Digital Application Enhancement Project
in Remote Areas

I. Overview

To cooperate with the Digital Divide Reduction policy by the Executive Yuan, the goal of the first session (2005-2007) by the Ministry of Education (MOE) was‘Reducing the digital divide between urban and remote areas', the goal of the second session (2008-2011) was‘Creating digital opportunities', the goal of the third session (2012-2015) was‘Deep-seated cultivation of digital care', the goal of the fourth session (2016-2019) was‘Popularizing digital applications', and when the MOE achieves the goal of the fifth session (2020-2023), ‘Marching towards digital affirmative rights', thereby proactively providing digital applications and digital services to people including multiple ethnic groups in remote areas, then the ‘Digital Application Enhancement Project in Remote Areas' will be completed.

II. Summary

From the overall environment construction and creation in remote areas, to the provision of essential and diverse resources, along with rigorous and innovative training courses as well as cultivation planning and design, the cross-departmental resources from various ministries have been combined and converted into the virtual and real integration of digital learning and information applications channels, in order to improve the public's information literacy and capability in remote areas.

The Digital Opportunity Center (hereinafter referred to as DOC) is used as a base for local digital learning and services. It combines services such as life application or health education information, and practical experience of new technology, to create a healthy and friendly digital life. The overall goals are to popularize digital applications for the people who live in remote areas, improve their overall living quality, enhance the public's capabilities in digital applications and digital marketing through a more comprehensive and effective approach, and create dazzling digital applications for the residents in remote areas by facilitating the development of the local economy.

III. Objectives

1. The MOE will integrate resources of departments, create a friendly digital environment in remote areas, and promote diverse virtual and real digital application courses to help diverse ethnic groups with digital life applications in remote areas. The service areas include remote areas with relatively low digital development. The MOE will provide services to middle-aged people, indigenous people, new immigrants, people with physical or mental disabilities, women, and low-income households who live in remote areas with a relatively low digital development so that residents will have the opportunity to use digital tools according to the needs of their daily lives.

2. In response to the diverse trends of technologies and the needs of the public, the MOE will provide the latest information about living applications and learning materials, and establish people's cognition and habits of online self-learning in remote areas. This will enable people to enjoy self-learning, and manage their learning progress, achieve the enjoyment of digital learning, effectively shrink the digital divide in remote areas caused by developments of digital technology, and implement digital affirmative rights for all people.

● Planning and Coordination:
Ministry of Education (including the management and assessment of project results).

● Counseling and Promotion:
Counseling teams (including special counseling such as information education, community marketing, video and audio recording, and community care).

● Implementation:
Digital Opportunity Center (DOC inventory resource survey, development and management).

● Resource integration:
Connection and integration of resources from various local governments, the National Development Council, the Council of Indigenous Peoples, the Ministry of the Interior National Immigration Agency, the Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Workforce Development Agency, the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the National Communications Commission, etc., which will work together to implement and promote digital education, as well as create a friendly digital environment.

V. Promotion strategy

In response to the four main strategies in the "Promotion Project for Marching Towards Digital Affirmative Rights" and the "Digital Application Enhancement Project in Remote Areas (2020-2023)" planned by the MOE, this program will continue to improve the digital information and application services for the residents of remote areas via the national counseling teams and the DOC.

VI. The focus of operational affairs

In the "Promotion Project for Marching Towards Digital Affirmative Rights (2020-2023)", the MOE is conducting and promoting the "Digital Application Enhancement Project in Remote Areas". This project is divided into two subprojects according to implemental focus: the Digital Opportunity Center (DOC), and Digital Learning Partners.

1. Digital Opportunity Centers (DOCs) (http://itaiwan.moe.gov.tw/)

   The DOCs are venues for people in remote areas to utilize computers and the internet. It aims to create an environment for people in remote areas to conveniently access the internet and information, raise peoples' computer utilization rate and internet access rate, cultivate peoples' digital application abilities in remote areas, facilitate the developments of local cultural industries, fully activate these developments in remote areas, and reduce the digital divide. The establishment of the DOCs will combine the power of public and private departments, as well as community residents to jointly implement this center, and it is expected that via the DOCs, citizen participation can be enhanced, and digital marketing and online self-learning can be carried out, thereby reaching the needs of digital use in life and enriching living applications.

2. Digital Learning Partners (https://etutor.moe.gov.tw/)

   The Digital Learning Partners are based on the concept of student companionship in universities, utilizing the internet to implement companionship and learning. University and college students are recruited and trained to serve as the learning partners of primary and junior high students and DOC students in remote areas. Through video equipment and online learning platforms, the teaching side (university and college students) and the learning side (primary and junior high/DOC students) can regularly and collectively, at a fixed time and place, carry out one-on-one real-time companionship and learning online twice a week (45 minutes per lesson, 2 lessons each time). This will establish a more diverse digital learning environment for students in remote areas, thereby enhancing students' interests in learning and balancing the care for students' physical and mental development.