Smart Education Innovations from China New Stage, New Standards, New Pathways

Dr. Dejian LIU is the Founder and Chairman of NetDragon Websoft Holdings Limited, and serves as Co-Dean of the Smart Learning Institute and the National Engineering Research Center for Big Data Application in Education at Beijing Normal University, China. He is a member of the Governing Board of the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE), and is widely regarded as a leader in the field of smart education innovation. As a contributor to China’s National Smart Education Platform, Dr. Liu has driven technological innovations aimed at enhancing educational equity. He has played a pivotal role in global education initiatives under UNESCO and the Belt and Road Initiative, with impact across Africa, the Middle East, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regions. Through NetDragon’s education technologies, his work now supports over 1.3 million classrooms in more than 150 countries. Dr. Liu and his team hold over 1,400 patents and have authored 17 books and more than 30 academic papers.

Dr. Qinhua ZHENG is Professor of the Faculty of Education at Beijing Normal University, China, as well as the Executive Deputy Director of the National Engineering Research Centre of Cyberlearning and Intelligent Technology. Since 2006, he has been engaged in teaching and research at Beijing Normal University, focusing on Internet Education, Educational Big Data and Educational Artificial Intelligence. He has published 7 monographs in Chinese and English, as well as over 100 academic papers in both languages.

Dr. Jianjiang HAO is Associate Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the School of Educational Technology (School of Intelligent Education), Northwest Normal University (China), specializing in research areas such as the application of intelligent technology in education, digital rural education, planning for educational digitalization, and the integration of information technology and curriculum. He has served as the principal investigator or a participant in numerous projects at national, provincial, and other levels, and has published multiple academic papers.

Dr. Jian XU is Deputy Director of the Center for Educational Informatization Planning and Evaluation at Central China Normal University (China), Vice Dean of the Hubei Institute of Education Digital Research at Central China Normal University, and Secretary-General of the Future Education Professional Committee of the Chinese Society of Educational Development Strategy. He has been engaged in guiding the development of the National 'Internet+Education' Demonstration Zone in Ningxia province, and has provided guidance for the construction of other National Smart Education Demonstration Zones in Wuhan, Shenzhen, Wenzhou, and Nanchang.

Zhuo ZHANG is a Project Manager of the National Engineering Research Centre of Cyberlearning and Intelligent Technology at Beijing Normal University, China. Her main research interests include smart education and the application of artificial intelligence in education. In recent years, she has been deeply involved in the Smart Education Demonstration Zone project by the Ministry of Education, as well as research and support work for a key special project on social governance and smart society technology, supported by the National Development and Reform Commission.

Dr. Haijun ZENG is Ph.D., Vice Dean of the Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University (China), Deputy Director of the Educational Informatization Strategy Research Base (Beijing) of the Ministry of Education of China, and Deputy Director of the National Engineering Research Center of Cyberlearning and Intelligent Technology. His main research interests include online education and Digital Learning Support (DLS) service system.