Smart Learning Institute

In the afternoon of March 18th, the conference to release the 2017 NMC Technology Outlook for Chinese Higher Education: A Horizon Project Regional Report was held in Yingdong Conference Hall in Beijing Normal University. Guests attending the conference include Jingwen Li, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Guangju Chen, Vice-Principal of Beijing Normal University, Neal J. Smatresk, Chancellor of University of North Texas, Eden Dahlstrom, Executive President of the New Media Consortium and other presidents of higher education institutions in America and China and esteemed experts in the field of international education informatization.

At the Conference

Ronghuai Huang, Chief investigator of the NMC Horizon Project in China, officially released the 2017 NMC Technology Outlook for Chinese Higher Education: A Horizon Project Regional Report, which is another important research result after the release of 2016 NMC Technology Outlook for Chinese Higher Education: A Horizon Project Regional Report by NMC and SLIBNU. In the report, 2017 Horizon Project China Expert Panel, which is composed of 85 international and domestic experts, made use of Delphi-based process and desktop research, answering research problems, run-off voting and collecting case, and finally identified 9 key trends accelerating technology adoption, 9 significant challenges impeding technology adoption and 12 important developments in educational technology.

Professor of Ronghuai Huang is Releasing the Horizon Report

On behalf of the project group, Ronghuai Huang, Dean of Smart Learning Institute of BNU, and his team member Professor Haiguang Fang of Capital Normal University, Assistant Researcher Shuping Wu of Open University of China and Senior Project Manager Yanli Jiao of Smart Learning Institute released White Paper: Smart Learning Environment China 2016.

Ronghuai Huang, Dean of Smart Learning Institute of BNU

Nine key trends include short-term trends (increasing use of blended learning designs, proliferation of open educational resources and rise of STEAM learning), mid-term trends (redesigning learning spaces, increasing cross-institution collaboration and rethinking how institutions work) and long-term trends (the rise of coding as a literacy, advancing cultures of innovation and shift to deep learning approaches).
       9 significant challenges consist of solvable challenges (integrating technology in teacher education, blending formal and non-formal learning and improving digital literacy), difficult challenges (personalizing learning, managing big data in education and scaling teaching innovations) and wicked challenges (teaching complex thinking, balancing connected and unconnected life and rethinking the roles of educators).
       12 important developments in educational technology are classified into those taking one year to adopt (flipped classroom, mobile learning, makerspaces and massive open online courses or MOOCs), those taking two to three years to adopt (learning analytics and adaptive learning, augmented & virtual reality, virtual and remote laboratories and quantified self) and those taking four to five years to adopt (affective computing, volumetric & holographic displays, robotics and machine learning).

Eden Dahlstrom, Executive President of the New Media Consortium

The conference was co-chaired by Changjie Chen, Deputy Dean of Smart Learning Institute and Yuan Gao, Co-chief-investigator of Horizon Project in China. This report constitutes a reference and straightforward technology planning guide for educators, university leaders, administrators, policy makers and technologists; it is capable of informing the choices that institutions are making about technology to improve, support, or extend teaching, learning, and creative inquiry in China.

Changjie Chen, Deputy Dean of Smart Learning Institute

Yuan Gao, Co-chief-investigator of Horizon Project in China

After the release, Dejian Liu, Co-dean of SLIBNU and Eden Dahlstrom, Executive President of NMC signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement, which pointed a direction towards future cooperation of the two institutions.

Successful signing of the agreement by two institutions

In the end, Future Education driven by Artificial Intelligence Forum was successfully held. The forum was jointly hosted by Smart Learning Institute and Beijing Baidu Network Information Technology Co., Ltd, and was chaired by Guangzuo Cui, Professor of Beijing Normal University. Jingwen Li, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Michael Spector, Professor of Information School of University of North Texas, Yixin Zhong, founder of Chinese information science and professor of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Cijie Lv, Professor of Singapore Nanyang Technological University, Yuanchun Shi, special-appointed professor of the Yangtze River Scholar of Tsinghua University and Doctor Gao Zhang, General Manager of Education business division of Baidu Company attended the forum and gave reports. In addition, more than 20 people were present in this forum, including Michael Berman, Vice President of Technology and Communications at California State University in the Channel Islands, USA, Niki Whiteside, Vice President of Mount San Jacinto College, Mingquan Zhou, Director of the Virtual Reality Applied Engineering Research Center in Ministry of Education, Zaishi Yang, Deputy Director of Teaching Affairs Committee of Chinese Physical Society and Professor Fan Lei of Capital Normal University. The forum was presided over by Nianxing Chen, Professor of Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan. They discussed the challenges and development trends of artificial intelligence in educational application and cooperation mode between Internet enterprises and higher education institutions under the background of AI.

Guangzuo Cui, Professof of Beijing Normal University

Jingwen Li, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering

Michael Spector, Professor of Information School of University of North Texas

Cijie Lv, Professor of Singapore Nanyang Technological University

Yuanchun Shi, Special-appointed Professor of the Yangtze River Scholar of Tsinghua University

Doctor Gao Zhang, General Manager of Education business division of Baidu Company

Nianxing Chen, Professor of Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan


Future Education Driven by Artificial Intelligence Forum