Beini Xin, Anli Cao

Beini Xin

March 31, 2026

Ideological and political education, Visual communication design, Four-course linkage, Design education.

This study examines the “Four-Course Linkage” model of ideological and political education implemented in the Visual Communication Design program at Beijing Forestry University. The model integrates four educational domains: the first classroom (formal theoretical instruction), the second classroom (practice-oriented extracurricular education), the online classroom (digitally mediated teaching and learning), and the social classroom (education embedded in real social contexts). Through coordinated interaction and resource sharing among these domains, the model seeks to address the problems of fragmentation and superficial integration that often characterize ideological and political education, and to promote its systematic and sustained incorporation into the entire process of professional talent cultivation. Drawing on this case, the paper analyzes the major challenges encountered in embedding ideological and political education throughout the full training process of the Visual Communication Design major. To enhance educational effectiveness, four key pathways are proposed: strengthening the foundational role of the first classroom, expanding the complementary function of the second classroom, leveraging the communicative advantages of the online classroom, and fully utilizing the experiential resources of the social classroom. The study demonstrates that the Four-Course Linkage model provides a feasible and effective framework for integrating ideological and political education into design education, offering practical insights for curriculum reform and pedagogical innovation in higher education.

© 2026, the Authors. Published by ISCCAC

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license