In the morning of April 8, 2016, a symposium on supporting the targeted poverty alleviation as part of the “Rural College Students Training Programme” and a launch ceremony for a pilot mobile learning scheme in Hunan province was held at the Radio and Television University (RTVU) in Xiangxi autonomous prefecture.
At the launch ceremony, Hunan RTVU allocated tablet computers to the rural college students from the class of 2015. President of the Open University of China (OUC) Yang Zhijian, and President of Hunan RTVU Peng Yuan, attended the ceremony, with the latter hosting the symposium and the mobile learning launch ceremony.
Many rural villages are in remote and mountainous areas and do not have computer or internet access, creating unsatisfactory conditions for online learning. In order to combat these disadvantages, Hunan RTVU partnered with the OUC to set up a network of rural college students learning in Hunan province and promote O Learning Pads. The O Learning Pad is a smart phone with a large screen. The O Learning Pads use a 4G SIM card, meaning they can be used to make phone calls as well as surf the web. They also have WIFI functionality. The O Learning Pads feature built-in apps such as practical agricultural technology, a study app for rural college students, Google Chrome and Baidu input. The built-in practical agricultural technology app helps to expand the students’ practical skills, including micro-video resources covering 10 categories and nearly 100 rural practical skills such as pig breeding technology and floriculture. The study app is a convenient channel for rural students to study online. Once they log in with their student number, the students can view their current courses. They can study texts, watch videos, finish assignments and join online discussions for each course, and check their learning progress on a regular basis. Further, they can analyze the effects of their learning, share their learning results, and synchronize their learning records. The students can also use the built-in Google Chrome browser to log in to the Hunan rural college students learning network (nmdxs.hnrtu.edu.cn).
During the symposium, Yang Zhijian commented that the good practices and achievements in the work of training rural college students in Hunan province have provided a sound basis for the OUC to upgrade the “One College Student Per Village Programme”. The OUC will fully support Hunan RTVU to carry out an in-depth exploration of how to adapt factors such as the creation of majors, the curriculum system, the teaching model, information technology, practical teaching, the credit bank and examination reforms to the actual needs of rural areas, in order to improve training for rural college students.
Peng Yuan said that the allocation of the O Learning Pads had effectively resolved the lack of mobile learning terminals for students. This learning innovation will help to form a new educational training pattern for farmers “focused on online learning and supplemented by offline learning.” It will give farmers who have worked hard in the fields from generation to generation the opportunity to enter a new era of mobile learning.
A deputy of the 18th CPC National Congress and representative of rural college students, Long Siqing, expressed his views at the meeting: “I am delighted to see that the “Rural College Students Training Programme” is booming, and I am also happy that so many leaders and experts have attended the meeting to discuss supporting targeted poverty alleviation.”
In 2014, on the basis of the “One College Student Per Village Programme”, the Organizational Department of Hunan Provincial Party Committee, the provincial Department of Education, Department of Finance and the Department of Human Resources and Social Security jointly issued the Notice on Implementing the Rural College Students Training Programme, which clearly stated the aim of carrying out training for rural college students on the basis of Hunan RTVU system. The Rural College Students Training Programme has trained more than 80,000 outstanding rural practical talents throughout the province for the construction of a new countryside in Hunan. It has sent tens of thousands of pioneers to 8,000 poor villages across the province, providing strong intellectual and personnel support for poverty alleviation in Hunan. In 2015, Hunan was chosen by the OUC as a pilot region and special zone of educational reform for building an upgraded version of the “One College Student Per Village Programme”.
This has helped Hunan RTVU make good progress in the construction of aspects such as sorely needed majors, featured courses, the teaching team, the “cloud classroom”, the learning network and learning tablets. It has provided exemplary experience for stimulating the digitization of education in Hunan; exploring the transformation and upgrading of remote education; promoting the integration of study and practical application; and supporting targeted measures for poverty alleviation. Peng Yuan said that the implementation of the “Rural College Students Training Programme” was aimed at training “reliable and usable leaders who have mastered relevant scientific and technical knowledge, and are skilled in business operation and management”, which will enhance the ability of rural areas to develop internally and independently, especially impoverished areas. This is a fundamental part of poverty relief and development.
Leaders from the bureaus of education at municipal and prefecture levels across Hunan province; relevant leaders and directors of departments in the provincial RTVU system; and teacher and student representatives from the “Rural College Students Training Programme” also attended the ceremony. The symposium was held in the RTVU of Xiangxi autonomous prefecture. Representatives of other cities across the province took part in the meeting through Hunan RTVU’s cloud classroom system.
By Hunan RTVU