Guo Shaoqing is a professor at Northwest Normal University, but he loves to go to primary and secondary schools. The more remote the school, the more it affects his heart. As a scholar in the field of educational technology, he continues to explore the use of digital technology to promote educational equity and writes his papers in the field of rural education.
Before Teachers' Day this year, Guo Shaoqing took his graduate students to primary and secondary schools in Longde County, Guyuan City, Ningxia. They moved small benches and sat in the back of the classroom to listen to the class, thinking about how to further improve the quality of local education through artificial intelligence and other technologies.
The journey from Lanzhou, Gansu to Guyuan, Ningxia took nearly 4 hours; after conducting research during the day, I led students to discuss it late into the night. Is it hard? "It's nothing. Compared with earlier years, conditions in all aspects are much better!" Guo Shaoqing said.
Crossing mountains and ridges and taking root on the front line has become Guo Shaoqing's normal work routine. In his view, "Theories cannot be placed on bookshelves. They must go into the fields and be planted in the soil of rural classrooms." After 41 years of teaching, he has been working non-stop and is committed to using digital technology to build bridges across mountains and rivers so that high-quality educational resources can benefit thousands of rural children.
The concern for rural education began with exploration many years ago. In 1999, at a consultation meeting on technology promoting the development of rural education, Guo Shaoqing proposed an idea: Can digital communication satellites be used to deliver high-quality curriculum resources in the city to remote villages?
Pulling cement, setting up satellite antennas, and adjusting signals, Guo Shaoqing and his team carried out practices in Huining County and Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County in Gansu Province, bringing the high-quality courses of the Primary School Affiliated to Northwest Normal University to the countryside. Later, this model was promoted in the modern distance education project of rural primary and secondary schools.
"The most unforgettable thing is the twinkling light in the children's eyes when they see the outside world through the screen." Guo Shaoqing said that at that time, he deeply felt the significance of educational technology. "At that moment, I became even more convinced: it is our mission to educate people to allow every child to receive a fair and high-quality education. This matter is worth doing for a lifetime."
In recent years, technology has developed rapidly, and Guo Shaoqing has also continued to discover and solve educational problems in practice.
In response to the problem of weak music, art and other courses in some rural schools, Guo Shaoqing proposed a new model of volunteer teaching services in normal colleges in 2019, allowing senior normal college students to teach rural children through online classes. Eight normal colleges in Gansu Province participate in this model, benefiting more than 400 rural schools in 16 counties.
"In a primary school in Dongxiang Autonomous County, Gansu Province, when normal students were giving music lessons to third-grade students, first- and second-grade students also listened outside the window. Later, the principal gathered the children together for class, and the campus reverberated with moving singing." Shen Junru, a student of Guo Shaoqing, recalled, "This allowed me to see the real needs of rural children and strengthened my efforts to use technology to empower rural education."
In response to the lack of full-time teachers and equipment for science education in rural schools, Guo Shaoqing proposed a solution, using intelligent learning centers to build a new ecosystem for rural science education and develop a science curriculum platform.
Nowadays, in science classes at Xike Primary School in Ganjia Town, Xiahe County, Gansu Province, students can use tablet computers to scan the QR code on the tutorial manual to learn videos on the national smart education platform and talk to science education agents. This program has been implemented in rural schools in Guangxi, Gansu and other places, and the light of science has lit up the dreams of more rural children.
"Students saw silkworm babies for the first time through a video, and the teacher designed a Chinese class that integrated artificial intelligence. This scene made me realize what Teacher Guo often said: 'You can't write good articles just sitting in the library.'" said Song Yu, a doctoral candidate. "By taking root in rural schools and feeling the changes of frontline teachers and students, I will be more confident in doing research."
As a teacher in a normal college, Guo Shaoqing’s words and deeds influence students and shape future “gardeners”.
"When we went to remote mountainous areas and high-altitude areas for research, Mr. Guo lived and ate with us. During the day, we visited to understand the needs of teachers and students, and at night he led us in discussions until late at night. He worked harder than young people!" said doctoral candidate Hua Xiaoyu, "After graduation, I want to work hard to become a warm, persistent and responsible teacher like him."
Over the years, Guo Shaoqing has trained more than 130 graduate students. They are like dandelion seeds, flying to where the country needs them and injecting vitality into rural education.
This Teacher's Day, Guo Shaoqing received another message from students from all over the world. Wang Jiayang, who works in a university in Yunnan, took the initiative to work at the grassroots level to promote technology-enabled education; Shen Junru, who had investigated the support teaching model for normal students, returned to his hometown of Henan to teach in a normal university, cultivating new normal students...seeds taking root and sprouting in the fertile soil of rural education.
Reporter: Wu Yue
Source: People's Daily
