On November 17, 2011, China International Distance Education Conference 2011, China's annual meeting in the field of distance education, opened in Beijing. This year's conference is directed by the National Modern Distance Education Coordination Commission of Chinese Universities and Colleges and the Open University of China, and hosted by the Journal of Distance Education in China. The theme is "The Future of Digital Learning: Innovation through the Integration of Information Technology and Education".

Yan Bing, vice president of the Open University of China, hosted the opening ceremony. Yan said that information technology is crucial to the development of education; the deep integration of the two is the mission of modern distance education. Sun Xiaobin, director of the Department of Policies and Regulations of the Ministry of Education (MoE), gave a keynote speech entitled "Lifelong Learning and Social Development" in which he elaborated on the significance of lifelong learning and ways to promote the development of lifelong learning. Yang Zhijian, president of the Open University of China, gave the speech "How Far Is Distance Education", calling for a leap forward in implementing China's distance education using the power of technology to drive development and capture new opportunities. Ge Daokai, director of the Department of Vocational and Adult Education of the MoE, spoke on the subject "Data Mining in E-Learning", explaining the current state of data mining in distance education as well as the methods, major achievements and inspirations of E-learning data mining. Tan Songhua, deputy president of the Chinese Society of Education and researcher with the National Center of Education Development Research shared his thoughts in "Information Technology and Innovation in Professional Training Models". He said that information technology has become an indispensible factor in promoting and guaranteeing innovation in professional training models in China. Wang Zhuzhu, head of the National Center for Educational Technology, and Xu Xiaolan, vice-president of the China Center for Information Industry Development (CCID) of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also attended the opening ceremony and gave speeches. The "Excellent Learning Center for 2010-2011" award ceremony was also held during the opening ceremony. Over one thousand representatives from relevant education institutions, enterprises and media attended the conference.

The conference includes nine sub-forums, namely: Forum for the Development of Universities' Distance and Continuing Education, Forum for the Construction of the Open University of China, Forum for Enterprise E-Learning Best Practices, Forum for Corporate Universities and Learning Organizations, Forum for Online Training and Social Learning, Forum for Mobile Learning and New Product Application, Forum for Digital Learning Resources, Forum for E-Learning and New Technology Development, and Forum for Innovation and Development of Local Radio and TV Universities. The conference also hosted the "2011 China International Distance Education Exhibition" with five exhibition halls showcasing distance education products and technology from many enterprises.

The theme of this conference is closely related to the "National Outline for Medium and Long- term Education Reform and Development (2010-2020)" requirement that the development of educational informatization be incorporated into the overall strategy of the development of national informatization. By exploring innovations in integrating information technology and education, the conference aims to summarize experience, demonstrate achievements, propose questions and inspire thinking for the development of China's distance education and the building of a learning-oriented society.

China International Distance Education Conference is a large-scale and influential annual meeting in the field of distance education in China and the Asia-Pacific region, and is a top-tier educational conference brand built by the Journal of Distance Education in China. The conference has been held ten times since 2002. This year, the conference assembled the best minds from home and abroad to pool together ideas and wisdom to form new development objectives for modern distance education, scientifically develop China's distance education industry, and contribute to the building of a harmonious society.