Global Smart Education Conference

Background

The changes in the world, the era, and history are unfolding in unprecedented ways, driving the adaptation and adjustments in global education. Digitalization in education is a crucial breakthrough for opening new avenues and shaping new advantages in educational development. The UNESCO advocates for the construction of a new “social contract”, fully leveraging the educational dividends brought by digital technology to better demonstrate education as a global public interest. The UN Transforming Education Summit calls on countries to fully harness the power of the digital revolution to drive global education reform, ensuring the provision of high-quality education and lifelong learning as a common interest for everyone. China has proposed advancing educational digitalization, constructing a learning society, and becoming a learning-oriented nation with lifelong learning for all.

As a new form of education in the digital era, smart education is an inevitable choice for advancing equitable, inclusive, and high-quality education. From the perspective of the digital transformation of education, the new features of smart education are manifested in two aspects. Firstly, the key characteristic of the national or regional smart education ecosystem is the “development goals” of smart education. These goals include student-centered teaching, comprehensive learning assessment, ubiquitous smart learning environments, ongoing improvement of educational culture, and a commitment to inclusive and equitable education. Secondly, the auxiliary constructive features of the smart education system, namely the “practical pathways” of smart education, include the proactive construction of student social communities, priority support programs for teacher development, ethical technology applications, sustainable education reform plans, and effective cross-sector and cross-domain collaboration.

Collaborating on forward-looking strategic and policy planning, leading the sustainable development of smart education.

Policies are the key guarantee for driving the digital transformation of education. The development of smart education is a major undertaking in educational reform that requires systematic planning and scientific planning. It is essential to ensure the normative and orderly integration of technologies like artificial intelligence into the educational ecosystem and utilize new technologies to facilitate the development of precise and efficient educational applications and governance mechanisms. The technological conditions necessary for the development of the education sector have a certain level of complexity. This complexity necessitates a comprehensive understanding and implementation of public policies that leverage intelligent technologies to promote sustainable development. This should involve the joint efforts and extensive participation of stakeholders and the general public, achieving collaborative construction of the digitized education system by multiple entities.

Governments should advance the development of smart education based on their governance structure and specific circumstances. They should focus on three strategic leverage points: transforming teaching methods, constructing smart learning environments, and formulating forward-looking policies. It is crucial to consider fairness and inclusion, a culture of continuous improvement, and collaboration across multiple sectors. Policymakers should reevaluate, analyze, and formulate national education policies from aspects such as information infrastructure, digital educational resources and platforms, curriculum and teaching methods, digital literacy and competence, technology governance, and educational administration. Local governments and schools should actively promote the construction of a new smart education ecosystem. This involves designing and implementing smart campuses and innovative learning environments, improving the effectiveness of learning, operational efficiency of schools, and the efficiency of digital tools and resources. It also includes innovating technology-enhanced personalized learning and differentiated teaching models, along with continuous monitoring. Researchers should strengthen collaboration with frontline education professionals, decision-makers, and administrators to further facilitate the coordinated development of smart education.

Promoting the integration of science and education as well as the fusion of industry and education to support innovative practices in smart education.

In the interaction of technological progress, social transformation, and educational changes, technology and education are gradually forming a new pattern of systematic, deep integration across all fields, elements, processes, and businesses. This integration exhibits characteristics of extensive coverage, diversity, and multiple values. Fundamentally, in smart education, “wisdom” emanates from the teacher; in intelligent education, “intelligence” arises from the environment; and in future education, its “transformation” manifests in its form. The continuous upgrade of the intelligent technology ecosystem will serve the adaptive growth of students, support the professional development of teachers, and facilitate the intelligent upgrade of learning environments. The integration of science and education is the driving force for reshaping the talent cultivation system, while the fusion of industry and education is a mechanism guaranteeing the resilience of education and the economy. It supports and guides innovative practices in smart education.

To deeply advance digitalization of education and innovate the development of smart education, the key lies in cultivating the digital thinking of the education system, solidifying digital support capabilities, creating high-quality digital learning content, and constructing a nationwide digital learning public service system. The UN Transformation Education Summit has initiated the “Gateways to Public Digital Learning” initiative aimed at creating an inclusive digital learning platform and content, forming a global public digital learning resource network. China is implementing its education digitalization strategy by constructing the National Smart Education Platform and lanuching its international version, updating educational concepts, transforming teaching methods, innovating digital teaching methods, promoting on-demand learning, and creating a new form of smart education enabled by technology, sustainable development, and open cooperation.

Seizing the opportunity presented by the Global Smart Education Conference, let us collaboratively embark on the creation of a bright future for smart education that benefits all of humanity.

Since its inception in 2020, the Global Smart Education Conference has served as a crucial platform for international collaboration and exchange in smart education. In a bid to drive effective global practices in smart education, strengthen international understanding and international communication, and promote educational reform and innovation, Beijing Normal University (BNU), in collaboration with UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (UNESCO IITE), the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO), and the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), has jointly initiated the “Global Smart Education Network (GSENet)”. The network has launched the “GSENet Beijing Declaration on Smart Education Strategies”, dedicated to continuously exploring the use of emerging technologies to promote equitable and inclusive high-quality education for all.

As the annual conference of GSENet, the Global Smart Education Conference 2024 will be held in Beijing from August 18 to 20. The conference, themed around “Education Transformation & International Understanding”, will feature plenary sessions, high-level dialogues, thematic forums, roundtable discussions, and workshops on smart education policies, technologies, and practices. It aims to release research findings and collaboration plans, showcase exemplary cases and solutions, and facilitate in-depth exchanges and collaboration to collectively pave the way for a brighter future in smart education for all of humanity.