Make good use of digital technology and build a "big ideological and political course"

Make good use of digital technology and build a "big ideological and political course"

Peng Qinghong

  abstract The integration of digital technology and "big ideological and political courses" has given new vitality to the reform and innovation of ideological and political education in the new era. To make good use of digital technology and build a "big ideological and political course", first of all, we must fully understand the fit between digital technology and "big ideological and political courses". Secondly, we must identify the focus of the combination of digital technology and "big ideological and political courses" from the perspectives of subject connection, resource sharing, teacher-student interaction, scene reconstruction, and model innovation. Finally, we must deal with the primary and secondary relationships, red college relationships, external and internal relationships, public-private relationships, and new and old relationships that combine digital technology and "big ideological and political courses" to promote the development of high-quality connotations in the construction of ideological and political courses.

  keyword Great Ideological and Political Course; Digital Technology; Digitization

  Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, especially since the Supreme Leader General Secretary personally chaired the school’s ideological and political theory teacher symposium, the status of ideological and political courses in the overall strategic situation of the Party Central Committee’s governance of the country has become increasingly prominent, and the construction of ideological and political courses has also made significant progress. The construction of "big ideological and political courses" is an important breakthrough point to promote the high-quality development of ideological and political courses during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, and has also become a highlight of the reform and innovation of ideological and political courses in recent years. The General Secretary of the Supreme Leader has successively emphasized that "we must use new media and new technologies to make work come alive, and promote the high degree of integration of traditional advantages of ideological and political work with information technology." "The digitalization of education is an important breakthrough for our country to open up a new track for educational development and shape new advantages in educational development." Therefore, to promote the construction of "big ideological and political courses", we must also make good use of digital technology, so that digital technology and "big ideological and political courses" can be fully integrated and mutually promoted, and constantly cultivate new potential, open up new tracks, and shape new patterns for school ideological and political education in the new era.

  Comprehensive understanding of the fit between digital technology and "big ideological and political courses"

  To make good use of digital technology and build a "big ideological and political class", we must first fully understand the inherent fit between digital technology and "big ideological and political class". On the one hand, digital technology can promote the quality and efficiency of "big ideological and political class"; on the other hand, the needs and problems in the construction of "big ideological and political class" can also promote the continuous innovation and optimization of digital technology. The integration and mutual assistance between the two make the digital expansion of ideological and political class possible and produce good results.

  1. Digital technology can promote the effective construction of "big ideological and political courses"

  The development of digital technology has brought new opportunities and development space for the construction of "big ideological and political courses". In recent years, the construction of "big ideological and political courses" has achieved obvious results under the high attention of the party and the state, but it still faces some problems. The "big lessons of life" and big vision of the "big ideological and political courses" contained in the "big ideological and political courses" require "us" including all ideological and political teachers, all educators, and the whole party and society to make good use of them. At present, scholars have not fully agreed on the concept of "big ideological and political courses", but the industry has linked the construction of "big ideological and political courses" with big goals, big classrooms, big ideological and political courses, big patterns, big platforms, master resources, and big coordination. At the practical level, "big ideological and political courses" not only means that ideological and political courses should be expanded in depth, but also means that the breadth of ideological and political courses should be expanded – open the door to do ideological and political courses. In the construction of "big ideological and political courses", it is necessary to realize the upgrading and transformation of classroom teaching content, methods and management aspects, to mobilize the joint participation of various social resources, to open up theoretical classrooms, practical classrooms, online classrooms, etc., to realize the integrated construction of ideological and political courses in large, middle and primary schools, and so on. The realization of these tasks, especially the cracking of some difficult problems, requires the joint efforts of front-line ideological and political educators, the strong organizational guarantee of ideological and political course construction management institutions at all levels, and also requires strong digital technology support and services.

  The construction of "big ideological and political courses" requires the intervention and support of digital technology. Looking at the world, the digital transformation of education has become a consensus, and the digital construction of "big ideological and political courses" is imperative. On the one hand, the application of 5G, big data, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and other technologies has made the educational environment of ideological and political courses continue to change in the direction of networking, digitalization and intelligence, and the experience of teaching practice has also changed from a static plane at the visual level to a dynamic interactive one at the audio-visual level. Driven by the digital wave, promoting the modernization of education is the general trend, the need for development, and the direction of reform, which can better meet the precise and efficient reform requirements put forward by the development of the times for ideological and political courses. On the other hand, the post-00s generation of students grew up with digital technology, not only has a demand for memorized learning of theoretical knowledge, but also hopes to immerse themselves in the educational effect of ideological and political courses to enlighten the mind and cultivate emotions. The teaching mode of ideological and political courses, which has been spawned by digital technology, provides a platform and breakthrough point for the innovation of the teaching content and methods of "big ideological and political courses", and meets the expectations of educational objects.

  2. The "big ideological and political class" can promote the development of digital technology

  Make good use of digital technology and build a "big ideological and political course". Digital technology is applied to the specific educational field as a means to achieve the purpose of changing the educational model and improving the educational effect. In this process, the number of schools involved in the construction of the "big ideological and political course", the large number of students, and the wide range involved have also continuously promoted the innovative application and development of digital technology.

  The construction of "big ideological and political courses" can accelerate the innovation and development of digital technology. On the one hand, the construction of "big ideological and political courses" has stimulated the innovation power of digital technology. In the digital age, the speed of technological update and iteration is dazzling. The deep integration of digital technology and ideological and political courses requires digital technology to continuously carry out self-innovation and iterative upgrading. It is necessary to summarize the development and utilization of historical resources, cultural resources and policy resources by existing VR (virtual reality) and AI (artificial intelligence) technologies in the construction of "big ideological and political courses", and create a teaching model with diverse styles and stable structures; it is also necessary to constantly explore the application of artificial intelligence, big data, virtual reality and other emerging technologies in the field of "big ideological and political courses" construction, and continue to tap the potential of technology to change education development. On the other hand, the construction of the "Great Ideological and Political Course" is conducive to the construction of the digital technology system. "Digitalization" is an overall system supported by a variety of technologies, which needs to be applied to a variety of technologies such as big data, cloud computing, Internet of Things, blockchain, artificial intelligence, etc. A single unit or team cannot support its overall operation. Therefore, riding the east wind of the construction of the "Great Ideological and Political Course", a composite system project involving multiple subjects and multiple forces has been built, and the support system of digital technology has also involved schools, society, enterprises, governments and other forces. " The multi-department, multi-field, and multi-level cooperation in the education work pattern provides support for the integrated development of digital technology, which is conducive to the joint construction of cross-field digital technology.

  Identify the focus of combining digital technology with the construction of "big ideological and political courses"

  The combination of digital technology and "big ideological and political courses" is not a simple "1 plus 1 equals 2", but a mutual integration and internal unity between them. In practice, we must identify the focus of the combination of digital technology and "big ideological and political courses", promote the high degree of integration of traditional advantages of ideological and political work with information technology, enhance the sense of the times and attractiveness, and create a new pattern of digital development of "big ideological and political courses".

  1. Use digital technology implementation of the main body connection of the "big ideological and political course"

  The "big" of the "big ideological and political course" requires fully mobilizing the rich resources and strength contained in the social big classroom, building a "big classroom", building a "big platform", and building a "master resource". This requires the strength of the whole society, collective efforts, and joint creation and construction. In the construction of the "big ideological and political course", the multiple subjects involved in education and teaching should form a good organizational relationship of collaborative participation and common construction, so as to truly realize the effective combination of the ideological and political "small classroom" and the social "big classroom".

  Different from the traditional single teaching method, digital technology can enrich the ways and means for multiple subjects to participate in the construction of "big ideological and political courses" online and offline through system sharing, resource co-construction, information exchange, network connection, etc., break the time and space restrictions and information barriers, and promote cross-regional, cross-departmental, and cross-school information flow and linkage and collaboration. The use of digital technology implementation of "big ideological and political courses" is connected to the main body, which not only reduces work costs, but also greatly improves work efficiency. For example, in recent years, many schools have cooperated with the forces of the Marxist Institute, the Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Students and Workers, the Youth League Committee and other functional areas of business, contacted brother colleges and universities, the "big ideological and political class" practice teaching base, various venues and other institutions to cooperate, and established the virtual teaching and research room of ideological and political classes, digital teaching platform, etc., to help the teachers of ideological and political classes in various schools to communicate and share resources in real time, and give full play to the different resource advantages of society, government, family, enterprise, community, etc., so that ideological and political classes can effectively enhance the teaching effect of theoretical teaching and practical education, knowledge infusion and situational experience in the connection between inside and outside the school, online and offline.

  2. Build a digital platform to promote the sharing of resources in "big ideological and political courses"

  Open sharing of digital educational resources is a key move to narrow the digital divide and education gap. With its scalable, distributed, and advanced technologies such as multimedia large file storage, management, and resource retrieval and call, digital technology automatically stores and intelligently sorts large amounts of data, eventually forming a large-capacity, accurate, and callable virtual data resource library. Building a digital platform to promote the resource sharing of "big ideological and political courses" can collect and integrate rich social resources and life materials, and realize the co-construction and sharing of resources in classroom teaching to improve the allocation and use efficiency of "big ideological and political courses" teaching resources.

  The establishment of a digital teaching platform is conducive to the sharing of resources for "big ideological and political courses". First, share teaching resources. Relying on the digital teaching platform, integrate policy information, research results, case materials, practice test questions and other resources of various schools at all levels, realize the collection and construction of digital resources, and form a teaching resource library that integrates high-quality teaching materials such as courseware, handout drawings, course analysis, and auxiliary documents for ideological and political courses. Secondly, expand the dissemination of resources. Encourage teachers and students to create digital teaching resources such as micro-movies, animations, music, and short videos around the teaching content of ideological and political courses. Collaborative lesson preparation and experience sharing are carried out through online MOOCs, live courses, special seminars, and heterogeneous courses. Continuously promote the dissemination and update of teaching resources and information exchange. Finally, optimize the supply of resources. Facing diverse needs, the data resources of the digital teaching platform can be quickly retrieved, freely combined and flexibly called modules and functions for teachers of ideological and political courses according to user requests, so as to realize personalized supply and service of resources, and effectively improve the efficiency and business level of teachers in lesson preparation. For example, the construction of the National Smart Education Public Service Platform, the National Ideological and Political Theory Teacher Network Collective Lesson Preparation Platform, and the Digital Horse Academy have all built a better online platform that spans time and space for ideological and political course teaching, aggregating higher-quality, more systematic, and more types of digital educational resources, and promoting the sharing and co-construction of high-quality resources.

  3. Use digital tools to promote teacher-student interaction in "big ideological and political classes"

  In the construction of "big ideological and political courses", while innovating the big social classrooms, the role of the main channel of ideological and political "small classrooms" must be guaranteed. At present, the lack of interaction is an important reason that affects the effectiveness of ideological and political courses, and solving this problem is also the focus of ideological and political course reform and innovation. As a means and method, digital technology can provide new interactive methods and emotional experiences for ideological and political course teaching, effectively enhancing the vividness and effectiveness of teaching.

  With the help of digital tools, promote the interaction between teachers and students in the "big ideological and political class". First, with the help of digital tools to enhance the pertinence of teaching. Ideological and political class teachers use digital technology to effectively grasp students’ learning habits, thinking characteristics, psychological dynamics, etc., analyze the information fed back from the teaching process and result data, and grasp the learning situation in a timely manner. Scientifically arrange lesson preparation, adjust teaching progress and class management will also effectively help students review teaching knowledge online, record experiences in class, exchange views and ideas, and complete practice assignments. Second, with the help of digital tools to create a good atmosphere in the classroom. In teaching practice, more and more ideological and political class teachers pay attention to promoting student interaction through the creation of red micro-movies, ideological and political talk shows, virtual reality experiences, drama role-playing and other diverse forms. Through the presentation of digital means, from static pictures to dynamic pictures, from silent words to sound voice, stimulate students’ interest, so that they can actively explore classic theoretical ideas, red history and culture, and contemporary development reality. The third is to manage classroom order with the help of digital tools. Ideological and political class teachers use digital means to name, ask questions, answer questions, and evaluate in a timely manner in classroom teaching. Homework arrangement, homework correction, and interactive Q & A before and after class are all good ways to further consolidate and expand the effect of teacher-student interaction.

  4. Use digital virtual innovation to recreate the scene of "big ideological and political class"

  The teaching of ideological and political classes requires relying on and creating situations to better achieve the effect of enlightening the mind and moisturizing the mind. "Great Ideological and Political Classes" expands the space of ideological and political classrooms from schools to the space of various fields of society. Through technical means such as smart classrooms, 5G, virtual simulation, and holographic teaching in digital technology, social development scenes, historical and cultural scenes, and family life scenes can be introduced into ideological and political classrooms. Teachers can call all kinds of video information and network data at any time, and use animation, video, VR glasses, and other products to create real-time shared and immersive classroom scenes. On the one hand, digital technology is used for virtual presentation of real scenes. Digital technology breaks the constraints of spatial boundaries on the teaching scene of ideological and political courses. Using digital twin and other technologies, in the form of live broadcast, scene simulation, VR panoramic images, etc., the materials and scenes of revolutionary old sites, historical memorial pavilions, and museums can be virtually presented, so that students can be immersed in the classroom and realize "cloud visit", "cloud classroom" and "cloud interaction". Ideological and political course teachers can also interact synchronously with heroic models, advanced role models, venue commentators, etc., and extend the classroom to educational bases such as fields, factory workshops, scientific research institutes, and old revolutionary base areas, further expand the new field of education and teaching, save the cost of ideological and political classroom teaching transition, and improve the educational effectiveness of "big ideological and political courses". On the other hand, digital technology is used to recreate virtual scenes. Some historical events, revolutionary ruins, historical figures, etc. cannot be presented through VR panoramic shooting, but digital restoration, 3D modeling, virtual people, etc. of digital technology can also be used to restore and reproduce these virtual teaching scenes, making the "big ideological and political class" more vivid.

  5. Deepen digital transformation and realize the model innovation of "big ideological and political courses"

  As a leading force in the world’s scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, digital technology has brought about changes in "big ideological and political courses", not minor repairs, but profound changes in the education and teaching methods of ideological and political courses. It is a systematic model innovation. From resource supply, information sharing to interactive models, teaching methods, to evaluation systems, feedback mechanisms, etc., the combination of digital technology and "big ideological and political courses" will bring about a deeper transformation and development of ideological and political education in the new era.

  In terms of resource construction, the "Great Ideological and Political Course" digitizes the ideological and political elements and social resources, matches the teaching content and methods according to the actual needs of students, and takes into account all aspects of resources to form a top-down, collaborative and cooperative platform, which subverts the previous traditional teaching resources supply and dissemination methods. In the interactive mode, teachers of ideological and political courses make full use of MOOCs, live broadcasts, short videos, etc., to make the theoretical ideas in the course "live", character events "move", and historical and cultural "light up", and continuously enhance the affinity and appeal of ideological and political courses, which helps to break people’s stereotypes of ideological and political classroom teaching in the past. In the evaluation feedback, the use of digital technology to empower the whole section, the whole process, with the help of teachers and students digital portraits and visualization technology, monitoring the process and results of education and teaching, prompting the evaluation method from the score-oriented small data evaluation to the whole-process literacy assessment of the big data evaluation, from the test-type result evaluation to the real-time performance-type process evaluation, to achieve the ideological and political course teaching evaluation system and feedback mechanism optimization innovation.

  Handle the relationship between digital technology and the construction of "big ideological and political courses"

  Technology is a "double-edged sword", and whether it can play a positive role depends on how it is used. In the construction of "big ideological and political courses", the appropriate use of digital technology to empower the teaching of ideological and political courses can effectively enhance the sense of the times and attractiveness of ideological and political courses; on the contrary, it will deviate from the original intention and goal of ideological and political course reform and innovation. To grasp the development direction of "big ideological and political courses", we must properly handle the multiple relationships between digital technology and the construction of "big ideological and political courses".

  1. Primary and secondary relationship: The digital construction of "big ideological and political courses" should adhere to the leading position of the classroom

  In the digital construction of the "Great Ideological and Political Course", the status and attributes of the ideological and political classroom have not changed. In other words, in the relationship between primary and secondary, classroom teaching is still in a dominant position, and digital technology is an auxiliary means. Digital technology is a tool to promote the digital transformation of ideological and political courses and improve the quality of ideological and political education. The value of technology in the reform of ideological and political courses lies in the transformation, expansion, and enrichment of educational content and methods, and is a means to serve the improvement of classroom teaching quality. No matter what the form of technological innovation is, all technological means must fall on the improvement of teaching quality, and digital technology cannot be blindly superimposed on the classroom in order to follow the trend and compare. Adhering to the content of classroom teaching as king, and constantly improving the quality of ideological and political courses to build morality and build people, is the purpose of the construction of the "Great Ideological and Political Therefore, the participation of digital technology in the construction of "big ideological and political courses" should also be subject to the fundamental task of Lide and cultivating people, and cannot become a "dazzling skill" or "whole job" at the pure technical level. No matter where the space-time field of ideological and political courses is broadened, we must always adhere to the central position of the main channel of the classroom in the construction of digital ideological and political courses, respect the main position of teachers and students in classroom teaching, and consolidate the main channel of classroom teaching to ensure the coordination of the overall classroom content.

  2. Red College Relationship: Digital "Great Ideological and Political Course" Must Adhere to the Value Leadership of Mainstream Ideology

  The construction of "big ideological and political courses" uses digital technology to condense more educational resources, but diverse teaching resources do not mean diversified value orientation. As a direction of ideological and political course reform and innovation, "big ideological and political courses" have the attributes of ideological and political courses to be firmly maintained, we must grasp the red college relationship in the construction of "big ideological and political courses". The "red" here refers to the clear political and ideological attributes of ideological and political courses. As a key course to implement the fundamental task of building people with morality, it is necessary to strengthen the orientation of socialist ideology to the construction of "big ideological and political courses". The "special" here refers to the professional level of digital technology itself, that is, sufficient professional standards can empower the ideological and political class to increase efficiency, otherwise it will be counterproductive. The digital transformation of the "big ideological and political class" should adhere to the principle of political orientation, and appropriately infiltrate the mainstream ideology into the design and application, evaluation and reflection of digital technology, strengthen the mainstream ideology through technology, and at the same time use technology to block the interference of wrong ideas and vulgar information on the classroom, and guide students to form ideological values that meet the requirements of the mainstream socialist ideology.

  3. Relationship between the outside and the inside: Digital technology should deeply empower the education and teaching innovation of "big ideological and political courses"

  The integration of digital technology and "big ideological and political courses", technology is only an appearance, its essence is still a classroom revolution, emphasizing the realization of the teaching effect of ideological and political courses and the effectiveness of classroom teaching. The use of digital technology in "big ideological and political courses" is not for formal teaching performance, but to let technology truly empower the revolution of the teaching mode of ideological and political courses. The most fundamental thing is to reshape the classroom, so that "big ideological and political courses" can take into account the depth of theory, the thickness of history, and the validity of policies. The application of digital technology deeply empowers the education and teaching innovation of ideological and political courses. It is necessary to make full use of learning analysis systems, adaptive systems, AI teaching assistants and other auxiliary teaching technologies to promote the transformation of teaching and learning models in classroom teaching, and promote the transformation of teaching models from the traditional "teacher-student" binary structure to the "teacher-machine-student" multi-structure; also through the collection and sorting of learning and public opinion, accurately analyze the knowledge points that students are interested in and are still confused, scientifically and rationally create teaching scenes, allocate educational resources, and change teaching methods. Realize the "big ideological and political class" model in which teachers "teach" in a targeted manner and students "learn" proactively.

  4. Public-private relations: The digital transformation of the "big ideological and political class" should balance private space and public sphere

  With the rapid development of digital technology, a large amount of data is stored and widely disseminated in the cloud in the form of pictures, videos, animations and other information, and a series of digital ethical issues have arisen. For example, the digital field of ideological and political courses has not only the collection of a lot of private information, but also a transparent public field that needs to be shared. With the embedding of digital technology into classroom teaching scenes, it is more convenient to collect and quantify the identity information and behavioral characteristics of educational subjects. The acquisition and collection of private information and personal data of educational subjects by third-party institutions is easy to infringe the privacy of teachers and students’ private information, personal opinions and other privacy risks, resulting in the privacy and security risks of teachers and students in the digital transformation of "big ideological and political courses". At the same time, those public spaces that need to be shared in the digital world also have issues of fairness in the use of digital technology and information openness. Therefore, in the digital construction of "big ideological and political classes", on the one hand, it is necessary to standardize the management system of technology use in classroom teaching, and integrate ethics into the practice framework of classroom teaching with the operating principles of transparency, credibility, controllability, and security. On the other hand, it is also necessary for ideological and political class teachers to strengthen digital social responsibility in operation, improve their digital literacy, clarify the awareness of rights and responsibilities in the information age, prevent bad and even illegal behaviors such as spying on privacy and leaking information, do a good job in privacy management up and down the classroom, and consciously maintain the ethical order of digital space.

  5. New-old relationship: promote the digital construction of "big ideological and political courses" according to the time, people and circumstances

  In the face of the ever-changing digital wave, the digital reform of "big ideological and political classes" needs to consider and deal with the tolerance limits of teachers of different age groups for new technologies and the appropriate transformation of old and new classrooms in technology. For teachers, to master digital technology, ideological and political class teachers need to mine the educational elements contained in it and integrate it into classroom teaching. However, the speed of digital technology update, the amount of resources provided, and the variety of operation methods can easily cause teachers to be overloaded with technology. Especially for older ideological and political class teachers, some of them are difficult to integrate into the digital world in a short time, so the use of digital technology becomes a burden and shackle for their teaching, and the classroom effect will be counterproductive. For colleges and universities, some schools do not seek teachers’ opinions, do not understand students’ needs, and promote MOOCs, online classes, and virtual simulation ideological and political classes regardless of the actual situation when the preparation of teachers, funds, and technologies is not yet mature. Finally, there may be problems such as teaching content that does not meet students’ needs, or the image quality of the digital link is rough, the operation is inconvenient, and the system responds sluggishly, or the classroom teaching shows the "self-talk" of teachers and technology, which affects the original effect of classroom teaching, reduces the experience of teachers and students, and then arouses the emotional resistance of teachers and students to the digital transformation of "big ideological and political classes". Therefore, to promote the digital construction of "big ideological and political courses", we must combine the teachers’ affordability and actual level, and according to the school’s own development orientation and actual situation, deepen and gradually innovate at every level.

  [This article is a phased achievement of the "Development and Effective Dissemination of Red Cultural Resources Based on Digitalization" (ZDA145-3) and the National University Ideological and Political Course Famous Teacher Studio (University of Science and Technology Beijing) (21SZJS11010008), a major project of the "14th Five-Year" scientific research plan of the State Language Commission]

  [Author Peng Qinghong: Vice President of University of Science and Technology Beijing]

  (Originally published in the 9th issue of China Higher Education Magazine in 2024)