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Procedia
Procedia Computer
Computer Science00
Science00 (2018)
(2018) 000–000
000–000 www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
ScienceDirect www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

Procedia Computer Science 183 (2021) 807–813

10th
10th International
International Conference
Conference of
of Information
Information and
and Communication
Communication Technology
Technology (ICICT-2020)
(ICICT-2020)

Exploration
Exploration for
for network
network distance
distance teaching
teaching and
and resource
resource sharing
sharing
system
system for
for higher
higher education
education in
in epidemic
epidemic situation
situation of
of COVID-19
COVID-19
Shun
Shun Yao,
Yao, Defu
Defu Li,
Li, Alula
Alula Yohannes,
Yohannes, Hang
Hang Song*
Song*
School
School of
of Chemical
Chemical Engineering,
Engineering, Sichuan
Sichuan University,
University, No.24
No.24 South
South Section
Section 1,
1, Yihuan
Yihuan Road,
Road, Chengdu,
Chengdu, 610065,
610065, China
China P.
P. R.
R.

Abstract
Abstract
In
In the
the epidemic
epidemic situation
situation of
of COVID-19,
COVID-19, the the construction
construction of
of distance
distance education
education andand resource
resource sharing
sharing platform
platform becomes
becomes more
more and
and
more urgent and important when there is a major public health emergency in the world. This paper comprehensively
more urgent and important when there is a major public health emergency in the world. This paper comprehensively introduces introduces
the social
the social needs,
needs, framework
framework composition,
composition, mainmain functions
functions and
and expected
expected objectives
objectives of
of the
the system,
system, analyzes
analyzes thethe existing
existing main
main
problems and
problems and development
development bottlenecks
bottlenecks inin combination
combination with
with the
the teaching
teaching practice,
practice, and
and shares
shares the experience of
the experience of distance
distance teaching
teaching
through
through the
the actual
actual applications.
applications. Among
Among them,
them, the
the At
At present,
present, the
the two-level
two-level (University
(University and
and College)
College) public
public platforms
platforms shared
shared byby
the teachers together with students in Sichuan University were highlighted, which would provide useful
the teachers together with students in Sichuan University were highlighted, which would provide useful reference for relevant reference for relevant
research and
research and platform
platform construction.
construction. Finally,
Finally, some
some "pocket
"pocket experiments"
experiments" were were successfully
successfully carried
carried out
out at
at students
students home
home under
under the
the
long-distance guidance
long-distance guidance of of teachers,
teachers, and information and
and information and communication
communication technologies
technologies are
are expected
expected toto play
play more
more and
and more
more key
key
role
role during
during the
the epidemic
epidemic oror other
other similar
similar global
global public
public health
health emergencies
emergencies in in future.
future.
©2020
©2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
© 2021TheTheAuthors.
Authors.Published
Publishedby byElsevier
ElsevierB.V.
B.V.
Peer-review under
Peer-review under responsibility
responsibility ofof organizing committee
committee ofof the 10thth International
the 10 International Conference
Conference ofof Information
Information and
This is an open access article underorganizing
the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) and
Communication
Communication
Peer-review under Technology
Technology (ICICT-2020).
(ICICT-2020).
responsibility of the scientific committee of the 10th International Conference of Information and Communication
Technology.
Keywords:
Keywords: Distance
Distance teaching;
teaching; Resource
Resource sharing;
sharing; Integrated
Integrated system;
system; Higher
Higher education;
education; COVID-19
COVID-19

1.
1. Introduction
Introduction

Up
Up toto now,
now, the
the outbreak
outbreak ofof the
the novel
novel coronavirus
coronavirus pneumonia
pneumonia (COVID-19)
(COVID-19) in in early
early 2020
2020 has
has affected
affected more
more than
than
200
200 countries and regions worldwide. The global economy, education and public life have been seriously affected,
countries and regions worldwide. The global economy, education and public life have been seriously affected,
and
and it
it has
has the
the most
most significant
significant impact
impact on
on the
the teaching
teaching and
and research
research activities
activities of
of universities
universities together
together with
with colleges
colleges
with the strongest mobility of personnel. It is worth noting that in the context of the epidemic
with the strongest mobility of personnel. It is worth noting that in the context of the epidemic situation and situation and its
its

** Corresponding
Corresponding author.
author. Tel.:
Tel.: +86-028-85405221;
+86-028-85405221; fax:
fax: +86-028-85405221.
+86-028-85405221.
E-mail address: cusack@scu.edu.cn
E-mail address: cusack@scu.edu.cn
1877-0509
1877-0509 2020 2020 The
The Authors.
Authors. Published
Published by
by Elsevier
Elsevier B.V.
B.V.
This
This is
is an
an open
open access
access article
article under
under the
the CC
CC BY-NC-ND
BY-NC-ND license
license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee
and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee ofof the
the 10th
10th International
International Conference
Conference of
of Information
Information and
and
Communication Technology, ICICT2020
Communication Technology, ICICT2020

1877-0509 © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 10th International Conference of Information and Communication
Technology.
10.1016/j.procs.2021.03.002
808 Shun Yao et al. / Procedia Computer Science 183 (2021) 807–813
2 Shun Yao et al. / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2020) 000–000

potential risks that may exist for a very long time, higher education may enter into a new era of long-term
coexistence of online and offline teaching in the near future. Most of the colleges and universities with good
conditions will successively build and update their distance teaching and resource sharing system. Current
communication technologies have been promoting education to a great extent. 1 Until May 8th, 1454 China colleges
and universities across the country have carried out distant teaching. The teaching mode includes live and recorded
broadcasting courses, MOOC courses, TV courses, remote guidance and other forms. 1.03 million teachers have
opened 1.07 million courses online, with a total of 12.26 million courses, including both theoretical and
experimental courses; a total of 17.75 million undergraduates have participated in online learning. Among them, the
courses offered in colleges and universities cover 12 disciplines, including science, engineering, agriculture,
medicine, economics, management, law, literature, history, philosophy, art and teaching. The course types include
public courses, professional basic courses, professional courses, theoretical courses, experimental courses and other
categories. In addition, the Ministry of education has launched an English version of the international platform for
online teaching in colleges and universities. The first batch of 302 English courses have been launched, covering
eight fields such as medicine and epidemic prevention & control, natural science, etc; and it has also recommended
the English version of the international platform for online teaching towards all overseas students, which can be
combined with global educative institutions and drive international collaboration. 2 For realizing these objectives
fully, a more mature and comprehensive multifunction system should be considered and developed. Especially, the
epidemic situation makes educators realize that whenever and wherever there are any social factors affecting normal
teaching, education modernization should first ensure that teaching can be carried out smoothly under all
circumstances. It is the modernization of education system, education concept and education ecology. Only by
realizing the efficient teaching method of fully mobilizing and allocating resources under the background of
multimedia information,3 the revolution from traditional education mode to multi-path distance education can be
realized. When classroom teaching cannot be carried out, educators should strive to break through the limitations of
traditional "face-to-face" teaching through various effective means, and provide a multiple selection, resource
sharing, wide region and interactive learning innovation mode for the knowledge seekers.

2. System framework

After three months of investigation and practice, it is suggested that an ideal distance teaching and resource
sharing system should at least integrate the following parts: face recognition attendance and temperature monitoring,
hypermedia / multimedia classroom in the air, course preparation and evaluation, examination and homework
subsystem, answering questions subsystem, teaching resource sharing, professional knowledge and skills sharing,
instrument and equipment sharing, meeting / seminar / defense platform, graduation thesis (design) management,
virtual simulation learning / internship, WEB-based fictitious laboratory, online library, etc (see Fig.1). They can be
carried out in one or more channels, including network, IOT, computer, TV, mobile phone, telephone and radio, and
can at least achieve the function of air classroom in those areas with limited conditions.
As aforementioned, it is recommended that above platform should be combined with offline teaching all the time
whether there is epidemic situation or not; and this is the fundamental purpose of the information and
communication system. For example, when students can normally return to the classroom for on-site learning, the
system has a recording function, which can play back the teaching content of every teacher in the classroom for all
the students in need, so as to consolidate their learning effect after class. Face-based recognition attendance and
body temperature measurement can also be used for on-site teaching in classroom. From the current teaching
situation together with the background of information & communication technology, the continuous innovation of
teaching ways and education modes is far less important than the implementation of their actual effect. At present,
there are independent and scattered single-function platforms, and the domestic network construction has entered the
5G era in China. Various e-learning digital resources are much richer than 8 years ago when the China Ministry of
Education issued the "ten year development plan of informationalized education" (2012~2020), but the integration
and improvement of utilization efficiency are not enough. If the essence of classroom is the integration of
autonomous studying and interactive learning, people do not see the emergence of technologies and related
applications that have an essential and overall impact on education in epidemic situation of COVID-19. The hasty
 Shun Yao et al. / Procedia Computer Science 183 (2021) 807–813 809
Shun Yao et al. / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2020) 000–000 3

and flurried response forces worldwide educators to consider long-term countermeasures, and the mature and
effective system with complete functions needs to be built as soon as possible.

Fig. 1. A typical integrated distance teaching and resource sharing system.

Related overall architecture can be basically designed according to the following parts: (1) system support layer:
it is mainly composed by the basic modules supporting the operation of the system platform, including multimedia
management, database management, data mining, etc; (2) infrastructure and system function layer: it mainly
includes platform infrastructure, user management, authority management and other system functions. On the one
hand, the function flatenization should be achieved, which is convenient for users to quickly find the functions they
need, especially for the computer unskilled teachers and students. On the other hand, the system infrastructure (such
as APP) should realize the high scalability of the platform, and users can choose according to their own needs to
fully realize personalized services; (3) application platform layer: taking the examination and homework subsystem
for example, the application platform layer includes the main functions of each individual section of this subsystem,
such as the establishment of online course question bank, one key automatic question bank selection and test paper
formation, test management, student appointment management, online invigilation management, mobile test, test
score statistics and analysis, etc. During the design, every transaction should be kept independent in order to reduce
the coupling degree; it is needed to make full preparation for the expansion and upgrading.4 At the same time, it is
necessary to adopt the distributed architecture design, which puts every transaction on different servers. It can
shorten the network distance between the platform and students, reduce the traffic on the backbone network, and
prevent the platform from being inaccessible in case of network accidents. At the architecture level, server cluster
should be used for various applications, which can both support a larger amount of access and also serve as a
redundant backup to prevent the platform from being inaccessible due to server failure. At the single server level,
designers should configure the operating system, file system and application layer software in reasonable way,
which is very crucial to balance the consumption of various resources and eliminate the system performance
bottleneck, and then give full play to the potential of the server. In the application layer, various caches will be used
to improve the efficiency of programs and reduce the consumption of server resources.5 At every level, the problem
of fault tolerance should be fully considered to realize that no matter what kind of error or fault occurs, it will not
affect the normal operation of the platform. The client-side provides protection measures such as power-off
protection, data cloud storage, etc, and the whole system strives to realize the real distance virtual classroom that
never ends. As for Sichuan University, the platform is open to 30000-40000 teachers and students without a break,
thus the stability, safety and reliability of the system should be strictly guaranteed. Finally, some development
languages can be selected as shown in Table 1. Some of them are suitable as front-end interface development
languages, and some are more appropriate as back-end development languages. For instance, there are some
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4 Shun Yao et al. / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2020) 000–000

common combinations of these languages just like Java + HTML. The basic principle is not only to support the
current mainstream database, but also to achieve the required functional modules with the minimum amount of code
and improve the page response speed.

Table 1. Typical languages used in distance education systems.

Languages Characters and features
Python+ Django Efficient construction of web application, perfect ORM operation, powerful web
template view and routing function, hardware performance breakthrough cache
processing
Python+ Tkinter Simple and convenient, enough to handle the needs of most small GUI
(Graphical User Interface) programs
Java (+MySQL) Good portability, hardware independent, robust and secure system, providing
concurrent mechanism
Hypertext markup language (HTML) Easy to be directly recognized by most browsers and fast page speed; it also can
be cached to reduce the burden of the server
Synchronized multimedia integration language (SMIL) Saving network bandwidth, supporting hyperlink, easy to synchronize multiple
media
Formula markup language (FML) Avoiding the expression and transmission of network formula in the form of
figures by manual input, saving the bandwidth and time in the transmission
process to improve the transfer efficiency
Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) Strong cross-platform, low development cost, object-oriented, comprehensive
functions, good extensibility and openness, supporting almost all popular
databases and operating systems

3. Construction platform

From the perspective of administrative departments, also taking Sichuan University as an example, the functional
units can include academic affairs office, development and planning office, laboratory and equipment management
office, etc. In terms of business segments, there are SCU courses center
(http://cc.scu.edu.cn/G2S/Showsystem/Index.aspx), independent colleges, college of continuing education, school of
overseas education, library, etc to participate in the system construction and applications. In particular, in order to
further strengthen the informatization construction and improve the informatization service level of Sichuan
University, it is very necessary to promote the research planning, construction management, technical support,
operation and maintenance guarantee of the informatization environment of education, teaching together with
scientific research services. On this consideration, SCU has integrated the responsibilities of the information
management center affiliated to the president's office and the modern education technology center affiliated to the
academic affairs office, and then established the informatization construction and management office, which is in
charge of the information construction and management office of the logistics group's "communication center". It is
responsible for the overall planning of the campus network and information development strategy; the overall
management of the campus information construction project; the construction, operation and maintenance of the
campus network and information, intelligent teaching environment as well as communication infrastructure; the
statistics, integration and analysis of the smart campus data and sharing; the construction, management and
maintenance of informatization teaching platform; information technology and education technology training; the
construction and operation of the technical environment of public-shared spaces, the production service of teaching
audio and video; the coordination and management of informatization related social resources, etc. According to the
new requirements for education & teaching for the outbreak of the epidemic of COVID-19, the functions, businesses
and authorities of the office will be further expanded, which will become the nucleus department in this system.
At present, the two-level (University and College) public platforms shared by the teachers together with students
in the School of Chemical Engineering include the Comprehensive Educational Administration System (the
teacher's end / students’ end), the Curriculum Center, the Virtual Large-Scale Equipment Management Center, the
Intelligent & Independent Experimental Platform System for Students’ "Innovation + Entrepreneurship", the
 Shun Yao et al. / Procedia Computer Science 183 (2021) 807–813 811
Shun Yao et al. / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2020) 000–000 5

network database of School of Chemical Engineering Institute, the Open Simulation Platform of the Chemical
Engineering Experimental Center, and the Wechat official account of Sichuan University's microservice, etc; and
relevant systems need to be integrated, sorted and expanded. Among them, the Wechat official account of SCU is a
good example in terms of integration. It is based on the cross platform multi-functional communication tool
commonly used by the public and successfully integrates the original functions of nearly twenty APPs. It is very
concise, reliable, convenient and intuitive, and does not need little training before use, so it provides a good
reference for the construction of distance education system. Actually, it also offers a channel for lifelong learning.6

4. Current problems in actual applications

From February, internet based distance education and cloud classroom have entered huge numbers of families;
tens of millions of Chinese undergraduate and graduate students have carried out a series of activities in different
forms and ways, including online learning, internship, discipline competition, scientific research, dissertation
(design) proposal/reviewing, graduation defense, work report, seminar & forum, and employment guidance, etc. At
present, from the survey results of the responsible institutions during the epidemic period, students' acceptance and
satisfaction degrees for related online learning activities are generally high, and the main factors affecting distance
education include curriculum setting, learning resources, platform using skills, home-school support, etc. During the
epidemic period, internet information and communication technologies provide a possibility for real online
personalized autonomous learning; but in reality, some network education practices have evolved into using big data
to monitor students' activities in learning rather than to guide and facilitate them. At the same time, although there
are very rich network resources, how to effectively help students to find the knowledge suitable for their own needs
and how to organize their own learning resources is still a big problem, which is worth studying by teachers and
relevant departments. In addition, such as the lack of interaction in teaching, the relationship maintenance between
teachers and students in closed environment, the lack of digital education resources exposed in rural and remote
areas and so on, these problems in the practice of online education need attention and research. Generally speaking,
the most common problem is the network jam when a large number of users are centralized, and the system
bandwidth needs to be expanded. Some teachers have no enough networks teaching experience, the online teaching
methods are uneven, and interaction is insufficient between teachers and students. Moreover, there is also a lack of
effective offline learning management and supervision in distance teaching. At present, 5 G network and Gigabit
broadband are gradually popularized. It is not only expected that the situation of network jam will be improved
when online teaching, but also teachers and students can highly restore the offline classroom teaching scene through
VR / AR technologies, so as to improve the efficiency of teaching and learning. The hardware supporting public
facilities of network learning are the premise and foundation of distance education. Combined with the current
problems of network information instability in network learning, local governments and education departments need
to attach great importance to improving the hardware supporting public facilities. In order to ensure that students
who use mobile phones to study are as less affected as possible, Sichuan University unites Telecom operators to
send NetFlow traffic packages continuously, which can be received by all students free of charge through mobile
phones. At last, with the final exams approaching, the anti-cheating function of the online exam module in the
distance education system will face the greatest test and challenge. Based on the survey, a considerable number of
teachers are skeptical of the effect of monitoring the examination process by taking candid photographs together
with screen flipping, who hope to make up the offline examination after returning to classroom or carry out online
and offline combinative assessment before the final scores are given. Furthermore, there is no ideal way to deal with
the possible emergency situations of system / network / terminal equipment breakdown or power cut in the exam.
Currently, the actual application performance of online testing module needs more continuous feedback and
improvement urgently, which are derived from teachers, education administers as well as students and their families.

5. Teaching practices & conclusions

Taking "Introduction To Traditional Chinese Medicine" as an example, this course lasts from the end of March to
the middle of May, with a total of 32 theoretical class hours (5 class hours per week, including 2 class hours on
Monday morning and 3 class hours on Wednesday afternoon). It is a professional elective course for all the students
812 Shun Yao et al. / Procedia Computer Science 183 (2021) 807–813
6 Shun Yao et al. / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2020) 000–000

of different majors in the university to choose freely, which aims to popularize both traditional medicine knowledge
and common sense of disease prevention & health care. Coincidently, this course happened to be taught during this
epidemic, which showed more positive meaning to students in home learning process besides its original teaching
objectives. Before teaching, the pre-class review module sent the questions about the important knowledge points of
the last course to the designated students, and face recognition helped teachers quickly complete attendance
registration. Through learning corresponding PPT courseware and other reading materials after class in teaching
files shared in system, students could reply to teachers' questions as required and then get evaluation and feedback;
important and representative problems will be commented for all the students in five minutes after class. Within
each independent class hour (50 min), the shared screen can be switched timely in the status of outlined slides,
teaching video and multi participant connection for interaction. It should be noted that too much screen switching
will not only cause fatigue of both sides during teaching, but also increase the failure rate of the working system.
It is worth mentioning that it is very suitable and practical to carry out the on-line study of prevention and health
care by using traditional Chinese medicine during this epidemic of COVID-19. If the content is more simple and
practical, in fact, this distance learning content can even be open to the public simultaneously. Many resources about
popularization of science and learning videos related to the epidemic have been put into a shared database, including
the latest research results of teachers. Especially, a series of traditional medical practical skills, including massage
and Baduanjin (a kind of martial arts popularly used in mobile cabin hospitals for healthcare), all the participants in
the class learn and communicate together through online shared video, which not only makes the learning process
more interesting, but also makes everyone really get the deep experience of "learning by doing", especially for
“active leaning” students.7 In order to ensure the development of online experiment teaching, Sichuan University
has given full play to the role of instrument sharing platform, and the virtual experiment can be completed at home
(whether individual or team). In addition, in order to ensure the development of some physical experiments, the
platform can also reserve experimental equipment and some reagents, and send them to students' homes by express
delivery to help them carry out "pocket experiments". Fig.2 shows a whole experimental process for the student at
home to complete the preparation of Aloe Vera Gel successfully, which was guided by the tutor/teacher through
distance learning system. As conclusion, information and communication technologies are believed to play more
and more key role in global public health emergencies in future according to above teaching and studying practices.

Fig. 2. The practice of remote guidance for home experiment.

Acknowledgement

This paper was supported by Personnel Training Quality & Teaching Reform Project of Higher Education in
Sichuan Province (2018~2020) and 8th Reform Project of Higher Education in New Century (2018~2020) of SCU.

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