(Correspondent: Jianwen SUN)

Recently, the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (MOE) announced the second batch of philosophy and social sciences laboratories approved for development. CCNU’s Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence and New Educational Forms (hereinafter referred to as the Laboratory) was included. The Laboratory, with Professor Sannyuya Liu serving as its head, was jointly proposed and established by our university in collaboration with the China National Institute of Education Sciences (NIES). This marks a new breakthrough in the development of humanities and social sciences research platforms at our university.

CCNU has long been committed to digital education research. In 2020, it took the lead nationwide in establishing the Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education. This has laid a solid foundation for fostering and developing the Laboratory. In recent years, research teams within the Faculty have focused on major national strategic needs in educational reform and innovation in an effort to conduct forward-looking interdisciplinary theoretical exploration and applied practice. They have undertaken crucial tasks, including key and major programs under the National Social Science Foundation of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China as well as the National Science and Technology Major Projects under the “New Generation Artificial Intelligence” initiative. These have contributed actively to promoting the digital transformation and intelligent upgrading of education.

This successful inclusion in the MOE’s list of Philosophy and Social Sciences Laboratories signifies that CCNU has entered a new stage of development in advancing national strategies and enhancing the integration of artificial intelligence and education.

Moving forward, the Laboratory will align its work with the strategic demands of Chinese-style modernization of education to address two core issues in the age of artificial intelligence - “constructing independent knowledge systems” and “reshaping education through intelligent transformation”. It will fully integrate research capabilities both within and outside the university, deeply merge theories and methodologies from multiple disciplines, and concentrate on research areas such as new forms of education, AI technologies for education, evidence-based practice in AI-enhanced education, and ethics governance in AI-powered education.

The Laboratory aims to build a four-dimensional, interconnected research framework - encompassing theoretical construction, technological innovation, application validation, and ethics governance - for studying AI and new forms of education. This effort will serve the construction of an independent knowledge system for education with Chinese characteristics and support the building of a strong nation through education.

Editor: Ruye LI

Reviewer: Xiaoxiao ZHU