A Taipei City Government online education database called “CooC-Cloud” could help the nation demonstrate its “soft power,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday, adding that information technology-based education could be a game changer.
Ko made the remarks in a speech at the two-day 11th Taipei International Conference of Innovative ICT Education, which opened yesterday at Taipei Municipal Zhonglun High School.
“The theme of this year’s event is learning and teaching new-age technologies. That is: Creating a more student-oriented learning environment with the help of innovative technologies,” Ko said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The conference features more than 40 speakers from IT backgrounds from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Japan who gave talks on applications of augmented reality and virtual reality technologies in education, mobile devices as learning tools and experiences in offering online courses.
Speakers from the municipal government introduced the “CooC-Cloud,” which was launched in August.
The platform was created by the Taipei departments of Education and Information Technology and contains learning material designed by students from elementary to senior-high-school level.
“I have often said that your enemies are your best mentors,” Ko said. “Of course, the people we are going to learn from cannot be called our enemies, but it would allow us an opportunity to see how others have fared. I think this will be crucial to our development.”
Taipei is the most advanced city in Taiwan, so if it can integrate information technology with education, it will likely bring about a change for the nation, he said.
The Web site, http://cooc.tp.edu.tw, is not only available to students in Taipei, but throughout the nation, Ko said, adding that it can be improved with the addition of a translator to display its contents in simplified Chinese, so that Chinese students can also use it.
“This would help to demonstrate the nation’s soft power, which is aimed at sharing one’s beliefs,” he said.
In comments that shifted away from the program, Ko said that the nation’s information-technology sector needed a dose of “changing your brain once you change your position” — a Chinese-language idiom often used to criticize politicians who recant their positions shortly after a rise in power.
This is important for it to remain innovative, he said.
The mayor said that if he was allowed to respond freely, he would “definitely” outperform Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Co general manager Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) at Taipei City Council question-and-answer sessions.
Han has received wide public attention over his responses to councilors who raised questions about his firm’s operations, which have been called witty and confident.
Separately, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei city councilors Ho Chih-wei (何志偉) and Wang Shih-chien (王世堅) criticized Ko’s remarks.
Ho said the Ko administration had performed poorly in attracting foreign investments and contractors to join build-operate-transfer projects.
Ho also said it has failed to tackle unemployment among young people.
“As a mayor, he should focus on his work instead of saying something like that,” Ho said.
Wang, who last month traded barbs with Han at the city council, told Ko to “bring it on.”
Ko’s performance at the city council over the past two years has exposed many weaknesses in his team, Wang said.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
GLOBAL: Although Matsu has limited capacity for large numbers of domestic tourists, it would be a great high-end destination for international travelers, an official said Lienchiang County’s (Matsu) unique landscape and Cold War history give it great potential to be marketed as a destination for international travelers, Tourism Administration Director General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) said at the weekend. Tourism officials traveled to the outlying island for the Matsu Biennial, an art festival that started on Friday to celebrate Matsu’s culture, history and landscape. Travelers to Matsu, which lies about 190km northwest of Taipei, must fly or take the state-run New Taima passenger ship. However, flights are often canceled during fog season from April to June. Chen spoke about her vision to promote Matsu as a tourist attraction in
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
PAWSITIVE IMPACT: A shop owner said that while he adopted cats to take care of rodents, they have also attracted younger visitors who also buy his dried goods In Taipei’s Dadaocheng (大稻埕), cats lounging in shops along Dihua Street do more than nap amid the scent of dried seafood. Many have become beloved fixtures who double as photography models, attracting visitors and helping boost sales in one of the capital’s most historic quarters. A recent photo contest featuring more than a dozen shop cats drew more than 2,200 submissions, turning everyday cat-spotting into a friendly competition that attracted amateur and professional photographers. “It’s rare to see cats standing, so when it suddenly did, it felt like a lucky cat,” said Sabrina Hsu (徐淳蔚), who won the NT$10,000 top prize in
RSS