An urban school has been enabling students in two rural primary schools to conduct real-time interactions with teachers by sharing access to its smart education facilities.
Three schools share synchronized classes
The Yandian Town Central Primary School in Feixi County, Anhui has been assisting the Liuhe and Suxiao Primary Schools in overcoming their staffing issues through smart education capabilities. Teachers at these two rural schools often had to teach multiple subjects and classes to compensate for the lack of available staff in their faculty. Despite the outsized contributions of these teachers, there were still not enough to teach English, art, and music, with other subjects having varying degrees of quality.
In 2021, the Yandian Town Central Primary School built smart education facilities for third-to sixth graders and carried out trial operations of the “Special Synchronized Classes” system. This model serves to support synchronized quality teaching and class management for increased teaching efficiency.
Currently, synchronized classes have been applied to English, art, and music classes between the Yandian Town Central Primary School and the two rural schools it assists. Through the smart education facilities, rural students are able to learn and interact with teachers at Yandian Town Central Primary School with little to no hindrances.
Demonstrating the efficiency of the system, Mei Xiaofen, an English teacher at the Yandian Town Central Primary School, has been giving conducting synchronized classes for students that involve students from each of the three schools. Before each class, Mei would discuss and prepare lessons with her two rural counterparts through an online teaching research platform. After preparing a teaching plan, she turns on the smart education system in the classroom and jointly leads classes with her two colleagues.
The “Special Synchronized Classes” system has dramatically improved student engagement at the three schools, and the students’ utilization of learning pads has increased their own learning capabilities. Meanwhile, Mei can track their learning through the smart education system and adjust her teaching accordingly.
Unlike other livestreamed classes, the “Special Synchronized Classes” system highlights real-time interactions and feedback. After the teacher at the central school taps the electronic screen on the wall to assign tasks, the students will instantly receive their assignments on their learning pads and can immediately begin answering questions. All the inputted data from the students will be shown in real time on the teacher’s own learning pad.
Through learning pads and electronic screens, a bridge of communication has been established between urban and rural schools, enabling the latter to enjoy balanced quality development. Apart from English classes, music and art classes have also been administered through the smart education system, further highlighting the capabilities of synchronized classes.
The smart education campaign broadens the horizons of rural students
The Yandian Town Central Primary School has achieved great strides in educational “informationization”, showing significant improvements with the usage of online teaching equipment, including smart classrooms, digital management and online teaching research platforms, and the latest“Special Synchronized Classes” system. Teachers like Mei have witnessed the progress of such technologies on a daily basis and these tools have fundamentally altered the teaching environment in rural schools that apply them.
Educators like Mei have been aiming at providing an equal education for urban and rural children so that they can all enjoy the same quality education resources. The use of the “Special Synchronized Classes”at the Yandian Town Central Primary School has proven that through new technologies and practices, urban and rural schools can collaborate in ways that lessen the regional divide and grant equal opportunities to students irrespective of where they happen to live.
