A New Landscape of Educational Technology Research and Development in the Intelligent Era——A Review of the 2026 China Educational Technology Academic Conference

Artificial intelligence is profoundly reshaping educational concepts, learning approaches, instructional organizations, governance mechanisms, and forms of knowledge production, thereby posing new epochal missions to the research and development of educational technology. Centered on the theme of “Breaking Through and Transforming: Educational Technology Research and Development in the AI Era,” the 2026 China Academic Conference on Educational Technology has provided a vital communication platform for the educational technology community to respond to educational transformations in the intelligent era and advance the digital transformation of education. Based on keynote speeches, expert presentations, and sub-forum discussions at the conference, this paper systematically sorted out the core research issues, paradigm shifts, and future landscape for educational technology research and development in the intelligent era. The review found that in-depth discussions at the conference revolved around six major themes: rethinking educational values and the essence of education, human-AI collaborative learning and teaching transformation, protection of human subjectivity and ethical governance, intelligent transformation of educational governance and evaluation, reconstruction and development of the disciplinary system of educational technology, and systematic advancement of general AI education. These discussions collectively indicated that educational technology research has been shifting from digital empowerment to intelligent reconstruction, from partial technological applications to educational system transformation, from technology-efficiency orientation to all-round development of human beings, from empirical interpretation to data- evidenced inquiry and AI-assisted generation, and from localized practical exploration to the construction of Chinese solutions and global contributions. Looking ahead, the advancement of educational technology development would move toward a new value order of human-AI symbiosis, a new paradigm enhanced by intelligence, a trustworthy and inclusive new governance system, an independently developed disciplinary discourse, and a systemically collaborative practice model, thereby providing important support for building a strong country in education and developing a theoretical system of educational technology with Chinese characteristics.