Educational Technology in China

My main finding on the research I did about the state of educational technology in China was that the biggest challenges are related to the size of the nation. Due to the lack of resources, educational technology in the country is unevenly distributed.

The first applications of educational technology in China was approximately on the 1960’s when the opportunities of broadcasting were applied to teaching and by so the potential of distant educational learning was found. It was also in the 1960’s when radio and television universities were funded in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenyang. China started to develop educational technology use on campus since 1978. Since the 1980s, China has helped about 100 million people learn practical knowledge on agricultural production via broadcasting schools and television.

Nowadays computer has become a much used supplementary educational tool for many schools in urban areas of China. Campus network has been installed in most of the universities, colleges and high schools in big cities. The potential of distant education has been found not only by the government but also by the people in rural, more agricultural areas. This is an issue China is currently working on, making education easier to access also for the rural areas.

While multi-media computers and campus network have been installed in most of the universities, colleges and high schools in big cities, some teachers are not sure how to utilize this educational technology better in their teaching process, and some of them also lack specific training for these. This is an issue that occurs not only in China but in Finland and other countries as well. Technology-based tools are not useful unless they are used wisely and in an explicit way so that they support the learning process.

Here is a part of the presentation we will give tomorrow about the subject: