The Impact of ICT Advances on Education: A Case Study

ICT advances in the pace of Moore’s law as well as Gilder’s Law. The introduction of ICT into education has resulted astounding effects in learning. This paper presents a case study of the establishment of National Engineering Research Center for E-learning, as part of education informationized effort in China. There are four stages of China’s integration of ICT with education: start-up phase, application phase, integration phase, and innovation phase. The four phases are well in line with the ICT evolutions from standalone computer, to all IP network, to all cloud infrastructure, and to today’s all AI, which utilizes full spectrum of ICT including emerging technology advances in big data and artificial intelligence. The role of ICT in education has gone far beyond as an assisting tool in learning; it led to reconsider the traditional classroom centric teaching architecturally, as well as represented a paradigm shift in education including the roles of classroom teaching, the way of learning, the learning period systematically. Interactive and exploratory learning have become the mantra and education as a service is inevitable. At the same time, like any other technologies, ICT used in education can backfire if not carefully planned. This paper proposes a systematical engineering approach that integrates multiple tooling and activities around the learning of a particular subject with the purpose that engages learners through an intuitive, game-like environment where students learn through exploration and discovery.