As we can see from the chart provided by the “Space Exploration” forum, remarkable trend that has occurred in the space field of China draws our attention.

Chatbots

What if instead of clicking on link after link on a company’s website, you could type a question and get an immediate, customized answer? Some companies are working to make this a reality using chatbots. Chatbots are computer programs that can communicate with human beings by phone, on messaging apps or on websites.

There are two types of chatbots: open and closed. A closed chatbot follows a script, which may or may not involve using AI (artificial intelligence) to understand users’ messages. An open chatbot uses AI both to figure out what users want and to generate responses. Open chatbots are able to learn from their conversations and thus improve their ability to communicate over time. This means that open chatbots can respond to a wider range of inquiries, compared with closed chatbots. Communicating with them feels more natural, but if they have not been correctly trained, users may have a bad experience with them.

One significant advantage of chatbots is that they are available all the time, even in the middle of the night. Plus, a single chatbot can cater to multiple users at once. This means that users can get immediate answers to their questions rather than waiting for a human representative. Chatbots have the potential to overcome several technological problems people face. These include difficulty in searching websites and trouble finding basic information and answers to simple questions.

However, in order for chatbots to work, humans are still indispensable (不可或缺的). Someone has to program the chatbots initially, train them, and maintain and improve the chatbot system. Further, even open chatbots may not have the answers to detailed questions, and many people simply prefer speaking to a human rather than a chatbot. Thus, chatbots are unlikely to completely replace human agents. Rather, they will help users resolve simple problems so that customer service representatives can focus on more difficult issues.

If it had not been for COVID-19, Tom Watkins would have been in China, serving as the China partner and managing director of WAY American Schools, a private US school using the internet to teach students in China and offering them an American High School Diploma program.

Watkins is enthusiastic about education. As early as in 2005, he has written an article on e-learning reform. “I recall the blank stares I encountered both in the United States and China in the early 2000s when I attempted to introduce e-learning into the mainstream,” said Watkin. “There was little appetite to be early adopters of this teaching method in public and private schools in the United States and across the globe.”

Then suddenly, online learning has popped into the spotlight. In an initiative in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Michigan, to support its newly enrolled graduate students in China, allows students to join the University of Michigan-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute to take UM courses remotely.

In Watkins’ eyes, e-learning has its advantages, the most important of which are greater flexibility, personalized learning and globalization of education. By e-learning, one can learn 24 hours a day and seven days a week, access the study content an unlimited number of times, and easily tap global educators. If e-learning becomes a norm in the next few years, it may lead to restructuring, reform and reinventing in teaching and learning, Watkins said.

And the benefits are particularly concrete under the current circumstances when the pandemic is still ongoing. As the global pandemic has made it increasingly difficult for students to travel globally, the use of remote learning has enabled teaching and learning to continue without interruption. “When COVID-19 struck, wise policymakers and educators wasted little time casting blame or cursing the darkness but reached for new technology tools to enable quality teaching and learning to continue,” he said.