(Reported by Li Xiaofeng) The Textbook Construction Center organized a seminar on textbook construction in the undergraduate school on October 21. The head who planned the textbook construction project, experts writing related textbooks, and senior editor(s) of the publishing house attended the seminar. The seminar focused on the experience of textbook compilation and revision, new forms of textbooks construction and the incentives for textbook construction. The chief expert of key textbooks about the project of Marxist theoretical research and construction and the expert for development of new forms of textbooks were invited to give keynote speeches.

Li Xiaofeng, director of the Textbook Construction Center, reported on the progress of textbooks construction with the theme of “focusing on the first-class textbook system and paying attention to the management of textbooks construction”. He analyzed that the first-class textbook system should reflect the textbooks were "classic, epochal" and "serial and digital". In order to build a first-class textbook system, Wuhan University mainly carried out all kinds of work from the aspects of textbook construction management system, planning textbook construction, textbook selection and review and promoting cooperation with publishing houses and digital curriculum platforms.

As the chief expert of the key textbook Economics for Development about the project of Marxist theoretical research and construction, professor Guo Xibao was invited, and looked back at the textbook of Economics for Development, which was checked for 8 years by Level 3 experts, including check and approval by peer experts and ideological and political experts, and by experts from the National Textbook Committee. The textbook compilation group must respond one by one to the comments made by each expert, and make modifications before the textbook were adopted.

Professor Chen Xiangdong was responsible for construction of the textbook Microbiology and well experienced in the compilation of traditional textbooks and the development of new forms of textbooks. He believed that the construction and application of new forms of textbooks was a new trend, and that the new form of textbooks were mainly featured by focusing on integrated design and deep content integration, complete and concise content of paper textbooks, rich and quickly updated digital resources, which made for independent and personalized learning of students, and implementation of SPOC and other new forms of teaching by teachers.

Next, the participants mainly discussed the incentives for textbook construction and experience in textbook compilation. They believed that the textbook was an important carrier for spreading education thoughts and professional knowledge and increasing the influence of Wuhan University and teachers. However, the colleges and universities attached little importance on textbook compilation, and the role of achievements in textbooks in promotion of teachers and the appraisal and employment of talents was limited. They suggested that the teaching achievements, which included the achievements in textbooks, be included in the appraisal and employment of teachers and replace some achievements in scientific research.

Finally, professor Huang Mingdong, the vice dean of the undergraduate school, concluded that the current concept of textbooks should be changed. As teaching materials in the classroom, the textbooks were gradually integrated with the curriculum and classroom, and had a high digital trend. Attentions should be paid to systematization and structure in compilation of textbooks, which should reflect the frontier of discipline development, and have ideological and political requirements. The selection of textbooks must be strictly controlled, and overseas textbooks should be checked and approved strictly. Dean Huang also stressed that Wuhan University would implement the incentives for textbooks in various ways, and motivate the teachers to compile textbooks.