Secret of Success of LVTC's World Champion: Pursuing Excellence in the Spirit of Craftsmanship

— The Winning Team of the Virtual Reality (VR) Design and Production Competition of the World Vocational College Skills Competition

Source: Author: Senior Editor: Release Date: March 15, 2023

From News Center (Text by Zhang Yanxia, Luo Shihua; Photo by Li Fei and Qin Jing from the Teaching Affairs and Practical Training Administration Office, and Xiao Antong and Zhao Keying from the Convergence Media Center) On March 10, LVTC held an awarding ceremony for the winning team of the first World Vocational College Skills Competition, attracting wide attention from the society. Up to now, several media outlets, such as people.cn, Liuzhou Daily, Liuzhou Radio and Television, and China News Service, have reported on the event. It is reported that the first World Vocational College Skills Competition was jointly initiated by 35 organizations including the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China and the National Development and Reform Commission. It is the world vocational college skills competition with the largest number of participating countries. In August 2022, LVTC's VR team won the gold medal in the Virtual Reality (VR) Design and Production Competition. Huai Jinpeng, Minister of Education, presented the award to LVTC.

What is LVTC's VR team like? How did they manage to stand out in the international competition with outstanding contestants? Now, let's get to know this excellent team composed of teachers and students.

Join Hands and Form the Strongest LVTC Team

"With the second prize we won in the 2021 National Vocational College Skills Competition, we were qualified for the world competition, so we led four students to participate in the first World Vocational College Skills Competition in August 2022." said Qin Baozhen, a teacher at the School of Electronic Information Engineering of LVTC. The first World Vocational College Skills Competition has strict requirements on the formation of student teams, that is, the participating teams shall consist of Chinese and international students in order to promote the mutual integration and communication between China and foreign countries in vocational education, and the exchange and cooperation between Chinese and international vocational colleges, and enhance the friendship between teachers and students. For the VR Design and Production Competition, mixed formation is required. To be specific, each participating team shall consist of two Chinese students and two international students studying in China (or foreign students). The Chinese students must be full-time students of higher vocational colleges, and the foreign students (including international students studying in China) must be enrolled in vocational colleges or related undergraduate majors.

How to select suitable international students? This was the first challenge for the instructors, Qin Baozhen and Li Chuang. They decided to designate two foreign students to complete and deliver VR project design in English, and finally selected Andri Ardiansyah, an Indonesian student majoring in Interior Design at LVTC and good at graphic design. At the same time, Ye Naya, a student majoring in International Trade at Guangxi University of Science and Technology and proficient in Chinese and English, also joined the team through coordination of leaders at all levels. These two students met the requirements of communication and English writing. Since their mother tongue is Indonesian, they had no problems communicating with other team members. Finally, the LVTC team consisted of two Chinese students, Chen Chao (admitted in 2020, majoring in Virtual Reality Technology Application) and Zheng Guitian (admitted in 2019, majoring in Software Technology), and two Indonesia students, Ye Naya and Andri Ardiansyah. The participating team of LVTC was successfully formed.

After the formation of the student team, the instructors made a sophisticated preparation plan under the guidance of the leaders of LVTC and the Office of Academic Affairs of LVTC. The first step was to interpret the competition rules and define the objectives. Ms. Qin Baozhen interpreted the competition rules to these students, and defined the team's objectives, and the individual training directions and tasks. The second step was to identify and improve their weaknesses. According to the competition rules and requirements, a personalized training plan was made for each student. According to the unified arrangement of the Office of Academic Affairs of LVTC and under the support of the School of Arts, Guo Chuang, a teacher at the School of Arts was invited to serve as the art director of the team, and Zhang Jinyezi, a teacher at the Office of International Exchange of LVTC, was invited to review the English translation. The third step was to conduct staged training to improve quality. Based on the open topics of the competition, the participating team practiced six days a week, eight hours a day. With perseverance and consistency, these four students improved their skills rapidly. The last step was to work together in simulated competitions. In order to strengthen teamwork, these four students lived together at the beginning of their preparation for the competition. During preparation, the teachers of the sports group of LVTC organized quality development training for these four students. Through repeated training, the strongest LVTC team was finally formed. These four students worked in pairs, with clear division of work. Finally, they gave full play to their respective advantages and cooperated with each other in the real competition, winning the gold medal in the VR Design and Production Competition.

Looking back on the day the results were announced, Mr. Li Chuang was very happy. "On the day the results were announced, I was very surprised, excited and happy. Actually, such a competition with outstanding contestants, we were mentally prepared for any result as we didn't hold a dominant position in the national competition. It's a big surprise that we won the gold medal." said Mr. Li Chuang.

Aiming to Have a Tilt at the World Championship

"Winning the gold medal was unexpected and reasonable. The way to develop the gold team was training day after day and self-discipline." Ms. Qin Baozhen and Mr. Li Chuang said. The joint efforts by all the departments and schools of LVTC and the cooperation among these four students enabled the LVTC team to shine in the world competition.

Compared with the national competition, the first World Vocational College Skills Competition was more technically difficult and had fewer awards. In the previous national competitions, there were first prize (10%), second prize (20%), and third prize (30%). In this world competition, there were only one gold medal, one silver medal and one bronze medal, as well as winning prizes for the top 50% of the participating teams. All the contestants of this world competition were selected from the winning teams in the national competition last year. Moreover, the LVTC team lost to the first-prize winning team by 1.5 points in the national competition last year. In such a world competition with outstanding contestants, the LVTC team felt stressed to compete with another 17 participating teams.

The LVTC team soon turned the pressure into motivation. This competition focused more on the practical, realistic and industrial needs of projects. After careful consideration, the team decided to select the VR-based public operation process of rail transit stations published on the official website of the competition as the training topic, and established a training question bank in combination with relevant engineering topics. The competition was divided into five modules, i.e. Project Design, VR Modeling, VR Interaction, VR Animation and Professional Quality. The team had a clear division of work, that is, the foreign students were responsible for the VR design and the Chinese students for the VR implementation. From August 1 to 9, 2022, Andri Ardiansyah and Ye Naya completed the VR design. On August 10, Zheng Guitian and Chen Chao completed the VR production after an 8-hour race. These four students completed the virtual simulation project design and production of urban rail transit operation with outstanding theoretical attainment and good technical skills, winning the recognition of the panel of referees with tacit cooperation and confidence in winning. Finally, the LVTC team stood out from the 18 excellent participating teams and won the gold medal.

An obsession with the championship is a strong motivation to win. Zheng Guitian is a student (admitted in 2019) from Software Technology Class 3 of the School of Electronic Information Engineering. He has participated in many regional competitions in Guangxi and national competitions. He participated in this competition because of his strong interest in VR and also his obsession with the championship. In the national competition in 2021, Zheng's team lost to the first-prize winning team by 1.5 points due to a small mistake, and he was unwilling to accept such a result, so he decided to give up the internship and to participate in this competition for his obsession. In Zheng's words, "I aim to have a tilt at the world championship or the national first prize!"

Zheng Guitian is a very self-disciplined and sports-loving boy. Even during the intense training, he still took one or two hours a day to ride a bicycle or play football. Zheng said, "It's important to keep fit. Exercise always makes me more focused during competitions." With such good exercise habits, Zheng could stay in top form and perform very well in the competition in 2022.

In 2022, Zheng Guitian passed the upgrading examination and was admitted to Guilin University of Aerospace Technology. Recalling the competition, Zheng said, "I learned a lot from the competition. It enhanced my ability to work under pressure and to learn, enabling me to accomplish my work in the company and the upgrading examination with ease. It was a very rare and unforgettable experience that would benefit me for life."

Behind the Honors is the Spirit of Craftsmanship of Pursuing Excellence

LVTC applied for setting up the VR major in 2018, and was approved as one of the first group of higher vocational colleges in China to set up the VR major in 2019. The LVTC teams have won several prizes, including the third prize in the VR Design and Production Competition of the National Vocational College Skills Competitions in 2018 and 2019, the first prize in the Vocational College Skills Competition of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in 2020 (without holding the national competition that year), the second prize in the National Vocational College Skills Competition in 2021, and the gold medal in the VR Design and Production Competition of the World Vocational College Skills Competition in 2022. Behind the honors is LVTC's spirit of craftsmanship of pursuing excellence that has been passed down from generation to generation.

The platform and cultivation mechanism provided by LVTC have enabled the VR team to grow rapidly. In 2018, LVTC established a VR/AR studio for the VR team and equipped the studio with computers and VR equipment, creating conditions for the VR team to grow stronger and become better. In 2019, LVTC set up the VR major, obtained the approval of establishing a national virtual simulation base, and established the VR simulation engineering center. The hardware upgrades and software platform expansions have provided fertile "soil" for cultivating gold medal winners. At the same time, the leaders of LVTC have attached importance to the development of the VR major, and have given constructive suggestions and opinions on setting up the VR major, establishing the AR/VR studio and the national virtual simulation base, promoting the development of the virtual simulation engineering technology center, and on cultivating talents to participate in skills competitions.

On the basis of the platform provided by LVTC, LVTC has formed a well-functioning transfer mechanism. Zheng Guitian, Chen Chao and Wei Wenbiao, the second-prize winners in the National Vocational College Skills Competition in 2021, said that when they first joined the VR team, they were taught by the seniors about their participation experience. This was their first lesson in the team and also laid a solid foundation for their preparations for competitions. Growing from a novice, Zheng Guitian, Chen Chao, and Wei Wenbiao have gained rich experience of competitions. They are the beneficiaries and successors of the mechanism. Just like the seniors, they are willing to share their experience and knowledge of competition to their younger schoolmates, so that these younger schoolmates can move forward to the championship from a higher starting point. With the mechanism, everyone can help each other and grow together.

The transfer of honors is also the transfer of responsibilities. Meng Ren, a 2020 graduate of Software Technology, won the first prize in the China Undergraduate Mathematical Contest in Modelling and the third prize in the VR Design and Production Competition of the National Vocational College Skills Competition. After graduation, Meng has been caring for and guiding the younger schoolmates. Meng said, "Helping the younger schoolmates to grow and to shine is a responsibility and also the meaning of learning."

Through this excellent team of teachers and students, we have had an understanding of LVTC's value of seeking truth and pursuing excellence, and LVTC's spirit of craftsmanship of keep on striving, being willing to give, being good at achieving the intended goals as planned, and pursuing excellence. After several years of strenuous efforts, the dream comes true today. As General Secretary Xi Jinping said, working hard is the brightest color of youth, and taking actions is the best trial for young people. Responsibilities and commitment are what make the youthful years shine. LVTC's excellent team of teachers and students has made the most vivid interpretation with practical actions in the World Vocational College Skills Competition.

Group Photo of LVTC's Leaders and Participating Teachers and Students

Group Photo of Award-winning Teachers and Students

Group Photo of Excellent Instructors

Group Photo of Award-winning Students

Competition Site

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Department Website Auditor: Luo Shihua, the Publicity Department of the CPC LVTC Committee

College Website Auditor: Luo Shihua, the Publicity Department of the CPC LVTC Committee