Expo to boost smart education in China

Ma Jianhua from Chinese Society of Education said China has been investing in the merging of education and informatization greatly. [File photo]

The scenes of future "smart" solutions in and out of classrooms will be displayed and open for onsite interaction at China National Convention Center in Beijing.

China International Educational IT Solutions Expo: Smart Show 2015, the first of its kind in field of international expos on education informatization in the country, is to kick off on Dec 11.

Ma Jianhua, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Society of Education, one of the organizers of the expo, said the expo is an attempt to boost informatization of education, which is one of "major tasks for the 13th Five Year Plan" the country is endeavoring to achieve.

"The 'Internet Plus Education' mode is actually a sound way to promote educational equality," Ma said.

He also said that China has been investing in the merging of education and informatization greatly.

Whereas, with different discourses, the two systems have problems in communication, as Zhou Changchun, director of the official journal under the society, said.

"There has a long-time gap that the professionals are looking forward to fill," Zhou said, "the expo builds a platform for efficient dialogues between the technology/devices suppliers and their users."

Covering an exhibition area of 30,000 square meters, the expo draws 400 international exhibitors who are software producers, content providers and servers of educational technology and equipments.

It plans to present some 20 events for the 36,000 professional audience from fields of K-12, higher education and vocational education.

It will be three times larger in scale than its first session in 2014, according to the organizers, who have observed a huge rise of interest, judging from the increasing number of registrations.

The expo is also looking to be a gathering of global educational publishers.

More than 40 publishers of digital educational content from both home and abroad, including US' Cengage Learning, John Wiley & Sons, and UK's Ian Taylor Associates, according to Wang Xikai, official from State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and television.

Wang said the expo lacked content providers during the first session; the publishers' involvement makes it complete and convenient.

"It's also a trial of 'education plus publishing' in information era. We're hoping to work out more together," said Liu Yajun, deputy general manager of Guoxinshu Media Information Service Center under the administration, one of the expo's organizers.

Anhui province, with its tradition in smart education, will be specially featured during the expo.