Keynote Speakers
Speech Title: Invitation to Establish Seamless Interest-Driven Creator Theory
— and its possible roles in achieving the Global ‘Harwell’ Goal in the Seamless AI World
Professor Tak-Wai Chan
Chair Professor,
National Central University
Speaker Bio
Professor Tak-Wai Chan is a trailblazer in digital learning and a global leader in the field. Almost 40 years ago, at a time when computers and the internet were not yet mainstream in the mid-eighties, he began researching on AI supported learning for his doctoral dissertation, proposing a new genus of AI in education system called learning companion system in 1988. This virtual companion system, called Integration-Kid, was the first artificial companion in the world. In 1989, he and his students started to build the world's first dedicated networked learning system for collaborative learning and learning through competition games, called Distributed West (1992). In early 2000s, he and his colleagues built the largest online learning community called EduCity (1.5 million learners with 1,700 schools involved in 2003), which was also referred as the first learning society in the world. In the same time period, his team conducted frontier research on mobile learning, intelligent classroom, future classroom, interactive clicker, e-schoolbag, one-to-one technology enhanced learning, and so forth. After this series of research, in 2006, working together with a large group of international researchers mainly from the Western countries, he proposed the concept of Seamless Learning. In 2010s, after some long-term experiments on reading (MSSR) and writing in one-to-one technology enhanced classroom, in collaboration with a group of Asian scholars, he proposed the Interest-Driven Creator (IDC) Theory. Again, he is now calling for an international researcher team to build the Seamless Interest-Driven Creator (SIDC) Theory.
In addition to his research, Professor Chan has also been a major founder of two societies: the Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education (APSCE) and the Global Chinese Society for Computers in Education (GCSCE). These two societies respectively host annual conference series ICCEs and GCCCEs, as well as the journals RPTEL and JLCE. Moreover, to cope with the expanding research community of the field, he has been assisting the establishment of APSCE Theme-Based International Conference Series (TBICS), including CTE-STEM, ICFULL, MetaACES.
Throughout his career, Professor Chan has received numerous recognitions and academic awards, including the National Chair Professorship Award in 2020, the Executive Yuan Award for Outstanding Science and Technology Contribution in 2019, the Fellow of APSCE in 2019, the Academic Award of the Ministry of Education in 2013, the Pan Wen Yuan Foundation Outstanding Research Award in 2009, and the Chinese Foundation Award from the National Science Council in 2003. Besides being National Chair Professor, he has also held several distinguished positions, including Chair Professor at NCU since 2008, Distinguished Professor at NCU from 2004 to 2008, Excellent Appointed Researcher at the National Science Council in 2008, and Appointed Researcher at the National Science Council from 2000 to 2007. Additionally, he has received Excellent Research Awards from the National Science Council for the years 1995-1996, 1997-1998, and 1999-2000.
Throughout his career, Professor Chan has received numerous recognitions and academic awards: the National Chair Professorship Award in 2020, the Executive Yuan Award for Excellent Science and Technology Contribution in 2019, the Fellow of APSCE in 2019, the Pan Wen Yuan Foundation Excellent Researcher Award in 2009, among others.
Abstract
This talk is based on an ongoing discussion by a small group of international researchers who are exploring how to integrate IDC Theory and the Seamless Learning concept to form Seamless IDC Theory (SIDC Theory). It will cover what the global educational goal is, and how this goal can be achieved through SIDC learning in the era of AI and the metaverse.
More than 160 years ago, Dickens wrote in the first sentence of his A Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair...”. Now, the human lifespan is extended, but COVID-19 global death toll has exceeded 8 million (Our World in Data, 2023). Digitization enables all of us to connect and communicate, but we constantly quarrel over different beliefs; online games immerse players, but children's addiction may become a disaster; artificial intelligence can improve human life, but it can also do stupid things to human beings; the advent of metaverse may represent a bright future world, but it may also signal a dark abyss to come; we cheer for technological advancement, but worry about climate change, natural resource depletion, environmental pollution, wealth disparity and other problems.
The world is on the brink of peril. Shall we live in harmony with the world around us? What is the future of human well-being? What role can education play? Mandela once said: "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world." Indeed, education is the beacon of hope for the future. Today's education decides the destiny of all human beings in the future. In 2040, the current primary and secondary school students in their 30s will become our society's pillars.
Yet, progress and impacts of digital technology accelerate. Designing future education is creating the future world.
In 2006, 17 international researchers, from Asia, Europe, and North America, published a paper on seamless learning that holistically describes future technology-supported learning environments (Chan et al., 2006). Seamless learning is based on three other concepts: (1) one-to-one (1:1) technology-enhanced learning, (2) learning scenarios, and (3) seamless learning space. Seamless learning spells out the continuity of the learning experience while students switch from one scenario to another easily and quickly. Subsequently, the concept triggered abundant research (Looi et al., 2010; Wong & Looi, 2011).
In 2018, 23 Asian researchers collaborated and published the first paper on Interest-Driven Creator Theory (IDC Theory) (Chan et al., 2018) and a series of related conceptual papers (Chan et al., 2019; Wong et al., 2020; Chen et al., 2020). This effort stemmed from the fact that a considerable part of Asian education remains ‘examination-driven’. The overemphasis on examination outcomes distorts learning and teaching processes, ruining students' interest in learning, undermining the need to develop twenty-first century competencies, and failing to prepare our next generation to face the unpredictable future. Nevertheless, high-stakes examinations will still be with us in the foreseeable future. IDC Theory aims to lessen the drawbacks of examination-driven education and provides direction for future learning design in Asia and beyond.
Seamless learning speaks of a future technology-supported learning environment, while IDC Theory focuses on learning activity design. The integration will form a Seamless IDC Theory (or SIDC Theory) about the continuity of IDC-based learning in the future seamless learning space.
This talk invites interested researchers worldwide to establish SIDC Theory through the collective endeavor. In building the theory, the following questions may need to be addressed:
1. How to develop a broad framework of SIDC Theory to capture critical elements of the theory?
2. Will there be an extension of seamless learning per se and that of IDC Theory per se in view of SIDC Theory in the digital future?
3. If “global harmony and well-being” is an educational goal from the global perspective (or Global ‘Harwell’Goal) that educators worldwide should strive for, will SIDC-based learning (or SIDC learning) contribute to this global educational goal?
4. In the ‘Seamless AI World’ of the digital future, extended from SIDC learning, will there be SIDC work, SIDC exercise, SIDC entertainment, SIDC family life, and so forth? In short, will there be SIDC life? Is SIDC life our aspiration?
Speech Title: If the Metaverse is the Answer, What is the Question?
Professor Christopher Dede
Senior Research Fellow,
Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University
Speaker Bio
Chris Dede is a Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was for 22 years its Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies. His fields of scholarship include emerging technologies, policy, and leadership. He is a Co-Principal Investigator of the NSF-funded National Artificial Intelligence Institute in Adult Learning and Online Education.
Abstract
We live at a time of rapid advances in both the capabilities and the cost of virtual reality (VR), multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs), and various forms of mixed reality (e.g., augmented reality (AR), digital puppeteering). These emerging media potentially offer extraordinary opportunities for enhancing both motivation and learning across a range of subject areas, student developmental levels, and educational settings.
Immersive media have affordances that enhance experiential learning based on a plan/act/reflect cycle. Psychological immersion is the mental state of being completely absorbed or engaged with something. For example, a well-designed game in a MUVE draws viewers into the metaverse portrayed on the screen, and they feel caught up in that virtual environment. The use of narrative and symbolism creates credible, engaging situations; each participant can influence what happens through their actions and can interact with others. Via richer stimuli, head-mounted or room-sized displays can create sensory immersion to deepen the effect of psychological immersion, as well as induce embodied virtual presence (place illusion), the feeling that you are at a location in the virtual world.
This talk will describe how the metaverse is powerful for “situated” learning: Experiences take place in the same or a similar virtual context to the real world setting in which skills and knowledge are later applied, and the virtual context itself fosters tacit learning through experience and modeling. However, learning in the metaverse faces challenges of simulator sickness, access by learners with limited vision, and limited bandwidth for non-verbal human interaction.
— and its possible roles in achieving the Global ‘Harwell’ Goal in the Seamless AI World
Professor Tak-Wai Chan
Chair Professor,
National Central University
Speaker Bio
Professor Tak-Wai Chan is a trailblazer in digital learning and a global leader in the field. Almost 40 years ago, at a time when computers and the internet were not yet mainstream in the mid-eighties, he began researching on AI supported learning for his doctoral dissertation, proposing a new genus of AI in education system called learning companion system in 1988. This virtual companion system, called Integration-Kid, was the first artificial companion in the world. In 1989, he and his students started to build the world's first dedicated networked learning system for collaborative learning and learning through competition games, called Distributed West (1992). In early 2000s, he and his colleagues built the largest online learning community called EduCity (1.5 million learners with 1,700 schools involved in 2003), which was also referred as the first learning society in the world. In the same time period, his team conducted frontier research on mobile learning, intelligent classroom, future classroom, interactive clicker, e-schoolbag, one-to-one technology enhanced learning, and so forth. After this series of research, in 2006, working together with a large group of international researchers mainly from the Western countries, he proposed the concept of Seamless Learning. In 2010s, after some long-term experiments on reading (MSSR) and writing in one-to-one technology enhanced classroom, in collaboration with a group of Asian scholars, he proposed the Interest-Driven Creator (IDC) Theory. Again, he is now calling for an international researcher team to build the Seamless Interest-Driven Creator (SIDC) Theory.
In addition to his research, Professor Chan has also been a major founder of two societies: the Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education (APSCE) and the Global Chinese Society for Computers in Education (GCSCE). These two societies respectively host annual conference series ICCEs and GCCCEs, as well as the journals RPTEL and JLCE. Moreover, to cope with the expanding research community of the field, he has been assisting the establishment of APSCE Theme-Based International Conference Series (TBICS), including CTE-STEM, ICFULL, MetaACES.
Throughout his career, Professor Chan has received numerous recognitions and academic awards, including the National Chair Professorship Award in 2020, the Executive Yuan Award for Outstanding Science and Technology Contribution in 2019, the Fellow of APSCE in 2019, the Academic Award of the Ministry of Education in 2013, the Pan Wen Yuan Foundation Outstanding Research Award in 2009, and the Chinese Foundation Award from the National Science Council in 2003. Besides being National Chair Professor, he has also held several distinguished positions, including Chair Professor at NCU since 2008, Distinguished Professor at NCU from 2004 to 2008, Excellent Appointed Researcher at the National Science Council in 2008, and Appointed Researcher at the National Science Council from 2000 to 2007. Additionally, he has received Excellent Research Awards from the National Science Council for the years 1995-1996, 1997-1998, and 1999-2000.
Throughout his career, Professor Chan has received numerous recognitions and academic awards: the National Chair Professorship Award in 2020, the Executive Yuan Award for Excellent Science and Technology Contribution in 2019, the Fellow of APSCE in 2019, the Pan Wen Yuan Foundation Excellent Researcher Award in 2009, among others.
Abstract
This talk is based on an ongoing discussion by a small group of international researchers who are exploring how to integrate IDC Theory and the Seamless Learning concept to form Seamless IDC Theory (SIDC Theory). It will cover what the global educational goal is, and how this goal can be achieved through SIDC learning in the era of AI and the metaverse.
More than 160 years ago, Dickens wrote in the first sentence of his A Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair...”. Now, the human lifespan is extended, but COVID-19 global death toll has exceeded 8 million (Our World in Data, 2023). Digitization enables all of us to connect and communicate, but we constantly quarrel over different beliefs; online games immerse players, but children's addiction may become a disaster; artificial intelligence can improve human life, but it can also do stupid things to human beings; the advent of metaverse may represent a bright future world, but it may also signal a dark abyss to come; we cheer for technological advancement, but worry about climate change, natural resource depletion, environmental pollution, wealth disparity and other problems.
The world is on the brink of peril. Shall we live in harmony with the world around us? What is the future of human well-being? What role can education play? Mandela once said: "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world." Indeed, education is the beacon of hope for the future. Today's education decides the destiny of all human beings in the future. In 2040, the current primary and secondary school students in their 30s will become our society's pillars.
Yet, progress and impacts of digital technology accelerate. Designing future education is creating the future world.
In 2006, 17 international researchers, from Asia, Europe, and North America, published a paper on seamless learning that holistically describes future technology-supported learning environments (Chan et al., 2006). Seamless learning is based on three other concepts: (1) one-to-one (1:1) technology-enhanced learning, (2) learning scenarios, and (3) seamless learning space. Seamless learning spells out the continuity of the learning experience while students switch from one scenario to another easily and quickly. Subsequently, the concept triggered abundant research (Looi et al., 2010; Wong & Looi, 2011).
In 2018, 23 Asian researchers collaborated and published the first paper on Interest-Driven Creator Theory (IDC Theory) (Chan et al., 2018) and a series of related conceptual papers (Chan et al., 2019; Wong et al., 2020; Chen et al., 2020). This effort stemmed from the fact that a considerable part of Asian education remains ‘examination-driven’. The overemphasis on examination outcomes distorts learning and teaching processes, ruining students' interest in learning, undermining the need to develop twenty-first century competencies, and failing to prepare our next generation to face the unpredictable future. Nevertheless, high-stakes examinations will still be with us in the foreseeable future. IDC Theory aims to lessen the drawbacks of examination-driven education and provides direction for future learning design in Asia and beyond.
Seamless learning speaks of a future technology-supported learning environment, while IDC Theory focuses on learning activity design. The integration will form a Seamless IDC Theory (or SIDC Theory) about the continuity of IDC-based learning in the future seamless learning space.
This talk invites interested researchers worldwide to establish SIDC Theory through the collective endeavor. In building the theory, the following questions may need to be addressed:
1. How to develop a broad framework of SIDC Theory to capture critical elements of the theory?
2. Will there be an extension of seamless learning per se and that of IDC Theory per se in view of SIDC Theory in the digital future?
3. If “global harmony and well-being” is an educational goal from the global perspective (or Global ‘Harwell’Goal) that educators worldwide should strive for, will SIDC-based learning (or SIDC learning) contribute to this global educational goal?
4. In the ‘Seamless AI World’ of the digital future, extended from SIDC learning, will there be SIDC work, SIDC exercise, SIDC entertainment, SIDC family life, and so forth? In short, will there be SIDC life? Is SIDC life our aspiration?
Speech Title: If the Metaverse is the Answer, What is the Question?
Professor Christopher Dede
Senior Research Fellow,
Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University
Speaker Bio
Chris Dede is a Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was for 22 years its Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies. His fields of scholarship include emerging technologies, policy, and leadership. He is a Co-Principal Investigator of the NSF-funded National Artificial Intelligence Institute in Adult Learning and Online Education.
Abstract
We live at a time of rapid advances in both the capabilities and the cost of virtual reality (VR), multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs), and various forms of mixed reality (e.g., augmented reality (AR), digital puppeteering). These emerging media potentially offer extraordinary opportunities for enhancing both motivation and learning across a range of subject areas, student developmental levels, and educational settings.
Immersive media have affordances that enhance experiential learning based on a plan/act/reflect cycle. Psychological immersion is the mental state of being completely absorbed or engaged with something. For example, a well-designed game in a MUVE draws viewers into the metaverse portrayed on the screen, and they feel caught up in that virtual environment. The use of narrative and symbolism creates credible, engaging situations; each participant can influence what happens through their actions and can interact with others. Via richer stimuli, head-mounted or room-sized displays can create sensory immersion to deepen the effect of psychological immersion, as well as induce embodied virtual presence (place illusion), the feeling that you are at a location in the virtual world.
This talk will describe how the metaverse is powerful for “situated” learning: Experiences take place in the same or a similar virtual context to the real world setting in which skills and knowledge are later applied, and the virtual context itself fosters tacit learning through experience and modeling. However, learning in the metaverse faces challenges of simulator sickness, access by learners with limited vision, and limited bandwidth for non-verbal human interaction.
More than 160 years ago, Dickens wrote in the first sentence of his A Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair...”. Now, the human lifespan is extended, but COVID-19 global death toll has exceeded 8 million (Our World in Data, 2023). Digitization enables all of us to connect and communicate, but we constantly quarrel over different beliefs; online games immerse players, but children's addiction may become a disaster; artificial intelligence can improve human life, but it can also do stupid things to human beings; the advent of metaverse may represent a bright future world, but it may also signal a dark abyss to come; we cheer for technological advancement, but worry about climate change, natural resource depletion, environmental pollution, wealth disparity and other problems.
The world is on the brink of peril. Shall we live in harmony with the world around us? What is the future of human well-being? What role can education play? Mandela once said: "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world." Indeed, education is the beacon of hope for the future. Today's education decides the destiny of all human beings in the future. In 2040, the current primary and secondary school students in their 30s will become our society's pillars.
Yet, progress and impacts of digital technology accelerate. Designing future education is creating the future world.
In 2006, 17 international researchers, from Asia, Europe, and North America, published a paper on seamless learning that holistically describes future technology-supported learning environments (Chan et al., 2006). Seamless learning is based on three other concepts: (1) one-to-one (1:1) technology-enhanced learning, (2) learning scenarios, and (3) seamless learning space. Seamless learning spells out the continuity of the learning experience while students switch from one scenario to another easily and quickly. Subsequently, the concept triggered abundant research (Looi et al., 2010; Wong & Looi, 2011).
In 2018, 23 Asian researchers collaborated and published the first paper on Interest-Driven Creator Theory (IDC Theory) (Chan et al., 2018) and a series of related conceptual papers (Chan et al., 2019; Wong et al., 2020; Chen et al., 2020). This effort stemmed from the fact that a considerable part of Asian education remains ‘examination-driven’. The overemphasis on examination outcomes distorts learning and teaching processes, ruining students' interest in learning, undermining the need to develop twenty-first century competencies, and failing to prepare our next generation to face the unpredictable future. Nevertheless, high-stakes examinations will still be with us in the foreseeable future. IDC Theory aims to lessen the drawbacks of examination-driven education and provides direction for future learning design in Asia and beyond.
Seamless learning speaks of a future technology-supported learning environment, while IDC Theory focuses on learning activity design. The integration will form a Seamless IDC Theory (or SIDC Theory) about the continuity of IDC-based learning in the future seamless learning space.
This talk invites interested researchers worldwide to establish SIDC Theory through the collective endeavor. In building the theory, the following questions may need to be addressed:
1. How to develop a broad framework of SIDC Theory to capture critical elements of the theory?
2. Will there be an extension of seamless learning per se and that of IDC Theory per se in view of SIDC Theory in the digital future?
3. If “global harmony and well-being” is an educational goal from the global perspective (or Global ‘Harwell’Goal) that educators worldwide should strive for, will SIDC-based learning (or SIDC learning) contribute to this global educational goal?
4. In the ‘Seamless AI World’ of the digital future, extended from SIDC learning, will there be SIDC work, SIDC exercise, SIDC entertainment, SIDC family life, and so forth? In short, will there be SIDC life? Is SIDC life our aspiration?
Speech Title: If the Metaverse is the Answer, What is the Question?
Professor Christopher Dede
Senior Research Fellow,
Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University
Speaker Bio
Chris Dede is a Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was for 22 years its Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies. His fields of scholarship include emerging technologies, policy, and leadership. He is a Co-Principal Investigator of the NSF-funded National Artificial Intelligence Institute in Adult Learning and Online Education.
Abstract
We live at a time of rapid advances in both the capabilities and the cost of virtual reality (VR), multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs), and various forms of mixed reality (e.g., augmented reality (AR), digital puppeteering). These emerging media potentially offer extraordinary opportunities for enhancing both motivation and learning across a range of subject areas, student developmental levels, and educational settings.
Immersive media have affordances that enhance experiential learning based on a plan/act/reflect cycle. Psychological immersion is the mental state of being completely absorbed or engaged with something. For example, a well-designed game in a MUVE draws viewers into the metaverse portrayed on the screen, and they feel caught up in that virtual environment. The use of narrative and symbolism creates credible, engaging situations; each participant can influence what happens through their actions and can interact with others. Via richer stimuli, head-mounted or room-sized displays can create sensory immersion to deepen the effect of psychological immersion, as well as induce embodied virtual presence (place illusion), the feeling that you are at a location in the virtual world.
This talk will describe how the metaverse is powerful for “situated” learning: Experiences take place in the same or a similar virtual context to the real world setting in which skills and knowledge are later applied, and the virtual context itself fosters tacit learning through experience and modeling. However, learning in the metaverse faces challenges of simulator sickness, access by learners with limited vision, and limited bandwidth for non-verbal human interaction.
Immersive media have affordances that enhance experiential learning based on a plan/act/reflect cycle. Psychological immersion is the mental state of being completely absorbed or engaged with something. For example, a well-designed game in a MUVE draws viewers into the metaverse portrayed on the screen, and they feel caught up in that virtual environment. The use of narrative and symbolism creates credible, engaging situations; each participant can influence what happens through their actions and can interact with others. Via richer stimuli, head-mounted or room-sized displays can create sensory immersion to deepen the effect of psychological immersion, as well as induce embodied virtual presence (place illusion), the feeling that you are at a location in the virtual world.
This talk will describe how the metaverse is powerful for “situated” learning: Experiences take place in the same or a similar virtual context to the real world setting in which skills and knowledge are later applied, and the virtual context itself fosters tacit learning through experience and modeling. However, learning in the metaverse faces challenges of simulator sickness, access by learners with limited vision, and limited bandwidth for non-verbal human interaction.
-
Latest Articles
-
Hello World!!
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet... -
Hello World!!
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...
-
-
Gallery
