SMILE Held an Expert Seminar on the Construction of the Laboratory for Elderly Education

On November 11, the Shanghai Municipal Institute for Lifelong Education(SMILE) held an expert seminar on the construction of the “Laboratory for Elderly Education”, discussing the preliminary conception and future development direction of the “Laboratory for Elderly Education” . Cui Xiaoguang, vice president of Community College of Pudong New District, Shanghai, Yu Xiaohua, associate professor of the Department of Education Information Technology of East China Normal University(ECNU), and Zou Wen, director of the Administration Department of SMILE, were invited to participate in the discussion. The meeting was hosted by Ma Lihua, lead researcher of the Elderly Education Program of SMILE; Bi Ying, Yue Yaru, and Wei Aoying, masters majoring in Adult Education atECNU, participated in the meeting together.

At the beginning of the meeting, Ma Lihua, chief researcher of the Elderly Education Program of SMILE, warmly welcomed all the experts and peers, and introduced the basic conception, theoretical framework, practical exploration and future development direction of the Laboratory for Elderly Education, and looked forward to the participants' active advice and suggestions to promote the smooth establishment of the laboratory.

Prof. Yu Xiaohua, associate professor of the Department of Education Information Technology of ECNU, elaborated on the significance of the construction of the Laboratory for Elderly Education from the perspectives of technological development and the construction of large-scale models, and explored the potential of accurate data collection and technological application. Prof. YuXiaohua pointed out that the “Laboratory for Elderly Education” demonstrated a very forward-looking conception in addressing the educational needs of the elderly in an aging society. Through the in-depth integration of pedagogy, computer science, health medicine and cognitive psychology, supported by interdisciplinary research and smart technology to realize personalized education services, the laboratory is expected to create an intelligent education innovation platform in the field of elderly education.

Cui Xiaoguang, vice president of Community College of Pudong New District, Shanghai, starting from the characteristics and challenges of the contemporary elderly group, put forward valuable suggestions on the functional orientation, research direction and innovative development path of the Laboratory for Elderly Education. President Cui pointed out that by analyzing characteristics of the elderly such as psychology, physical health and social participation of different age groups, designing more targeted and personalized curriculum resources, using big data to dynamically analyze learning needs, with an eye to local culture and actual situation, a community learning service platform for the elderly with international vision and local characteristics can be built to realize the goal of “Learning makes life more wonderful”.

Zou Wen, director of the Administration Department of SMILE, emphasized the urgency and broad feasibility of the construction of “Laboratory for Elderly Education”. She pointed out that the establishment of the laboratory would provide an important innovative platform to respond to the multiple needs of the aging society, which would not only support the satisfaction of diversified learning needs of the elderly, but also promote the attention and investment of the society to elderly education. Director Zou said that the institute should continue to plough deep into the field of aging, and inject impetus to the development of the laboratory through resource sharing and practical innovation, anticipating the early establishment and sustainable development of the laboratory.

At the expert seminar of “Laboratory for Elderly Education”, the experts present discussed the innovative path and future development direction of elderly education, clarified the key role of the laboratory in responding to the needs of the aging society, and also provided important ideas for promoting cross-disciplinary research, resource integration and service innovation of elderly education.

It is reported that “Laboratory for Elderly Education” is another liberal arts laboratory that SMILE tries to build after “Climate Change Education Laboratory”, and it will gather experts and scholars in the fields of medicine, psychology, pedagogy, computer science and philosophy to form an interdisciplinary research team, which will focus on three major directions: theoretical research on geriatric education, research on social participation of the elderly, and research on active health of the elderly. It will pool knowledge from all disciplines on the important issues of the aging society that have emerged in the early stage, promote the development of geriatric education as comprehensive knowledge, and make evidence-based policy recommendations. In addition, it will conduct problem-solving empirical research activities through extensive exchanges with other universities, private organizations, and stakeholders from other research institutes, industries, governments, and local communities in order to communicate the concept of “Building an Aging Society with Regional Vitality and Diversity” both domestically and internationally.

Contributed By: Wei Aoying

Reviewed By: Ma Lihua, Zou Wen