Jiang Hong and Zhou Hongjiang: Digital Ideological and Political Education and the Reconstruction of the Competency Structure of Teachers in Ideological and Political Theory Courses
In the context of the rapid development of digital technologies such as big data, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing, digital technology is empowering myriad industries and boosting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) explicitly proposed to "advance the digitalization of education and build a learning society and a learning nation where lifelong learning is pursued by all" [1]. This marks the first time our Party has included "advancing the digitalization of education" in a National Congress report, signifying that the 20th National Congress has made new strategic deployments for building a Digital China and a learning nation. This has mapped out a grand blueprint for advancing educational digitalization and sounded the clarion call for the digital transformation of ideological and political theory courses (I&P courses), giving rise to the contemporary subject of "Digital I&P."
I. Digital I&P as an Important Dimension of I&P Course Construction in the New Era
Digital I&P is an important dimension of I&P course construction in the New Era, determined by the internal developmental requirement that I&P courses adapt to the networked digital age. Rooted in digital technologies such as big data, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing, Digital I&P achieves the intelligent integration of I&P course resources. It uses digital technology to empower the modern transformation of I&P courses, thereby achieving the deep integration of information technology with I&P education and teaching. In December 2016, at the National Conference on Ideological and Political Work in Universities, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must use new media and new technologies to make the work come alive, promote the high degree of integration between the traditional advantages of ideological and political work and information technology, and enhance the sense of the times and the appeal [of the work]" [2]. The "Guiding Outline for the Construction of Curriculum Ideological and Political Education in Institutions of Higher Education" issued by the Ministry of Education in 2020 emphasized the need to "innovate classroom teaching models and promote the application of modern information technology in curriculum ideological and political teaching," pointing the way forward for the construction of Digital I&P.
With the vigorous development of digital technology, human modes of production, life, social interaction, and thinking have undergone and are undergoing profound changes. The construction of I&P courses faces unprecedented new problems and challenges. Integrating digital technology into the entire process of I&P course construction is both an inevitable requirement for adapting to the development of the times and an important measure for enhancing the practical effectiveness of I&P teaching. In this "digital-is-king" era, the Internet has become a major channel for university students to express, shape, and reinforce their own ideological consciousness. To enhance the practical effectiveness of I&P teaching, we must align with the significant characteristic of contemporary university students' "networked existence" and vigorously promote the digital transformation of I&P courses. Meanwhile, the trend toward digital I&P courses conforms to the developmental trend of the contemporary information technology revolution. Digital empowerment provides massive data support for I&P teaching, imbuing the courses with positive changes in both content and form. Being adept at controlling and utilizing these changes can alter the stereotypical image of I&P courses in the minds of students and the public, achieving innovative breakthroughs and advancing with the times in I&P teaching. In I&P teaching, teachers must be careful to properly handle the relationship between the application of digital technology and traditional teaching methods. Whether through traditional methods or digital applications, the ultimate goal is to enhance the teaching effect of I&P courses. The two are not mutually exclusive; rather, they can complement and promote each other, forming a symbiotic relationship. In the process of integration, care must be taken to avoid the "pan-entertainment" [1] of the I&P classroom caused by the excessive use of digital technology. Based on leveraging the advantages of traditional teaching methods, digital technology should be introduced and applied at the right time, in the right degree, and in the right amount, in accordance with the teaching content and student needs, so as to improve the relevance, effectiveness, appeal, and influence of I&P teaching.
II. The Key to Digital I&P Construction Lies in the Teacher
In March 2019, at the Symposium for Teachers of School Ideological and Political Theory Courses (hereafter referred to as the "March 18 Symposium"), General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "I&P courses are key courses for implementing the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education [2]. The role of I&P courses is irreplaceable, and the team of I&P course teachers bears a heavy responsibility." He emphasized that "the key to running ideological and political theory courses well lies in the teacher, specifically in giving play to the teacher's enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity" [3]. These important assertions pointed the way forward for the construction of the I&P teaching force in the New Era and clearly answered the question of what constitutes the primary element of Digital I&P construction.
The key to Digital I&P construction lies in the teacher. For teachers to effectively exert their leading role, they must uphold the philosophy that "only by being close to one's teacher will one believe in their Way" [3], focusing on the enhancement of their own personal charisma and moral cultivation. By standardizing their own speech and behavior and establishing good teacher ethics and professional conduct, they become models and examples for their students. At the "March 18 Symposium," General Secretary Xi Jinping explicitly put forward the "Six Requirements" for I&P teachers: "be strong in politics, deep in sentiment, innovative in thinking, broad in vision, strict in self-discipline, and upright in personality" [4]. The "Six Requirements" represent General Secretary Xi Jinping's earnest hopes and sincere exhortations for the vast number of I&P teachers, with "upright in personality" centrally reflecting the requirements for teacher ethics and professional conduct. The enhancement of a teacher's personal charisma and moral cultivation helps to change students' stereotypical impressions of and resulting resistance toward I&P courses, leading them to consciously accept the guidance and shaping provided by the courses through empathetic interaction with the teacher. In September 2014, during a symposium with representatives of faculty and students at Beijing Normal University, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward four requirements for how to be a "good teacher": "have ideal and convictions, have moral sentiments, have solid knowledge, and have a heart of benevolence" [5]. General Secretary Xi Jinping's important discourse on "Four-Have" good teachers provides a concrete standard for the personal charisma and moral cultivation of I&P teachers.
To continuously improve their personal charisma and moral cultivation, I&P teachers must, first, have ideals and convictions. They must always remain firm in their political faith, possess a high degree of political sensitivity and responsibility, pay attention to major national events and hot social issues, maintain a clear head and a correct political direction, focus on cultivating students' political literacy and civic consciousness, and guide students to care about the future of the country and the fate of the nation. Second, they must have moral sentiments. As the saying goes, "a teacher is a model for others" [4]; the continuous cultivation of one's own moral sentiments is one of the important factors in enhancing the charisma and moral cultivation of I&P teachers. Teacher ethics and professional conduct are the primary standards for evaluating a teacher's quality. I&P teachers must consciously adhere to high standards and strict requirements in this regard, fulfilling General Secretary Xi Jinping's requirement to "consciously guard their spiritual home and moral bottom line, take the lead in promoting socialist morality and traditional Chinese virtues, and influence and drive students through their own exemplary behavior" [6]. Third, they must have solid knowledge. The cultivation of a teacher's charisma and moral cultivation must be safeguarded by a solid professional foundation and a broad reserve of knowledge. I&P teachers should strengthen their own theoretical development, improve their teaching abilities, and convince students with their rich pedagogical reserves and robust theoretical grounding. To give students "a cup of water," the teacher must first have "a pool of water." This requires I&P teachers to remain in a state of constant learning, exhibit a spirit of diligence, continuously delve into academic research, and explain profound theoretical knowledge clearly and thoroughly in ways that students find appealing. This ensures that I&P courses are not only "meaningful" but also "interesting," stimulating the vitality and influence of the courses and enhancing the teacher's charisma. Fourth, they must have a heart of benevolence. I&P teachers should nourish students' hearts with love, sincerely bridge the distance between themselves and their students, and demonstrate care and affection, making the classroom not only a place of wisdom but also one of warmth.
To effectively exert their leading role, I&P teachers must also accurately analyze students' interests and needs, and formulate teaching strategies that align with students' discourse styles and emotional needs to stimulate their consciousness and initiative in learning. Students are the subjects of learning, and their interests and needs directly affect the learning outcome. Therefore, teachers need to gain a deep understanding of students' interests, concerns, and needs regarding course content through observation, communication, and questionnaires. They must perform precise analysis of the collected data to understand students' personality traits, learning styles, and cognitive levels. Starting from the "demand side" of students' sense of gain [5], teachers should formulate more targeted and effective teaching strategies by continuously optimizing teaching content and innovating teaching methods. This allows them to capture students' attention in class, improve interaction and effectiveness, and succeed in "convincing people through reason, moving them through emotion, and transforming them through culture," thereby better implementing the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education.
Furthermore, a crucial point is that for I&P teachers to effectively exert their leading role, they must start with themselves. They must be firm in their political faith, establish lofty ideals and convictions, and persist in arming their minds with the scientific system and latest achievements of the Party's innovative theories. They must skillfully master and apply the standpoints, viewpoints, and methods running through them. Through classroom teaching, they should enable students to personally experience the theoretical charm and practical power of the Party's innovative theories, transforming them into a guide for action on their path to growth and success.
III. Promoting Digital I&P Construction Through the Reshaping of Teachers' Ability Structures
Teachers hold the leading position in Digital I&P construction and are the most important proactive element. The key to solving the various problems and obstacles currently facing the development of Digital I&P is to address the issue of the adaptability of teachers' ability structures. We should focus closely on the central task of improving and strengthening the digital literacy of I&P teachers in the New Era. The reshaping of teachers' ability structures should be achieved through four main aspects: improving network utilization levels, establishing the concept of human-machine collaborative teaching, exploring digital teaching methods, and carrying out immersive teaching practices.
- Improving network utilization levels. I&P teachers must take the initiative to improve their own network utilization levels and arm themselves with comprehensive digital technology. For example, I&P teachers should learn how to use digital teaching platforms such as online courses and teaching management systems so that they can publish courses, manage students, assign homework, and conduct online tests. I&P teachers must also master the production techniques for multimedia courseware, using new types of multimedia courseware that are accurate, vivid, and diverse in form to stimulate students' interest in learning and improve classroom participation.
To further improve the network utilization level of I&P teachers, schools should organize digital technology training classes for them on a regular or irregular basis. The main training content should include the use of digital teaching platforms, the recording and editing of teaching videos, the production of multimedia courseware, and the analysis and use of big data. Diverse training plans should be targeted to the specific digital technology needs and technical confusions encountered by teachers in their teaching practice. Regarding training methods, schools can provide online, offline, and hybrid training options for teachers to choose from, maximizing and optimizing the training effect. Regarding training content, it should not stop at theoretical explanations and expert demonstrations; it should also provide teachers with practical opportunities to test the training results. Only by letting teachers operate it themselves can they deepen their understanding of digital technology, accumulate experience in responding to different situations and handling specific problems, and continuously improve their digital technology application skills.
Digital education resource databases provide an important resource platform for the digital transformation of I&P courses. Active participation in the construction of these databases is conducive to I&P teachers improving their network utilization levels and enhancing teaching effects. In the process of participating in the construction of digital education resource databases, I&P teachers must grasp the "interconnectedness of all things" characteristic of digital technology and effectively promote the co-construction, sharing, and interconnection of digital education resources to advance the integration of digital technology and I&P courses. Relying on digital I&P platforms such as the Smart I&P Teaching Service Cloud Platform, the "Second Classroom" activity platform, and Chinese University MOOCs, they can fully develop and utilize high-quality digital education resources and build a database of excellent course resources to achieve the sharing of high-quality teaching resources.
Digital education resource databases contain various types of learning resources such as text, images, audio, and video, providing important support for the comprehensiveness, vividness, and interestingness of I&P teaching content. Building and continuously enriching digital education resource databases can add "fresh blood" to the traditional I&P teaching system, allowing it to gain vitality by keeping pace with the times and enhancing its appeal and influence through upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground. Building and enriching these databases also helps teachers systematically master efficient and advanced digital technology, break the spatiotemporal "dimensional wall" in the traditional teaching process, improve the level of digital resource utilization, promote communication and interaction between teachers and students of different majors, mobilize students' classroom enthusiasm and autonomy, and enhance their sense of participation and gain. Furthermore, the rich content and multi-dimensional presentation of digital education resource databases help to overcome the drawbacks of "rote reading" and "preaching-style" teaching. While expanding students' learning horizons and thinking, they also help I&P teachers seek more precise and personalized teaching methods to achieve better classroom results.
- Establishing a concept of human-machine collaborative teaching. Ideological and political theory courses (henceforth "思政课," sizheng courses) are the key curriculum for implementing the fundamental task of "fostering virtue through education" [6]. The pedagogical purpose of these courses is not merely the transmission of knowledge, but to enlighten wisdom and moisten the heart, to shape students' correct "Three Outlooks" [7], and to cultivate new people of the era who can shoulder the heavy responsibility of national rejuvenation. The application of digital technology in sizheng courses must serve the educational function of the course by breaking through the constraints of traditional educational time and space, reconstructing the boundaries between virtuality and reality, and creating human-machine collaborative relationships, while avoiding technological dependence and digital addiction. Human-machine collaboration is both the norm for future schooling and a vital trend in the development of sizheng courses.
The teaching philosophy of human-machine collaboration emphasizes mutual cooperation between humans and computers, utilizing digital technology to provide personalized teaching services. Guided by this concept, sizheng course teachers should actively use digital technology to assist classroom instruction, fully realizing human-machine interaction and complementary advantages in the teaching process, ensuring students truly learn and gain something in class, and promoting the improvement of quality and efficiency. Digital technology transforms sizheng courses from traditional, monotonous "person-to-person" communication to deep "person-machine-person" communication. "Person-to-person" communication lacks the connecting role of digital technology as a "mediator" and fails to adequately cater to students' needs and interests, rendering the courses somewhat lacking in attraction and appeal. The "person-machine-person" mode of communication fills this gap, building a digital bridge between teachers and students. It facilitates the acquisition of knowledge and information through human-computer interaction, promotes interpersonal communication, and endows sizheng courses with new momentum and a "new normal" through multi-dimensional and comprehensive digital empowerment.
In the process of using digital technology to achieve human-machine collaborative teaching, teachers must adapt to the requirements of the digital transformation of sizheng courses and transform their own roles. They must move from traditional knowledge transmitters to guides of student learning and designers of digital educational resources; from pure educators to service-oriented educators; and from one-way lecturers to interactive communicators. Neither excessive reliance on nor complete disregard for digital technology is advisable. The reason Artificial Intelligence cannot completely replace humans is that the core of digitalization lies not in pure technology, but in how humans effectively apply it and endow it with new meaning. Digital technology itself is merely a technical means; it lacks the value-based rationality and humanistic warmth unique to human beings. If teachers can find their correct positioning and master human-machine collaborative teaching methods, they can integrate humanistic care into the sizheng classroom, allowing the course to transcend cold digital technology and radiate a more brilliant humanistic glow during the digital transformation.
While transforming their roles, teachers should also master basic knowledge and skills in digital technology and establish professional human-machine collaborative teaching teams. They should jointly participate in the design and development of digital educational resources, digitalizing traditional sizheng content and guiding students to think, discuss, and explore through interactive communication. This cultivates students' critical thinking, information literacy, innovation, and practical abilities to adapt to the needs of the digital age. sizheng course teachers should proactively allow digital technology into the classroom to bring a brand-new teaching experience to students from different majors. For example, in the course "Outline of Chinese Modern and Contemporary History," VR technology can be used for collaborative teaching to provide students with a more immersive and personalized learning experience, allowing them to experience historical events "on-site," thereby enhancing their understanding and memory of the teaching content.
sizheng course teachers must be adept at using digital technology and improving their digital teaching capabilities. They should continuously strengthen cooperation with museums, memorial halls, and exhibition halls that possess rich "Red Resources" [8]. By using new platforms and technologies, they can allow historical figures and events to transcend simple textual narration, break through temporal and spatial limitations, and communicate face-to-face with students in emerging "hypertextual" forms. This ensures that sizheng courses truly "enter the brain and enter the heart" [9], using digital technology to empower new ways of opening the course. Furthermore, in the process of digital transformation, teachers need to focus on student feedback and evaluation, keeping abreast of students' learning needs and opinions to continuously improve and optimize digital resources and teaching methods. After a teaching cycle concludes, they should promptly summarize and evaluate the phased results of "Digital Sizheng" construction to lay a foundation for further progress.
- Exploring digital teaching methods. At the "March 18" Symposium, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed the important principle of the "Eight Unifications" [10]. That is: "upholding the unification of political and academic nature; value-orientation and knowledge-transmission; constructiveness and criticality; theory and practice; uniformity and diversity; dominance and subjectivity; indoctrination and inspiration; and explicit and implicit education." This provides the fundamental following for sizheng course teachers to innovate their teaching methods. Currently, with the rapid development of technology and the diversification of information dissemination, students' personalities and thinking patterns are constantly changing. Therefore, when teaching, teachers should integrate the developments of the era with students' individual characteristics, continuously innovating digital teaching methods to integrate fragmented knowledge into a systematic framework and simplify abstruse concepts and theories to meet the needs of different students.
Under the guidance of the "Eight Unifications," teachers exploring digital teaching methods need to reintegrate and present traditional teaching content through digital means. In the digital age, students can access information conveniently and efficiently, but this information often lacks systematicity and integrity, which is detrimental to learning. This necessitates human-computer interactive teaching methods to help students integrate fragmented information into a complete knowledge system and reduce inefficient study time. For instance, using multimedia courseware, online courses, and digital libraries, fragmented knowledge points can be categorized and organized into digital resource systems for students to study anytime, anywhere. Human-computer interaction can also adjust course arrangements based on student learning progress, providing personalized services and helping students shift their attention from the small screens of their phones to the large screen of the classroom.
Furthermore, human-computer interaction can make sizheng content more intuitive and interesting, increasing student interest and engagement. In this process, teachers must focus on guiding students to establish a correct worldview, outlook on life, and values, cultivating their innovative spirit and practical ability. Digital teaching methods can simplify difficult concepts, using digital technology to deconstruct profound theories into concise, easy-to-understand, and vivid cases. For example, using digital technology to create animations, videos, and virtual simulation projects can turn the abstract into the concrete. Simultaneously, through digital means, online interaction and real-time feedback can be carried out, making the sizheng classroom truly "come alive."
- Conducting immersive teaching practices. To enrich the sizheng classroom and strengthen interaction, teachers can adopt immersive teaching practices that combine the virtual and the real. Through technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR), they can create an immersive learning environment with multi-dimensional sensory interaction. This provides students with a more vivid and three-dimensional learning experience.
On one hand, digital means such as digital twin technology can be used to construct realistic virtual scenes for Red culture memory, ideal and faith education, and traditional cultural immersion. This allows students to learn and experience in environments similar to reality, enhancing understanding and memory, and achieving the unification of "indoctrination and inspiration." Additionally, teachers can use these technologies to mine implicit educational resources in the spiritual realm, such as fine traditional Chinese culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture. Integrating these into virtual learning scenes can enhance students' perception and ideological consciousness, achieving the unification of "explicit and implicit education." The use of digital technology also promotes interaction between educators and the educated. For example, students can perform practical operations in a simulated virtual environment and interact with educators or other students. This method stimulates proactive thought exchange and emotional communication, achieving the unification of "dominance and subjectivity." It transcends the traditional "person-environment separation" and flat narratives, providing a concrete experience of the environments historical figures once inhabited.
On the other hand, processing and presenting educational content through digital technology can enhance its sense of the times, its penetrative power, affinity, and influence. For instance, using multimedia technology, teachers can present theoretical knowledge and social cases in more vivid, intuitive, and three-dimensional forms, ensuring educational content enters the students' field of vision across all time periods and dimensions.
Teachers should actively explore these technologies to innovate teaching models and enhance learning outcomes. In immersive practices, students can participate more actively through interaction, exchange, and reflection. Interaction between "human-machine" and "human-human" gives students greater space for autonomous learning and exploration based on their interests and needs.
IV. Conclusion The digital era is profoundly changing the thinking and practice of education. As the key curriculum for "fostering virtue through education," the sizheng course is undergoing a comprehensive, multi-dimensional digital transformation. For the development of these courses in the New Era, "Digital Sizheng" is both an internal requirement and an important trend. As General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized at the "March 18" Symposium, "The key to running ideological and political theory courses well lies in the teachers." Promoting the digital transformation of these courses should first resolve the issue of whether teachers' competency structures are "adaptable," focusing on enhancing digital literacy to reshape those structures. At the same time, we must recognize that "Digital Sizheng" is not merely a technical tool but should be endowed with rich educational philosophies and value connotations. Therefore, promoting this transformation fundamentally requires sizheng course teachers to follow the "Eight Unifications" requirements, continuously firming their political faith, strengthening cultural self-confidence, broadening their academic horizons, and deepening their feelings for home and country. They must strive to be "Grandmasters" [11] and guides who lead students toward growth and success with all their strength and emotion.