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Introduction 3 1 Introduction Helen Spencer-Oatey If [Chinese] education is to serve social progress and economic development, the information technology (IT) for it must advance ahead of social progress. (Zhou 2006: 229) These are the words of Zhou Ji, the current Chinese Minister of Education. They hint at the huge educational challenge that China is facing at present and suggest the significant role that e-learning can play in the (educational) development of the country. Let us consider the following statistics: • 318,783,000 people in different types of Chinese educational institutions at all levels in 2002 (Li 2004: 45) • About 204 million children attending primary and secondary schools (Chen 2006) • Over 20 million students enrolled in China’s colleges and universities in 2004 (Huang, Jiang and Zhang this volume) • 970,506 academic staff at China’s colleges and universities in 2004 (Zhou 2006: 13) • About 470,000 teachers of English at secondary school level in China (Chen 2006) • 111 million Internet users in China (CNNIC 2006) As Li Lanqing (2004), Vice-Premier of the Chinese State Council from 1993 to 2003, points out, China has the largest educational system in the world. In fact, the number of people enrolled in Chinese schools is larger than the entire population of the United States. So, he stresses that high levels of efficiency are essential: . . . only by achieving the highest efficiency in the world can we really come to grips with all the problems associated with education in this vast country of ours. (Li 2004: 45) It is hoped that information technology, and e-learning opportunities in particular, will help spearhead this efficiency. 4 Helen Spencer-Oatey These facts form the backdrop to the raison d’être of this book. The book is an outcome of a major Sino-UK initiative: the Sino-UK e-Learning Programme (eChinaUK ). This programme was established to help promote innovation in e-learning, as well as to play a small part in addressing these massive educational challenges in China. The eChina-UK Programme forms part of a strategic collaboration between Britain and China in higher education, and it was set up by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Chinese Ministry of Education (MoE), in order to promote innovative developments in e-learning for the training of teachers/lecturers at secondary and tertiary levels. Teacher education is of strategic importance in China, and as the following section explains, the MoE is bringing in a series of pedagogic reforms which are necessitating extensive in-service training for their effective implementation. The eChina-UK Programme was charged with the task of utilizing a new medium of learning (e-learning) to help implement these reforms. Pedagogic Reforms in China Over the past few years, the MoE has been carrying out a major overhaul of educational practices at primary, secondary and tertiary levels in China, including reforms of the curricula, of textbooks, of the testing and evaluation systems, and of teaching methods. Much greater emphasis is being placed on student-centred learning and self-study, and the aim is to foster greater creativity and individuality in learners through a more task-based approach, through greater use of enquiry methods, and through greater interaction between teacher and learner. Zhou explains it as follows in relation to the higher education (HE) level: With the deepening of reform and opening up in recent years, many universities have been exploring new modes of student training. . . . Universities . . . lay greater stress on the integration of theoretical and practical teaching. Some large, research-oriented universities have gradually implemented a mode of advisory teaching, where an advisor provides academic guidance to a number of undergraduate students. For students, it is an explorative or inspirational learning mode, different from the traditional receptive learning mode. Teachers are better prepared to teach in the form of discussion and elicitation so as to inspire initiative and enthusiasm in their students. Senior undergraduate students in many universities participate in research projects headed by professors. These universities also have research funds for students. To cultivate the students’ ability to apply book knowledge in analyzing and solving practical problems, universities implement a teaching mode that combines learning, research, and industry. Students are required to do internships in laboratories, factories, and enterprises. More and more undergraduate students derive their graduation theses from industrial production and social practice. (Zhou 2006: 88–89) The MoE is also bringing in reforms with regard to the learning of English as a foreign language. For a long...

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