Teachers Keep Learning, Too: My Visit to Beijing
Reflections from the Global Smart Education Conference 2026
Most days, my work centres on the children in our Chinese lessons: explaining a word, guiding a piece of writing, or finding another way to help an idea make sense.
In August 2026, I stepped outside that familiar routine and travelled to Beijing to attend the Global Smart Education Conference at Beijing Normal University in Changping.
It was an opportunity to explore how technology is being used in education and reflect on what might be useful for our own classrooms at Nili Chinese Learning.
Connecting new ideas with everyday teaching
The scale of the event made an impression on me. As I explored the demonstrations, I found myself connecting what I saw with situations that come up in our lessons.
One example was the challenge of seeing students’ handwritten work during an online class. Often, children need to stop, take a photograph and send it before the teacher can review what they have written.
At the conference, I saw a smart pen system that allowed a teacher to view students’ handwriting remotely as they wrote. The teacher could switch between individual students’ pages and follow their progress.
That caught my attention because it addressed a familiar difficulty. I began thinking about how a clearer view of the writing process might help a teacher notice when a child needs support and offer guidance sooner.
Looking at teaching from another perspective
I also encountered tools that used lesson recordings and AI-assisted analysis to provide information about classroom interaction and participation.
These made me reflect on the value of reviewing our own teaching.
During a lesson, a teacher is explaining, listening, checking work and managing time. A recording could provide an opportunity to revisit a moment more carefully: Did the children have enough time to think? Was an explanation clear? Who needed another opportunity to contribute?
Any information from a tool would still need thoughtful interpretation. But I was interested in the possibility of using it to ask better questions about our lessons and identify areas to improve.
Teachers need opportunities to receive feedback and keep developing their practice. This was one of the ideas I brought home with me.
Keeping the child in view
Other demonstrations explored how learning information could be organised and shared with teachers and parents.
For me, the important question is what we do with that information. If a child repeatedly struggles with a type of question, what might explain the difficulty? What should we practise next? How can we make that next step manageable?
These questions also apply when considering a new tool. I would want to understand whether it helps us respond to a child’s needs and whether it fits comfortably into the lesson.
Children still need time to explain their ideas, ask questions, make mistakes and try again. I want any technology we consider to support those experiences.
Bringing the learning back to Nili
I returned from Beijing with several possibilities I would like to explore further, particularly around online writing, teacher reflection and learning feedback.
Seeing a demonstration is a starting point. Understanding whether a tool suits our students would require closer evaluation and practical experience.
The visit gave me time to step back and think about the choices we make as teachers. It reminded me to stay curious, examine familiar routines and keep learning alongside the children we teach.
In the next article, I will share more about the smart pen demonstration and why it made me rethink how teachers follow students’ writing during online Chinese lessons.
Watch my Beijing conference vlog below for a glimpse of the visit.
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