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Story and record｜Smart Classroom, from China to the world —— Carrying the “Tech-Leveraged Futures of Education”

2023.02.28

After months of long sea voyages andclearanceof sent shipments, a batch ofrobust and much-neededteaching equipment -under the title of Smart Classroom (SCR) project, one of the flagship projects of the International Centre for Higher Education Innovation under the auspices of UNESCO (UNESCO-ICHEI), including interactive touch panels, recording and broadcasting systems,AI-powered motion detection high precision cameras, screens for teachers and students, digital blackboard, speakers and microphones,and 50 brand-newstand-alone full-fledgedcomputers, embarked on journeys from Shenzhen, China, and arrived at universities in The Gambia, Nigeria, Uganda, and Indonesia. Thehardware components and inbuilt software applicationswill be used in these smart classrooms to carry outICT-driventeaching activities, such as course recording, online broadcasting, and real-time interactionsuch as online, Hyflex and blended education modalities.

These smart classrooms are a multi-party collaborative project, generouslydonated by Guangzhou Createview Education Technology Co., Ltd., coordinated by UNESCO-ICHEI, supported by the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech),and implemented at partner universities. SCR finally landed in the partner universities of UNESCO-ICHEI, where the smart classrooms installed were all the very first in the universities. From April 2022 to October 2022, UNESCO-ICHEI sent technical officials to the 4 countries where the smart classroom projects are located for on-site installation and training. From decorating of the classroom facilities in the early stage of equipment installation, to troubleshooting and commissioning, till the induction sessions and staff training to the official launch of the SCR facility, UNESCO-ICHEI assisted partner universities to complete the whole project implementation process of SCR, ensuring smooth project's functioning and handover by maximizing the value after delivering the SCR to the partner universities and bringing more opportunities for their future teaching and learning activities.

In addition, UNESCO-ICHEI's staff also officially visited Pakistan, Kenya and Thailand to discuss with higher education stakeholders, organizations and partner Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) about the prospects of cooperation on Smart Classroom Projects and deepening collaboration on IIOE and other projects.

The Smart Classroom Project (SCR) is one of the flagship projects of UNESCO-ICHEI. Through public-private partnerships (PPP) with a group of leading enterprises on educational technology in China, UNESCO-ICHEI donates Smart Classrooms supported by Cloud Computing, Big Data, the Internet of Things, and Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence at partner HEIs. The establishment of Smart Classrooms will help HEIs in developing countries worldwide to enhance the infrastructural facilities and meet the basic needs for digital transformation to support online and blended teaching and learning (OBTL), accelerate the digital transformation of higher education, and ultimately promote educational equity.

Corporate Donors: WEDON Education, Createview Edu-Tech, SEEWO

In July 2019, UNESCO-ICHEI successfully established the first-ever Smart Classroom at the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Lahore, Pakistan. The official inauguration ceremony of SCR project in Pakistan was attended by local government officials, HEI's leaders, and representatives of enterprises and the event was covered by more than 20 media outlets across Pakistan. Since then, UNESCO-ICHEI has begun deploying Smart Classrooms globally. By the end of 2022, UNESCO-ICHEI successfully deployed Smart Classrooms in 12 countries around the world (Pakistan, Egypt, Djibouti, Cambodia, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Nigeria, Uganda and Indonesia). It is expected that a total of 34 smart classrooms will be deployed and put into use in the future.

The completed Smart Classrooms facilities have met the actual needs of local online and blended teaching and learning, improved the resilience of their education systems, and have brought to people's minds the enormous power of digital transformation of education, giving them a real glimpse of the infinite possibilities of future education.

This article recaps the journey of the onsite deployment of UNESCO-ICHEI Smart Classroom and UNESCO-ICHEI's visits to partner countries from April 2022 to October 2022.

01.Smart Classroom yields fruitful results

In July 2019, the first-of-its-kind SCR in Pakistan was deployed at the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore, which is the very first SCR facility successfully deployed by UNESCO-ICHEI worldwide. In October of last year, UNESCO-ICHEI and UET formally signed an agreement to establish the IIOE Pakistan National Center, which is also the first-ever national centre of UNESCO-ICHEI in the global partner network.

As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world in the following 3 years,UET Lahorealso carried on teaching and learning activities with the help of already-established SCR and IIOE projects. Three years later, UNESCO-ICHEI made a return visit toUETLahore, communicating with the university about the usage scenario of SCR and the development plan of the IIOE National Centre.

In June 2022, the IIOE Pakistan National Center, as the hub of the IIOE in the country, successfully promoted three Pakistani universities(theUniversity of Education Lahore, Lahore College for Women University and Muhammed Ali Jinnah University)to become official partner universities of IIOE's national network, reported by many media outlets. The work of UNESCO-ICHEI has received much more understanding, recognition and support from universities, teachers, government officials and the public in Pakistan. From the implementation of the SCR, to the establishment of the IIOE Pakistan National Center, and to holding national-level activities and expanding the partner network, the functions and roles of the UET Smart Classroom and the IIOE Pakistan National Center have gradually become prominent. It not only enhances the digital ability of teachers, but also acts as a platform and hub for resource sharing in Pakistan, radiates to universities and teachers throughout Pakistan, helps teachers' capacity building and accelerates the digital transformation of institutions.

Group photo of representatives from UNESCO-ICHEI, SUSTech, Weidong Cloud Education Group and UET, Lahore before the SCR

“The SCR strongly supports global partner universities with advanced educational equipment and technology at the critical moment of the COVID-19 pandemic, setting an example for cross-departmental cooperation between universities, enterprises and international organizations.”

——LI Ming, Director of UNESCO-ICHEI

02.Together for a Shared Future

In Thailand, Hassan Adeel Shehzad, Programme Specialist and Chief Technology Officer of SCR project from UNESCO-ICHEI formally visited the ASEAN University Network (AUN) Secretariat on behalf of UNESCO-ICHEI for the first time. Dr. Choltis Dhiratthiti, AUN’s Executive Director, the highest representative of AUN Secretariate recognized the achievements and the significant international repercussions of IIOE and Smart Classroom projects, and also expressed the expectations of cooperation with the UNESCO-ICHEI. Then, Hassan paid a visit to the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Secretariat and held a face-to-face meeting with Dr. Ethel Agnes P Valenzuela, Director SEAMEO Secretariat. Both sides exchanged ideas of mutual interest and discussed topics such as the establishment of a partnership between UNESCO-ICHEI and universities in the ASEAN region, the sharing and implementation of research results on the digital transformation of higher education.

UNESCO-ICHEI paid a visit to Chulalongkorn University for the first time during Hassan's trip to Thailand. Dr. Ram Piyaket, Director of the Office of International Affairs and Global Network (OIAGN) of Chulalongkorn University expressed interest in Smart Classrooms and the online talks on cooperation in the course of the meeting. It is planned to establish a brand-new Smart Classroom facility at Chulalongkorn University in the year 2023, to better promote the digital transformation of higher education for Chulalongkorn University and even Thailand.

In September, on the way to Indonesia, Hassan also met with Prof. Libing Wang, Chief of Section for Educational Innovations and Skills Development (EISD), UNESCO Bangkok. They achieved consensus on the IIOE Pilot Project in Malaysia which was about to launch, expanding UNESCO-ICHEI's network of Asian partnerships through the valuable support provided by UNESCO Bangkok.

“South-South cooperation in education is the direction of SUSTech's efforts in the post-COVID-19 era. The Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) will bring together various forces to assist developing countries to optimize infrastructure conditions, share successful experience in online and blended teaching and learning, improve teachers' digital teaching capabilities, and contribute the wisdom of SUSTech to the UNESCO Education 2030 vision and the sustainable development of global education.”

——Xue Qikun, President of the Southern University of Science and Technology

03.From Zero to One

Before the completion of the SCR, the University of The Gambia followed traditional teaching methods. Teachers who wore many hats, including teachers, researchers and administrative staff, repeated the same lessons for different students. This classroom, with a capacity of 50 onsite learners at a time, can support the University of The Gambia to explore new digital education modes, including multimedia teaching and learning, localised curriculum design, cross-campus resource-sharing, learning analytics, and administration and management.

For teachers and students at this university, these are the changes "from zero to one" brought by SCR.

Relying on the digital teaching and learning of SCR, students can interactively learn and practise under the guidance of teachers, learning innovative courses such as programming and robot controlling. They can also access multimedia learning resources in SCR online and interact with teachers remotely through individual learning terminals, like mobile phones, tablets or laptops. SCR also assists in the transformation of digital capabilities of university teachers. In this digital teaching space, teachers access the teacher training resources of the International Institute of Online Education (IIOE), producing online curriculums with digital facilities and software and bringing the impact of education to more students of Gambia.

As the first digital learning infrastructure at the University of The Gambia, Smart Classroom has become a significant node in the network resources sharing of higher education and guaranteed digital learning resource sharing among universities in the Gambia.

The same thing happened in Uganda, where Makerere University, for the first time, ushered in robots assisting with teaching. Lessons that teachers learned at IIOE, such as programming, are practised and consolidated on robots, or having more imaginative utilizations.

SCR has innovated the teaching methods of higher education, facilitated resource sharing, and connected the HEI networks. Partner HEIs, thus, are on the blueprint of "The Future of Education" and touched a concrete future composed of hardware, including an interactive touch panel, student terminals and recording and broadcasting devices.

"Building Smart Classroom in Gambia was challenging. SCR has gone through the whole process from fundamental decorations to equipment installation. Seeing the digital learning classroom built step by step from an empty classroom was a source of immense pride for all the partners involved."

—— Hassan, Chief technology officer of SCR of UNESCO-ICHEI

04.Giving full play to SCR

As one of the largest public universities in sub-Saharan Africa, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, in Nigeria is the second stopover of our trip. At that time, Nigeria was going through energy shortages, teachers' strikes and schools were on intermittent power for months. But the deployment of the whole process of SCR could not wait.

The daily work of Hassan depended on a faulty electric generator. If the generator worked, he was busy with installation and testing that required electricity, or else, he would deal with other daily work. Back in the dormitory where the power was cut off at night, he thought about how to get more teachers involved in the induction.

The induction refers to the training meeting that after the installation and several rounds of testing of SCR, UNESCO-ICHEI officially handed over the equipment to the technical staff of our partner universities for operation and management. At the induction, UNESCO-ICHEI introduced the methods, functions and uses, to fully mobilize their technology staff for management and their teachers for maximizing the use. It's of great help for teachers to maximize the effectiveness of SCR in the future. That time was the early stage of the building of SCR. Teachers of ABU knew little about this classroom, therefore, could not make the most use of it yet.

UNESCO-ICHEI cooperated with enterprises to overcome the difficulty of power shortages. After the installation was fully completed, more than 300 teachers were provided with detailed introduction and guidance in several carefully-prepared workshops lasting for 4 days. More than 90% of the teachers were satisfied with this training.

UNESCO-ICHEI and enterprises are devoted to completing the whole process of deploying "hardware" and "software" to empower teachers with digital capacities. Teachers, therefore, are able to determine how to better serve their teaching goals with technology. SCR makes use of digital infrastructure in a sustainable way and brings into full play for local teachers.

"SCR and robots are both for teachers, for 'people'. With more study and research, SCR will bring teachers more opportunities and a bigger stage. "

—— Hassan, Chief technology officer of SCR of UNESCO-ICHEI

05.Like-minded determination

The deployment process of SCR at Makerere University (MAK) went smoothly and tacitly. Founded in 1922, Makerere University is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Africa and is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning. Engineering and Technology is also one of its strengths. The cooperation between Makerere University and UNESCO-ICHEI will bring new opportunities for the digital transformation of higher education in the University and even in East Africa.

Throughout the course of the project, Hassan fully exchangedideas with Prof. Tonny J. Oyana, Principal of the College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS), MAK and SCR Team of MAK. The joint cooperation between UNESCO-ICHEI and MAK has greatly contributed to the successful completion of the arrangements of all equipment in the SCR of MAK. The 4 rounds of SCR Induction Sessions prepared by UNESCO-ICHEI for MAK teachers were also pleasing. At the SCR Project Launch Ceremony, MAK expressed its gratitude to UNESCO-ICHEI and looked forward to giving full play to the functions of SCR in its digital transformation of education. The ceremony was reported by Ugandan TV station and several newspapers, and received extensive social attention.

As Prof.Barnabas Nawangwe, Vice Chancellor of Makerere University said, the future belongs to those who embrace technology, and the digital transformation of higher education has become an irreversible trend. With enterprise donations, HEIs and UNESCO-ICHEI are on the same wavelength and work together to implement smart infrastructural facilities in partner countries, narrow the gaps in educational resources for HEIs in developing countries and pave the way for the future of digital transformation of higher education.

“The completion of the SCR is a milestone in the partnership between UNESCO-ICHEI and Makerere University, which will provide strong support for the university to carry out digital teaching. Makerere University will continue to cooperate with UNESCO-ICHEI to help Uganda's digital transformation of higher education.”

—— Prof.Barnabas Nawangwe, Vice Chancellor of Makerere University

06.Creating higher education digital ecology

On 25 April, 2022, the Smart Classroom at the University of Nairobi was unveiled and the IIOE Kenya National Centre hosted at the University of Nairobi was also successfully launched after a long-term preparation from 2018 to 2022. Therefore, there is an urgent need to think about how to effectively integrate the Smart Classrooms and IIOE Kenya National Center to create a supportive ecosystem for Kenyan HEIs. Hassan, the Chief Technology Officer of UNESCO-ICHEI, also conducted a lot of discussions with the principal and teachers of the University of Nairobi on how to maximize the synergy of IIOE, Smart Classrooms and IIOE Kenya National Center to build a digital ecosystem of higher education.

The infrastructural facilities of the Smart Classroom provide a better digital teaching and learning environment for university teachers and students in Kenya who can use the tremendous amount of online training resources of IIOE and record online courses for joint knowledge production and resource sharing. In addition, the Smart Classrooms will also support UNESCO-ICHEI's pilot projects on promoting Higher Education Digital Teaching and Learning in IIOE Kenya National Centre by serving as a space to apply what they have learned, improving the college teachers' capacity in online and blended teaching.

On the one hand, the Smart Classroom will support the IIOE Kenya National Centre to promote educational resource sharing and capacity building among IIOE Kenyan partner HEIs, and on the other, the IIOE Kenya National Centre also serves as a national and regional hub, empowering Kenyan HEIs' digital transformation. The Smart Classroom, IIOE and the series projects of higher education digital transformation jointly build a higher education digital ecosystem for the University of Nairobi and other partner HEIs of UNESCO-ICHEI.

"CreateView always take 'building a world of educational fairness with innovation' as our main principle, and hopes SCR can better serve partner universities' teaching and learning. CreateView will continue to contribute to the innovation of higher education digitalization and the promotion of educational equity."

——Zhang Yu, Chairman of CreateView Education Technology

07.Carrying the possibilities for the "future of education"

The September 2022 UNESCO Transforming Education Summit outlined its expectations and development path for the future of digital transformation in education, proposing the use of digital technology to empower teachers and students and the open source digital education resources to enrich learning environments and experiences.

The UNESCO-ICHEI installation tour not only resulted in the improvement of digital infrastructure at partner institutions, but also provided as a means for global stakeholders to investigate the future practice of blended learning. As one of Indonesia's oldest universities, the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) is particularly well-known for its strengths in the fields of information technology and engineering, and has great hopes for the opportunities presented by the digital revolution of education.

Prof. Reini Wirahadikusumah, Rector of ITB, stated that the Smart Classroom's digital smart learning capabilities and worldwide resource network will effectively support the school's digital transformation process in order to advance Education 4.0.

Together with UNESCO-ICHEI, ITB began planning the construction of the Smart Classroom initiative four years ago. In 2022, after overcoming the obstacles of international logistics shipping and remote installation during the pandemic, the ITB Smart Classroom finally reached students and teachers of ITB. This successful implementation will not only allow ITB students and faculty to access the most up-to-date teaching and learning information via smart terminals at any time, but will also enable them to maximize the use of the global network of partners built by IIOE to share teaching resources, enrich learning styles, improve teaching quality, and enhance system resilience.

The Smart Classroom Project is the result of transnational and cross-sectoral cooperation, as well as the collaboration of international organizations, education technology businesses, and higher education institutions. The innovative ICT-based digital teaching and learning environment enables higher education institutions in developing nations to make significant progress in the areas of digital connectivity, faculty development resources, and capacity building training, and opens up limitless opportunities for their participation in global and regional educational collaborations.

In Indonesia, I was greeted with open arms by our old friends, with whom I had a delightful conversation on the current state and future vision of education. At this stage in the digital transformation of education, we are eager to collaborate with our global partners to advance Education 4.0.

—— Hassan, Chief technology officer of SCR of UNESCO-ICHEI

"We must ensure that digital technology in education empowers people and enhances their connections," UNESCO's report on "The Futures of Education" Initiative emphasizes the importance of digital technology in education.

Since its inception, UNESCO-ICHEI has collaborated with numerous partners to conduct theoretical research, project practice, and international exchanges in the area of higher education digitization. The experience and outcomes are accumulating. In the past six years, a series of flagship projects, such as the International Institute of Online Education (IIOE), the Smart Classroom Project, the UNESCO-Shenzhen Funds-in-Trust (SFIT), and the Capacity Building Seminars, have empowered more than 10,000 teachers and connected nearly 140 countries worldwide. In the future, UNESCO-ICHEI will also provide VR and other course resources to partner HEIs, leveraging technologies to further promote the digital transformation of higher education.

For more information on Smart Classroom:https://www.ichei.org/dist/index.html#/classroomIntro

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