ICI International Conference║Dr. Yang Xiaozhe: Innovation and the Future of Education Under the New Normal

Dr. Yang Xiaozhe

The Institute of Curriculum and Instruction, East China Normal University

Title: Innovation and the Future of Education Under the New Normal

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We publish this report with the permission of Dr. Yang for the use of scholarly communications only.

What I would like to share with you today is the topic that “Innovation and the future of education under the new normal”. We have always mentioned that education is in a race with technology, and we know very well that when education can meet the needs of technological development, great fortune would be created to our society. However, we may feel urgent in that we are in a new round of technological innovation, where education cannot be fully satisfied for the needs of technological development.

All the emerging technologies are not just some of the facts we have heard on the news, but are already becoming a common tool for our teachers and students. Our students are very happy to use these new technologies to complete a series of creations and a series of activities in their learning process.  

The picture shows a training for teachers that I launched last year. I can see that teachers in different disciplines are using computational thinking to control a drone through a hula hoop. Though it is a very technical process, we can see that teachers need to conduct such lessons with students in the new technological environment. There is no standard answer, there is no prophecy after teaching, it is an urgent problem that teachers and students need to face uncertainties together in the future.

When we see that the emerging technology brings us unlimited learning possibilities, we may also need to pay more attention to mature technology.

We can see that when a teacher starts online teaching, he or she often prepare all kinds of software, hardware carefully, and imagine all kinds of scenarios as much as possible, you know, it was incredible in the past.

However, teachers are not “anchors”. Teachers need to design more learning activities and give more evaluation. Therefore, we can see that in such a category, teachers are cooperating extensively with others, teachers are playing more pluralistic roles. Sometimes teachers provide one-to-one Q&A, in this exploration, we explore new ways.

Einstein once said that “Life is like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance you must keep moving.” The education online and offline is like riding a bike, only if we keep moving, can we keep the balance. After all, the epidemic is short-lived, it gives us a chance to try, but if you don’t ride the bicycle continuously, you wouldn’t enjoy the gusts of breeze blowing through our ears.

Finally, let’s talk about artificial intelligence, in fact, artificial  is not complex, although it is very gorgeous. In fact, we use artificial intelligence every day, even though it is intelligent, it is not that intelligent. Most artificial intelligence is weak artificial intelligence; it is hard to realize the purpose of strong artificial intelligence.

Thus, we need a gradual process, we need to see such a development direction, and we need to think about how much of our teachers chat with students during their working time, how much of them are dealing with complicated issues. If you have more time to devote to these areas, then artificial intelligence is a new kind of empowerment for you.

We need a new learning culture for teachers and students to explore knowledge together. The reconstruction of group value enables us to realize the space of online and offline integration. What we have to consider is the nature of curriculum, the relationship of learning, the way of learning and the significance of learning. Thank you!