Prof. James Slotta
University of Toronto, Canada
Jim Slotta is Professor and President's Chair in Knowledge Technologies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Since 2005, he
has led a team of students, designers and developers to
investigate new models of collaborative and collective inquiry in K-12 science, including powerful new roles for technology enhanced learning environments.
Building on a background in physics and cognitive psychology, he has developed a pedagogical model known as Knowledge Community and Inquiry, in which students
explore investigate a phenomenon or issue within a carefully scripted and orchestrated sequence of learning activities. Their inquiry is situated within smart
classrooms and distributed learning environments, featuring user-contributed content, aggregated and emergent forms of knowledge, and a variety of scaffolds for
the orchestration of individual, small group, and whole class activities.
From 2006 - 2011, Slotta served as Canada Research Chair in Education and Technology. He has served as PI or co-I on more than 30 funded projects
totalling more than $30 Million, supervised 20 doctoral and post-doctoral researchers, and co-directed the NSF-funded Center for Technology-Enhanced Learning (2003-2008).
Prof. Chee-Kit Looi
Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
& National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Professor Looi Chee Kit is Research Chair Professor in the Education
University of Hong Kong. He is Emeritus Professor at National
Institute of Education (NIE) of Nanyang Technological University
(NTU).
During his stint in Singapore, Professor Looi Chee-Kit was with the
Learning Sciences and Assessment Academic Group in the National
Institute of Education (NIE) of Nanyang Technological University
(NTU). He was the Co-Director of the Center for Research and
Development into Learning (CRDL) of NIE, NTU.
Professor Looi’s research focuses on learning sciences,
computer-supported collaborative learning, mobile learning, AI &
Education, and computational thinking. Professor Looi is a Fellow of
the International Society of Learning Sciences, and a Fellow of the
Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education. He was the founding
member of the Global Chinese Society of Computers in Education, and
served as its President (2017-2019). He was a member of the Core
Expert Group for developing the framework for assessing
Collaborative Problem Solving in OECD PISA 2015, and a special
consultant to the Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal
University. Since 2021, Professor Looi is listed in the annual list
of the Top 2% of Career Scientists Worldwide, compiled by Stanford
University and Elsevier.
Prof. Piet Kommers
University of Twente, The Netherlands
Dr Piet Kommers coined ”conceptual representations for learning
through hypermedia” in the late 80ies. As UNESCO professor for
Learning Technologies he instigated projects for decreasing
youngsters’ distance to the labour market and the need for mentors.
In his recent book “Sources for a Better Education” he illustrates
the roads from a good to an even better teacher.
Speech Title "Artificial Intelligence for Smart Education"
Abstract: The arrival of Open A.I. has triggered many questions like: How should students be assessed in the near future? And: What additional competencies do teachers need? One of the more fundamental challenges is to take advantage of automatized formulations like anybody can now use via Chat GPT. The most ambitious approach is to say that learners have now access to basic tools for spelling, factual retrieval and Chat GPT for formulating according to previous human efforts. It does not take away the need to train students in expressing thinking- and lines of argumentation. However, the critical ingredient for future student projects will be its authenticity, the value of provided solutions, and its creativeness to convince the reader/customer. Indeed, the transition due to A.I. in education will make a huge shift from reproductive- towards productive learning. Not at least the shift towards additional teachers’ awareness on how future citizens and employees will need a much more ‘active-‘ and a more ‘problem-based’ life-long learning approach. The mentioned perspectives and implications will be highlighted and discussed in the genre of active learning that I just described.
Prof. Longkai Wu
Central China Normal University, China
Longkai Wu is professor and Ph.D. supervisor at Faculty of
Artificial Intelligence in Education at Central China Normal
University, National Engineering Research Center for
E-Learning, and MOE Educational Informatization Strategy
Research Base (Central China). His primary research
interests include artificial intelligence in education,
virtual reality and augmented reality, formal and informal
learning, STEM, inquiry-based learning, and educational
information technology and policy. He has led tens of
educational research projects and is currently the lead
principal investigator of a key project funded by the
National Social Science Fund of China. He has published over
100 articles and has delivered talks across 14 countries and
regions.