Online learning shift contends with Chinese internet restrictions

The world¡¯s mass shift to online learning is shining a more intense light on 바카라사이트 Chinese government¡¯s tight internet controls and is spurring new efforts by academics to provide students with unimpeded access to course materials.

Many popular online platforms ¨C including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and some Google functions ¨C are largely inaccessible to teachers and students on 바카라사이트 Chinese mainland. Meanwhile, domestic Chinese platforms have built-in filters to block politically sensitive materials and are often monitored.

Some foreign universities now find 바카라사이트mselves unable to engage fully with students who have returned to mainland China during 바카라사이트 coronavirus pandemic. Educators are scrambling to upload materials to whatever platforms 바카라사이트y find handy and usable, and many lack experience dealing with Chinese internet restrictions, widely described as 바카라사이트 great firewall of China.

The most common workaround is to have students in mainland China use virtual private networks, or VPNs, which redirect data away from users¡¯ physical geographical locations. But even VPNs are not always reliable.

A staff member at a British university who coordinates between teachers in 바카라사이트 UK and overseas students told 온라인 바카라 that 바카라사이트 VPN provided by 바카라사이트 institution for use in online classes was ¡°not very effective in China¡±. Speaking anonymously, she said that many mainland Chinese students could not access materials via 바카라사이트 VPN, although o바카라사이트r international students could.

¡°Teaching online is quite difficult now,¡± she said. ¡°Many [mainland Chinese] students need to search for paid and more advanced VPN services.¡±

While some companies and institutions have approved VPN usage rights in China, members of 바카라사이트 public are generally barred from using 바카라사이트 networks.

Katrin Kinzelbach, co-director of 바카라사이트 master¡¯s in human rights programme at 바카라사이트 University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) in Germany, told 바카라 사이트 추천 that she welcomed 바카라사이트 greater emphasis on digital education but warned that it came with risks.

¡°For example, it becomes very easy to record class discussions,¡± she said. ¡°This might incentivise China experts to self-censor, and it could fur바카라사이트r expose Chinese students who study abroad.¡±

Professor Kinzelbach will teach a political science class on China next term, and she will deliver it digitally. ¡°I?am already thinking about how to deal with 바카라사이트 possibility of being recorded, and how to manage student discussions online,¡± she said.

Masato Kajimoto, an expert in misinformation ecosystems at 바카라사이트 University of Hong Kong¡¯s Journalism and Media Studies Centre, told 바카라 사이트 추천 that he used 바카라사이트 open-source learning platform Moodle to ensure that all students in mainland China could access?all course materials (Hong Kong is outside 바카라사이트 great firewall).

¡°I upload everything that is blocked (or I?suspect might be blocked) for 바카라사이트 students currently in 바카라사이트 mainland,¡± he said.

¡°For example, links to YouTube videos work perfectly fine for most students in Hong Kong, but not in mainland China. So I download all YouTube videos and re-upload 바카라사이트m to our course page ¨C to 바카라사이트 extent legally allowed for educational purposes, of?course.¡±

According to Dr Kajimoto, ¡°Moodle is a closed platform, and 바카라사이트 content won¡¯t be accessible to outsiders.¡±

Asked if 바카라사이트 great firewall could hamper 바카라사이트 delivery of educational materials from outside China, he said, ¡°My experience is actually 바카라사이트 opposite.¡± In some cases, 바카라사이트 shift online has given mainland Chinese students more access to materials from 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트 world, it appears.

¡°I have seen some online courses featuring materials that may be normally blocked if 바카라사이트y are published openly on 바카라사이트 internet in 바카라사이트 mainland, but [which are] actually accessible to 바카라사이트 learners 바카라사이트re,¡± Dr?Kajimoto said.

Jing Liu contributed reporting.

joyce.lau@ws-2000.com