Dean Huang Invited to UNESCO Seminar on Learning Cities and Released “Handbook on Flexible Learning”
date：2020-03-21 20:40author：小编source：Smart Learning Instituteviews：
Due to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19), many members within the 173 UNESCO Global Learning Cities Network (GNLC) are facing severe challenges. On March 19, in a webinar organized by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, representatives from UNESCO learning cities including Beijing (People’s Republic of China), Shanghai (People’s Republic of China), Fermo (Italy), Kashan (Iran) and Manizales (Colombia) introduced their solutions and provided references for the development of emergency plans and distance learning methods for other 180+ representatives. Professor Huang Ronghuai, Dean of the Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University, was invited to participate in the conference and released the “Handbook on Facilitating Flexible Learning during Education Disruption: The Chinese Experience in Maintaining Undisrupted Learning in COVID-19 Outbreak”.
Mr. Henrik Lopez of the Institute of Health Sciences of the University of Cattolica in Portugal set the tone for this webinar. He emphasized that the scope and scale of the difficulties caused by COVID-19 are wide-ranging. In addition to coping with the current situation, cities also need to prepare local residents for a potential second wave outbreak of the virus by teaching people how to take care of themselves at home. He emphasized that what is needed in the current situation is a radical change in behavior-which only education can achieve. It is very important to mobilize educational resources for health purposes and recognize the key role of lifelong learning and adult learning in promoting health wellbeing.
Beijing, China
Professor Huang Ronghuai, Dean of the Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University, introduced relevant experiences in Beijing. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission promoted online learning and led parents and teachers to pay more attention to the convenience and health of students' home learning methods. In addition, various digital schools in Beijing also offer multi-disciplinary and multi-level online courses. A major concern of cities and countries around the world is how students conduct learning assessment management at home. In Beijing, teachers and parents acted as online proctors and home proctors respectively. Beijing TV has produced a series of programs in which representatives of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission answered questions from parents to ease their anxiety. Finally, the Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University and the UNESCO Institute of Educational Information Technology jointly issued the “Handbook on Facilitating Flexible Learning during Education Disruption: The Chinese Experience in Maintaining Undisrupted Learning in COVID-19 Outbreak”, hoping to provide timely information and effective resources for other countries’ organization and formulation of distance learning programs during the pandemic.
Shanghai, China
Mr. Li Jiacheng, Director of Shanghai Municipal Institute for Lifelong Education of East China Normal University, introduced relevant experience in Shanghai. The city of Shanghai started online teaching in March, focusing on two levels: city and community. At the city level, the focus is on instructing residents to buy and wear masks to protect themselves, buy and transport food in a safe and orderly manner, and provide guidance for other daily tasks in response to the epidemic. Teachers communicate with parents and students in a timely manner and help educate citizens how to stay healthy and care for others. Home study and reading has become more important since children have to stay at home. At the community level, the Shanghai Learning Center offered 35 online courses and the high-quality video courses are broadcasted on TV. Community educators played a particularly important role because they served as volunteers to promote service learning and promote community problem solving. In addition, the Shanghai Education Resource Center also provided educational resources for retirees.
Fermo, Italy
Professor Carlo Nofri, Coordinator of the Scientific Committee of Fermo City, introduced relevant experiences in northern Italy. Most middle schools and higher education institutions now teach online and adopt popular teaching tools such as Google Meeting, Zoom and Microsoft products. While online learning is currently not part of the Italian education tradition, the Italian Ministry of Education is building a centralized online learning platform. Currently, 96% of students can participate in online learning and other forms of distance learning, and about 83% of teachers participate in distance learning. With less data available for elementary schools, the City of Fermo has encountered more difficulties in organizing alternative online learning activities for this level of education. The local city library supports home learning by providing free online repositories of newspapers, books and other written resources to all students and citizens. To prevent the spread of the pandemic, a propaganda campaign was launched. The City of Fermo hopes that the UNESCO Global Network Center will provide further support in the following three main areas: free or inexpensive use of online learning platforms; exchange of pandemic-related information and policies between cities; and tutorials and case studies of effective use of online learning platforms.
Kashan, Iran
Ms. Feresheh Nouri of the International Affairs Department of Kashan City introduced that Kashan has implemented a series of measures aimed at solving the spread of COVID-19. The Medical University has launched educational and information programs, and TV programs instructed locals on how to prevent the virus from further spreading. One of the core messages of these plans is that hygiene is the most important thing, starting at home-this is a concept outlined by the slogan "Every household-health base". In addition, awareness-raising measures have been taken in the center of Kazan and surrounding areas, including the publication of a "We Stay at Home" poster to encourage self-quarantine.
World Health Organization
The UNESCO GNLC and another thriving urban network managed by the World Health Organization (WHO) have joined forces to solve problems related to COVID-19. The Healthy City Network is establishing permanent or semi-permanent mechanisms to enable cities to share practices in response to the virus; paying special attention to health care services and methods to ensure continuity in a coordinated response to the pandemic. In addition to the emergency measures taken after the rapid outbreak of COVID-19, WHO is currently taking community-based measures and addressing wider issues of maintaining health promotion over a longer period of time. It has also paid attention to reducing the risks faced by communities during long-term self-quarantine, for example, trying to minimize stress and domestic violence, and dealing with fake news about the virus.
Following the speeches by the city representatives, several questions were raised, and two main topics were discussed: the potential difficulties of online assessment and the impact of self-quarantine on students. Several cities, including Shanghai and Fermo, discussed the idea that we may need to rethink and redefine the way we evaluate the results of education. Although there are many discussions around online learning platforms, it is important to consider that many families may lack technical equipment, which means that several children may be required to conduct online learning on the same device.
Mr. Henrik Lopez of the Institute of Health Sciences of the University of Cattolica in Portugal set the tone for this webinar. He emphasized that the scope and scale of the difficulties caused by COVID-19 are wide-ranging. In addition to coping with the current situation, cities also need to prepare local residents for a potential second wave outbreak of the virus by teaching people how to take care of themselves at home. He emphasized that what is needed in the current situation is a radical change in behavior-which only education can achieve. It is very important to mobilize educational resources for health purposes and recognize the key role of lifelong learning and adult learning in promoting health wellbeing.
Beijing, China
Professor Huang Ronghuai, Dean of the Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University, introduced relevant experiences in Beijing. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission promoted online learning and led parents and teachers to pay more attention to the convenience and health of students' home learning methods. In addition, various digital schools in Beijing also offer multi-disciplinary and multi-level online courses. A major concern of cities and countries around the world is how students conduct learning assessment management at home. In Beijing, teachers and parents acted as online proctors and home proctors respectively. Beijing TV has produced a series of programs in which representatives of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission answered questions from parents to ease their anxiety. Finally, the Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University and the UNESCO Institute of Educational Information Technology jointly issued the “Handbook on Facilitating Flexible Learning during Education Disruption: The Chinese Experience in Maintaining Undisrupted Learning in COVID-19 Outbreak”, hoping to provide timely information and effective resources for other countries’ organization and formulation of distance learning programs during the pandemic.
Shanghai, China
Mr. Li Jiacheng, Director of Shanghai Municipal Institute for Lifelong Education of East China Normal University, introduced relevant experience in Shanghai. The city of Shanghai started online teaching in March, focusing on two levels: city and community. At the city level, the focus is on instructing residents to buy and wear masks to protect themselves, buy and transport food in a safe and orderly manner, and provide guidance for other daily tasks in response to the epidemic. Teachers communicate with parents and students in a timely manner and help educate citizens how to stay healthy and care for others. Home study and reading has become more important since children have to stay at home. At the community level, the Shanghai Learning Center offered 35 online courses and the high-quality video courses are broadcasted on TV. Community educators played a particularly important role because they served as volunteers to promote service learning and promote community problem solving. In addition, the Shanghai Education Resource Center also provided educational resources for retirees.
Fermo, Italy
Professor Carlo Nofri, Coordinator of the Scientific Committee of Fermo City, introduced relevant experiences in northern Italy. Most middle schools and higher education institutions now teach online and adopt popular teaching tools such as Google Meeting, Zoom and Microsoft products. While online learning is currently not part of the Italian education tradition, the Italian Ministry of Education is building a centralized online learning platform. Currently, 96% of students can participate in online learning and other forms of distance learning, and about 83% of teachers participate in distance learning. With less data available for elementary schools, the City of Fermo has encountered more difficulties in organizing alternative online learning activities for this level of education. The local city library supports home learning by providing free online repositories of newspapers, books and other written resources to all students and citizens. To prevent the spread of the pandemic, a propaganda campaign was launched. The City of Fermo hopes that the UNESCO Global Network Center will provide further support in the following three main areas: free or inexpensive use of online learning platforms; exchange of pandemic-related information and policies between cities; and tutorials and case studies of effective use of online learning platforms.
Kashan, Iran
Ms. Feresheh Nouri of the International Affairs Department of Kashan City introduced that Kashan has implemented a series of measures aimed at solving the spread of COVID-19. The Medical University has launched educational and information programs, and TV programs instructed locals on how to prevent the virus from further spreading. One of the core messages of these plans is that hygiene is the most important thing, starting at home-this is a concept outlined by the slogan "Every household-health base". In addition, awareness-raising measures have been taken in the center of Kazan and surrounding areas, including the publication of a "We Stay at Home" poster to encourage self-quarantine.
World Health Organization
The UNESCO GNLC and another thriving urban network managed by the World Health Organization (WHO) have joined forces to solve problems related to COVID-19. The Healthy City Network is establishing permanent or semi-permanent mechanisms to enable cities to share practices in response to the virus; paying special attention to health care services and methods to ensure continuity in a coordinated response to the pandemic. In addition to the emergency measures taken after the rapid outbreak of COVID-19, WHO is currently taking community-based measures and addressing wider issues of maintaining health promotion over a longer period of time. It has also paid attention to reducing the risks faced by communities during long-term self-quarantine, for example, trying to minimize stress and domestic violence, and dealing with fake news about the virus.
Following the speeches by the city representatives, several questions were raised, and two main topics were discussed: the potential difficulties of online assessment and the impact of self-quarantine on students. Several cities, including Shanghai and Fermo, discussed the idea that we may need to rethink and redefine the way we evaluate the results of education. Although there are many discussions around online learning platforms, it is important to consider that many families may lack technical equipment, which means that several children may be required to conduct online learning on the same device.
This page by Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.