The Ministry of Education (MOE) recently printed and distributed the “2018 Key Work Points for Educational Informatisation and Online Security” (hereinafter referred to as the Key Work Points), which put forward nine core targets and 29 key tasks in nine aspects.“Promoting Cloud Classroom Construction at the Open University of China (OUC)” was been listed among the core goals.” In addition, the OUC is expected to undertake or participate in three major tasks.

The core goals of the Key Work Points emphasises the need to “take crucial actions for online educational improvement work in an orderly way so as to effectively enhance educational quality in poverty-stricken areas with a focus on the ‘Three Regions and Three Prefectures’; promote cloud classroom construction, build seven teacher training platforms to develop their technology application skills; develop a series of educational informatisation application service activities to leverage the supportive role of educational informatisation for educational and online poverty alleviation.”

The “Key Work Points”identifies three major tasks for the OUC:

With regards to “leading the construction of digital and wisdom campuses,” the Key Work Points emphasise that the OUC should carry out the third phase of construction of the cloud classroom programme in its co-building branch schools, poverty-stricken counties in central and western areas of China, and the “Long March Belt” and “Three Regions and Three Prefectures” areas.

With regards to “promoting continuing education resources construction,” the Key Work Points emphasise that the development of OUC online learning courses, general education courses, five-minute micro-lectures, and all media digital teaching materials should be further promoted. The development of some co-building and sharing courses, including special courses for agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, the “Assistance Plan,” and bilingual courses, should be completed. The development, publicity, and promotion of quality courses, open courses, and online video open class should keep moving forward.

The OUC is listed as a unit responsible for promoting the popularisation and application of “free access to the online learning space for everyone.”

The Key Work Points also emphasise the need to popularise the online learning space, publish online learning space construction and application specifications, and print and distribute guiding opinions for accelerating the promotion of “free access to the online learning space for everyone.” It is also necessary to carry out nationwide promotion activities around the application of the online learning space. Based on the national digital educational resources public service system, we should organise students to launch real-name online learning spaces and implement appraisal, selection, demonstration, and promotion systems for regions and schools that have achieved excellent application results, so as to accelerate the application of the online learning space in online teaching, resources sharing, educational management, and comprehensive quality evaluation, and promote the realisation of “one space per person.”

By Jin Hongyu ,OUC