The Post-Covid New Normal: The Mainland Online Early Education Opportunity

Hualala uses small-class teaching with a ratio of 1:6. Under this model, children are both partners and competitors with each other. It has effectively addressed problems associated with the traditional 1:1 teaching mode, such as a lacklustre learning atmosphere and the difficulty of keeping children’s attention. Describing how it works, Li said: “As opposed to language education, in which a child engages the teacher intensively, art education is more about the teacher giving guidance by the side of students who have a lot of time by themselves while drawing pictures. This is a subject well-suited to small-class teaching.”

The 1:6 model generates a much higher return in terms of operational efficiency than the 1:1 model. In the case of a 50-hour course, for example, each student in a 1:1 class is charged RMB6,000 while those in a 1:6 class pay RMB4,000, raising a total of RMB24,000. Li pointed out that this economic advantage allows his company to provide a better service, saying: “Given secure profit margins and a positive cashflow, we can employ full-time teachers to guarantee teaching quality. Compared to part-timers, full-time teachers are more stable, making it possible for us to standardise our training and management practices. A more structured curriculum with better continuity can also be put in place.”

Li pointed to Hualala’s emphasis on teaching research, highlighting the company’s innovations and breakthroughs in three areas: curriculum development, teaching models and its teaching and research team. In the area of curriculum development, Hualala has brought in K-12 core arts learning standards from the US and put together an online arts education curriculum tailored to young children in China. Children’s sense of aesthetics is cultivated through teaching based on internationalised education principles and modern teaching approaches. Regarding teaching models, Hualala has invented its own 3T model, comprising Teammate (implementing 1:6 small-class teaching), Teacher (highly-experienced full-time teachers delivering online lessons) and Tutor (a class teacher tracking and updating parents on children’s learning progress throughout a course). When it comes to its teaching and research team, importance is placed on both teachers’ qualifications and teaching research, and strenuous efforts are made to improve course quality and teaching effectiveness. Hualala has a 1,300-strong full-time teaching team, with most of the teachers carefully picked from major arts schools from all over the country. A dedicated R&D team for curriculum development has also been set up, consisting of experts in the areas of fine arts, child psychology, early childhood education, and so on. Because students’ demands change constantly, the team is continually refining products to cater to students’ needs and diverse abilities.

Hualala relies primarily on users’ word-of-mouth to promote its products. To trigger this word-of-mouth marketing, the company must impress customers with its top-quality courses. Li is convinced that the best promotion tactic is to offer the best products, saying : “For education products, this is the most effective marketing approach.” Indeed, current users’ word-of-mouth has so far proved to be a good form of viral promotion for expanding Hualala’s user community. Potential upstream users are also identified through Hualala Xiaodengta.

Firstly, through the application of NLP, students’ learning behaviours, habits and interests are recorded in order to make projections about their ratings and course preferences. Personalised files for each student are created to offer more individualised services and provide custom-made classes and learning experiences.

Secondly, big data analytics is deployed across different stages of the teaching process. This helps record each student’s learning process on Hualala’s different platforms, and a learning report is compiled and passed onto teachers and parents. The report highlights areas warranting attention so that teachers can target students’ weaknesses and help them improve in future classes.

Thirdly, via the use of face recognition and facial expression recognition technologies, teachers can get real-time feedback to help them interact better with their students. Students’ level of concentration and ability to digest teaching materials can be assessed by analysing their faces and facial expressions. The information is then fed to the teachers in real time, so that they can adjust their teaching methods and content accordingly. Not only is the teaching quality enhanced, but young children’s ability to focus can also be fostered.

Hualala has also developed its own online arts teaching system Art-Cloud and one-stop competitions service platform Art AI. Art-Cloud raises the quality of teaching by improving the speed, clarity and compatibility of transmission, and provides users with customised services based on their needs for different courses and actual circumstances. In this way, their learning experience can be greatly enhanced. Art AI uses artificial intelligence and big data analytics to link up with major domestic and overseas competitions. Individual files are opened for all students joining competitions. They are offered smart services and coaching for competitions.

Opportunities and Challenges Under Covid-19

The coronavirus pandemic has brought both opportunities and challenges for online education platforms. Forced to stay home, a great number of parents are switching to e-learning for their children, raising the penetration rate of online teaching. As a result, online teaching platforms are enjoying brisk business, lowered customer acquisition costs and increased profit margins, ushering in a golden age for the sector. On the other hand, the pandemic has accelerated the pace of offline learning institutions going online, escalating competition and speeding up the elimination of those that are not up to par. Li believes that, in the post-pandemic era, only platforms with a mature operation model offering quality teaching will survive in the long run.

Compared to traditional bricks-and-mortar learning institutes, online education platforms offer some unique advantages. At the same time, they also have their own limitations. From a student’s perspective, e-learning overcomes the time and space constraints associated with offline learning and satisfies the demand from both parents and students for diversified and personalised education. However, students may find their own self-discipline and motivation to learn are put to the test. For education institutions and teachers, meanwhile, online teaching makes teaching easier and more effective while bringing in more revenue. Yet it is also more demanding on teachers as higher teaching standards are expected.