On December 14, the 2024 Yidan Education Forum concluded successfully in Qianhai, Shenzhen. Experts, scholars, educators, and corporate representatives from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore, the United States, and other regions gathered in the Greater Bay Area to discuss the theme: "Building a Future Ecosystem: Interdisciplinary Design of Learning." The forum proposed that, amidst globalization and technological innovation, cross-sector collaboration has become the key to driving systemic and innovative educational change, requiring education to respond proactively and forward-lookingly to the demands of the era.

The forum was co-hosted by the Chen Yidan Foundation and the Advanced Innovation Center for Future Education (AICFE) of Beijing Normal University, and organized by the Yidan Education Research Institute and the Tencent Interactive Entertainment Social Value Exploration Center. The Yidan Prize, Exploratorium, the Pre-hai International Affairs Research Institute of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), and the School of Education of the City University of Macau (CityU) participated as co-organizers of sub-forums.

This year’s forum focused on interdisciplinary collaboration in future education from an ecological perspective in the AI era, featuring academic discussions and showcases of cutting-edge concepts, models, and methods. For the third consecutive year, the "Future Learner" keynote report was released, titled "Future Education Grammar CMYK: Interdisciplinary Design of Learning," which introduced concepts, tools, and project demonstrations for designing the future of learning.

The forum consisted of a main plenary and three sub-forums. Guests engaged in deep discussions on topics such as "Reimagining Learning: Thinking Transformation and Interdisciplinary Exploration in Future Education," "Cross-Domain Collaboration: Research, Industry, and Philanthropy," "Cross-Scenario Collaboration: Family, School, Society, and AI," and "Building a Future Learning Ecosystem: Global, China, GBA, and Qianhai." Notably, the audience was equally diverse, hailing from sectors such as education, philanthropy, technology, arts, design, business, and consulting.

Professor Yu Shengquan, Executive Director of the AICFE at Beijing Normal University and postgraduate supervisor at the CityU School of Education, delivered the opening address and keynote speech, depicting a new ecosystem for future schools in the intelligent age. Professor Yu noted that the opportunities and challenges brought by AI necessitate a profound shift in talent cultivation models. He detailed a future school ecosystem characterized by the bidirectional integration of online and campus education across dimensions such as campus space, cultivation models, pedagogical evaluation, management, and educational services.

Rao Ruirui, Secretary-General of the Chen Yidan Foundation, stated in her address that the industry is closely monitoring the impact of AI on life, work, and education. She believes future education should address the social and philosophical questions behind AI, rooting it in human values to preserve humanity. The goal of education is to cultivate the ability of the next generation to integrate with AI, expanding human intelligence rather than being replaced by it.

In subsequent sessions, 13 experts discussed the diversification and interdisciplinary nature of future education, emphasizing the reconstruction of the educational ecosystem in the AI era. Participants proposed that through technological integration, gamified learning, and inquiry-based teaching, education can enhance its inclusivity, resilience, and innovative capacity to build a student-centered future learning ecosystem.

Professor Cheng Li-Ying, Dean of the School of Education at the City University of Macau, was invited to deliver a keynote speech and participate in guest discussions at the recent forum. Dean Cheng’s presentation, titled “Cultivating Talents through Cross-Cultural, Cross-Linguistic, and Interdisciplinary Perspectives,” was composed of three interconnected parts. The first part explored the past, present, and future of education, where Dean Cheng reviewed the history of education, examined the current landscape, and looked forward to future trends to provide an in-depth analysis of educational development and its challenges. The second part focused on cross-cultural and cross-linguistic cultivation. As globalization progresses, teachers and students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds engage in increasingly multifaceted and significant educational activities. To address this, Dean Cheng proposed the “CARE” professional competency model for teachers, which encompasses four essential dimensions: Compassion, Acquisition (of knowledge), Respect, and Evaluation, emphasizing the importance of these competencies in enhancing educational quality. The third part highlighted interdisciplinary cultivation, during which Dean Cheng shared two of her previous interdisciplinary projects to demonstrate the vital role of cross-disciplinary collaboration in research and education, underscoring the necessity of disciplinary integration for the cultivation of well-rounded talents. Through these three segments, Dean Cheng profoundly illustrated the trends and significance of cultivating talents from cross-cultural, cross-linguistic, and interdisciplinary perspectives in a globalized context, sparking deep reflection among the participants.

Additionally, Zhang Xiang, a doctoral student in Education at CityU and Director of the Cooperative Development Office at AICFE, served as the moderator for the closing ceremony and the plenary discussion. Assistant Professor Huang Biyun and doctoral students Liu Xiaoyu, Du Meirong, Fan Sisi, Di Yuan, Feng Qianhua, and Gao Ming also actively participated in the preparation and onsite discussions, showcasing the passion and commitment of CityU faculty and students.

The "Yidan Education Forum" is an international platform established by the Chen Yidan Foundation to facilitate dialogue on global and Chinese educational innovation. Now in its fifth year, many of its research outcomes have been officially published and collected by the National Library of China. The School of Education looks forward to further collaboration with educational organizations in the GBA to broaden the academic horizons of postgraduate students and contribute to educational innovation and development.