With the increasing popularity of the Internet, mobile phones, laptops, and auxiliary devices, teachers can teach students outside the classroom. Distance education has also become more popular, so teachers have changed their teaching approach. Both teachers and students can communicate with one another through computers. Some students from developing countries can attend public classes at prestigious universities. A teacher teaches students from all over the world on the Internet. This development seems to promote the fairness of education to a certain extent (Moore, M. G. ,1991, p. 3).
Nevertheless, there are some problems with distance education. Some elderly teachers are not familiar with new digital software and facilities, making it difficult for them to offer distance education. Some teachers may feel strange and shy in front of cameras, while the other teachers who like to communicate face to face may lose the opportunity to interact with students. Teachers cannot observe students’ reaction in time to adjust their teaching plans. Will there be students blindly pursuing famous teachers and schools, and students gathering to attend classes offered by a few well-known teachers? Consequently, young and reputable teachers may lose a great number of opportunities. Will students select a course based on their first impression of the teacher? Will they judge a teacher’s teaching competence based on their appearance or style?
(UIS Database, 2019)
(UIS Database, 2019)
Distance education is based on numerous Internet and mobile Internet devices. In areas with underdeveloped Internet and a lack of computers, teachers are unable to adopt distance education. Students there may fall behind and the gaps among students may widen. Do teachers in remote areas have the skills to use devices such as the Internet, computers, and smartphones? “According to the data, we can see that the video experience progress is behind the average level, and network development is hysteretic in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Southeast Asia” (open signal, 2019). Only in few cases can the network speed meet the requirement for video playback in many developing regions. In other words, the speed of the Internet is quite slow there. Educators’ webpages are always loading, or videos would frequently buffer. In these situations, how can teachers in developing countries offer distance education? How can they ensure continuous learning? Will these problems worsen the unfairness of distance education?
Fortunately, with the spread of 5G technology, is it possible to test the efficiency of students’ listening in a live webcast classroom by observing their micro-expressions or eye movements? As a result, 5G network communication technology is applied in the transmission process, and the increase in the transmission speed will greatly shorten the time required for the transmission process, thus dramatically improving the video efficiency. Regarding teaching students according to their aptitude, will the system form personalised textbooks based on students’ online assessment results? It is possible for virtual reality (VR) to simulate teaching scenarios that resemble traditional classrooms. For teachers who teach a lot of students, artificial intelligence (AI) can be used. Artificial intelligence can be a teaching assistant in order to help more teachers reduce their workload. For the interaction between students and teachers, the role of teaching assistants should be greater. As a result, there is one lecturer per course and many teaching assistants. Teaching assistants answer students’ questions first, and then the system summarises and analyses the problems.
At the same time, tons of learning resources are mainly in English. More accurate translation software is more helpful for teachers who speak languages other than English in the future. Is it possible that, with the development of artificial intelligence, the accuracy of translation software can enable students speaking different languages in a classroom to share translated teaching voices in different languages? For developing regions, the popularity of 5G will decrease the cost of 4G technology, and 4G technology will be further popularised at a lower price (UNESCO, 2019). Moreover, for developing regions, there will be faster networks due to cost issues. The overall increase in Internet speed will enhance and improve the popularity of distance education, and more people will be able to sit in online classrooms. What is more, the digital technology will assist the teachers to deal with the present problems.
In a nutshell, a part of the solution seems to be shorten teachers’ working hours and the software cost of the broadcast platform. Besides, teachers have to change their teaching methods in the high frequency; all these issues can be improved and solved by developing digital technology. We expect more complex talents familiar with pedagogy and digital economy development to deal with these problems, which could help teachers adjust a fresher teaching method (Simonson, M., Zvacek, S. M., & Smaldino, S. ,2019, p. 15).
References:
Ian F, Sue M, David N. (2019). The state of mobile video experience. Retrieved Feburary 9, 2020from: https://www.opensignal.com/sites/opensignal-com/files/data/reports/pdf-only/data-2019-11/state_of_mobile_video_experience_november_2019_0.pdf
Miao, F, Mishra, S, Orr, D, Janssen, B, Kanwar, A. (2019). Guidelines on the development of open educational resources policies. Retrieved Retrieved Feburary 3, 2020 from: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000371129
Moore, M. G. (1991). Distance education theory. Retrieved Feburary 9, 2020 from:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08923649109526758?journalCode=hajd20
Northeast Now. (2019) China: Shanghai’s Hongkou district becomes first with 5G network in world. Retrieved Feburary 9, 2020 from:https://nenow.in/neighbour/china-shanghais-hongkou-district-becomes-first-with-5g-network-in-world.html
Peter B. (2019). 2020. Predictions — what’s in Opensignal’s crystal ball for the next year?
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UNESCO [51302]. (2019). Educational content up close: examining the learning dimensions of Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship Education. Retrieved Feburary 9, 2020 from: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000372327
Simonson, M., Zvacek, S. M., & Smaldino, S. (2019). Teaching and Learning at a Distance: Foundations of Distance Education 7th Edition. IAP. Retrieved Feburary 9, 2020 from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=zh-CN&lr=&id=qh-3DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=distance+education&ots=EcEdAXeoHJ&sig=IlqWBxeW7zlYZPTGSfLcjYmBdWU&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=distance%20education&f=false
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UNESCO, Institute for Statistics. (2019). SDG 4 Data Book. GLOBAL EDUCATION INDICATORS 2019. Retrieved Feburary 9, 2020 from: http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/sdg4-databook-global-ed-indicators-2019-en.pdf
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