Construction and application of the ‘Learning in Zhejiang University City College’ platform, integrating teaching evaluation and management

Traditional teaching is a class-based system centred on teachers, textbooks and classrooms. Teachers’ classroom teaching cannot be preserved and it is difficult to leave traces. The coverage of self-built online courses is insufficient, and the cost of high-quality online teaching resources is high. The use of ‘Internet Plus Teaching’ to carry out flipped classrooms and interactive teaching has insufficient coverage and depth, and it is difficult for students to fully implement personalised learning. There is no connection between the teaching platform and the classroom teaching scene, and the physical space and the network space cannot be connected. Some schools have an advanced smart teacher hardware environment, but cannot connect with the teaching platform, while some schools have a good teaching platform, but lack smart classrooms, and direct recording and broadcast systems. Zhang Ziwei and others proposed three scenarios of ‘Internet Plus Teaching’: (1) aerial teaching, where teachers and students are outside, (2) ground–air teaching, where teachers are in classrooms and students are outside and (3) hybrid, where teachers are in the classroom, while some students are at the scene and some students are outside [2]. In the post-pandemic period, ground–air and hybrid teaching will become the normal teaching method. The isolation of live recording and teaching platform in smart classrooms is not conducive to ground–air and substantial equivalence of blended teaching and live teaching.

During the pandemic, ‘Internet Plus Teaching’ mainly relied on three types of platforms: (1) course resource platforms, such as Chinese University MOOC, Xuetang X and Wisdom Tree, (2) live broadcast platforms and social interaction platforms, such as DingTalk, WeChat, QQ, Tencent Classroom and ZOOM and (3) on-campus platform, such as the blackboard platform. During the pandemic, world-class universities used Coursera, edX and other course platforms to carry out ‘Internet Plus Teaching’. One situation in domestic colleges and universities is to use course platforms, and social live broadcast and interactive platforms to carry out online teaching. For example, South China University of Technology uses a variety of course platforms such as Chinese University MOOC, Xuetang Online, Wisdom Tree, and Huagong Teaching Online, and cooperates with QQ groups and live broadcasts platform; Tsinghua University uses ‘Xuetang X Online’ and ‘Rain Classroom’; Shanghai Jiaotong University uses Canvas platform and cooperates with WeChat and Zoom live broadcast, etc. [3,4,5]. The second is to use the private cloud to cooperate with social live broadcast and interactive platforms to carry out online teaching. For example, the University of Science and Technology of China uses the Blackboard platform and cooperates with the ClassIn live broadcast tool. Because these platforms are isolated from each other, the teaching process is carried out in different ways and on different platforms before, during and after class, and the data cannot be directly shared and related. Teachers, students, supervisors and managers fail to effectively form an integrated teaching body, interactive feedback between each other, separation of teaching processes, and no ways to improve the efficiency of teaching and management services [6,7,8].

Based on the above analysis of the current situation, this paper connects the physical world and the network world, links various teaching platforms and social interaction platforms and builds a ‘Learning in Zhejiang University City College’ teaching platform that integrates smart classrooms, Zhiyun Classrooms and course platforms, as shown in Figure 1. The platform consists of four parts: SaaS cloud deployment, AI intelligent integration, Mobile learning and Data Analysis. Through SaaS cloud deployment, the initial construction cost of the school can be reduced, and the update function can be permanently implemented without adding new operation and maintenance manpower. The smart classroom with the function of live recording and broadcasting will use AI technology to build a synchronous Zhiyun Classroom (online classroom), and open up the link to the course platform that carries rich teaching resources to realise the intelligent integration of AI. Mobile learning can be realised through mobile phones, iPads, and so on, to obtain real-time data, understand the latest learning trends and achieve 24-h teaching and learning anytime, anywhere, making learning faster and more effective. The platform realises the data trace of the whole process of teaching. It can use digital technology, open data, conduct data analysis, track and evaluate teaching and learning, and provide timely, learning early warning and teaching feedback [9,10,11,12].

The information flow relationship between Smarter Classroom and Zhiyun Classroom is shown in Figure 2. Smarter classrooms include systems such as display, sound, screen projection, live recording, classroom interaction, IoT perception and remote interaction. The teaching site data are deposited through hardware systems such as live recording and broadcasting of the smart classroom, and transmitted to the remote Zhiyun classroom (online classroom) through the central control system, so that the live broadcast and playback can be watched synchronously anytime and anywhere. Zhiyun Classroom includes AI intelligent basic services, intelligent course content management, intelligent generation of teaching courses, and management of teaching course resources. Through AI technology's face recognition, content recognition, intelligent reorganisation, behaviour analysis and text matching, AI intelligent basic services such as high-quality live broadcast management can be effectively performed. Intelligent voice and text recognition, intelligent retrieval, traffic control and workflow management can be used to realise the content management of intelligent courses. Finally, based on the 5G live streaming matrix supervision platform, intelligent editing, intelligent character editing, video review, superimposed subtitles can be implemented for intelligent generation of teaching courses. These data resources are archived, which can be used for content management and advanced teaching, retrieval, teaching content preview, teaching process monitoring, teaching workflow, teaching personal centre, teaching content download and other teaching course resource management [13].

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

The visual teaching scene of Zhiyun Classroom is shown in Figure 3, including live screen, PPT recognition area, simultaneous interpretation, content labelling, collaborative notes, bullet chatting interaction and other functional sections. The collection, storage, automatic analysis, intelligent management, archiving and other management of educational resources have improved the portability of teaching and the efficiency of teaching management. The course platform is the main teaching interaction space for teachers and students, and its information flow is shown in Figure 4. The course platform is associated with educational administration systems, smart classrooms and Zhiyun Classrooms. Through the educational administration management background, one can directly import the basic personnel data, course selection and scheduling data of the educational administration system, and manage personnel, permissions, courses and institutions associated with Zhiyun courses and smart classrooms, build a knowledge resource centre, implement online teaching, classroom interaction, teaching evaluation, evaluation management and teaching big data analysis modules. The knowledge resource centre includes school-based resources, department resources, multimedia resources, recording and broadcasting resources. Through online teaching management, the management of course structure, content, course activities, learning model design, course members and learning groups can be implemented, and effectively organise teaching content, establish diversified teaching resources and carry out diversified teaching activities. Rich classroom interaction management can be achieved through functional sections such as smart classroom, roll call, selection and quick answer, in-class test, teaching feedback, classroom discussion and classroom performance. In the functional section of teaching evaluation management, homework, examinations, tests and performance management can be carried out, and students’ learning status can be tracked in time. Personalised guidance can be implemented for students of different levels, and students with learning difficulties can be warned in time. In the evaluation management section, by setting up evaluation questionnaires, evaluation reports can be formed, and teaching progress and teaching strategies can be adjusted with timely feedback [14,15,16].

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Taking the teaching platform of ‘Learning in Zhejiang University City College’ as the core, it is connected with the educational administration system, and the DingTalk group of course classes is automatically generated, which provides good platform support for the integrated teaching of evaluation and management. The on-site teaching is coordinated with the online scene of the web page and the mobile terminal of the App, and forms a ‘teaching evaluation and management’ community interaction scene of teacher teaching, student learning, supervision and teaching management anytime and anywhere, as shown in Figure 5. Before class, teachers publish tasks, upload materials on the course platform and students’ study independently, complete pre-class assessments for preview feedback, discuss preview questions on the course platform and in DingTalk groups. In the class, rich online and offline diversified teaching interactive activities are carried out simultaneously during live teaching in the smart classroom and live recording and broadcasting teaching in the Zhiyun Classroom, such as classroom teaching, classroom testing, group discussion, question-and-answer and debate to meet the needs of online teaching, attempting at normalisation during the pandemic. After class, students can use the Zhiyun Classroom to watch the replay, consolidate digestion, deep thinking, transfer knowledge, complete related tests, homework, examinations and other learning assessment links on the course platform, and interact in Zhiyun Classroom and the course platform, DingTalk and other interactive spaces.

Fig. 5

In the whole teaching process, the platform is connected and data are coordinated, which can complete accurate information and data recording. The relationship between teachers and students in teaching and learning becomes collaboration and dialogue, which fully stimulates the initiative of students and reflects the main role of students. Supervisors can quickly, conveniently and systematically carry out teaching evaluation through on-site and Zhiyun Classroom listening, to understand the overall situation of teachers’ teaching and students’ learning, and give feedback on teaching opinions in a comprehensive, timely and objective manner, not only based on partial feedback on the content of one or two lessons. The closed-loop feedback of teachers’ teaching process promotes the improvement of teaching quality and the sequential improvement of teachers’ teaching ability. Teaching management and informatisation service personnel carry out the whole process of service and management through the platform, provide teachers with a good operating environment for the informatisation platform, ensure the speed of the network, solve problems related to platform use and teaching management in time, and make teachers better focused on teaching design and teaching organisation to make students’ learning more convenient.

In September 2021, the ‘Learning in Zhejiang University City College’ platform of Zhejiang University City College was fully launched. More than 2,000 courses in the current semester (from 14 September 2021 to 14 January 2022) were used across the board. The platform is efficient and the whole school can use it. In all, 998 faculty members and 32,000 students wholly use the platform. The school runs on the platform of the City Academy for one semester, and the system runs stably, is convenient to use, has a high utilisation rate and has a good operating effect. The total number of visits was 11.787 million, including 332,000 visits by faculty and staff and 11.451 million by students, with an average of 332 visits per teacher and 357 visits per student. The total number of visitors was 547,000, with 18,420 faculty and staff and 529,000 students. From the monthly usage (as shown in Figure 6), since the start of the semester in September, with the gradual advancement of teaching, the usage has been continuously increasing, reaching the highest point in December at the end of the semester, with a total of 3.409 million visits. The number of visitors was close to 153,000; even in the holiday period in January, the number of visitors and visitors was still relatively high. The total number of visitors was 1.517 million, and the number of visitors was close to 49,000. Students can independently choose courses of interest through the platform to learn, greatly sharing teaching resources, and providing students with a vast learning space. The web site and the app site are two ways to access the platform. The web site has 4.676 million visits and 47,132 visitors, and the app has 8.491 million visits and 48,857 visitors. The number of visitors using the Web access the platform accounting for about 35%, and the number of visitors using the App to access the platform accounted for about 65%; the number of visitors using the Web site accounted for about 49%, and the number of visitors from the App side accounted for about 0.51. In terms of the number of visitors, teachers and students have the same number of visitors using the Web and APP, and the App is slightly higher. In terms of usage, the number of visitors using the App is larger than that of the Web, and mobile learning on the App can be done anytime, anywhere. The interactive features are deeply loved by teachers and students.

Fig. 6

The web end and the app end are two ways to access the platform. The number of visits on the web end is 4.676 million, and the number of visitors is 4,713,200 person times, 8.491-million-person times of APP visits, and 48,857 million visitors. The number of visits to the platform using web access level accounts for about 35%, and the number of visits to the platform using the app accounts for about 65%. The proportion of visitors using the Web is 49%, and the proportion of visitors using the APP is 51%. From the number of visitors, the number of teachers and students using the web end and the app end is not much different, and the app end is slightly higher. In terms of usage, the number of visits to the app end is larger than that to the web end. The characteristics of mobile learning and interaction at anytime and anywhere on the app end are deeply loved by teachers and students.

Data analysis and extraction are carried out on several main dimensions of constructing teacher–student interaction, as shown in Figure 7. Teachers issued a total of 38,000 announcements, 363,000 online roll calls, 848,000 reference materials, 189,000 online assignments, 164,000 online tests and 153,000 interactive discussions. It can be seen that the frequency of use of reference materials is relatively high, which reflects students’ self-learning and continuous internalisation and expansion of knowledge. The roll call includes the roll call in the daily teaching and random discussions and questions in the interactive session. Online assignments and online tests are the way students learn about self-feedback assessments. The discussion reflects the situation of teacher–student and student–student interaction. In general, the platform is rich in interactive teaching activities, providing students with a convenient collection of resources, a good learning space for discussion and mutual assistance, real-time learning, timely feedback and evaluation and timely answering of questions.

Fig. 7

Through the data synergy of the platform, it is very convenient to conduct full-coverage lectures in real time, and carry out a variety of activities such as lectures, discussion, teaching workshops and teaching seminars, and timely feedback with teachers is conducive to improving the quality of teaching. Especially for the courses of new young teachers, it organises and supervises teachers to listen to special lectures and provides guidance and promote the growth of young teachers in a targeted manner. The school has also carried out group lectures and teaching seminars for ideological and political courses by famous teaching teachers, supervisors, teaching team members, peer teachers, school leaders and teaching management personnel to gain a comprehensive understanding of the teaching situation from multiple perspectives, pulse consultation and an integrated platform to enable teaching. The seminar activities are more targeted, the feedback of teaching is timely and the improvement of teachers’ teaching ability is more effective.