Release date：2023.04.21

The International Institute of Online Education Developmental Report (2019-2022) is officially launched in six languages
——Co-constructing a global ecosystem for higher education digital transformation

(click the picture to download the report in the corresponding language)

中文			English			Français
Español			Pусский			العربية

International Institute of Online Education Developmental Report (2019-2022) in six languages (Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic) is officially launched!

With the continuous development and innovation of digital applications such as Cloud Computing, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) driven by the rapid development of information and communications technology, digital transformation has become an essential agenda for countries and various social aspects. In the field of higher education, digital education applications and practices are also reshaping different aspects of higher education, such as policy, management, teaching, and assessment, and digital transformation has become a new consensus and an important goal for HEIs worldwide.

In December 2019, the International Institute of Online Education (hereinafter "IIOE") , as an international public learning platform focusing on the digital transformation of higher education, was officially established by UNESCO-ICHEI in conjunction with 15 higher education institutions and 9 enterprises worldwide. Since its establishment, the active participation of partner universities and related institutions in the implementation of IIOE projects related to the digital transformation of higher education has dramatically boosted the growth of IIOE, with fruitful results.

1、Introduction

IIOE is an effort guided by Education 2030 Agenda and UN SDG 4 - Quality Education, that aims to advance on a priority basis cooperation around the world, narrow the North-South gap, and address development disparities through providing upskilling ICT competency, technical support, and professional development. Its establishment promptly responds to the authentic needs of quality international educational services in developing countries. Over the past three years, dozens of institutions have participated in providing curriculum resources and organizing training, and over 10,000 teachers from more than 130 countries have benefited from the training programmes organized by IIOE.

2、 Empowering Teachers' Digital Teaching and Learning Capacity Building

Teachers are key to the digital transformation of higher education. Therefore, international organisations and national administrations of education identify teachers' capacity building as a strategic area of improvement, and are committed to ensuring that teachers and educators are adequately trained and professionally qualified.

3、Capacity Building of Higher Education Workforce: IIOE Promising Experiences

Based on the IIOE-CFHEW and IIOE’s various modalities of empowering the HEI workforce's digital competencies, IIOE’s teacher professional development has taken root in its partner HEIs, countries and regions thanks to an extensive international network.

4、Empowering Digital Competency of HEIs through Multi-functional Facility

The infrastructure systems for the digital transformation of higher education, which include hardware and software as well as accompanying capacity training,are also crucial pillars of the tech-leveraged higher education ecosystem in advancing the acceleration of the digital transformation shift for HEIs. UNESCO-ICHEI believes that the development of educational infrastructure and accredited capacity training can facilitate the full use of digital education technologies by universities in developing countries, thus contributing to the goal of quality, equitable and inclusive digital transformation of higher education for all and the SDGs. Thus, the capacity building of HEIs through the implementation of the Smart Classroom project and IIOE platform, helps to enhance pedagogy by providing access to advanced technology and supporting more interactive and engaging teaching methods, leading to improved student learning outcomes.

This chapter studies the specifics of a shining example of this much-needed infrastructure support - the Smart Classroom Project by UNESCO-ICHEI, which is rendered to selected partner HEIs in Asian and African regions.

5、IIOE Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance (QA) of digital teaching and learning is a developmental agent to drive and support quality higher education. In the digital education scenario, QA can support higher education institutions to ensure effective education inputs, processes, and outputs, to uphold academic standards and enable recognition of digital learning. This chapter elaborates on the context, content, operationalisation and impact of IIOE’s QA Framework and toolkit for OBTL. Combining the presentation of theoretical frameworks with cases of local application, it seeks to highlight the imperative of developing a comprehensive, relevant, applicable IIOE QA framework of OBLT to empower quality higher education, as well as the impact that QA could have once implemented according to local contexts.

6、 IIOE National Centre - IIOE's global initiative for localisation and inclusiveness

IIOE has witnessed increasing demand from HEIs across the world for partnership and cooperation since 2020. In light of the rapidly increasing demand for cooperation and global calls for transforming education, a design for scale enabling localisation for greater inclusion of more HEIs and higher education workforce, especially the marginalised led to the “IIOE National Centre” initiative.

IIOE National Centres are jointly established by UNESCO-ICHEI and IIOE partner HEIs, while IIOE partner HEIs take the main responsibility for their operation. The hosting HEI of the IIOE National Centre should be a leading public HEI that is committed to facilitating digital transformation in the country, and equipped with the necessary digital infrastructure. The establishment of IIOE National Centres should be endorsed by governmental agencies, typically the ministry in charge of higher education in the country, for IIOE National Centre to play its national coordinating role and to promote the digital transformation of higher education in the country.

7、IIOE's Experiences and Challenges

Based on good practice, challenges and prospects are further discussed, mapping out the proximal zone of development of IIOE including evaluation, certification, and application of IIOE teacher professional development, facilitating gender equality in professional development, the effective dissemination of best practices facilitating the digital transformation of higher education, building a public platform for the digital competency building of the higher education workforce, introducing and promoting emerging educational technology to mend the digital gap and the public-private-partnership in education and moving forward.

8、Way Forward of IIOE

A series of conferences and summits on a worldwide scale were held in the past few years in an attempt to assemble all forces together to envision the future of education, namely the UNESCO World Higher Education Conference, 2022, and the United Nations Transforming Education Summit. Key action tracks of addressing the issues of "skills for employment and entrepreneurship" "initial and continuous professional development – pedagogies" "Educational leadership, innovation" and "Digital learning and transformation" were highlighted calling for a persisting commitment to empowering future students by training up teachers and digitally transforming educational systems for inclusive and equitable quality education.

The need for digital transformation is sound, and the urgency of higher education adopting digital transformation, serving to meet the demand of future talent, and trying every effort to uphold sustainable development is beyond question. Digital transformation in higher education has significant indicators of deep and coordinated culture, workforce, and technology shifts that enable new educational and operating models and transform an institution's operations, strategic directions, and value proposition.

In the era of digital transformation of higher education, we should move forward together. Welcome to find out more about the Co-constructing a global ecosystem for higher education digital transformation —— International Institute of Online Education Developmental Report (2019-2022). We are all practitioners and promoters of higher education digital transformation.

(click the picture to download the report in the corresponding language)

中文			English			Français
Español			Pусский			العربية