Special report on the 2024 World Conference on Digital Education
The solution to tomorrow's problems depends on today's education.
Today, at the parallel session of the 2024 World Digital Education Conference on "Digitalization of Education Governance and Digital Education Governance", sparks of ideas are colliding. What is the direction of change in the digitalization of education governance and digital education governance? What are the innovative practices around the world? How do you face the challenge head-on? Representatives of domestic and foreign institutions, universities and enterprises shared new observations, new thinking and new practices on the digital transformation and reform of education governance.
Innovate the education governance model with intelligent upgrading
The development of digital technology has brought unprecedented challenges and opportunities to global education, and is profoundly changing educational concepts, education models and forms. In this context, the importance of digitalization of education governance is self-evident.
As Zhou Dawang, Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Information Technology of the Ministry of Education, said, how to make digital technology fully empower the modernization of the education governance system and governance capacity, so that the fruits of Internet development can benefit the majority of teachers and students, has become a major practical course in front of us. "In the future, we will innovate the education governance model with intelligent upgrades, build a national education big data center, give full play to data efficiency, and make governance smarter. Zhou Dawang said.
In 2022, the United Nations Summit on Transforming Education proposed to use the digital revolution to benefit public education, and digital technology can promote the sharing of high-quality educational resources, support scientific decision-making, and play an important role in the comprehensive evaluation of teachers and students, the allocation of educational resources, the evaluation of education quality, and the construction of green campuses, so as to empower and increase the efficiency of education governance.
Wang Weiren, deputy secretary general of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, recognized this very much. He said that the digital transformation of education is an important part of education modernization, which can not only empower teaching, learning, examination, management, and evaluation, but also break the time and space constraints of the education and teaching process, and promote the reengineering of education management and service processes in an unprecedented way. "This is of great significance for improving the capacity of education governance and promoting the high-quality development of education. Wang Weiren pointed out.
Digitalization drives the upgrading of governance systems and governance capabilities
Actions speak louder than words, and the road is under your feet. In the face of the accelerated arrival of the digital era, the participants shared the practice and innovation experience of digitalization and digital education governance in various countries.
Finland is at the forefront of the world when it comes to equipping its citizens with the digital technologies they need for the future. "Finland has been leading the digital transformation, the so-called 'digital compass', to better guide people, first and foremost to promote the digital transformation of society, but also to assist in the digital transformation of all aspects of life, including education and training. Ollie Somminen, Counsellor of the Finnish Embassy in China, said.
How can universities use digitalization to drive the upgrading of governance systems and governance capabilities? "We promote the construction of a top-level management system based on big data, explore the establishment of a digital evaluation platform, and provide personalized supervision for academic and career development. Liu Chenggong, Secretary of the Party Committee of Donghua University, said that a more efficient and secure digital governance system should be built and a shared digital education resource system should be built.
Steinshu Mishra, head of the Digital Learning and Artificial Intelligence Unit at the UNESCO Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development, proposed the creation of a "digital apartment" for the AI education system to manage, process and share all education data. "The goal of the Data Suite is to ensure that the public interest is effectively protected, resulting in economies of scale value and maximized learning outcomes. ”
Promote more equal access to technology and capabilities for human beings
At present, the digital technology represented by the Internet is changing with each passing day, expanding new areas of national governance, and while digital technology helps improve the efficiency of education governance, it also brings potential risks and challenges, testing the ability of education governance.
How to avoid privacy leakage, bias and discrimination, algorithm abuse and other problems caused by new technologies such as artificial intelligence, and how to promote more equal access to technology and capabilities for human beings requires us to work together to prevent security risks.
Data privacy and security issues were of concern to many participants. "In our digital education environment, the sensitive data of students and staff must be strictly protected. If there are no robust policies and regulations, it can undermine trust in the education system, leading to the risk of data breaches and privacy breaches. Huang Ronghuai, moderator of the UNESCO Chair on Artificial Intelligence and Education, said.
Globally, there is still a huge gap in effectively protecting data privacy and protecting students from cybersecurity risks. "UNESCO is committed to bridging the gap and ensuring that the digitization of education does not compromise the safety, well-being and privacy of learners, and that technology should be a tool in the best interests of all learners, teachers and administrators," said Shah Zehan, Director of UNESCO's Multisectoral Regional Office for East Asia. ”
Shanghai, January 31.
China Education Daily, 2024-02-01, 2nd edition
Author: Trainee Reporter Zheng Yi.