{"id":34840,"date":"2018-11-13T18:29:54","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T23:29:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/tal-closing-the-education-resource-gap-between-urban-and-rural-areas-with-the-support-of-machine-learning-in-china\/"},"modified":"2018-11-13T18:29:54","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T23:29:54","slug":"tal-closing-the-education-resource-gap-with-the-support-of-machine-learning-in-china","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/tal-closing-the-education-resource-gap-with-the-support-of-machine-learning-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"TAL \u2013 Closing the education resource gap with the support of machine learning in China"},"content":{"rendered":"

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TAL, China\u2019s biggest out-of-school education institution is investing heavily in machine learning to have a better understanding over students\u2019 learning situation through facial expression analysis, to provide customize learning plan through adaptive tests, and to improve operation efficiency through business forecast.<\/p>\n

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China\u2019s Education<\/strong><\/p>\n

Giving children the best education opportunity has been regarded as the top priorities of most of the Chinese parents as it\u2019s a common belief that higher education background will lead to higher success in life. However, with limited \u201ctop schools\u201d, the fierce competition has started at a young age. Children start going to education institutions in their free time to ensure that they can stay ahead of the school schedule, resulting in the flourish of out-of-school education industry. Nonetheless, most of the education resources are still centralized in first-tier cities, leaving the rural areas with high unmet needs.<\/p>\n

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TAL1<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

Founded in Beijing in 2003 and IPO in New York in 2010, TAL is the leading player in China\u2019s out-of-school education industry, focusing on helping high school students to be better prepared for university entry exam. Facing the challenges of uneven resource allocation, TAL launched online education system and expand their footprints to 3rd<\/sup> and 4th<\/sup> tier cities in 2010s. Students in rural areas took class through broadcast to have access to better teachers in Beijing. Meanwhile, they also have tutors to help on solving problems in person. While this model is highly praised by the industry, they are still facing several challenges. Without face-to-face interaction between the teacher and the students sitting in the rural classrooms, it\u2019s difficult for the teacher to have full understanding on how effective the students are learning. Also, it\u2019s difficult for the students to stay concentrated with a screen in between.<\/p>\n

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Technology X Education<\/strong><\/p>\n

Facing these challenges, TAL decided to heavily invest in technology development, founding \u201cAI Lab\u201d in August 2017. The lab aims to improve the education service with the support of machine learning. It has focused on four key dimensions:<\/p>\n