Digital Literacy of Teachers and Students: Enhancing the “Soft Power” of Human–Machine Collaboration in China

This chapter concentrates on the digital literacy of the teachers and students in China. The core of educational digital transformation lies in the transformation of people, and the improvement of teachers’ and students’ digital literacy is the key to the success or failure of this transformation. This chapter aims to systematically explore the connotation, policies, challenges, and improvement paths of teachers’ and students’ digital literacy, with the main argument being: In the era of artificial intelligence, digital literacy has transcended the mere technical operational ability and evolved into a crucial “soft power”, with the core goal being to enhance the efficacy of human–machine collaboration, that is, teachers and students can effectively utilize digital technologies and intelligent tools for critical thinking, ethical judgment, collaborative innovation, and complex problem-solving, achieving a comprehensive ability in these areas. This chapter first defines the multi-dimensional connotation of digital literacy, including technical knowledge, digital teaching ability, human–machine collaboration ability, digital ethics, and continuous learning ability. Secondly, it systematically reviews the policy system at the national level, centered on the “Notice on Digital Empowerment of Teacher Development” and the “Opinions on Accelerating the Digitalization of Education”, clarifying the strategic direction of incorporating digital literacy into teacher qualification certification and student comprehensive quality evaluation. Then, it deeply analyzes the current practical challenges in regional balance, ethical norms, and training systems. Finally, from the four dimensions of improving layered training, building a new ecosystem of human–machine collaboration, strengthening ethical norms and evaluation mechanisms, and bridging the digital divide, it proposes a systematic improvement path. This chapter believes that the improvement of teachers’ and students’ digital literacy is a systematic project involving cognitive reconfiguration, ethical internalization, and mechanism innovation. Its ultimate goal is to make people the leaders and enablers of technology, enhancing the “soft power” of human–machine collaboration, achieving the leap from “instrumental rationality” to “value rationality” in education, and ultimately empowering the overall digital transformation and high-quality development of the education system.