This article delves into the concept of virtual teaching and research section (VTRS), a novel grassroots teaching organisation in the “Internet +” era. Triggered by the development of online courses and the need for educational reform, VTRS was proposed by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. It has four core connotations and can be classified into three types, each serving different collaborative teaching and research purposes, such as course development, major construction, and exploring new educational reform topics. VTRS also exhibits seven characteristics (guidance from renowned teachers, focused topic, platform support, pilot demonstration, co-construction and sharing, accumulation of achievements, and improvement in teaching quality), with co-construction and sharing being the most crucial.
The paper constructs a four-element framework for VTRS, covering team building, platform construction, mechanism construction, and content construction. Employing the computational thinking virtual teaching and research section as an example, the paper details the construction cases and methods, including specific teaching design and resource construction methods, as well as cross-university collaborative teaching and research models. Although VTRS has advantages like breaking spatial-temporal limitations and promoting resource sharing, its implementation faces challenges, such as teachers' varying acceptance and technical support issues. The paper concludes by suggesting solutions like enhancing training, establishing support mechanisms, and providing incentives to drive the development of VTRS.
The work titled “Joint Construction of Virtual Teaching and Research Section Across Universities: Creating a New Model for Collaborative Teaching and Research” was published on Frontiers of Digital Education (published on November 5, 2024).

DOI: 10.1007/s44366-024-0030-y