Long Mingzhong, the principal of Changde Special Education School in Hunan Province, has a form file on his mobile phone. In addition to some basic information such as the student's "name", "gender", "age" and "type of disability", there is also a special item that says "Studying, The situation and effects of using informatization in life, work, etc.” This column clearly records the specific situations of different students, such as, "You can use tablet computers to learn Chinese characters at home", "You can use mobile phones to shop", "You can receive learning tasks from teachers through mobile phones while studying", "When communicating with ordinary people" You can use voice software to convert the other party's words into text" "You can use your mobile phone for leisure and entertainment in daily life"...

　　This small table has become the epitome of digital education. Information technology has penetrated into every aspect of education, closely connecting people and educational resources in an unprecedented and more flexible way. At the same time, digitalization has also brought new challenges and opportunities to education.

　　Not long ago, the 2024 World Digital Education Conference was held in Shanghai. More than 800 domestic and foreign representatives discussed "Where is education going?" This era's topic of concern to the world.

　　"Digital education is allowing more high-quality resources to break through time and space, connect urban and rural areas, and cross mountains and seas, and promote social justice through educational equity." said Huai Jinpeng, Minister of Education of China.

Unbounded

　　"Last October, I went to Ningxia University in northwest China and listened to an 'Agricultural Microbiology' class in the school's 'Future Classroom'. Teachers and students interacted frequently in the smart classroom system, and the students' knowledge difficulties and experimental doubts were solved And new questions discovered during hands-on work were quickly and accurately answered, and the sense of gain in the classroom was greatly enhanced." Huai Jinpeng introduced the digital education situation in universities in western China to guests from all over the world at the 2024 World Digital Education Conference.

　　Such smart classrooms can be seen on many campuses in China.

　　Long Teng, President of Beijing Institute of Technology, said that at Beijing Institute of Technology, digital methods are adopted in everything from curriculum system setting to teaching methods, student practice, and campus environment construction. The school requires all courses to gradually realize the "trinity" of Chinese courses, English courses and MOOCs, also known as the "sandwich course system."

　　Digital education not only breaks down the barriers between courses, allowing students to acquire knowledge more conveniently and quickly, but at the same time, digital education is expanding classrooms infinitely. Students in the same classroom may come from different schools or even different countries.

　　According to the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Education, in 2020, China took the lead in establishing the World MOOC and Online Education Alliance. The president of Tsinghua University serves as the chairman of the alliance. Its members include 17 well-known universities and 6 online education institutions in 16 countries. Relying on the World MOOC and Online Education Alliance, China MOOC has opened 341 global integrated courses and launched 10 global integrated certificate projects, with nearly 25.4 million learners; it has cooperated with more than 30 well-known universities and online education institutions around the world It has established a two-way communication channel for course introduction and output, and organized 88 Chinese universities to provide nearly 300 high-level MOOCs to Indonesia, covering more than 3,000 universities in Indonesia. At the same time, Xi'an Jiaotong University relies on the Silk Road University Alliance to offer 30 training topics and 743 courses in energy, chemical engineering, health care, etc.; Southwest Jiaotong University implements the "Belt and Road" initiative, develops courses and teaching materials, and trains students from the 80s More than 5,000 rail transit talents from more than 10 countries have radiated more than 200 universities at home and abroad and more than 100,000 online learners; Southern University of Science and Technology has helped 13 Asian and African countries such as Cambodia and Kenya build smart classrooms.

　　Now, China's MOOC construction and application scale have become the first in the world. In 2023, China held the 2023 World MOOC and Online Education Conference in Italy. More than 180 relevant leaders, experts and scholars from more than 70 universities, online education platforms, international organizations, and government agencies from 21 countries attended the conference. Successfully realized the "MOOC overseas".

　　The "circle of friends" is still expanding.

　　During the 2024 World Digital Education Conference, the World Digital Education Alliance was established, and at the same time, the international version of China's national smart education public service platform was launched. "The platform will be able to push 780 Chinese golden courses to the world for free, providing 24-hour uninterrupted learning support for global learners. It will share high-quality digital education resources with countries around the world to meet the real-time learning needs of people in different regions. " said Wu Yan, Vice Minister of Education.

　　However, digitalization brings more than just technology to education. "Digital education is not only about embracing technology, but also bridging the gap between urban and rural education." said Rahamtala M. Osman, Permanent Representative of the African Union to China, to enable every child, no matter where they are, No matter what socio-economic background you are in, you can receive education.

　　Haiyang is a student at Caowa Primary School in Guyuan, Ningxia. Born on the Loess Plateau, he likes to look at globes because he wants to see with his own eyes the "sea" and "ocean" in his name.

　　Because the natural conditions are relatively harsh and the economy is relatively backward, many elderly people have never left the plateau covered by loess in their entire lives.

　　With the national smart education platform for primary and secondary schools, the children of Caowa Primary School are closer to the world. When you turn on the screen in class, you can see it from all over the world, and there are also extremely rich course resources on the platform.

　　According to reports, in recent years, China has been focusing on narrowing regional gaps and implemented the "MOOC Western Travel Plan 2.0", providing 198,000 MOOCs and customized courses, serving 540 million students in western colleges and universities. In 2023, the first phase of digital teaching innovation experiment was also launched, delivering more than 2,500 popular science, art and other courses to 14,000 rural primary and secondary school students.

　　"Today, volunteers from East China Normal University in Shanghai, China, can use the platform to experience traditional culture, perceive the cutting-edge of science and technology, and exchange their inner world with primary school students in Xundian County, Yunnan Province, thousands of miles away," Huai Jinpeng said.

　　A network cable is becoming a grand and profound force, opening the walls of classrooms, schools, and even breaking the boundaries of countries. The spread of knowledge and learning are no longer limited by physical limitations, allowing every child to accept Equitable education is possible.

No class

　　"When I didn't go to this school, I didn't realize there were so many special children in the society." Long Mingzhong said. At the Changde special education school where he works, many children rarely go out because of low self-esteem or lack of skills to integrate into society. "General education is said to 'hope children to become successful', but special education is 'hope children to become adults'. Teaching students in accordance with their aptitude and teaching without distinction is particularly suitable for our special education."

　　With the assistance of information technology, the educational ideal of teaching students in accordance with their aptitude has been realized more accurately.

　　Long Mingzhong told reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that students at Changde Special Education School can be roughly divided into two categories: deaf-mute students and students with intellectual disabilities. The school does not divide students into classes according to age. Instead, it assesses students through information technology and then divides them into classes based on the results of the assessment. "Similar abilities and similar needs" are more conducive to students' acceptance of knowledge. "After using information technology, students' concentration in class has been significantly improved. Therefore, I require teachers to integrate information technology into every course." Long Mingzhong said.

　　In ordinary schools, it is a simple matter for students to enter the campus through the gate, but it is an important matter at Changde Special Education School. Students have to practice every day before and after school. Compared with students in ordinary schools, students in special education schools also need to learn the skills to integrate into society. Passing the gate is a practice for them to successfully pass through the security gate when taking a train or airplane in the future.

　　In order to be more targeted, the school uses the long holidays to ask teachers to follow up and observe students at their homes to see what obstacles and difficulties they have in their lives without intervening in their behavior. Then they record the data. As the education progresses, the data Update and adjust accordingly, so that a complete data link is formed.

　　Information technology allows education and teaching to shift from large-scale standardization to personalization and intelligence, allowing each student to have an education plan that suits him or her and achieve free and comprehensive development, which places higher demands on teachers.

　　"The digitalization of education cannot be separated from the role of people, especially the role of teachers. The teachers here are not traditional teachers, but teachers with digital literacy, human-computer interaction and human-computer collaboration capabilities." Yuan Zhenguo, Director of the Department of Education at East China Normal University explain.

　　Reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily learned that every student in Luwanyi Central Primary School in Huangpu District, Shanghai will wear a bracelet. During physical education class, the teacher will use this bracelet to detect the real-time heart rate and blood oxygen of each student. Saturation, etc., make it easy for teachers to observe the student’s exercise intensity throughout the class.

　　Each student also has a cloud pen. Through the backend, the teacher can clearly understand the duration, order, speed and modification process of each student's answer.

　　These bits and pieces ultimately generate data. “This data comes together like a school in the cloud,” said a teacher. Teachers often hold these data for discussions. Through these data, they can analyze each child's emotional state, physical condition, knowledge mastery, etc., and then give the most appropriate feedback according to each child's different situation.

　　Improving teachers' digital literacy is an all-round project. Yuan Zhenguo proposed to innovate application scenarios, coordinate and promote the digitalization process of the four major application scenarios of "learning-teaching-management-assessment", and deeply integrate information technology into the all-round and full-process of education. .

　　"Teaching without distinction" has another meaning in the digital transformation process of education. Everyone involved, whether teachers or students, is learning and growing. "Our school has not been established for a long time, and the teachers and I are all 'novices'." Long Mingzhong said, especially in the digital transformation, we have experienced the process of "from scratch", "The teachers have not only increased their abilities I also gained a sense of accomplishment and belonging.”

unlimited

　　"After coming to China, I found that China's 'night schools' are very popular! People of different ages and professions learn cooking, dancing, fitness and other interest skills." Isabel Kempf, director of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, said He said this when speaking at the 2024 World Digital Education Conference.

　　The tide of digitalization is unstoppable, and new knowledge, new technologies, new skills and even new professions are constantly changing. In such an era, constant learning and continuous updating have become the needs and necessity of everyone.

　　"Digital skills are the key capabilities of new workers." said Yang Xinbin, Secretary of the Party Committee of Shenzhen Vocational and Technical University. At the same time, digital technology provides the possibility for continuous updating and even subversive learning.

　　It is understood that Shenzhen Vocational and Technical University is undergoing a comprehensive and systematic digital transformation, and this transformation must also keep pace with the development of industry technology. With the innovation of new energy vehicles, driverless cars and other technical skills, the teaching of automobile design and manufacturing in schools must also be innovative. Therefore, the school jointly develops digital resources with enterprises. Simulation equipment can be used in teaching the structure and principles of automobiles, which is both in line with industrial development and suitable for teaching.

　　Many courses at Beijing Institute of Technology are also equipped with virtual simulation laboratories. "In the past, there were many experiments that needed to be carried out on physical objects, but now they can be practiced online through the virtual simulation laboratory, and the experimental results can be mutually verified with the real objects, which greatly improves the efficiency and experience of students' experiments," Long Teng said. .

　　Many countries are also trying to apply information technology to help people continuously master new skills.

　　At the 2024 World Digital Education Conference, Colin Bailey, president of Queen Mary University of London and academician of the Royal Academy of Engineering, brought a case sharing. The school combines haptic technology with simulation technology to train dentists. "When students 'drill' holes in the simulated teeth, they can feel the reaction force from the 'teeth' on their hands."

　　During the conference, the "Report on the Construction of China's Learning Society in the Process of Digitalization" was also released. The report comprehensively examines the profound changes and severe challenges brought about by information technology. It also deeply explores the new progress made in recent years in the construction of a learning society empowered by the digitalization of education, providing the world with a set of information adopted by a country with a population of over 1.4 billion. The “China Plan” for technologically building a learning society and a learning country.

　　Many experts pointed out that digital transformation will eventually be deeply integrated with lifelong learning for all. As Wang Qiming, Secretary of the Party Committee and President of the Open University of China, said, it has become a national strategy to promote the digitalization of education and build a learning society and a learning country with lifelong learning for all.

　　"It is new every day, and it is new every day." When learning becomes the norm, many people seem to have a new identity. "Students become a lifelong role for everyone." said Xie Weihe, former vice president of Tsinghua University and senior professor of liberal arts.

　　Digital education is providing "learners" with a new path to better achieve themselves and develop in an all-round way with the advantages of fairness, inclusiveness, openness, and sharing.

　　Numbers have no boundaries, education has no categories, and development is unlimited.

　　China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Fan Weichen Source: China Youth Daily