Wuhan Technology and Business University,Wuhan 430000,China

Abstract The course of Introduction to the MICE Industry is a foundation course for colleges and universities.Targeting undergraduate colleges and universities to train high-quality applied talents that meet the needs of society,it is of great practical significance to reform the teaching methods of this course.Reform practice was carried out from classroom teaching methods,extracurricular training and curriculum evaluation,increasing students’ interest in learning,cultivating students’ ability to practice innovation and continuously improving the quality of personnel training.

Key words Teaching methods,Introduction to the MICE Industry,Application

1 Introduction

At present,China’s MICE industry is developing rapidly and plays a non-negligible role in economic development.For example,since the first national agricultural exhibition held in October 1957 after the founding of New China,agricultural exhibitions have developed along with the development of the agricultural industry,especially during the first 10 years of accession into the WTO.As the most important choice for agricultural products marketing and promotion,agricultural exhibitions promotes agricultural trade,optimizes industrial structure,promotes industrialization,and stimulates regional economic growth.In addition,the industry itself is gradually maturing and standardizing.The course of Introduction to the MICE Industry is a professional basic course for exhibition majors in college and universities.It is generally offered in the first year of undergraduate degree.It has the characteristics of wide content,generality and abstraction.The teaching methods are more traditional.Emphasis is placed on the one-way instillation of teachers,which is mainly based on theory teaching in classroom,and students are often in a state of passive learning[1].

2 Paths for reform of teaching methods of Introduction to the MICE Industry in application-oriented undergraduate colleges and universities

2.1Innovatingclassroomteachingmethods

2.1.1Lecture method.The lecture method is a practical teaching form for teachers to demonstrate and explain theoretical knowledge through multimedia teaching software.When applying the lecture method,a lot of extracurricular knowledge needs to be interspersed to meet the students’ desire for job hunting.For example,when teaching the world’s major countries and regions that are good at exhibitions,the development of the local convention and exhibition industry is explained,and it is also linked to the political,economic and cultural development of various countries and regions,inspiring students’ enthusiasm for learning and desire to acquire knowledge.Teachers pay attention to the timeliness when choosing multimedia teaching materials,and use pictures and videos to reproduce the realities of the convention and exhibition activities.When teaching the knowledge point of "advertising strategy of exhibitions",several advertisements can be played through the teaching software as appropriate.After the play is finished,students can be invited to analyze first,and then the teacher makes a brief review,so that students can better understand the use of advertising in exhibitions.This method can be arranged before,during or after the classroom according to the teaching needs.It is beneficial to increasing the classroom teaching capacity,enhancing students’ interest in learning,greatly improving the intuitiveness and comprehensibility of the teaching content and improving the teaching effect.

2.1.2Situational teaching.The course content of the Introduction to the MICE Industry is relatively boring,professional and difficult for students to accept.However,if some scenarios are designed for specific teaching content,students will be put into practice and master the knowledge.For example,when it comes to the marketing strategy of exhibitions,in order to let students understand the most common marketing methods more intuitively,teachers can design several scenarios for students to play different roles for marketing to enable them to discover the characteristics and problems of marketing methods in different scenarios[2].When talking about the content of conventions and conferences,students will be encouraged to simulate organizational meetings in groups,with unlimited subject matter and divers meeting forms,emphasizing examining students’ mastery of basic processes of conventions and conferences.Teachers gradually change from knowledge transfers and teaching supervisors to study guides and coordinators.By designing interesting scenarios,students will be able to understand and summarize in the process of doing,and let the theory be activated in the context.

2.1.3Case teaching.In the teaching practice of the Introduction to the MICE Industry,cases mainly come from three sources,classic cases in the industry,latest developments in the industry and activities that students are exposed to.In the lectures,the selected cases are different for different teaching contents[3].For example,for more familiar events,as students of a class may come from all over the country,they can be encouraged to introduce their hometown activities in different regions.For exhibitions,most of the students are unfamiliar,and they can watch the promotional videos and exhibition videos.The key to case teaching lies in case design.The case is required to come from practice and at the same time it must be processed and refined.Through case teaching,students are inspired to think about problems from the perspective of exhibition industry managers and organizers of exhibitions and events to develop students’ ability to learn actively,think independently,analyze comprehensively,and solve problems creatively and deepen students’ understanding of theoretical knowledge.

2.1.4Modular teaching.The course of Introduction of the MICE Industry strives to track the frontier dynamics and focus on practicality.From the perspective of curriculum design and development,a comprehensive consideration is required.The content of exhibitions will be introduced to teaching,and the content of the course will be modularized.The course chapters are required to be disrupted and modular segmentation and recombination will be performed base on course content.At the same time,with the four major activities of exhibitions as the core,the teaching content will be divided into three modules.The first module is the basic knowledge of exhibitions,including the connotation,development conditions,and historical evolution of exhibitions and relationship with related industries.This section focuses on the derivation and structure of exhibition industry under the new economic normal.The second module is the basic operation of the convention and exhibition activities,focusing on the planning and organization of the four major events such as conferences,exhibitions,incentive travel and festival activities.This section will be the leading part of the follow-up course,focusing on the overall cognition,which is the skill practice module.The third module is exhibition-related knowledge,including exhibition industry organizations,exhibition economy,etc.,mainly to broaden the knowledge of students.The teaching system has a strict knowledge structure and a clear hierarchy,dominated by procedural knowledge (practical knowledge) and supplemented by appropriate enough declarative knowledge (theory).

Using modular teaching,the teaching objectives and teaching content of a class will be integrated into the teaching process by completing one or several special tasks,so that the students can generate interest in learning knowledge and required to be freely grouped[4].Teachers should explain the tasks to students in detail and fully mobilize the enthusiasm of students.After the students complete the task,they can show their works,and the teachers and students will discuss,summarize and evaluate.

2.2Expandingextracurricularteachingmethods

2.2.1On-site cognition.In the teaching practice of the Introduction to the MICE Industry,the important thing is the on-the-spot cognition.Classes can be transferred to exhibition companies and exhibition venues.By participating in some activities such as part-time work and on-site inspections,students are encouraged to learn to learn from practice and focus on the practice in the learning process.First,students can be organized to go to exhibitions.Before the exhibitions,students are first subjected to training to let them understand the main points of the exhibitions and improve the performance of the exhibitions.After the exhibitions,students will make report in groups,ask questions,analyze questions and solve questions.The second is to organize students to conduct short-term social practice.Schools will actively contacts exhibition companies,exhibition venues,etc.For example,students participate in the Wuhan Marathon as volunteers,participating in service work; and students visit the Wuhan City Museum to learn about the layout of the pavilion and the on-site service process.Students are encouraged to participate in the actual working environment of exhibitions,and perceive the MICE industry in the first line of exhibitions.

2.2.2Training teaching.A student exhibition association can be established.Various activities aimed at improving the professional quality of exhibitions can be organized regularly.For example,journal of the exhibition association can be established; special events can be organized regularly; and the planning,organization and service of the campus exhibition activities can be undertaken; extracurricular special projects can be undertaken; and students can be organized and selected by the exhibition association to participate in national college exhibition planning competitions.

Various forms of thematic surveys can be conducted using the after-school time or vacation,and practical teaching forms of thematic reports are required to be written.The survey report is generally completed by students in groups.Students will be also arranged to view the materials and prepare the feasibility report for the theme project.If students have problems in practice,they will be grouped and conduct discussion.After the discussion enters a certain stage,teachers will participate in it and analyze the problems and solve the problems together.Teachers are mainly engaged in organization,mobilization and after-the-fact exchange,inspection and evaluation.

2.2.3Building a network teaching platform.Online teaching has gradually matured.At present,online teaching mainly involves teaching and learning activities on the Internet through online virtual classroom,campus network and the Internet.A course website can be created,which is used to public relevant content of the course,such as course ppt,course case,and extracurricular reading materials for students to download and study.In-class teaching will be combined with extracurricular teaching.Online classrooms will be utilized to extend teaching time and space,convenient for students to learn independently.

2.3ReformingcurriculumevaluationwaysTraditional teaching generally uses the face-to-face examination and assessment system to evaluate the quality of learning.The evaluation link is generally put after the course teaching.However,the cultivation of educational talents in applied undergraduate colleges and universities focus on professional practice ability.For the course of Introduction to the MICE Industry,the single closed-book examination model can be replaced by structural assessment,the combination of process evaluation and results evaluation.That is the course examination consists of two parts: the usual grade and the closed-book examination at the end of the semester.The ratio of the usual grade to the total score at the end of the semester is improved,and the case sharing,class discussion,essay writing,and practical links will be included in the usual grade.Structural assessment emphasizes the importance of process learning in teaching,and changes the situation that students conduct learning in a short term to take examinations of theoretical courses.Thus,students are encouraged to focus on the understanding and application of knowledge.

3 Conclusions

As a foundation course for a new discipline,the Introduction to the MICE Industry not only guides students to gradually understand the exhibition profession and master the way of thinking of exhibitors but also lays a good foundation for the smooth development of follow-up professional courses.Through continuous innovation and reform of the teaching methods of the curriculum,students’ interest will be inspired,and the benign interaction between teachers and students will be promoted,thereby further improving students’ practical ability and professionalism.