Smart schools bolster creative thinking

To deepen educational informatization and promote equal education, Tongxiang Internet School, a virtual education institution, was established in January.

Launched by the local education bureau, the school has hired nearly 100 key elementary school and secondary school teachers to conduct research and offer free livestreaming courses online.

Zhang Linjuan, who teaches English at Tongxiang's Zhendong Primary School, is one of the teachers hired to do livestreaming courses.

When she first heard about the virtual internet school and livestreaming classes, she wasn't sure about how to approach it.

"We started everything from scratch," she says. Step by step, she worked with other teachers to systematically design courses based on textbooks and create online English courses in her spare time.

Zhang says online teaching is a challenging but rewarding task compared with teaching English in traditional small classes.

Students from both rural and urban areas participate in the online courses. Since they have different knowledge backgrounds, sufficient preparation is the key to maintaining the quality of the teaching, she says. "It's also a process of self-evaluation and self-improvement for me."

By the end of this November, the school produced 312 livestreaming courses covering nine different subjects. The courses attracted about half a million hits in total. Students are able to access the courses via a range of diverse channels including smartphone apps, computers and smart TVs.

"Like other courses, English learning should go beyond traditional classes," Zhang adds.

Tongxiang Internet School has also become a main platform to integrate education resources from different institutions including traditional, online and community schools in the region.

"Apart from serving primary and secondary school students, we also want to provide people from all walks of life a diverse-network learning space," says Shi Weiliang, director of the education equipment and information center at the city's education bureau.

The Tongxiang Internet School has been working with schools in other cities, including Beijing, to exchange education resources online. Local students get the opportunity to learn from teachers in top schools outside of Tongxiang.

"It's an effort to narrow the gap between urban and rural education," Shi adds.

Since the launch of the first World Internet Conference, or Wuzhen Summit, back in 2014, the conference has reshaped various areas in the city including economics, medicine and agriculture. And the field of education has been no exception.

"One of the biggest benefits the conference brings us is the constant renewal of education ideas," says Shi.

"We want our internet school to morph into a platform for lifelong learning for people."