Second-grade pupils practice arithmetic using a tablet app that allows students to do math while playing games at a primary school in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. 

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The proliferation of Internet technology has brought profound changes to society, greatly influencing lifestyles and ways of thinking. The field of education is no exception. It will undergo tremendous transformations and reforms spurred by the implementation of the “Internet Plus” strategy.

 

Closer student-teacher relations
Traditionally, teacher-student communication has been confined to the eight-hour school day, but the Internet allows constant contact. It enables real-time monitoring of students’ learning and living situations as well as their mental states, which will help teachers develop methods best adapted to student needs.

Thus, maintaining the relationships among teachers, students and parents no longer relies solely on morality and responsibilities. The Internet offers a platform where everyone can gain insight from big data, breaking the obstacle of time and space.

Schools, governments and regions are also networked, bringing about changes in decision-making as well as modes of operation and management. For instance, Sugata Mitra, a professor of education technology at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, has created the “Granny Cloud,” a global network of retired teachers who support kids through an online “School in the Cloud” platform. This has transformed the way kids learn while reducing costs and promoting equality in education.

 

Easier access to knowledge
In addition, the Internet directly connects learners with knowledge. Traditionally, experts and scholars have written their ideas in books published and sold at bookstores. The Internet has simplified the long and complicated process: Everyone can post his or her knowledge and viewpoints for reference through online platforms. For example, through some Q&A websites like Quora, learners can freely browse answers provided by grassroots experts and scholars in the form of text, voice or video to the various questions they have put forward.

Under the traditional one-way connection model, learners are just passive receivers of knowledge. Nowadays, they can give feedback by forwarding and commenting on certain topics, accumulating knowledge in the process. For instance, Wikipedia has developed into an extensive encyclopedia after nearly 20 years of collaborative editing by volunteers.

Traditionally, students are generally self-reliant when learning and making judgments. In the Internet era, experiences of students with different skills and needs have been recorded using big data techniques. This approach combines static knowledge with dynamic learning, creating the possibility of personalized learning.

For instance, Knewton, an online adaptive learning platform, draws on a student’s own history, what other students do and decades of research on how people learn in order to improve future learning experiences and guide students toward an optimal path.

Therefore, it is unwise and impractical to forbid students from using mobile phones and tablet devices. Banning smart terminals would cut off the closer, more effective connection between students, teachers and parents, and between students and knowledge. Instead, teachers and parents should guide and help students in taking advantage of Internet platforms and instruments to achieve diversified learning.

 

Selection of classes
The Internet has promoted innovation in traditional industries. The cross-boundary revolution transforms ways of thinking, methodologies and information while redistributing resources, responsibilities and power. In education, it is essential to make use of the ideas, methodologies and instruments of the Internet to make breakthroughs in reform.

Mirroring the social relations brought by the industrial revolution, schools and classes have become analogous to assembly lines in a factory. Teachers impart knowledge in accordance with the curriculum to “produce” students. Classes not only form the physical boundary of instruction but the invisible boundary of knowledge introduction. Within the confines of these boundaries, teachers and students perform routine duties of teaching and learning.

At present, a number of schools throughout China are experimenting with allowing students to select their own courses. This new model of teaching can meet the different needs of students while gathering students with the same interests and hobbies. Moreover, it has brought changes to school management: Functional departments and project teams have replaced the bureaucratic management system of class advisers, mid-level supervisors and principals, giving greater power to individual teachers.

 

New ‘battlefield’
The boundaries of schools prevent outstanding teachers from benefiting more students with their insights and rich experience. Aware of this, many schools allow their teachers to also work at other schools and in other regions. However, this has only limited effects due to various challenges, such as payment and identity problems.

The Internet has enabled teachers to share their teaching experience and materials without physically going out of the school. Internet technologies, such as big data and cloud computing, make it possible to evenly distribute high-quality educational resources. Instead of just uploading recorded lessons, teachers can be motivated by the promise of academic titles and material rewards to better understand the needs of students, update their knowledge and provide online answers to questions students ask through Internet platforms.

 

Platform for sharing
All information conducive to human survival, life and development can be included into the knowledge framework. There were originally no distinctions of disciplines, and knowledge itself has nothing to do with social status. In response to the increasingly complex division of labor in society, different schools and disciplines have emerged, bringing into being experts and scholars who specialize in certain fields.

The Internet gives the public access to knowledge. In addition to professionals, the public can also spread knowledge through online platforms. There exists a group of people who are not graduates from colleges or universities, and do not work in scientific research institutions but are skilled in certain areas. They can never become experts and scholars by the traditional standard or publish their achievements. With the help of the Internet, everyone can express opinions. The Internet thus has become a platform for collective intelligence.

There is no lack of such examples in China and abroad. The American online education platform Skillshare is open to anyone who wants to create classes to share skills and knowledge or to learn from others. Beijing introduced an open program last year that encouraged first and second grades of junior high schools to select lessons around certain topics opened by universities, museums, high-tech enterprises, social organizations and other institutions. The innovative program can help integrate educational resources as well as family, school and social education.

The complex problems of education have been a focus of the wise and benevolent around the world throughout history. The Internet offers insights into education problems and a path to reform in education. Therefore, it is necessary to take greater advantage of the Internet to usher in adjustment and changes in the ways of thinking, research paradigms and development approaches.

 

Tang Liang is from the Center for Education Information at the Beijing Academy of Education Sciences.