E-cards will track Shanghai students' after-class activities

Primary and middle school students in Shanghai will be equipped with electronic student ID cards in the new spring semester, through which their after-school activities and social practices will be tracked to build personal growth records.

The e-cards are part of the city education authorities' efforts to push education reform, and to establish a more comprehensive evaluation system for students with the emphasis shifted from exam scores to comprehensive performance.

"We have been promoting comprehensive quality education among schools for quite a long time. But how to effectively evaluate students in this field remains a problem," said Ni Minjing, an official from the Shanghai Education Commission.

"This is a new attempt to reform traditional test-oriented education. With these e-cards, information about students' after-class activities and social practices can be tracked to build personal history records, which provide an objective and impartial basis for comprehensive quality education evaluation," Ni said.

The city's nearly 1.4 million primary and middle school students will start to use the e-cards next month. By scanning their e-cards on a reader, the data will be transmitted to the basic education information management system, and student attendance, learning experiences and performance away from class will be recorded.

So far, the city has established more than 70 places of interest for students, such as museums and sports venues. Locations include the Shanghai Earthquake Science Museum, Shanghai Entomological Museum and Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Museum.

Students can arrange their own trips based on personal interests or participate in group visits organized by schools.

The Shanghai Education Commission said more than 200 venues will be included on the list for this campaign by 2015.

In Ni's view, this is just a small part of promoting the use of e-cards.

"With the popularity of such e-cards, more functions will be integrated over the long term. For example, the city has been working on establishing an online study platform. With the e-card, students can finish study assignments online, and their study experiences will be recorded," Ni said, adding that this also helps to promote computerized education and improve education management.

Education authorities in the city also plan to establish a citywide comprehensive quality evaluation information platform and to record students' personal growth histories.

The city has carried out a pilot program in Minhang district, which has produced good results.

With the technological approach of the e-card, an exclusive growth record was established for each student in the district, which integrated students' health records, library use record and extracurricular activities experiences.

"Based on such information, schools can keep abreast of students' latest health conditions and work out personalized physical exercise plans and diet menus for students," said Zhang Zhongtao, an official from the district's education bureau.

Meanwhile, students' library information, such as which books they have read, in what time period and their favorite genres can be revealed. Schools can analyze the data and take improvement measures. They can also adjust the types and amount of books they carry based on students' reading tastes, Zhang said.

wanghongyi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/24/2014 page5)