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About ICI

What is ICI
Established in 1999, the Institute of Curriculum and Instruction (ICI), at the East China Normal University, Shanghai, is a nationally renowned research institute and think tank designated by the Ministry of Education (MoE), China. The ICI focuses on research projects and activities related to curriculum development and policies, instructional design, curriculum evaluation and policy analysis, and teachers’ professional development.The ICI conducts research and receives funding locally, nationally, and globally. Selected ongoing research projects include “Evaluation of the Implementation of Curriculum and Instruction in China”, “Renovating Professional Development System in China”, “Curriculum Integration based on Core Competencies”, and “Historically Inquiry to Curriculum Reform in China”. Since the establishment of the Institute, our researchers published more than 1300 journal articles, 200 books, and 2252 monographs, won 45 awards of different kinds, and successfully applied for 165 research projects. The total amount of research funding reached over 40 million RMB. The ICI also initiated the database of “Investigation of Curriculum and Instruction in China”. The ICI issues the journal of Global Education (abstracted and indexed in CSSCI) and holds a book series (in English) of “Curriculum Reform and School Innovation in China” with Springer.During the past two decades, ICI has been the primary research institute that pioneers and promotes the nationwide curriculum reform. ICI Initiated and drafted “the Guideline of National K-12 Curriculum Reform” (Announced in 2001), “National Curriculum Standard of Teacher Education” (Announced in 2011) and currently work on the new “National Curriculum Standard of High School Education” (Initiated in 2014). The ICI also serves actively for policymaking and school innovation in a variety of school districts and non-profit educational organizations in cities such as Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Nanjing, Chongqing, Changzhou, Tianjin, and Hangzhou. The institute-based training center provides professional development sessions for more than 124 cohorts and 6000 teacher coaches, excellent teachers, and principals in China.The ICI brings together a research facultyof 19 members. Professor CUI Yunhuo serves as the director and Professor ZHONG Qiquan serves as the honorary director. Professor KE Zheng, YANG Xiangdong, and AN Guiqing serves as the associate director. Professor ZHONG Qiquan, a prominent scholar of Curriculum and Instruction in China, is member of the MoE Academy of Social Sciences. Professor CUI Yunhuo is the vice president of the Chinese Curriculum Academic Council. Nine faculties serve in the MoE Council of K-12 Curriculum and Textbook. Several members of our faculty are selected by a variety of fellowships such as “the New-Century Elites by the MoE”, “Eastern Scholar of Shanghai”, and “Shuguang Scholar of Shanghai.”Graduate Study with top university scholars at the master’s and doctoral levels prepares educators and researchers working in different levels of education systems.A wide range of courses offer opportunities to build a broad and deep understanding of the issues related to curriculum, instructions, professional development and evaluation in our education system. More than 100 doctoral students, 200 master’s students, 10 international students graduated from the ICI in last 18 years. Three students received National Dissertation Award and 13 students received awards for their thesis and dissertations from Shanghai City. About 40 students received governmental funding and studied abroad during their master’s and doctoral study.The Shanghai International Curriculum Forum (usually first week of each November ) aims to promote research of curriculum and instruction and invite internationally and nationally renowned scholars and outstanding practitioners to conversation. The Huaxia Curriculum Lectures Series focuses attention on topics related to curriculum design, curriculum sociology, instructional innovation, measurement and evaluation, and policy analysis. The Shanghai Curriculum Roundtable Seriesallows small group conversations and interactions about projects and publications related to curriculum, instruction, and professional development. William Pinar, Lee Shulman, James A. Banks, Patricia Gandara, Michael Young, Andrew Porter, Kit-tai Hau, and Sato Manabu are among scholars who have made presentations in the Forums, lectures, and roundtable series.International conversation and cooperationis particularly of interest to the ICI related tothe redesign of curriculum and instruction, professional development, and evaluation. The ICI has developed cooperation and relationships with several international organizations such as UNESCO, OECD, ASCD, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and research institutes from a variety of countries such as United States, Australia, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Singapore, Japan, and Korea. Scholars in our institute also engage actively in the international associations such as the American Educational Research Association and The International Society of the Learning Sciences.  Mission of the ICIis to promote theoretical development in curriculum through innovative thinking, support curriculum-related policymaking through research and consulting, and to improve curriculum practices through intellectual communication and sharing. The ICI is now on its way to becoming an open, creative, and international academic institute that works as a think tank and talent source for Chinese government as well as the backbone of China’s curriculum research in the international context.
International Classroom Analysis Laboratory
The International Classroom Analysis Laboratory of the Institute of Curriculum and Instruction (ICI) at East China Normal University, Shanghai, was established in October 2017. The lab draws extensively on the professional expertise of ICI, and our research encompassed AI-empowered classroom video analysis, pedagogical innovations and teacher professional developments. Over the past few years, the Laboratory has collaborated with top international institutes to hold academic conferences and to carry out cutting-edge research projects. In addition, the lab has formed long-term strategic partnership with over 100 elementary or secondary schools in China and beyond.Preparation StageDuring the preparation stage for the establishment of the laboratory in the spring of 2017, Associate Professor XIAO Sihan, the first executive director of the International Classroom Analysis Laboratory, has taken opportunities of overseas academic conferences to extensively solicit opinions and suggestions from several internationally renowned classroom research experts.During internal meetings at the Institute of Curriculum and Instruction, Professor XIAO Sihan held extensive discussions with several experts at the Institute, including Prof. CUI Yunhuo, Prof. KE Zheng and Prof. AN Guiqing, and they eventually determined the overarching goal for research conducted in the laboratory, what is, "to be rooted in the Chinese classroom context, to focus on classroom discourse and interaction, and to foster deep learning and effective teaching."In the early days of its establishment, the International Classroom Analysis Laboratory invited many overseas scholars in the field of education to Shanghai, in order to get in line and dialogue with top experts who conducted cutting-edge research in classroom analysis. These in-depth discussions focused on heated topics such as classroom teaching, video analysis, and classroom discourse analysis. Overseas experts invited to the laboratory included (from left to right) Professor Lynn W. Paine, Associate Dean of the College of Education at Michigan State University in the United States and a renowned expert in international comparative education; Professor David J. Clarke, Director of the Center for International Classroom Studies at the University of Melbourne in Australia; and Dr. Esther Chan, a researcher at the Center for International Classroom Studies.In addition, the International Classroom Analysis Lab signed strategic cooperation agreements with the International Classroom Research Centre at the University of Melbourne and long-term cooperation agreements with Merit Lab at Washington State University in the United States, respectively.Technology EmpowermentIn the era of unprecedented developments in digital technology and artificial intelligence, Associate Professor YANG Xiaozhe, the current executive director of the International Classroom Analysis Lab, has taken advantage of the current trend of merging online and offline education, led the team to introduce technology into classroom analysis, and to commit to exploring effective paths to create technology-empowered classrooms.With the support from the expert team of the Institute of Curriculum and Instruction, the Lab proposed its first classroom intelligent analysis standard, which focused on being “multimodal, evidence-based and pioneering.” The standard was based on cutting-edge theoretical understanding and extensive classroom practices situated in the Chinese context. In addition, the lab has designed, put into practice, and continuously improved its classroom intelligent analysis platform. To visit the platform, please go to http://lab.aiclassroom.net.These research efforts aim to fill in the gap of a lack of solid theoretical underpinnings in the field of technology-empowered classroom research. In addition, due to its time-consuming nature, classroom analysis and assessment was often difficult to scale up. In response to this difficulty, the classroom intelligent analysis platform managed to automate the analytical process, thanks to AI technology, and thus helped to provide teachers with timely, thorough and professional classroom analysis results. Overall, the lab seeks to provide rigorous feedback for classroom teaching and to offer reform suggestions, as well as to innovate human-computer integrated teaching research methods that are based in teachers’ everyday practices.Based in Shanghai - Connected to China – Venturing into the worldIn the Spring of 2021, the International Classroom Analysis Lab collaborated with Classin, a well-established edtech company in China, to launch the "AI+OMO Classroom Experimental School" project, which aimed to explore new paradigms of teaching and learning, as well as to construct a high-quality, individualized educational system.In the summer of 2021, the Institute of Curriculum and Instruction held the forum entitled “Classroom Transformation: From Technology Empowerment to System Reshaping,” which was part of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference held in Shanghai. The International Classroom Analysis Lab took advantage of this occasion and established the Classroom Intelligent Analysis Lab Alliance to promote its intelligent analysis platform. In a nutshell, the lab aims to provide solutions and initiatives contextualized in China but were applicable to carrying out classroom analysis worldwide.Sub-forum of the World Congress on Artificial IntelligenceSub-forum of the World Congress on Artificial Intelligence:"Classroom Transformation: From Technology Empowerment to System Reshaping"Professor CHEN Shuangye, deputy director of the School of Education at East China Normal University, released the ethics convention on intelligent analysis in the classroom.Associate Professor SHI Yuchen, deputy director of the International Classroom Analysis Lab, announced the standards and products of intelligent classroom analysis.20th Shanghai International Curriculum Forum20th Shanghai International Curriculum Forum: "Technology-empowered International Classroom Analysis: Unraveling the Black Box and Reconstructing Classrooms "In November 2022, the International Classroom Analysis Lab organized the 20th Shanghai International Curriculum Forum with the theme of “Technology-empowered International Classroom Analysis: Unraveling the Black Box and Reconstructing Classrooms.”In the forum, the International Classroom Analysis Lab released for the first time its Chinese-style, large-scale, modern classroom research and multi-party collaborative classroom intelligent analysis innovation.Also in the forum, Associate Professor XIAO Sihan reported on the "revoice" discourse in Chinese classrooms; Associate Professor YANG Xiaozhe shared analytical results obtained from Chinese primary and secondary schools using the intelligent system; Associate Professor SHI Yuchen identified ten cutting-edge issues in classroom analysis.