







































 

 

 

 

 

A Six-Step Online Teaching Method Based on 

Protocol-Guided Learning during the COVID-

19 Epidemic: A Case Study of the First Middle 

School Teaching Practice in Changyuan City, 

Henan Province, China

Ruichang Cai, Quanzhou Wang 

 
The First Middle School of Changyuan City, Changyuan 453400, Henan, China 

 

Abstract. The first Middle School in Changyuan City, Henan Province 

has been relying on protocol-guided learning for a long time. During the 

COVID-19 epidemic, the school used protocol-guided learning as a car-
rier and conducted online teaching activities based on an online teach-

ing platform. We have created a six-step teaching method for students to 

learn independently during the epidemic. We explored this school’s six-
step teaching method based on protocol-guided learning during the 

COVID-19 epidemic. 

Best Evid Chin Edu 2020; 4(2):529-534. 

Doi: 10.15354/bece.20.rp010. 

Keywords: COVID-19 Epidemic; Online Teaching; Autonomous Learning; Teach-

ing Practice; Middle School 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

About the Author: Ruichang Cai, Principal, Changyuan First Middle School, Changyuan 453400, Henan, China. 

Email: cyyzcrc@163.com. 

Correspondence to: Quanzhou Wang, Vice Principal, Changyuan First Middle School, Changyuan 453400, Henan, 

China. Email: 13839066456@163.com. 

Conflict of Interests: None. 



Cai & Wang. A Six-Step Online Teaching Method during the COVID-19 Epidemic. 

Vol.4, No. 2, 2020 530 

UTONOMOUS learning refers to the ability of learners to set learning goals, 

determine learning content and progress, choose learning techniques, monitor 

self-learning processes, and conduct self-assessment (Holec, 1981). 

The first Middle School in Changyuan City, Henan Province, in recent years, 

has guided students in autonomous learning with protocol-guided learning. In the con-

tinuous practice, accumulation and improvement, a unique student autonomous learning 

model has been formed and achieved remarkable results. 

Protocol-guided learning is based on curriculum standards and teaching materi-

als for middle and elementary school teachers, combining students’ academic situation 

and cognitive status, taking learning goals as the guidance, and questions as the core, 

and guiding students’ learning before, during, and after class (Xia, 2020). Compared 

with the traditional teaching mode, teaching based on protocol-guided learning not only 

reflects the student as the center, but also significantly improves the academic perfor-

mance of students, with an effect value of 0.29 (Zhou & Li, 2020). 

During the COVID-19 epidemic, the first Middle School in Changyuan City, 

Henan Province, implemented the epidemic prevention and control requirements of the 

Ministry of Education and local governments. In response to the “School’s Out, But 

Class’s On” policy, i.e., “School is closed, but student learning is continuing online” or 

“Online Home Study” (This refers to the Official Website of the Chinese Ministry of 

Education: http://en.moe.gov.cn/), teachers and students throughout the school use pro-

tocol-guided learning as the carrier and online teaching platforms as the basis for online 

teaching activities to promote student autonomous learning. During the teaching process, 

the school resolutely and seriously implemented the teaching concept of “learning first 

and then teaching”, combined with the way students learn independently during the epi-

demic, and created a six-step teaching method for online learning based on the teaching 

facts of the school. 

Teachers Assign Learning Tasks 

During the epidemic, the school strictly followed the normal teaching schedule to carry 

out autonomous learning activities for students. Restricted by the epidemic, the school 

adopted the “Internet + Protocol-guided Learning” teaching model and established pub-

lic information exchange platforms such as WeChat group and Dingding group. In order 

to facilitate the communication and exchange between teachers, students and parents, 

teachers, students and parents are closely connected through the above public infor-

mation communication tools. 

Teachers will issue protocol-guided learning on established public information 

platforms (WeChat group or Dingding group). Teachers arrange learning tasks through 

the platform, students receive learning tasks on the platform, and parents urge students 

to accept tasks on the platform. 

A 



Cai & Wang. A Six-Step Online Teaching Method during the COVID-19 Epidemic. 

Vol.4, No. 2, 2020 531 

Students Prepare and Pre-Study According to the 

Protocol, Complete Homework and Communicate 

within the Group 

In the daily teaching activities, the school emphasizes “learning first and then teaching”, 

and all students first preview the learning content and complete the corresponding pre-

view test exercises. During the epidemic, students carried out autonomous learning ac-

tivities based on tasks assigned by teachers on the platform. 

When the teacher guides the students to preview, they mainly complete the “I. 

Self-learning the Basic Knowledge” part of the first lesson independently with “proto-

col-guided learning”, or try to complete the questions in other parts of “protocol-guided 

learning” with pencils. On the platform, the independently completed preview exercises 

are uploaded to the study group, and discussions and exchanges are organized between 

group members. 

Parental Supervision and Teacher Guidance 

Parents are important guides for the growth of students. In the daily teaching, parents 

are too busy with work and are neglecting to educate and guide their children. Only 

when teachers and parents work together can we ensure that students’ autonomous 

learning can be carried out smoothly during the epidemic, and that this” School’s Out, 

But Class’s On “will achieve its due effect (Zhang, 2020). 

During the epidemic, parents were more with their students and more assumed 

some of the responsibilities that originally belonged to teachers. In order to give full 

play to the role of parents in educating students, the school puts forward different re-

quirements for parents who work from home, parents who do not need to work at home, 

and teachers according to different personal circumstances. 

If parents still have to undertake work tasks during the epidemic, they cannot 

always urge students to learn. Therefore, parents must put forward specific require-

ments to students every day, and strengthen the ideological education of students’ au-

tonomous learning, autonomous consciousness, and active learning. For parents who 

rest at home, there is more time to urge their children to learn independently. Parents 

not only see whether they learn or not, but also the efficiency of learning. They should 

pay attention to observe whether students can keep up with the teacher’s teaching pace, 

and whether they can independently solve learning problems. 

Students’ autonomous learning also needs the guidance and guidance of teach-

ers. On the one hand, teachers should check the group summary report in time to under-

stand the students’ autonomous learning situation. On the other hand, in response to 

students’ problems and doubts during learning, teachers need to do timely telephone 

communication and guidance with parents. 

The Problem Feedback, Layer by Layer 



Cai & Wang. A Six-Step Online Teaching Method during the COVID-19 Epidemic. 

Vol.4, No. 2, 2020 532 

In the school’s normal teaching practice, the school establishes six- or eight-person 

study groups to promote student learning through study groups. Each student has his or 

her own learning partner. Generally, students with higher grades and students with less 

than ideal grades go together in order to improve each other. 

During the epidemic, the study group was transferred to a public information 

platform, connecting students, parents, and teachers through the public platform. And 

set up learning groups on the platform, each group has its own learning exchange group, 

to facilitate the team leader to monitor the completion of the group members’ work in a 

timely manner. At the same time, the teacher can understand the learning situation of all 

students through the group leader, saving time. 

Tasks and homework assignments arranged by the teacher are studied in groups. 

The detailed learning steps are below: 

First, students think independently and digest the knowledge they can solve by 

themselves. In the process of self-study, outline the points you don’t understand and 

communicate with your learning partners. If there are still problems after the exchange 

between the partners, submit them to the group, and the group will cooperate to solve 

them. In the WeChat group, the teacher collects the problems that the students can’t 

solve in the study, and the problems that the students don’t solve, the teacher focuses on 

explaining through the online platform. 

For the team members to complete the task, the teacher asked the team leader 

to report in two groups in the class every day: 

1. Report the housekeeping, physical exercise, and dual-channel temperature 

reports before 6:30 am in the morning. 

2. Inform the list of students whose other tasks are not completed on time or 

not completed before 8:00 pm. 

The above two periods of reporting require that you take notes and make a 

weekly summary every Sunday to announce your personal grade reduction. Therefore, 

we particularly emphasize that the class teacher should attach great importance to the 

training of the team leader and teach them management methods; at the same time, spe-

cial care and guidance should be given in study and life. 

Teachers’ Online Lecture Guidance, Problem Correc-

tion and Re-Feedback 

Teachers learn about student group learning in a timely manner, and based on under-

standing of student learning, targeted teaching. 

Teachers carry out online instructional activities based on the results of online 

learning and the learning of each group. Teachers’ online classroom guidance must do 

three close integrations: 

1. Closely integrate the “protocol-guided learning” of the school; 

2. Closely integrate common questions raised in students’ autonomous learn-

ing; 



Cai & Wang. A Six-Step Online Teaching Method during the COVID-19 Epidemic. 

Vol.4, No. 2, 2020 533 

3. Closely integrate high-quality course resources. High-quality teaching re-

sources such as the “Henan Provincial Experimental Middle School Quali-

ty Online Course” were launched by the Education Department of Henan 

Province. We must pay attention to collecting the problems existing in the 

pre-class review, pay attention to intensive lectures and interaction with 

students. After the online teaching of science, the method of recording 

multiple small videos of the most difficult points and further focusing on 

counseling was provided to allow students to selectively check for omis-

sions. 

In order to ensure the pertinence of teaching, teachers who have already met 

the students will no longer teach. 

Consolidation and Promotion, Summary and Subli-

mation 

The teacher arranges exercises for the students again through the network learning plat-

form, and the students complete the corresponding exercises independently. After the 

students complete the homework, they submit it to the platform, and the teacher reviews 

it in time, and finds that the problem is corrected in time. Teachers guide students to 

summarize their learning content, so that students can refine the core knowledge of each 

lesson. 

During the epidemic, the school guided students to learn independently through 

an original six-step method of online teaching. On the one hand, it responded to the na-

tional “School’s Out, But Class’s On” policy, which ensured the normal learning pro-

cess of students and promoted the improvement of students’ autonomous learning abil-

ity. On the other hand, it has further strengthened the communication with students’ 

parents, strengthened the parents’ awareness of students’ supervision, and paved the 

way for the restoration of regular teaching activities. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Holec, H. (1981) Autonomy and foreign lan-

guage learning. Oxford: Pergamon, 3. 

Xia, J.P. (2020) Teaching for student learning: 

Exploration of teaching strategies based on 

protocol-guided learning. Sci Insigt Edu 

Front, 5(1): 451-467. 

Zhang, M. “School’s Out, But Class’s On” re-

quires the cooperation of many parties [N]. 

China Women’s News, 2020-02-20 (001). 

Zhou, L.J., Li, C.G. (2020) Can student self-

directed learning improve their academic 

performance? Experimental evidence from 



Cai & Wang. A Six-Step Online Teaching Method during the COVID-19 Epidemic. 

Vol.4, No. 2, 2020 534 

the instruction of protocol-guided learning in 

China’s elementary and middle schools. Sci 

Insigt Edu Front, 5(1): 469-480. 

Received: 29 February 2020 

Revised: 03 March 2020 

Accepted: 12 March 2020 

 

 


	Report-QuanzhouWang-BECE_title_15Mar2020
	Report-QuanzhouWang-BECE_Maintext15Mar2020

