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After modern society enters the information age, technological progress has increased the space for the development of education, and also provided deeper support for education. How to fully tap the development potential of science and technology and skillfully turn it into a "booster" for educational development is an important part of the strategic deployment of British education. In this regard, the British Ministry of Education issued "Understanding the Potential of Science and Technology in Education: Strategies for Education Providers and Technology Industry" (referred to as "Strategy"), aiming at reducing teachers' workload, improving teachers' work efficiency, supporting better teaching, improving students' academic performance, helping schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions to solve obstacles in the application of educational technology, and cooperating with the improvement of the education system to jointly promote innovation and development.
The strategy mainly provides seven action guides to help science and technology empower education and promote fundamental changes in education and teaching.
? Guide 1: Building a Good Digital Infrastructure
Education informatization cannot be separated from infrastructure construction. The strategy points out that data storage and network connection should be well guaranteed.
Modern internet connection is popularized in schools. Network connection is one of the obstacles to the effective implementation of technology. According to the research report released by the British Communications Authority, there are still many schools in the UK with slow network connection, which adds extra burden to teachers' daily work. In view of this, the British government has set the goal of realizing all-fiber connection in the UK in 2033, and accelerated the comprehensive promotion of fiber-optic Internet connection to all schools in the UK. Among them, the modern telecommunications infrastructure is being popularized to poor areas in a planned way, and disadvantaged children will get better educational resources. These schools will realize fast, reliable and low-cost Internet connection with local communities and enterprises. In addition, colleges and universities are also the beneficiaries of the upgrade of Internet connection. For example, Janet Network is specially developed to meet the needs of higher education, which provides high-speed and stable network conditions necessary for research and teaching, and a security protection system to prevent large-scale network attacks.
Use "cloud" to store data and provide network services. Britain pays special attention to the construction of network resources and their unified management and sharing. Ensuring high-speed Internet connection provides opportunities for the development of "cloud-based" data storage and network services in schools. Cloud technology enables information and network services to remotely store, maintain and manage data through the Internet. Compared with local hard disks and site servers, cloud technology is usually safer, more flexible and has lower operating costs. The British Ministry of Education suggested that all schools and other public departments should migrate their information technology systems to the cloud platform, and at the same time provide more relevant information and suggestions for schools.
Develop innovative digital infrastructure. High-speed Internet connection and effective data storage create conditions for the school to develop innovative digital infrastructure. For example, some colleges and universities began to use the new technologies of data analysis and Internet of Things to meet individual needs through direct interaction with students and realize intelligent management of schools. The UK Joint Information Systems Committee will work with the continuing and higher education departments to upgrade the infrastructure so that users can manage new Internet of Things services through dedicated portals.
? Guide 2: Developing Information Literacy and Skills
The application of information technology in education and teaching can not be separated from key users' teachers, so the strategy will take improving teachers' information literacy as the core element of developing educational informatization.
Support educational leaders to plan the vision of technology development education. Excellent educational leaders, without personal information literacy, cannot lead the school reform. They should pay attention to how technology can improve teaching, cultivate the digital ability of teaching staff and have the ability to buy cost-effective digital information equipment. Many education leaders may be experts in education, but they are often not experts in digital technology. In the era of rapid development of information society, they will face the problem of how to use technology, and so will ordinary faculty and staff. The lack of confidence and willingness of educational leaders is the main obstacle to the adoption of digital technology, and providing enough training opportunities for teachers will also become a huge challenge.
Provide teachers with high quality and sustainable professional development. Teachers are the core figures who make full use of information technology, and providing teachers with professional knowledge training in information service resources and technology application is an important link to promote teaching reform. In order to cultivate teachers' information literacy, the British government provides high-quality and continuous professional training services for teachers, so that teachers can understand the impact of technical support on classroom teaching. First of all, we will cooperate with the British Institute of Chartered Education to provide relevant online courses for education leaders and faculty, aiming at improving the utilization rate of technology in teaching activities. The second is to fund the special issue of Influence magazine, which is used to disseminate successful cases of best teaching practices and technologies in teaching, encourage research-based teaching and provide practical reference for teachers. The third is to start the "model school network" to show best practices and provide peer-led practical support and peer training for schools in need. The fourth is to provide training, guidance and consulting services for teachers and students in colleges and universities to help them cultivate digital skills, and at the same time, to conduct in-depth evaluation of teachers and students' digital skills to help colleges and universities understand their digital skills gap and support them to improve the effect of digital teaching and learning. Fifth, support the learning program of the British Education Suppliers Association, display technical products and excellent practical cases through roadshows held in various parts of the UK, provide professional and vivid guidance and practical opportunities for teachers and students, and promote them to become active participants in future technological development.
? Guide 3: Supporting Effective Equipment Procurement
How to help schools purchase value-for-money products and services quickly and effectively? The strategy suggests guiding them by formulating procurement guidelines and establishing an online service market.
Make recommended purchase agreement and purchase guide. British schools spend about 654.38+000 billion pounds of non-labor costs every year, including 470 million pounds of learning software and hardware, and universities also spend a lot on information and communication technology. To this end, the British Ministry of Education has formulated a recommended procurement agreement and procurement guidelines to optimize school procurement, so that schools can enjoy priority procurement of educational technology products and services through pre-negotiated contracts. In addition, the British Ministry of Education will regularly evaluate and update the list of recommended transactions, and work with relevant partners and schools to improve products. At present, the British Ministry of Education has provided tailor-made procurement advice for procurement centers in some regions, and one of the pilot services for directly managing school procurement may be promoted throughout the UK, thus improving school procurement. In the field of higher education and continuing education, the British Joint Information Systems Committee, on behalf of universities, negotiates with digital publishers and large digital software and storage service providers to ensure the quality and price of purchased equipment.
Establish an online service market for educational technology products. It is very important for schools to accurately purchase products suitable for their own needs from a wide variety of technical goods and services. Knowing the product information of technical equipment in advance is helpful to achieve this goal. The British Ministry of Education has established a long-term partnership with the British Association of Education Suppliers to provide support for schools to obtain various product information, read user reviews and try out products for free.
? Guide 4: Protect network information security and guard against risks.
In the information age, network security risks are everywhere, and the strategy puts forward to do a good job in risk prevention and control.
Strengthen network risk management. First, at the school level, each school is directly responsible for its own network security and data protection, and has an appropriate level of security protection procedures, thus maintaining the normal operation of the system and the common interests of teachers and students. Secondly, at the government level, the British Ministry of Education issued a data protection toolkit, which formulated data management policies and processes according to the provisions of the Data Protection Act 20 18 to guide schools to carry out key data protection activities. Third, at the level of professional organizations, the National Cyber Security Center of the United Kingdom has issued relevant guidelines on how to avoid computer security threats, providing suggestions for schools to protect themselves in cyberspace.
Protect users and school network security. The British Joint Information Systems Committee will provide a series of security products and services, advise and support schools to protect users and data security, and ensure the normal operation of school network systems. The Security Action Center of the United Kingdom Joint Information Systems Committee will continuously monitor and solve the "Janet Network" security incidents. Schools can also report personal data leakage to the UK Information Commissioner's Office and incidents threatening network security to the UK National Fraud and Cybercrime Reporting Center according to the 20 18 Data Protection Law, and the center will provide help and advice accordingly. As a vulnerable group, children have always been concerned and cared for by the British government and schools. The Statutory Guide for Protecting Children's Education Safety has made clear the direction for schools to solve the problem of children's network security: first, it provides monitoring models and learning opportunities for schools; Second, take network security as an important part of school curriculum and teacher training, and formulate clear policies on the use of mobile technology.
Supervise the supply of safety products. Suppliers of educational technology products should abide by the minimum standards for cyber attack prevention and the consumer-oriented Internet of Things security code of conduct formulated by the National Cyber Security Center of the United Kingdom to ensure the supply of safe Internet products. In the white paper jointly issued by the British Ministry of Culture, Media and Sports and the British Home Office, a series of measures are listed, which explain in detail how to deal with cyber hazards and clearly define the responsibilities that technology companies should bear in protecting the cyber security of British citizens.
? Guide 5: Promote the development of educational science and technology industry
How to help educational technology enterprises expand the scale of mature products and services? The strategy proposes to provide centralized support to educational science and technology enterprises according to the industrial development trend and the specific needs of teachers and students.
Set up a leading group for educational technology. This strategy will strengthen the key role of technology in education reform and stimulate the vitality of the education sector. In this regard, the British Ministry of Education is strengthening its ties with enterprises to help schools buy and embed innovative technologies. In addition, the British Ministry of Education and the British Department of Commerce, Energy and Industrial Strategy will set up an education science and technology leading group to ensure that the business and education departments can smoothly promote the implementation of the strategy. The British Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will also take measures to carry out more commercial work through cooperation with key organizations such as the British Department of Technology, tap the potential of technological innovators, and put innovative scientific and technological concepts into educational practice.
Stimulate the vitality of educational technology market. In Britain, thousands of primary and secondary schools, university trust funds and universities independently purchase science and technology goods and services, so it is difficult for educational science and technology enterprises to participate effectively and establish a stable customer base. The British Ministry of Education will play a key role in stimulating market vitality and creating welfare for educational technology enterprises. On the one hand, the British Ministry of Education and the British Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will introduce the relevant procurement regulations of the school to enterprises, so that enterprises can understand the procurement methods of the school and respond. On the other hand, the British Ministry of Education cooperates with relevant organizations to establish "test beds" for primary and secondary schools and universities, support technology development, testing and evaluation, and help enterprises to obtain relevant data that are helpful to education and industrial development, thus coping with the dilemma that educational technology enterprises are difficult to enter schools to test, inspect and make product models.
Create a development environment for technology start-ups. The British Ministry of Education cooperates with British commercial banks to provide capital, business investment and creative development support for British technological innovators. Innovative and technology-leading enterprises can get one-on-one business support and guidance and a series of learning opportunities through business partner development centers all over the UK. In addition, British business incubators will provide working space and guidance for innovative enterprises to help them make full use of development opportunities.
Stimulate the export growth of education science and technology industry. According to the statistics of the British Association of Education Suppliers, Britain has the largest export market of educational technology in Europe, and the British Ministry of Education will provide funds for global educational technology activities to enhance the international development level of the British educational technology industry.
? Guide 6: Support innovation and meet the challenge of educational science and technology
In order to meet the challenges that may be encountered in the future education informatization, the strategy proposes to break the cooperation barrier between the educational technology industry and the education sector.
Explain the development potential of educational technology. The innovation of educational technology can provide new opportunities for the development of education in the 2 1 century. This strategy is creating a cultural atmosphere in order to achieve a breakthrough in teaching through the use of educational technology, thus promoting the integration of education and the pace of the information age. At present, the application fields of educational technology focus on five aspects: management process of reducing "non-teaching" tasks, efficient evaluation process, inclusive teaching practice, educators' continuous professional development and lifelong learning. In order to encourage the British education system to make greater progress in the use of technology, the British Ministry of Education has launched a series of "educational technology challenges" to support the establishment of partnerships between educational technology industries and education departments, to ensure that the focus of product development is on educational needs, and how to reduce the burden on teachers, improve students' performance and save teaching costs will be given priority, and further cultural changes will be promoted as a starting point.
Establish partnerships between education, industry and academia. The future development of educational science and technology is driven by the cooperation among industry, education department, academia and government. Only by combining the advantages of all parties can we break the barriers between industries and users, seize the development opportunities and meet the challenges of education and science and technology. At the same time, the British Ministry of Education plans to learn from the relevant experience of other government innovation funds, such as "national defense and security accelerator" and "government technology catalyst" to accelerate the application of science and technology in the field of education. In addition, the British government will strengthen cooperation with other organizations, promote good practices in universities, support small and medium-sized enterprises in education and science and technology, and meet more challenges.
? Guide 7: Improving the Digital Service Level of Education Department
How to provide high-quality digital services for students, parents, teachers, education administrators and education professionals, the Strategy points out that efforts should be made in the following two aspects.
Improve the existing digital service level. At present, the British Ministry of Education has transformed more than 200 digital services, such as providing postgraduate training courses and applying for teacher positions for those who are interested in becoming teachers; Help teachers and schools to purchase educational products and services; More effectively and safely transmit school data information to the British Ministry of Education system; Provide parents with 30 hours of free child care service; Help young people apply for apprenticeship programs; Provide online tools to help students apply for student loans.
Develop new digital service projects. On the basis of existing digital projects, the British Ministry of Education is also committed to developing new services. On the one hand, a new national retraining plan is formulated to provide skills training opportunities for adults facing employment risks under the background of new economic situation and scientific and technological development. On the other hand, meet the needs of teachers to obtain high-quality curriculum materials. In terms of information and service acquisition, it meets the needs of teachers' teaching, parents' parenting and students' learning, and actively pays attention to user feedback. In addition, the British Ministry of Education and the British Department of Digital Services have worked together to develop common standards and guiding principles to solve the digital challenges facing the British education system.
Looking around the world, although the development of science and technology has brought more risks and challenges, science and technology still has great potential in the development of education, which will attract cooperation from all sectors of society such as education and science and technology industries and incite educational reform. The promulgation of the Strategy marks the beginning of a technological revolution in British education. In schools, it can not only promote the reform of school management and bring about new changes in relations and elements, but also bring more possibilities for the breakthrough of classroom teaching and guide teachers and students to change to a higher learning level. Outside the school, the development of educational technology will be closely combined with the soil of information society and the trend of educational modernization in Britain, releasing the great potential of "Internet+education" and promoting education to become an important force of social change.
(The author is from the Institute of International and Comparative Education, Beijing Normal University)
China Teachers' Newspaper, 3rd edition, March 30th, 2022.
Author: You Lvying