Exploration of PAD Class Teaching Mode for the Engineering Masters in the Colleges and Universities of National Special Needs Talent Cultivation Project

The education for the engineering masters in the colleges and universities of National Special Needs Talent Cultivation Project (NSNTCP), is an important component of the graduate education system in China, and is one of the important patterns to cultivate high-level application-oriented talents. However, there are some serious problems in the traditional classroom teaching for the education of engineering masters in the colleges and universities of NSNTCP. In the traditional teaching mode, the interaction between teachers and students is becoming less and less, the students’ learning enthusiasm is becoming weaker and weaker, and the students are often passive acceptance. Being faced with the dilemma of classroom teaching for engineering masters in the colleges and universities of NSNTCP, combined with the practical teaching experience of engineering master education in our university, this paper discusses the core ideas of PAD Class teaching mode for engineering masters in the colleges and universities of NSNTCP from three aspects: emphasizing the teachers-students dual centers, strengthening 4C core competencies (namely critical thinking, communication skills, collaboration, and creativity), and paying great attention to process evaluation. Moreover, it also elaborates the crux in the implementation process of PAD Class teaching mode for engineering masters in the colleges and universities of NSNTCP. The results obtained from the teaching practice in the basic course of Advanced Engineering Mathematics is positive and satisfactory. It indicates that PAD Class teaching mode is a kind of new teaching mode which adapts to the growth and development of engineering masters’ education in the colleges and universities of NSNTCP, and is an efficient and practical teaching reform that can not only embody the teachers-students dual centers, but also ensure the high-level application-oriented talents training goal of the engineering masters' degree education in the colleges and universities of NSNTCP.