Empowering the Construction of University “Grand Ideological and Political Courses” with Digitalization

In 2022, ten departments including the Ministry of Education issued the “Work Plan for Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of ‘Grand Ideological and Political Courses’”, which put forward the concept of opening up ideological and political courses to society, emphasizing the idea of fully mobilizing the forces and resources of the whole society to build a “grand classroom”, set up a “grand platform”, and establish a “grand teaching faculty”. As a new form of ideological and political course that conforms to the new stage, new situation, and new landscape of China’s development, the “grandness” of the “grand ideological and political course” is manifested not only in the educational ecology where various elements of ideological and political course teaching work together, promote each other, and interact, but also in the attempt to construct a grand work pattern of “ideological and political courses + curriculum-based ideological and political education”, a grand classroom model of “small ideological and political classrooms + large social classrooms”, and a grand teaching faculty system of “full-time teaching staff + part-time teaching staff” through the convergence of elements such as educational subjects, curricula, and teaching resources in the same direction.

2022年，教育部等十部门印发了《全面推进“大思政课”建设的工作方案》，提出了坚持开门办思政课的理念，强调要充分调动全社会力量和资源建设“大课堂”，搭建“大平台”，建好“大师资”的思路。作为顺应我国发展新阶段新态势新局面而开辟的思政课新形态，“大思政课”之大，不仅表现为思政课教学各要素之间同行、共促、互动的教育生态，而且在于通过教育主体、课程、教学资源等要素的同向汇聚，力图构建“思政课程+课程思政”的大工作格局、“思政小课堂+社会大课堂”的大课堂模式以及“专职师资+兼职师资”的大师资体系。

At present, the “digital” tentacles have penetrated into all aspects of society and profoundly affected humanity from multiple dimensions, including technology. The field of ideological and political education in universities is no exception. Many universities have found that, entering the era of digital intelligence, with the rapid development of key technologies such as artificial intelligence, AI computing power, and VR virtual reality and their integrated development with education, digital technology will inevitably become an important way to empower the high-quality construction of “grand ideological and political courses”. Specifically, the value logic of digital technology empowering university “grand ideological and political courses” is manifested in the following three aspects:

当前，“数字化”触角已深入社会的各个方面并从技术等多个维度对人类产生深刻影响，高校思政课教育教学领域也不例外，不少高校发现，迈入数智时代，随着人工智能、AI算力、VR虚拟等关键技术的飞速发展及其与教育的融合发展，数字化技术必将成为赋能“大思政课”高质量建设的重要途径。具体说来，数字化技术赋能高校“大思政课”的价值逻辑表现为如下三个方面：

It helps to improve the precision of the supply of ideological and political education in universities. Digital technology, based on big data, has outstanding empowering advantages in terms of knowledge and information. Driven by data, advanced artificial intelligence technology can be used to collect and analyze relevant data of the teaching targets in various systems (such as learning situation data from academic affairs departments, social practice data from youth league and student affairs departments, etc.). On the basis of quickly and comprehensively grasping the learning situation, a precise data portrait of the physical and mental state of the teaching targets and their online survival state can be made, so that the educational subjects, with ideological and political course teachers as the core, not only accurately grasp students’ behavioral preferences and professional learning foundations, but also intuitively grasp students’ growth trajectories. At the same time, digital intelligence technology can continuously absorb the learning situation information of college students and combine it with their activity trajectories on the Internet to model using learning algorithms, so as to more accurately and efficiently grasp the actual needs of college students in conducting deep learning of ideological and political courses. Under the knowledge-driven effect of digital intelligence technology, the university “grand ideological and political course” will effectively enhance the precision and pertinence of educational content.

有助于提高高校思政课教育供给的精准度。数字化技术以大数据为基础，在知识与信息方面具有突出的赋能优势。以数据为驱动，可以运用先进的人工智能技术对授课对象在各个系统中（如教务部门的学情数据、团学部门的社会实践数据等）的相关数据进行收集和分析，在快速而全面掌握学情的基础上，对授课对象的身心状态及其网络生存状态进行精准的数据画像，从而使以思政课教师为核心的教育主体不仅精准掌握学生的行为偏好与专业学习基础，还能够直观把握学生的成长轨迹。与此同时，数智技术能够通过持续吸纳大学生的学情信息并结合大学生在互联网中的活动轨迹运用学习算法进行建模，以便更加准确和高效地掌握大学生在开展思政课深度学习方面的实际需求。在数智技术知识驱动的作用下，高校“大思政课”将有效提升教育内容的精准度与针对性。

It is conducive to breaking down the barriers of learning stages and space in university ideological and political course teaching. The widespread use of digital technology helps to break down the barriers between learning stages in ideological and political courses in universities, primary and secondary schools, providing good technical support for systematically promoting the integrated construction of ideological and political courses. At the same time, in this context, the problem of information asymmetry in the process of integrated construction of ideological and political courses will also be better resolved. Since information is in a relatively open and transparent state, and participants at each learning stage can deeply participate in a timely manner, a community of integrated ideological and political courses at different levels in universities, primary and secondary schools can be formed. From the dimension of the teacher-student relationship, various digital intelligence technologies, starting from the basis of the educated’s cognitive behaviors such as language and communication, transform and optimize the educational scene of the university “grand ideological and political course” by simulating the human thinking process. For example, using VR/AR technology to build a virtual simulation environment for the educated, allowing them to immerse themselves and interact with the environment. This experiential learning method not only helps college students carry out inquiry-based learning activities, but also subtly influences college students’ cognition, emotions, will, and behavior, embedding ideological and political education in the entire process of college students’ growth. At the same time, digital technology, by promoting the upgrading of information dissemination paradigms and using advanced intelligent devices, upgrades and iterates traditional communication methods. In this context, the “grand ideological and political course” can, with the help of various intelligent information dissemination methods, extend ideological and political course education and teaching activities from small in-class classrooms to large social classrooms, from offline classrooms to online classrooms, constructing a broader space and time for ideological and political teaching.

有利于高校思政课教学打破学段与空间壁垒。数字技术的普遍使用，有助于大中小学思政课打破学段壁垒，为系统推进思政课一体化建设提供良好技术支持。与此同时，在此情境里，思政课一体化建设过程中的信息不对称问题也将得到较好地解决，由于信息处在相对公开透明的状态，且各学段的参与者能够及时深度参与其中，进而形成不同层次的大中小学思政课一体化共同体。就师生关系维度看，各种数智技术从受教育者的语言、交流等认知行为的基础出发，通过模拟人的思维过程，改造与优化高校“大思政课”的教育场景。如利用VR／AR技术为受教育者搭建虚拟仿真的环境，让其身临其境并与环境相互作用。这种体验式的学习方法不仅有助于大学生开展探究式学习活动，并且在潜移默化中对大学生的知、情、意、行产生影响，并使思想政治教育内嵌于大学生成长的整个过程。与此同时，数字技术通过推动信息传播范式的升级，借助先进的智能设备，升级迭代了传统的沟通方式。在此背景下，“大思政课”可以借助于各种智能化的信息传播方式，将思政课教育教学活动从课内小课堂向社会大课堂、从线下课堂向线上课堂延展，建构更加宽广的思政教学时空。

It is beneficial for building a large platform for ideological and political course teaching with strong functions and high efficiency. As a form of ideological and political course that is oriented towards social construction, open, and interconnected, the construction process of the “grand ideological and political course” needs to face a broader space, actively mobilize various social forces and subjects to collaborate in construction, promote the transformation and utilization of social resources, and thus form a grand pattern of all-staff, whole-process, and all-round education. In a digital society where everything is interconnected, the data architecture built using platforms such as the Internet greatly accelerates the flow and connection of information, greatly enriches the ways for the “grand ideological and political course” to obtain resources, and to a certain extent solves the problem of uneven distribution of ideological and political course teaching resources between regions or schools. Moreover, data interaction on various smart platforms can also break spatial limitations, expanding the educational space from offline classrooms to online classrooms and social classrooms, from a narrow space to all parts of the country. For example, in the past decade, China’s education authorities and universities across the country have been actively building various types of resource-sharing platforms, making it more convenient for educational subjects of ideological and political courses in universities nationwide to obtain massive teaching resources and enjoy high-quality “golden courses” [1]1 “Golden courses” (金课) is a term used in Chinese higher education reform to refer to high-quality, challenging courses that are innovative and valuable, as opposed to “watery courses” (水课) that are considered low-quality or superficial. anytime, anywhere. In addition, digital technology, with its super computing power and data storage and analysis capabilities, helps the “grand ideological and political course” to construct a scientific evaluation mechanism. For example, digital technology can completely record the entire process of “teaching” and “learning”, which not only helps teachers objectively and comprehensively evaluate students’ course learning, but also provides more scientific and efficient teaching feedback.

有益于建设功能强、效率高的思政课教学大平台。“大思政课”作为一种面向社会建构的、具有开放性、互联性的思政课形态，其建设过程需要面向更为广阔的空间，积极调动各种社会力量与主体协同建设，促进社会资源的转化与利用，从而形成全员全程全方位育人的大格局。万物互联互通的数字社会，利用互联网等平台搭建的数据架构，使得信息的流动与联通大大加速，极大地丰富了“大思政课”获取资源的途径，在一定程度上解决了地区或学校之间思政课教学资源分布不均衡的问题。不仅如此，各种智慧平台上的数据交互还能打破空间局限，将教育空间从线下课堂拓展到线上课堂、社会课堂，从一个狭小的空间拓展到全国各地。例如，近十年来，我国教育主管部门与各地高校均在积极搭建各种类型的资源共享平台，让全国高校思政课教育主体更加便捷地获取海量教学资源，随时随地欣赏高质量“金课”。此外，数字化技术凭借其超强的计算能力与数据储存、分析能力，有助于“大思政课”构建科学的评价机制。例如，数字化技术可以完整记录“教”与“学”的完整过程，不仅有利于教师客观全面评价学生的课程学习情况，而且还能提供更加科学和高效的教学反馈。

In a word, empowering the university “grand ideological and political course” with digitalization will enrich the teaching content of the “grand ideological and political course”, innovate teaching methods, and gather various subjects to collaboratively construct a powerful large platform for ideological and political course teaching. However, it cannot be ignored that in the process of digitalization empowering the construction of the university “grand ideological and political course”, there are also many difficulties and challenges, mainly manifested in the lagging concepts of some ideological and political course teachers, their vague understanding of digitalization, and even strong resistance to it; the insufficient digital literacy of some participants in ideological and political courses leads to difficulty in skillfully mastering new technologies; at the same time, in promoting the construction of the “grand ideological and political course”, all parties not only have insufficient application of digital technology, but also have shortcomings in governance; in the process of integration, conflicts between instrumental rationality and value rationality are also prone to occur. “A craftsman must first sharpen his tools if he wants to do his work well.” [2]2 This is a classical Chinese proverb from the Analects of Confucius (《论语·卫灵公》), emphasizing the importance of preparation before undertaking a task. To promote the construction of the “grand ideological and political course” empowered by digitalization, we must start from the following aspects:

一言概之，以数字化赋能高校“大思政课”，将会丰富“大思政课”的教学内容、创新教学方式、凝聚各方主体协同建构强大的思政课教学大平台。但是不容忽视的是在数字化赋能高校“大思政课”建设的过程中，也面临着诸多的困难与挑战，主要表现为部分思政课教师的观念滞后，对数字化的认知模糊甚至对其有强烈的排斥心理；一些思政课参与主体的数字素养不足导致难以熟练驾驭新技术；与此同时，各方在推进“大思政课”建设过程中不仅对数字化技术的应用尚不充分，而且在治理上亦存在短板；二者在融合过程中还易出现工具理性与价值理性的冲突。“工欲善其事，必先利其器。”要推动数字化赋能“大思政课”的建设，必须从以下几个方面入手：

First, enhance the initiative and self-consciousness of the participating subjects and objects, and raise digital literacy and awareness. With the advent of the digital society, high-quality utilization of digitalization to empower educational and teaching activities is an indispensable key capability for university ideological and political course teachers. In response to problems such as weak digital awareness and low literacy among some university ideological and political course teachers, universities and educational authorities should attach great importance to this and carry out overall planning. They can conduct systematic and scientific training activities tailored to the growth characteristics and main shortcomings of the subjects, invite experts for guidance, strengthen peer exchanges and practical operations, and guide participating subjects to enhance their digital awareness and continuously improve their digital literacy in practice. University ideological and political course teachers must proficiently master the ability to collect teaching materials and describe the teaching process through big data; they must learn to use data models to analyze learning situations and solve teaching pain points and difficulties, and to conduct teaching in environments combining virtual and real elements; they must learn to create personalized, intelligent online-offline hybrid ideological and political classrooms and explore vivid and lively educational models. At the same time, by leveraging digital technology, a high-quality platform of excellent teachers should be provided for all parties to smoothly participate in the construction of great ideological and political courses. Furthermore, attention should be paid to the cultivation of digital literacy among students at all stages, especially university students. On the one hand, from the perspective of the integration of ideological and political courses across all educational stages, digital technology training should be provided to educational objects at all stages. While using relevant courses for basic digital knowledge education, digital literacy education should also be consciously integrated into the teaching of other professional courses, such as through special lectures, public elective courses, and club activities to strengthen training and meet the literacy needs of students from different majors. On the other hand, students’ ability to discern digital products should be enhanced, as well as their ability to resist erroneous trends of thought, false or vulgar information on the internet.

首先，增强参与主客体的主动性自觉性，提升数字素养和意识。随着数字社会时代的到来，高质量利用数字化赋能教育教学活动是高校思政课教师不可缺少的关键能力。针对部分高校思政课教师的数字意识不强，素养薄弱等问题，高校及教育主管部门应高度重视并进行统筹规划，可以结合主体成长特点与主要短板开展系统科学的培训活动，聘请专家指导、加强同行交流与实践操作，引导参与主体提升数字意识并在实践中不断提升自身数字素养。高校思政课教师须熟练掌握通过大数据来收集教学素材与描述教学过程的能力；要学会运用数据模型分析学情与分析解决教学痛点难点问题，学会在虚实结合的环境中开展教学；要学会创设个性化、智慧化的线上线下混合式思政课堂，探索鲜活生动的教育模式。与此同时，利用数字技术赋能，为各方主体顺畅参与大思政课建设提供优质师资大平台。此外，重视各学段尤其是大学生的数字素养培养。一方面，要在思政课一体化视域下对全学段教育对象开展数字技术培训，可以利用相关课程进行数字基础知识教育的同时，还有意识地将数字素养教育融入其他专业课程教学中，如通过专题讲座、公共选修课、社团活动等加强培训，满足不同专业学生的素养需求。另一方面，要提升学生对数字化产品的辨别能力，提升抵制网络上错误思潮、虚假或低俗信息的能力。

Second, adhere to a problem-oriented approach, focusing on carrying out systematic reforms on the “supply side” of ideological and political courses. The construction of “great ideological and political courses” is a grand and complex project with distinct systemic characteristics. To enhance the effectiveness of digital technology empowerment, it is necessary to precisely target the direction of reform, that is, to exert effort on the supply side of university ideological and political course construction. At the same time, starting from reforming elements such as teaching subjects, teaching content, teaching space, and teaching resources, technology should be used to activate subjects, optimize content, revitalize space, and innovate means to vigorously promote the digital empowerment of university “great ideological and political courses” in teaching and educating work. For example, by utilizing various intelligent teaching platforms and coordinating diverse teaching forces to carry out various forms of collective lesson preparation activities, through in-depth research on unified textbooks, careful development of school-based textbooks, and precise grasp of teaching key and difficult points to design high-quality teaching content; by sorting through big data to accurately grasp the physical and mental development characteristics, thinking traits, and interest points of “post-00s” students, and accordingly scientifically design the teaching content of great ideological and political courses; using platforms such as flipped classrooms, WeChat public accounts, virtual simulation laboratories, Xuexitong, and Rain Classroom apps to enhance the awareness and ability to precisely push teaching resources.

其次，坚持问题导向，侧重在思政课“供给侧”开展系统性改革。“大思政课”建设是个宏大而复杂的工程，具有鲜明的系统性特征。要提升数字技术赋能的效果，须精准定位改革的靶向，即在高校思政课建设的供给侧发力，同时从改革教学主体、教学内容、教学空间、教学资源等要素入手，运用技术激活主体、优化内容、盘活空间、创新手段来大力推动数字化赋能高校“大思政课”的教书育人工作。例如，可通过利用各类智慧化的教学平台并协同多元师资力量开展形式多样的集备活动，通过深入研究统编教材、精心开发校本教材、精准把握教学重难点设计优质教学内容；要通过梳理大数据精确掌握“00后”学生的身心发展特征、思维特点与兴趣点并据此科学设计大思政课教学内容；利用翻转课堂、微信公众号、虚拟仿真实验室、学习通、雨课堂APP等平台提升精准推送教学资源的意识与能力。

Finally, promote the construction of digital infrastructure to provide technical support for the construction of “great ideological and political courses.” New-generation supercomputing power, artificial intelligence platforms, broadband basic networks, and other digital infrastructure, by unleashing the potential of “digital” as a new type of production factor, can effectively transform and empower the traditional infrastructure of ideological and political course education and teaching. In response to the problem of insufficient depth and breadth of integration between ideological and political courses and digital technology, the urgent task is to mobilize multiple subjects to implement measures steadily, continuously promote the construction of digital infrastructure, and optimize the teaching process and teaching ecology of “great ideological and political courses” by strengthening the quality and quantity of digital technology supply. To this end, it is necessary to establish a new type of high-quality information network to provide efficient, green, and secure network services for the subjects of great ideological and political course education. It is also necessary to build a new digital resource platform, creating a collaboratively empowered digital “great ideological and political course” resource platform to achieve the co-construction and sharing of ideological and political course teaching resources. On this basis, technical research should be strengthened to break down digital technology barriers and build a solid technical defense line. It is necessary to resolutely resist Western capitalist ideological technology theft, digital viruses, etc., and build a security technology defense line for cross-border information flow.

最后，推进数字基础设施建设，为“大思政课”建设提供技术支持。新一代超大算力、人工智能平台、宽带基础网络等数字基础设施，通过发挥“数字”这一新型生产要素的潜力，能有效改造与赋能传统的思政课教育教学的基础设施。针对思政课与数字技术融合深度不足广度不够的难题，当务之急是发动多元主体稳妥施策，持续推进数字基础设施建设，通过强化数字技术供给的质量与数量、优化“大思政课”的教学流程与教学生态。为此，需要建立新型优质的信息网络，为大思政课教育主体提供高效、绿色、安全的网络服务。还要建设新型数字资源平台，打造协同发力的数字化“大思政课”资源平台，以此实现思政课教学资源的共建共享。在此基础上，还要加强技术攻关，打破数字技术壁垒，筑牢技术防线。要坚决抵御西方资本主义意识形态的技术窃密、数字病毒等，构筑跨境信息流动的安全技术防线。

On the new journey of the New Era, the vast number of university ideological and political course teachers should bear in mind the important speech spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping at the symposium for teachers of ideological and political theory courses in schools, strive to make good use of the main channel of classroom teaching, empower with digital technology, create high-precision and high-level “great ideological and political courses,” and cultivate “Four-Haves” newcomers.[3]3 “Four-Haves” newcomers (四有新人) refers to the socialist builders and successors who have ideals, morality, culture, and discipline.

新时代新征程，广大高校思政课教师要牢记习近平总书记在学校思想政治理论课教师座谈会上的重要讲话精神，努力用好课堂教学主渠道，以数字技术赋能，打造高精尖水平的“大思政课”，培养“四有”新人。

(Yang Xiaoxia, Associate Professor, School of Marxism, Fujian Normal University; Lai Hairong, Professor, School of Marxism, Fujian Normal University)

（杨小霞，福建师范大学马克思主义学院副教授；赖海榕，福建师范大学马克思主义学院教授）

Online Editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧