An online education forum is held at Tsinghua University in Beijing on Oct 12.

More than 1,000 teachers from all over the country attended an online education seminar in Beijing on Oct 12.

The forum was held by China's first and biggest massive open online course platform XuetangX, which was launched by Tsinghua University. 

The attendees shared their practices of intelligent teaching and discussed the latest teaching concepts, models and methods.

The meeting was broadcast live through yuketang, or Rain Classroom, an intelligent teaching solution jointly launched by Tsinghua University and Xuetangx. It drew more than 10,000 participants in the online meeting at the same time.

Yuan Si, head of the online education and research center of the Ministry of Education (MOE), introduced the development of Xuetangx over the past six years and the role of Rain Classroom in promoting teaching innovation.

Yuan Si makes a speech at the forum.

He pointed out that in the era of big data, teachers should become "data analysts" and learn to analyze what they see and think rationally in their teaching practice.

At the same time, teachers should embrace change, practice boldly, explore bravely and share selflessly, he said, adding that as for intelligent teaching, it is necessary to teach students in accordance with their aptitude and the condition of the school, class, content and of each student.

Nie Fenghua, deputy head of the online education and research center of the MOE, president of Tsinghua Holdings, presides over the opening of the meeting.

Yang Zongkai, president of Xidian University, addresses the event.

Yang Zongkai, president of Xidian University, emphasized that artificial intelligence-based education should adopt a people-oriented approach and praised the role of Massive Online Open Courses, or MOOC and the Rain Classroom in higher education.

Shu Hongchun, vice president of Kunming University of Science and Technology, says the university is upgrading its management and teaching with the help of digital technology. He spoke highly of the improvements brought by Rain Classroom.

Li Chuanyong, head of the Teaching Affairs Office of Nankai University, shares the university’s efforts in top-level design for intelligent teaching and its plan for an online academy equipped with intelligent teaching methods and tools.

Song Shuqiang, deputy editor-in-chief of Modern Educational Technology, makes a keynote speech on teaching reform and teachers' data literacy, saying the abilities of data processing, data interpretation, data analysis and data-based improvement are indispensable qualities for teachers in the future.

Wang Xiaoxiao, secretary-general of the online education and research center of the MOE, releases a notification on accepting applications for the 2019 Intelligent Teaching Pilot and the Star of Intelligent Teaching programs.

Wang Shuaiguo, chief operating officer of Xuetangx launches upgraded online education platforms of Xuetangx, Rain Classroom and a computer academy.

Fan Xin, chairman of Xuetangx, vice president of Tsinghua Holdings, and Viren Patel, representative of Britain’s Open University announce the launch of an MBA program and issue certificates for tutors employed for the program.

Wang Shuaiguo (L) signs an agreement on course exchange program with Starostenko Vladimir, representative of Russia’s St. Petersburg State University.

A charity program guided by the online education and research center of the MOE is staged at the event.

A group of scholars and experts share their views on online education at the forum. From left to right, top to bottom: Yu Xinjie from Tsinghua University, Jiang Aihua from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Yang Fang from Tsinghua University and Michael Li, associate dean of teaching and learning at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

From left to right, top to bottom: Cao Minhui from Huazhong Agricultural University, Ma Yuchun from Tsinghua University, Hou Xianrong from Central South University and Xiang Xiuqing from Sichuan Nursing Vocational College address the event.

By September, Xuetangx had more than 27.53 million users, becoming the largest MOOC platform in Asia and the second largest in the world.

More than 16.38 million people have registered at the Rain Classroom platform, which had 8.7 million active users in September. Meanwhile, the professional version of Rain Classroom has been deployed on 126 campuses nationwide.