Construction of Digital Education Infrastructure: Demands,

Technologies and Plans

Shijie Wang

and Fuan Wen

Beijing Key Laboratory of Network System and Network Culture, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications,

Beijing, China

Keywords: Digitization of Education, New Infrastructure For Education, Key Technologies, Construction Plans, Digital

Twin.

Abstract: With the advent of the 5G era, various technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, cloud

computing, Internet of Things, and virtual reality have been continuously updated and iterated, providing

technical support for the construction of digital education infrastructure. However, the standards of these

infrastructures are still not unified, resulting in different directions and uneven quality of education digital

transformation. Therefore, starting from the background of education digital transformation, this paper

introduces the current situation of education digital development at home and abroad, describes the policy

direction of new education infrastructure, and deeply explores six aspects and twenty directions of education

digital infrastructure construction. The following section of this article discusses key technologies used to

construct the infrastructure for digital education and offers a four-layer technical framework. Finally,

construction plans are suggested for the development of future educational infrastructure: physical space

and its digital twin; digital resources in virtual space; and new digital education management. This paper has

important reference value for the future education digital infrastructure construction, and also plays a certain

role in promoting the development of the future education metaverse.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3798-7198

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4988-0443

1 INTRODUCTION

The integration of digital technology and education

is progressing in an unavoidable direction, and the

digital transformation of education is a key strategy

to support future innovation and reform in

education. Some nations create pertinent educational

plans. Based on the development of students'

individualized education and lifelong learning, the

"Stanford 2025" educational plan developed by the

United States replaces the traditional old concept

with a new concept fit for comprehensive talents in

the new era (Stanford, 2025). The EU published the

Action Plan for Digital Education (2021–2027) in

September 2020 with the goal of promoting the

alignment of education and training with the systems

of member states (European Commission, 2020). It

outlines a single European vision for high-quality,

inclusive, and accessible digital education.

Introducing the digital era. The "Key Points of

Digital Transformation of Education and Training"

document, published by the European Union in July

2022, makes the suggestion that different learning

environments should be created to support the study

and learning of educators, both teachers and

students. India's National Education Policy (2020),

which aims to make the country a global knowledge

power, is based on the global educational ecology

and the development trend of future education

(Wang et al., 2020). It was suggested in the "14th

Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social

Development of the People's Republic of China and

the Outline of Vision 2035" on March 12, 2021, to

insist on giving priority to the development of

education, improve people's quality of life, promote

people's all-around development, and fully exploit

the benefits of online education in order to improve

the system for lifelong learning and create a learning

society (New China News Agency, 2021).

Wang, S. and Wen, F.

Construction of Digital Education Infrastructure: Demands, Technologies and Plans.

DOI: 10.5220/0011914600003613

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on New Media Development and Modernized Education (NMDME 2022), pages 513-519

ISBN: 978-989-758-630-9

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

513

The current digital transformation of education is

still in its infancy, according to domestic researchers

like Zhu Zhiting, and the obvious place to start for

this transition is for education to adapt to the

external environment and internal development (Zhu

et al., 2022). The development status and practical

difficulties of digital educational resources have

been sorted out by academics like Ke Qingchao,

who have also interpreted and explained the three

main construction directions of new resources and

tools, resource supply systems, and resource

supervision systems (Ke et al., 2021). Although

academics have expressed their own perspectives

throughout the research on the digital transformation

of education, none of their research content has

clarified the demands and plans for the creation of a

digital education infrastructure. As a result, this

paper summarizes the standards of the education

digital infrastructure from many angles and

thoroughly condenses and excavates the substance

of the new national education infrastructure. In order

to provide guidance for the direction of education

digitalization transformation, construction plans of

education digitalization infrastructure are proposed

after researching the already-existing standards

connected to their construction.

2 STANDARDS RELATED AND

CONSTRUTION DEMANDS

In this paper, after consulting a variety of materials,

we have screened out the core standards and

specifications related to the content of digital

education in education. (Table 1).

Table 1: Standards and specifications related to education digital construction

Number

Release

Time

Name Content

December

2019

Information Technology -

General Specification for

Virtual Reality Head Mounted

Display Devices

This standard specifies the classification, basic

requirements, test methods, inspection rules and

signs, packaging, transportation and storage of

virtual reality head-mounted display devices.

2 March 2021

Specification for Digital

Campus Construction of

Colleges and Universities

(Trial)

The specification requires the coordinated

development of digital campus infrastructure,

information resources, application systems,

network security, and security systems to avoid

information islands.

October

2021

Data Center Digital Twin

Technical Specification

The group standard specifies the basic

requirements for digital twins of data center

infrastructure, the classification of digital twins,

and the application and evaluation of digital twins.

January

2022

General Specification for

Virtual Reality Teaching

Resources

This specification is applicable to the evaluation

of virtual reality teaching resources in three

aspects: subject construction, teaching function,

and technical indicators, as well as the

comprehensive evaluation of one or a series of

virtual reality teaching resources.

Through the above standards, we have a

preliminary understanding of various cutting-edge

technologies and application standards related to the

construction of education digitalization, but they are

not systematic and complete, and we cannot have a

comprehensive understanding of the construction of

education digitalization infrastructure.

The China's Ministry of Education and the other

six departments recommended to follow innovation

and leadership in their "Guiding Opinions on

Promoting the Construction of New Educational

Infrastructure and Building a High-quality Education

Support System" on July 21, 2021. Deeply

implement 5G, AI, big data, cloud computing,

blockchain, and other new generation information

technologies, fully exploit data's potential as a new

factor of production, and advance education's digital

transformation (The Ministry of Education, 2021).

This paper digs deep from the aforementioned

published documents, with six aspects and twenty

directions (Figure 1).

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Figure 1: New infrastructure construction demands for education

The national policy in the area of education,

which is a significant sector to drive new

infrastructure, is extended by the new infrastructure

for education, which is not just a demand inside the

educational system. The development of new

networks, platforms, security, resources, campuses,

and apps is a key component of the new education

infrastructure, which aims to create a new generation

of infrastructure that is tailored to the needs of the

education sector in the modern period. In this view,

the new educational infrastructure heralds the actual

advent of education information technology 3.0,

which will significantly aid in the creation of

high-quality educational systems and educational

development methods like a learning society. The

goal of the new educational infrastructure, according

to Zhu Zhiting and others is to create a digital

education ecosystem with a full system, thorough

optimization, and sustainable development (Zhu et

al., 2021). Along with initial demands, the technical

factors of education digital building must be taken

into account.

3 KEY TECHNOLOGIES OF

DIGITAL EDUCATION

INFRASTRUCTURE

This study suggests a four-layer framework of key

technologies for the creation of digital education

infrastructure through the aforementioned

construction plan. (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Framework of key technologies for digital education infrastructure

The network layer, which comprises mostly

technologies like 5G/6G, cloud computing, the

Internet of Things, and information sensing, is the

top layer (Li et al., 2018). This layer is the

fundamental network assurance for future digital

education, which not only helps students access a

variety of digital resources instantly but also

significantly boosts the quality of instruction. The

Construction of Digital Education Infrastructure: Demands, Technologies and Plans

515

construction layer, which makes up the majority of

the second layer, is composed primarily of

technologies like digital twin, virtual simulation,

AIGC, and knowledge graph. As was already

mentioned, the future educational setting combines

the physical and digital worlds. A virtual classroom

is built with the aid of digital twins. In a virtual

simulation environment, teachers and students can

simultaneously conduct a number of experiments

while creating a customised learning environment

for chemical processes. Students will connect the

educational information from many locations

through the built-in educational space, create a

systematized knowledge structure, and help to better

synthesize and summarize the knowledge they have

acquired. The XR, motion capture, brain-computer

interface, and AI interaction make up the interaction

layer, the third layer, respectively. Students' learning

habits will be significantly altered by this layer as

they use XR technology to study knowledge

anywhere and at any time in the virtual world

(ProQuest, 2019). At the same time, cutting-edge

activities are carried out using brain-computer

interface and intelligent interactive technology, and

feedback from virtual teaching assistants enables

people to learn and develop. The management layer,

which comprises big data, AI management,

distributed storage, and blockchain technology, is

the fourth layer. This layer primarily assists

education administrators in storing and managing

different teaching data, teacher and student

information, etc., as well as managing the classroom

environment and teaching resources in a coordinated

manner. Second, blockchain technology can be

specifically used for intra-campus payments, digital

certification, multi-step certification, automatic

recognition and credit transfer, multi-step

certification, multi-step certification, and student

financial aid. This would ensure the high-quality

development of education and considerably increase

the management of education efficiency.

After construction demands and technical

framework of Digital Education Infrastructure are

clarified, this study begins with the future

development of education and comprehensively

outlines the construction plan of education digital

infrastructure in three aspects: physical space, virtual

space, and teaching management. This is in

accordance with the aforementioned norms as well

as the six aspects and twenty directions in the policy

document.

4 THE CONSTRUCTION PLAN

OF DIGITAL EDUCATION

INFRASTRUCTURE

This study divides the development of digital

education infrastructure into three main directions:

physical space and its digital twin, digital resources

in virtual spaces and new digital education

management. Physical spaces include classrooms,

laboratories, libraries, creative rooms,

communication areas, and other places on campus.

By mapping out the appropriate twin space and

sending back the information data of the physical

environment in real time, these actual locations

create a dynamic digital twin of the entire physical

space. Online, offline, and virtual simulation

materials are all included in the category of teaching

resources. These resources add to the virtual

environment that the digital twin has generated

while also receiving input from the virtual

environment. The picture below depicts the total

construction plan for the education digital

infrastructure. (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Construction framework of digital education infrastructure

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4.1 Physical Space and Its Digital Twin

In order to complete the development of education

digitalization, the physical space should first be

founded on intelligent hardware equipment. To

ensure that teachers or students can see the content

of the virtual scene in real time, the first step in

terms of hardware standards is to install a sizable 3D

screen. The second is the XR head display, which is

now how users access the virtual environment (Zhao

et al., 2020). Equipment for motion capture is the

third. The process data of teaching and learning is

the most crucial component of digital education. The

classroom behavior data table is then produced to

describe the teachers' and students' classroom using

motion capture technology. This allows for the

real-time collection of behavior data from teachers

or pupils. Using behavioral portraiture can help

teachers educate and students learn. These pieces of

hardware serve as the foundation for all scenes set in

real space. Other scene types can also add

accessories that reflect the features of their

respective settings. For instance, a virtual lab may

provide unique experimental tools, and a maker area

could add 3D printers that let students create their

own designs. (Table 2).

Table 2: Construction content of physical space and its

digital twin

ect Construction content

Learning

Space

Fully Digital Classroom, Virtual

Laboratory, Smart Cloud Library, Smart

Maker Space, Learning and

Communication Communities, Digital

Twin Campus

Hardware

3D Screen, XR Head Display, Motion

Capture Device, 3D Printer, etc

Function

Human-machine Collaboration,

Personalized Learnin

In terms of functionality, for teachers and

students to use these digital twin learning spaces

effectively, they must have elements that support

human-computer collaboration. Additionally, they

must offer features for personalized learning so that

instructors and students can create their own unique

environments for instruction and learning. Thirdly,

intelligent teaching assistant functions need to be

developed to help teachers and students answer

questions at any time.

4.2 Digital Resources in Virtual Space

Online knowledge sources and virtual simulation

resources are two types of digital resources in the

virtual environment. Online teaching resources fall

under the first category and typically include

teaching design documents, microlectures, online

practice questions, and other materials. Teachers'

design concepts for the entire course are typically

included in instructional design documents.

Microlectures primarily assist students in grasping

some information elements beforehand.

Micro-classes in middle schools last for 10-15

minutes, while those in primary schools last for 5–10

minutes. Students can pick the online practice

questions they require because they are typically

hand chosen or intelligently suggested through the

question bank.

Virtual simulation resources, which often fall

into three categories: panoramic resources, 3D

simulation resources, and scientific simulation

resources, make up the second category. First, the

simulation model must be able to replicate the

system's or object's objective structure, function, and

motion law (Liu et al., 2017). Second, the scene

presentation must be based on the esse

ntial parts, choose

the proper content and form, and utilize the goal of

experimental education as the guiding principle.

Reflect the experimental setting, and motion-related

equations must follow established rules, etc.

Minimum and recommended virtual resource

package sizes are within 300 MB and 100 MB,

respectively. Refresh the display at a rate of 30

frames per second. Recommendations for the

experimental environment's fidelity: The

experimental environment closely resembles the

actual experimental surroundings stated in the

design script on the basis of adhering to the actual

scenario and common sense. Recommendations for

experimental outcomes: The experimental results

should be presented in vivid colors, sound effects,

text, and other techniques to ensure that they are

accurate. Serious flaws in the experimental process

should be clearly shown with warnings. Since there

is now no authoritative standard for virtual

simulation resources, threshold access rules must be

established for virtual simulation experiment

teaching resources, and high-level,

disciplinary-advantageous virtual simulation

teaching resources must constantly be improved.

Table 3: Construction content of digital resources in

virtual space

Aspect Construction content

Type

Online Knowledge Resources,

Virtual Simulation Resources

Character

Simulation, Reliability, Fidelity,

Convenience

Construction of Digital Education Infrastructure: Demands, Technologies and Plans

517

4.3 New Digital Education

Management

The better completion of the construction plan will

be encouraged by appropriate management

techniques. In this study, a brand-new framework for

managing digital education is proposed. It includes

machine-assisted management and manual-decision

management. (Table 4).

Table 4: Construction content of new digital education

management

Aspect Construction content

Mode

Machine-assisted Management,

Manual-decision Management

Character

Automation, Unification,

Datamation

Machine-assisted management will be an

important management model for digital education.

To facilitate the automation of the smart education

process, Palanivel et al. advocated integrating RPA

into the educational system (Palanivel et al., 2020).

The burden of teachers' non-teaching responsibilities

is lightened by assigning a large number of

labor-intensive, repetitive, and time-consuming

campus administrative activities to software robots.

Teachers will then have more time and energy to

devote to their work of instructing and educating

others. In order to manage teacher teaching courses

and student learning, intelligent machines are

simultaneously utilized to collect data on the

processes of student learning and teacher teaching.

Teachers instruct students using objective data,

while students give feedback. (Figure 4). Reforming

the way the educational system evaluates students is

also necessary, as are developing data collection

standards, standards for data interoperability,

standards for comprehensive quality student data

collection across all domains, and standards for the

development of new student ability types. On the

other hand, manual-decision management involves

making choices regarding the organization of some

important instructional activities and the revision of

talent training management. People are still required

for important educational tasks because present

intelligent technology only has limited artificial

intelligence.

Figure 4: Evaluation structure of education digitalization

5 CONCLUSIONS

Since the digital transformation of education is still

in its early stages, it is crucial to assess its

requirements and create development plans. Based

on the background of education digital

transformation, the guidance document for new

educational infrastructure is thoroughly examined

and analyzed and the construction plan and key

technologies of education digital infrastructure are

described in this paper. The application of

Metaverse in the field of education allows for the

creation of digital identities for teachers, students,

managers, and other stakeholders, as well as the

opening up of formal and informal learning

environments in the virtual world and the interaction

of instructors and students there. With the

widespread use and advancement of network

technology, the education metaverse will gradually

become a reality for us. Experts and academics in

the field of education should assist the government

in top-level design, assist businesses in precisely

locating, develop standards for the building of

necessary infrastructure, plan ahead, make

deployments early, and usher in a new era of digital

education networks.

[ Project fund support: This article was supported by

the Teaching Reform Project for Graduate

Education, No. 2021Y045 ]

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