Embrace the wave of digital technology and accelerate the construction of an education power

　　Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has reviewed the situation and successively put forward major development strategies such as building a digital China, building a strong country in education, and developing new quality productive forces. A new wave of digital technology change, represented by smart terminals and wearable devices, mobile Internet, big data, and cloud computing, is pushing traditional productivity to move towards new quality productivity. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) for the first time included "digitalization of education" in the report, proposing: "Promote the digitalization of education and build a learning society and a learning country with lifelong learning for all." In May 2023, when presiding over the fifth collective study of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that the digitalization of education is an important breakthrough for the mainland to open up a new track for education development and shape new advantages for education development. As an important part of "Digital China", education digitalization makes full use of the education dividends brought by digital technology to contribute to the construction of an education power. General Secretary Xi Jinping's important exposition on the digitalization of education is the fundamental principle for us to embrace a new wave of digital technology change and accelerate the construction of an education power. Vigorously promoting the digital development of education in the process of building a digital China is of great practical significance for promoting the high-quality development of education, accelerating the construction of an educational power, and developing new quality productivity.

　　Digital China and the high-quality development of education

　　With the rapid iteration and popularization of digital technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, Web 3.0, and blockchain, a far-reaching digital revolution is quietly kicking off. The digitalization process in mainland China is advancing rapidly, with the rapid popularization of e-commerce, mobile payment, short videos, etc., and the increasing degree of digitalization in society.

　　General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly put forward clear requirements for the construction of digital infrastructure: "We must strengthen the construction of information infrastructure, strengthen the deep integration of information resources, and open up the information 'artery' of economic and social development", "We must strengthen the strategic layout and accelerate the construction of a high-speed ubiquitous, space-ground integration, cloud-network integration, intelligent and agile, green and low-carbon, safe and controllable intelligent and comprehensive digital information infrastructure with 5G network, national integrated data center system, and national industrial Internet as the starting point". In December 2015, at the opening ceremony of the 2nd World Internet Conference, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed to promote the construction of "Digital China". In April 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in a congratulatory letter to the first Digital China Construction Summit: "To accelerate the construction of digital China, it is necessary to adapt to the new historical orientation of the mainland's development, fully implement the new development concept, cultivate new kinetic energy with informatization, promote new development with new kinetic energy, and create new brilliance with new development." ”

　　At present, the construction of digital China is in full swing, and the vigorous development of the digital economy will further promote the deep integration of the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence and the real economy, release the amplification, superposition and multiplication effect of the digital economy on economic development, promote the transformation of old and new kinetic energy and economic transformation and upgrading, and inject strong impetus into the high-quality development of the mainland economy. Education and economic development are complementary to each other, and high-quality economic development urgently needs high-quality development of education. The high-quality development of education is a new type of development that follows the new development concept and shifts from "quantity catch-up" to "quality improvement", from "scale expansion" to "structural optimization", and from "factor-driven" to "innovation-driven". The digitalization of education is an important part of the construction of digital China, and it is also an important starting point for promoting the high-quality development of education. The use of big data can promote individualized education and provide the possibility of high-quality education, and the use of digital technology to deeply tap the potential of students, and provide each student with an education that suits him or her on the basis of equal choice opportunities. Through digital technology, it stimulates students' interest in learning, guides students to choose the areas they are most interested in, develops the most talented skills, and learns independently in a scientific way, so as to achieve better learning results.

　　The digitalization of education supports the construction of an education powerhouse

　　The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the grand goal of building a strong country in education, which is a solemn commitment of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core to the people of the whole country, and pointed out the direction and path for the reform and development of education in the mainland. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China further proposed to "accelerate the construction of a strong country in education", putting forward new requirements and new missions for the reform and development of education in the new era. The essential connotation of a strong country in education is to build a country with strong comprehensive strength and service capacity through the priority development of education, to build an education system in which all people enjoy high-quality and balanced basic public education services, and a modern education system that has the world's advanced level and provides strong support for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. In May 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out when presiding over the fifth collective study of the 20th Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee: "In today's world, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is developing in depth, and international competition around high-quality talents and the commanding heights of science and technology is unprecedentedly fierce. There are still many gaps, shortcomings, and weaknesses in building the mainland into an educational power, and there is still a long way to go to realize the leap from a big country in education to a strong country in education. "Building a strong country through education is a basic project for building a modern socialist country, and it is also an inevitable requirement for realizing the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

　　Socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, the mainland's education has achieved a historic leap, the world's largest education system has been built, free compulsory education in urban and rural areas has been fully realized, higher education has entered the stage of mass development, and the overall level of education has entered the upper ranks of the world, supporting the miracle of the rise of the world's second largest economy. From a big country in education to a strong country in education, the strategic focus is to realize the strategic shift from scale development to quality improvement, from extension development to connotative development.

　　Digital technology can realize the co-construction and sharing of high-quality educational resources across time and space, break down information barriers, eliminate the digital divide, and achieve "overtaking in corners" of education development. The use of digital technology to narrow the disparities in education supply between regions, urban and rural areas, and schools can better meet the people's demand for higher quality and fairer education, so that hundreds of millions of children can realize their dream of sharing high-quality education. Digital technologies represented by the Internet, intelligent learning devices, and multimedia have largely broken the boundaries of time and space, and digital learning methods such as online learning, mobile learning, ubiquitous learning, and virtual learning have been emerging, making "everyone can learn, can learn anywhere, and can learn at any time" a reality. "Artificial Intelligence + Education" connects everyone with high-quality educational resources through new technologies such as cross-border integration, and truly builds a bridge to ensure lifelong learning for all.

　　The Chinese Practice of Digital Education

　　As new technologies such as cloud computing, Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence, 5G, and industrial Internet become more and more familiar and used, digital dividends are being released at an unprecedented speed and potential in China. Similarly, the transformative innovation triggered by digital education is being carried out in China with unprecedented measures and actions. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must fully implement the party's education policy, adhere to the people-centered development of education, take the initiative to advance the layout, vigorously respond to changes, strive to open up a new situation, accelerate the modernization of education, strengthen the foundation of people's happiness with the power of education, consolidate the foundation of national prosperity and strength with the strength of education, and provide strong support for comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation." "Specifically, the development of digital education can be started from the following aspects.

　　The first is to focus on the implementation of new educational infrastructure. In 2021, the "Guiding Opinions of the Ministry of Education and Other Six Departments on Promoting the Construction of New Education Infrastructure and Building a High-quality Education Support System" was released, and the mainland entered a new stage of comprehensive promotion of the construction of new education infrastructure. The construction of new education infrastructure is a new infrastructure system guided by the new development concept, led by informatization, oriented to the needs of high-quality development of education, focusing on information networks, platform systems, digital resources, smart campuses, innovative applications, and credible security. It is the "foundation" and "cornerstone" for promoting the high-quality development of education and accelerating the construction of a strong country in education, as well as the conditions and guarantee for education reform in the digital era. The construction of new education infrastructure provides strong technical support for the intelligent construction of the educational environment and the all-round perception of the educational process, which greatly improves the accurate matching level between education and teaching interventions and talent training goals. Through integration, upgrading, and addition, we will improve the basic platform environment required for education public information services, support the "Internet + education" platform, and help form a new education ecology.

　　The second is to vigorously improve the digital literacy of teachers and students. In 2022, the Information Technology Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education (2022 Edition) were released, marking a new stage in cultivating digital literacy for all primary and secondary school students, and cultivating key competencies, essential characters and values for the digital age. In November of the same year, the Ministry of Education released the "Digital Literacy for Teachers" standard, which includes five dimensions: digital awareness, digital technology knowledge and skills, digital application, digital social responsibility, and professional development. In order to systematically cultivate digital awareness and digital logical thinking of primary and secondary school students, the cultivation of digital literacy can be fully integrated into the teaching of various subjects in the national education system. Establish an integrated curriculum system for large, medium and small schools, and innovate an interdisciplinary digital talent training mechanism. Emphasis is placed on subject practice, with special attention to students' experience in connecting and integrating digital life, digital learning, and digital innovation, so as to develop and improve the digital literacy of all students. Develop a digital literacy assessment scale for teachers, carry out large-scale assessment of teachers' digital literacy, and diagnose existing problems; Focus on the combination of online and offline, relying on advanced digital technology to carry out hybrid one-stop training, and improve teachers' digital literacy; Pay attention to the pre-service and post-service linkage of teachers, and rely on cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and other technologies to carry out integrated training.

　　The third is to strive to build a national smart education platform. On March 28, 2022, the national smart education public service platform was officially launched. The platform mainly includes sub-platforms such as the National Smart Education Platform for Primary and Secondary Schools, the National Smart Education Platform for Vocational Education, and the National Smart Education Platform for Higher Education. Its main purpose is to provide teachers and students with a large number of high-quality resources and accurate resource services, the core is to rely on cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and other technologies to establish a big data platform for the application of educational resources, for the intelligent retrieval of teaching resources, personalized resource push, learning path recommendation, adaptive learning, intelligent learning companions and other basic support, to promote the combination of large-scale education and personalized training to provide an effective path, to promote the normalization of all kinds of high-quality educational resources.

　　(The author is a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee, vice president and researcher of Central China Normal University)

Author: Li Hongfei

Source: China Social Sciences Daily, Issue 2923, July 1, 2024