Pupils have class equipped with electronic devices. (Photo/China Education Journal)
(ECNS) - The number of Chinese Internet-based learners has reached 144 million with the booming online education sector expected to grow over 20 percent a year, said a white paper by the Education Management of Information Center at the Ministry of Education.
The comprehensive report on Internet-based education in China discussed practices and development trends in online education, both in schools and for self-motivated learners in society.
It said the overall Internet-based learning index was 3.61 out of five, with online learners scoring lower in metrics measuring their information literacy. It also showed teachers are calling for better equipment and services to support the integration of IT with education.
The report mentioned more efforts are needed to make online education universal and accessible through training and publicity. Learners and their parents were more willing to subscribe to paid services, according to the information.
China's online education is becoming increasingly tailored to individual needs and the future application of artificial intelligence and Big Data could greatly improve learning efficiency with the precise understanding of each student. The use of virtual and augmented reality can also better enable learning.
Du Zhanyuan, vice minister of the Ministry of Education, said the development of China's educational informatization has evolved from the earlier stage of emphasizing "construction and application" to online-offline integration and innovation.
The Ministry of Education in April rolled out an act plan titled "Education informatization 2.0" to make more intensive and extensive use of IT to transform education.
