In the golden autumn of September, the Department of Psychology and Behavioral Science at Zhejiang University is set to launch the fourth installment of the highly popular English authentic course—Structural Equation Modeling and Its Applications. This year, the course will be delivered in an online format by an overseas instructor, with sessions held every Tuesday and Wednesday from 3:55 to 5:30 PM starting September 14. Additionally, in-person sessions will be arranged to teach data analysis using statistical software such as LISREL and Mplus. The course will continue to be taught by Professor Karl Schweizer from the Department of Psychology at Goethe University Frankfurt, with Professor Zaifeng Gao serving as the course coordinator and Dr. Tengfei Wang as the young assistant instructor.
Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is one of the most commonly used statistical analysis methods in social science research fields such as psychology, education, and management. Leading psychology departments abroad typically offer SEM-related courses to meet students' academic and research needs. Prior to September 2018, undergraduate students at Zhejiang University primarily relied on self-study to grasp SEM, leading to misunderstandings of core concepts and inefficiencies, which posed challenges for conducting empirical research. To address this bottleneck and advance top-tier teaching while resolving students' learning difficulties, the Department of Psychology at Zhejiang University invited renowned overseas Professor Karl Schweizer to offer the first-ever authentic SEM course for undergraduates in China. Over the past three years, the course has achieved remarkable teaching outcomes and received enthusiastic feedback from students, thanks to its authentic international teaching philosophy and model. The course features three main characteristics: broad accessibility, integration of theory and practice, and sharing of course materials. Positive feedback has already been received from former students who took the course and are now pursuing graduate studies abroad.
----- 2020 Online Teaching----
Zhejiang University students interested in the course are welcome to join the DingTalk online classroom by scanning the QR code below and attending the sessions on time. The QR code is as follows:
Course Instructor Profile:
Professor Schweizer brings over 30 years of teaching experience and substantial research accomplishments, with particularly distinguished expertise in psychometrics and statistics. He has held academic positions in psychology departments at three world-renowned German universities: Goethe University Frankfurt, University of Freiburg, and University of Tübingen, where he has taught courses including Structural Equation Modeling. His instruction expertly introduces both fundamental concepts of structural equation modeling and their applications in psychological research, making it highly popular among undergraduate and graduate students alike. Simultaneously, Professor Schweizer is a recognized expert in psychometrics and statistics. His leadership roles include serving as President of the European Association of Psychological Assessment (2009-2011), Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Psychological Assessment (2009-2013), and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Personality Psychology (2013-present). In 2017, he was honored with the Alfred-Binet-Preis lifetime achievement award for his outstanding contributions to the field of structural equation modeling. Professor Schweizer has successively led 7 major research projects funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and has published over 120 papers in internationally renowned journals such as Intelligence, Structural Equation Modeling, and Learning and Instruction. Additionally, he has authored more than 35 invited book chapters and edited over 10 academic volumes.
