Keywords: rural areas; Distance education; Problems; Countermeasures
China's rural areas are vast and sparsely populated, and 70% of human resources are in rural areas. This fact determines that rural education should focus on distance education. Distance education is an important form of implementing education by modern means and an important pillar of lifelong education. It is open, can get rid of the limitation of time and space, can meet the personalized learning requirements of social members to the greatest extent, provide rich learning opportunities and realize equal educational opportunities, and will gradually become a booster to realize the leap-forward development of rural education.
With China's entry into the World Trade Organization, the countryside will face a huge impact. The vast rural areas are in urgent need of a group of practitioners who are good at transforming all kinds of information into practical and applicable personal knowledge, and have strong ability of individual learning and expansion such as teaching. It has become an important task for rural education, especially distance education, to cultivate rural learning groups that play an important role in promoting the all-round development of rural areas. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attached great importance to rural education. In order to fully implement the State Council's Decision on Further Strengthening Rural Education (Guo Fa [2003] 19), insist on giving priority to rural education, accelerate rural education development, deepen rural education reform, and promote rural economic and social development and coordinated urban and rural development, the State Council approved the Education Revitalization Action Plan for 2003-2007 of the Ministry of Education, which pointed out that "rural education should be implemented" [
Firstly, it analyzes the present situation of rural distance education in China.
1. The rural laborers engaged in agriculture in our country generally have low educational level and low scientific and cultural quality.
According to the statistics of relevant authorities, at present, only 20% of the rural labor force in China have received short-term training, only 3.4% have received primary vocational and technical education, only 0. 13% have received secondary technical education, and as many as 76.4% have not received technical training. In rural areas, there are 7200 illiterate young people aged 65-438 +05-40. 207 million primary school students, accounting for 45.4%; Junior middle school students have1.1.300 million, accounting for 24.76%; There are 33 million students in high schools and technical secondary schools, accounting for 0.73%; There are only 360,000 people above junior college, accounting for 0.08%. Only about 5% of rural youth of the same age can enter ordinary colleges and universities. Every year,120,000 rural primary school, junior high school and senior high school graduates have no chance to enter the next higher school. A large number of young farmers have not received vocational and technical education and cannot play their due role when they return to the countryside.
2. Rural talents and resources are seriously wasted.
Rural talents are scarce, but they are wantonly wasted, and it is difficult to make rational use of the trained talents. Due to the lack of overall planning, there are some phenomena of resource waste in rural areas, such as fragmented management, self-built systems and repeated construction.
3. The rural network is not perfect, and there is little technology in the front line.
For a long time, the current situation of rural science and education system is "disconnected from the network, scattered people and disconnected". China rural science and education network has not been established, and the main channel has not been formed at all. There are too few technologies that are transformed into productive forces. The main problem is that there are very few people who have been engaged in rural adult re-education and technical renewal training in rural areas for a long time, and all township agricultural technology stations exist in name only.
4. Rural students have narrow knowledge, few opportunities to accept new knowledge and new ideas, and a single way.
Due to the underdeveloped economy and inconvenient transportation in rural areas, especially in remote areas, people's ideas are traditional and it is difficult to accept new things. In this way, rural students can only rely on traditional "spoon-feeding" teaching to accept knowledge, which leads to students becoming examination machines, and they can do nothing but recite some dead things in books. This is quite different from the state's proposal to cultivate innovative talents, and it is also contrary to the strategies of "rejuvenating the country through science and education" and "rejuvenating agriculture through science and education".
5. The changing trend of the concept of study group.
From the perspective of adult education, there is a gradual change from "I want to learn" to "I want to learn", and the awareness of learning is gradually strengthened, which can be seen in various training courses organized by adult schools and other training institutions.
Second, the development of rural distance education problems and countermeasures
(A) the "bottleneck" problem
1. Scientific and technical personnel have made great efforts on "hardware", but few people have made great efforts on the theory and practice of "software" development, which is one of the bottlenecks hindering the development of rural distance education. Therefore, it is suggested that the relevant departments of distance education should pay attention to and spare some human and material resources for the development and research of "software", otherwise distance education will not develop healthily, harmoniously and orderly.
2. Shortage of resources, insufficient funds and unbalanced teachers are also bottlenecks restricting the development of distance education. Developing distance education is not simply putting digitized lesson plans on the website. It costs a lot of money to provide distance education. Building websites and networks requires funds, renting communication lines requires funds, making high-quality teaching courseware requires funds, and maintaining the normal operation of websites requires continuous investment. In order to obtain excellent online education courseware resources, excellent teaching staff need to spend time closely combining with courseware designers to design courseware, and constantly revise and improve it in use. The design and creation of such a teaching process also requires high-level human resources, computer software and hardware resources and capital investment. The construction of resources and support service system is the focus of developing distance education. Therefore, in economically developed rural areas, in order to do a good job in distance education, expand the space of distance education and improve the effect of distance education, we can consider trying out the model of "government+school (university) or training institution+enterprise". The government is responsible for formulating laws, regulations and related standards for distance education and strengthening the management and macro-control of distance education; Universities or training institutions are responsible for the planning, construction and development of distance education resource banks; Enterprises are responsible for the platform, technical support and commercial operation of distance education. If the three parties have a clear division of labor, take their own responsibilities, coordinate with each other and get their place, it is possible to promote and promote the faster development of modern distance education. Specifically:
(1) The government should adhere to the principle of "making overall plans and taking measures according to local conditions", protect reasonable and fair competition, and punish illegal online schools and schools; At the same time, we should formulate relevant online teaching patents as soon as possible, encourage teachers to invest in online teaching, and colleges and universities recognize credits and academic qualifications. Recognize and promote the diversification of school-running subjects; Recognizing the stability of distance education policies and regulations, the scientificity and legalization of policies and regulations are important factors that determine the success or failure of distance education and its sustainable development.
(2) Teachers who know about distance education, students, teaching, media and technology in colleges and universities must develop distance teaching resources reasonably and effectively, provide examples and cases that are conducive to the application of knowledge in time, and help students take self-examination and self-test questions. Multi-directional cultural, scientific and educational radiation can be carried out through rural primary and secondary schools. More than 60 agricultural universities, more than 360 agricultural colleges, primary schools all over the country, middle schools, normal schools and vocational schools established in counties can rely on the existing radio and television universities and agricultural broadcasting schools, and at the same time make full use of the original educational means, strengthen modern technology and equipment, improve the supporting learning system, and run distance schools.
(3) Enterprises participating in distance education have injected new vitality into distance education. However, we should pay attention to the problems brought by enterprises' participation in distance education: the utility of enterprises conflicts with the sociality of distance education, and there are certain contradictions between enterprises and the operation mechanism and organization of distance education. Therefore, enterprises participating in distance education should give full play to their own advantages and cooperate with institutions conducting distance education in the form of capital and technical input to avoid the inherent operating mechanism of enterprises. The contradiction between the organization of distance education and "software".
In the underdeveloped rural areas, to carry out rural distance education, we must first establish computer network classrooms and computer multimedia projection classrooms in all rural central primary schools, junior high schools, central junior high schools and senior high schools, so that all township central secondary schools, central primary schools and county primary and secondary schools can be connected to the county education metropolitan area network and the Internet, and gradually realize the education informationization of schools in these areas. Therefore, computer leasing can be adopted. According to the principle of "government guidance, enterprise investment, school cooperation and parents' voluntary", enterprises will invest in the construction of school computer network classrooms, multimedia projection classrooms and county education metropolitan area networks at one time. According to the computer rental operation mode, enterprises will charge appropriate computer rent from parents of students every semester, and enterprises can recover all their investments and make reasonable profits, and all their hardware and equipment will be owned by the school. The school is responsible for the management and teaching of computers and other facilities. Students, schools and enterprises all get their own benefits, and win-win results.
In the economically backward remote rural areas, to carry out distance education, we must first vigorously popularize information technology education. Among them, capital is the biggest obstacle. To implement funding channels and effectively solve the problem of insufficient funding for popularizing information technology education, efforts should be made in the following aspects:
(1) Improve the management system and further increase the investment in compulsory education at the central, provincial, municipal and county levels, especially in rural poverty-stricken areas. Only by increasing capital investment as a whole can we leave relatively loose capital space for popularizing information technology education, which is the fundamental solution to the shortage of funds for popularization.
(2) It is necessary to clarify the investment mechanism of special funds for popularizing information technology education in primary and secondary schools. The funds needed to popularize information technology education should be included in the special financial budget of the government at or above the county level, just like the renovation of dilapidated houses in rural primary and secondary schools, and increased year by year according to economic development. Popularizing information technology education is the second leap-forward development of basic education. If the investment mechanism of special funds for information technology education is not clear, the development of distance education will completely lose its feasibility.
(3) Reduce students' computer expenses appropriately.
(4) Deal with the relationship between the county-based management system and the people's voluntary support for education, and continue to mobilize social forces to develop rural information technology education.
2. Adjust policies and relax the information technology education curriculum in rural areas. In order to fully protect the right of primary and secondary school students in rural areas to receive information technology education equally, it is necessary to change the phenomenon that remote rural areas cannot subscribe to information technology textbooks, and information technology education textbooks should be listed as compulsory subjects.
3. Establish information technology education support mechanisms in developed areas and poverty-stricken areas in large and medium-sized cities. Governments at all levels should make clear the target and time of support, give support in terms of funds, equipment, technology and teachers, and relieve the pressure of popularizing information technology education in poor rural areas.
4. Establish a training mechanism for information technology education teachers, and gradually improve the quality of information technology education teachers.
5. Clarify government responsibilities and strengthen special supervision. Popularizing information technology education should be listed as an act of local governments like the Ninth Five-Year Plan. At the same time, through regular special supervision of local popularization work, local governments can fully perform their duties of popularizing information technology education, thus promoting the rapid development of popularizing information technology education in rural areas.
(B) the coordinated development of the east and west
At present, the development of distance education in the eastern coastal areas of China is far greater than that in the central and western regions, which should attract the attention of relevant departments and leaders: distance education should implement the strategic policy of "connecting the east with the west and developing the west" The government should strengthen macro-control, implement policy guidance and encourage famous universities in the eastern coastal areas to develop distance education in the central and western regions. At the same time, we will give preferential treatment in funds and policies to encourage the further development of distance education entities in the central and western regions.
Due to the unbalanced development of rural economy and the influence of traditional habits, the form, distribution, level and development of rural communities are also extremely unbalanced. There are differences between the east and the west, between plains and mountainous areas, between urban fringe and remote rural areas, and between different ethnic groups ... The implementation of rural distance education should be based on its objective environment, and it must proceed from local reality, adjust measures to local conditions, and provide classified guidance, instead of copying a model and making a one-size-fits-all approach. Community education is one of the realization forms of rural distance education. It is necessary to radiate to the surrounding areas through the pilot, actively and steadily promote the pilot experience in a wider range in an organized and leading manner, and promote the development of adult education in a region. Rural adult education institutions should create a good learning environment for rural learning groups, including hard learning environment and soft learning environment. Distance education in rural areas of China should closely focus on the Party's central work in rural areas, improve the quality of workers through education and training, gradually establish and improve the three-level training network at county, township (town) and village levels, and set up a number of provincial and municipal demonstration township (town) adult schools in the implementation of the "two basics" project to make distance education in rural areas. For example, build some training centers or classrooms with better facilities in towns and villages; A team of practical training teachers can be established; Establish a formal "adult training supermarket"; Make a training plan to meet the learning needs of rural learning groups; Organization adaptability lecture; Strengthening the training network at township level and establishing a training network based on township completion, especially after the expansion of administrative villages, can give full play to the advantages of administrative villages' "being in harmony with people at the right time and place", and village completion is becoming the main channel of rural distance education to a certain extent. Create an optimized learning environment and strive to build a learning society in rural areas.
"housing" project and "ability" project
Two problems must be considered in developing rural distance education: one is the "housing" project, and the other is the "capacity" project. In rural areas, distance education in rural areas is an important way and manifestation of serving agriculture, countryside and farmers. It is also the proper meaning of the project to vigorously develop distance education, develop rural human resources, improve the overall quality of rural population and let distance education serve rural economy. The "capacity" project is a question of "moderate scale". It is a dynamic concept that changes with the teaching conditions, that is, the maximum number of registered students that can guarantee the teaching quality under certain teaching conditions. This is in line with the basic laws of distance education, especially the market economy: small scale, guaranteed quality, but the benefits will be damaged; If the scale is too large, the quality will be lost and the benefit will be negative; Only when the scale is moderate can we achieve a win-win situation of quality and benefit. The development goal of distance education is to run a school in a moderate scale.
"quality" project
Quality is always an important issue in the development of distance education. Rural distance education must pay attention to students' learning ability, information literacy, cooperation spirit, interpersonal skills and practical ability to solve practical problems with what they have learned, which is one of them. Secondly, we should establish a quality assurance system for distance education, pay attention to the construction of basic conditions such as facilities, teachers, resources and services, attach importance to teaching organization and services, and strengthen the management and monitoring of the whole process. Third, we should consider the needs of society and students and adjust the teaching content, curriculum system and teaching methods in time; We must emphasize curriculum integration and multimedia integration design, and emphasize the use of media; It is necessary to emphasize the combination of students' subjectivity and teachers' guidance, and establish a perfect support service system to enable students to achieve better autonomous learning results. At the same time, the advantages of the system, controllable management and appropriate scale are all issues that need to be considered to ensure the quality of distance education.
(E) the mode of implementing distance education in rural primary and secondary schools in the central and western regions
Due to the unbalanced development of economy, society and education in the central and western regions, it is necessary to adjust measures to local conditions and adopt various modes to gradually promote the modern distance education project. At present, there are three modes of implementing modern distance education in rural primary and secondary schools in the central and western regions: teaching CD playback point, satellite teaching viewing point and computer classroom.
1. Distribute teaching CD-ROM playing equipment and complete sets of teaching CDs at teaching points in rural primary schools in remote areas. There are about 1 10000 teaching points in rural primary schools in China, including 99000 in the central and western regions. Most rural primary schools and teaching points in remote areas lack teachers, especially qualified teachers in some major courses, and their education and teaching level is not high. Distribute teaching CD-ROM playing equipment and supporting teaching CD-ROM for teaching points in rural primary schools in remote areas around the central and western regions, with teachers teaching as the main part and playing CD-ROM as the supplement, to help teachers prepare lessons and solve the problems of insufficient teachers and low teaching level and quality in some courses in these schools. The main advantages of this model are simple equipment operation, easy to master teaching methods and less one-time investment.
2. Construction of satellite teaching observation points in rural primary and secondary schools. There are 384,000 rural primary schools in China, including 310.5 million in the central and western regions; There are 37,400 rural junior high schools in China, including 29,800 in the central and western regions. Through the broadband transmission network of China Education Satellite, a large number of high-quality education resources can be quickly received, so that teachers can make full use of the high-quality education and teaching resources transmitted by satellite in time for lesson preparation, synchronous teaching, computer-aided teaching, teaching and research activities and teacher training, and improve the teaching quality of local primary and secondary schools. The main advantages of this model are that it can obtain a variety of media resources, update in real time, have large storage capacity, wide coverage and low cost, and can provide the most basic digital environment.
3. Provide computer classrooms for rural junior middle schools. It is necessary to organically combine the construction of computer classrooms in township junior high schools with the offering of information technology courses in junior high schools, carry out teaching under the network environment, make use of the network environment to prepare lessons, and carry out teaching and research activities and teacher training. Computer classrooms in township junior high schools can play a variety of functions. With computer classrooms, students can learn information technology, surf the Internet, receive satellite data broadcasts and enjoy high-quality educational resources. The main advantage of this model is that it provides a network environment with rich resources and strong interactivity, which provides conditions for teachers and students to learn computer and network technology, and provides conditions for individual learning and cooperative learning.
Through the three modes, it can also provide local farmers with agricultural technology knowledge and market information, and promote the development of local rural economy; It can also serve the modern distance education of rural party member cadres.
To carry out rural distance education, we should adhere to the principle of "overall planning, full demonstration, pilot first, key breakthrough and step-by-step implementation", [7] we should combine it with the overall development goal of rural education in China, the "two basics" in poverty-stricken areas, and consolidate and improve the "two basics" in rural areas; Combined with the curriculum reform of primary and secondary schools and improving the quality of education and teaching in rural primary and secondary schools; Combined with teachers' continuing education, improve the quality of rural primary and secondary school teachers, update educational concepts, reform educational teaching methods, and adapt to learning under the network environment; Combined with improving the "county-oriented" system of basic education and implementing the educational responsibilities of local governments at all levels; Combined with "three religions as a whole", "combination of agriculture and education", cadre education in rural party member, spiritual civilization construction in rural areas and community development.
Three. Concluding remarks
Distance education serving "agriculture, countryside and farmers" is the need of developing rural human resources and the need of distance education reform and development. To develop rural distance education, we must take "people-oriented" as the concept, make education community-oriented, socialize learning, establish a learning society suitable for rural development, and establish sustainable rural education. The implementation of modern distance education needs modern distance media and modern information technology. At present, the development of international distance education has experienced multimedia such as correspondence, radio and television, audio, video and CD-ROM, and has begun to move forward to modern distance education such as multimedia interaction, panoramic network and computer online education. We should seize the opportunity of high-tech development, find out and properly solve the problems accumulated in distance education, and lose no time to accelerate the development of distance education in rural areas.
refer to
Desmond Keegan, editor-in-chief, translated by Ding Xin et al. Theoretical Principles of Distance Education [M]. China Central Radio and TV University Press. 1999.8
[2] Li Shengcong. Modern Distance Education —— The Call of Adult Higher Education Reform [J]. Research on Audio-visual Education.2001,(12).
[3] Zhang Aiwen and LAM Raymond. Deep thinking on the development of distance education in China [J]. China Distance Education Monthly .2003, (1)
[4] Distance education has promoted the leap-forward development of rural education. Published by www.edu.cn in 2003+02.
[5] Modern remote engineering in rural primary and secondary schools. Www.netbig.com was published in April 2004.
[6] China Education Revitalization Action Plan was approved by the State Council. Www.cernet.edu.cn was published in March 2004.
[7] the State Council's Decision on Further Strengthening Rural Education. Www.ep-china.net was published in September 2003.
[8] Notice of the Ministry of Education on Further Studying and Implementing the State Council's Decision on Further Strengthening Rural Education and the Spirit of the National Conference on Rural Education, www.moe.edu.cn 2003.10.
[9] Key points of work of the Department of Basic Education of the Ministry of Education in 2004. www.moe.edu.cn
Yi Yun. Online education in China [J]. English Language Learning. 2003, (10)