Promoting Education Equity in Rural and Underdeveloped Areas: Cases on Computer-Supported Collaborative Teaching in China

In addition to the 37 million students attending rural schools, China operates ~67,000 one-teacher schools in remote and mountainous regions. Much research has concluded that these rural students are educationally disadvantaged in comparison to their urban peers, with impaction toward social stratification. Consequently, national policies have targeted such issues and begun implementing information and communication technology (ICT) initiatives to universalize the quality of educational services. However, it is well known that imbalanced or improperly utilized ICT resources may expand, rather than contract inequities. Therefore, our research examines two cases of uniquely large-scale educational ICT applications to showcase computer-supported collaborative teaching models with high potential from an equity perspective. Improved access in the quality of students’ education and teachers’ professional development opportunities among rural areas are the main benefits observed. Other developing countries with similar issues may replicate these technological approaches for balancing access to high quality educational opportunities.