Taitung Collaborative Lesson Planning Workshop. Since then, it has been held regularly every winter and summer vacation, growing to attract over 150 participants per session. In 2018, Ms. Lan Weiying was invited to serve as the Executive Director of the Unified Teacher Training Center. She also initiated the "108 Curriculum School Support Program" in collaboration with educational partners, aiming to cultivate more "educational professional consultants" to assist schools in curriculum development and towards self-reliance. (In 2019, Ms. Lan Weiying officially established the Yingguang Education Association.)
