Keynote Speakers



 

Prof. Minjuan Wang

Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies
Associate Editor, Nature-HSSC


San Diego State University, USA


Minjuan Wang is Professor and Program Head of Learning Design and Technology (LDT) in the School of Journalism and Media Studies at San Diego State University and Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (TLT). She is also a new associate Editor with Nature-HSSC (Humanities and Social Science Communications).
Dr. Wang teaches Methods of Inquiry, Designing and Developing Learning for the Global Audience, and Mobile Learning Solutions Development. Her research specialties are multidisciplinary, focusing on learning across the Metaverse, Cross-Reality (XR) and Immersive Learning, AI in education, and the sociocultural aspects of learning design and the use of technology.
She has been collaborating with scholars worldwide on research and development projects. She is a high-impact author, an internationally recognized scholar, and has keynoted more than 40 international conferences. She is recognized as a high-impact author, with more than 8000 citations on her English publications and a H index of 42.

 

Speech Title: Metaverse and Generative AI: Will They Revolutionize Education?

Abstract: Metaverse attracted worldwide attention since 2022. The Metaverse is considered the third wave of the Internet revolution, able to support persistent interconnected online 3D virtual environments (3DVE) and promising to bring new levels of social connection and collaboration. How to effectively design and use Metaverse in teaching and learning remains crucial for the development of effective learning experiences. Meanwhile, Generative AI such as ChatGPT, Bing, Bard, and Gemini entered the spotlight in 2023 and stirred conversations around the world on their usage and “threats” to education and training. How to effectively use Generative AI in various disciplines remains a popular research topic.
In this presentation, Dr. Wang will attempt to answer this burning question from many-- Will Metaverse and Generative AI Revolutionize Education in the years to come? She will approach this topic from both a research and development perspective, by taking you on an exciting tour of exemplary metaverse platforms and also some of the popular AI tools for teaching and learning. You will see firsthand the video of a 3D pedagogical framework (an ecosystem) she created with her graduate students. In addition, she will discuss the current research trends on both topics from and explore how to ethically make the best use of Generative AI tools in different educational settings.

 

   

Prof. Maiga Chang

 

Athabasca University, Canada

   

Maiga Chang is a Full Professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems at Athabasca University, Canada and Honorary Chair Professor, Multidisciplinary Academic Research Center, National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan. He is IEEE Senior Member. Dr. Chang has been appointed as an IEEE Computer Society Distinguished Visitor for 2023 to 2025 (https://www.computer.org/profiles/maiga-chang) and also recently received Distinguished Researcher Award from Asia Pacific Society on Computers in Education (APSCE) in 2022 (https://new.apsce.net/apsce-award-winners/).

Dr Chang's research mainly focus on artificial intelligence; natural language processing; intelligent agent and chatbot technology; game-based learning, training and assessment; learning behaviour analysis; learning analytics and academic analytics; health informatics; data mining; computational intelligence; museum education mobile learning and ubiquitous learning; healthcare technology, etc.

Dr. Chang is now Vice President (2022~) of International Association of Smart Learning Environments (IASLE, http://iasle.net/). He is also IEEE Computer Society Technical & Conference Activities Board (2022-2024, https://www.computer.org/volunteering/boards-and-committees/technical-activities), Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education (2017~2024, APSCE, https://www.apsce.net/) and Global Chinese Society for Computing in Education (2016~2025, GCSCE, http://gcsce.org/), and Chair (2021~) of Educational Activities Committee, IEEE Northern Canada Section (https://northerncanada.ieee.ca/ncs-executives/). Dr. Chang is also a Steering Committee member (2020~) for International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS, https://iis-international.org/its/).

 

 

   

Prof. Ekaterina Prasolova-Førland

 

Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

   

Dr. Ekaterina Prasolova-Førland is Full Professor and Head of Innovative Immersive Technologies for Learning (IMTEL) research group and lab at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She has been working with educational virtual worlds and immersive technologies since 2002, with over 100 publications in the field. She has been involved in developing educational XR simulations for a wide range of stakeholders, including industry, hospitals, Norwegian Armed Forces and Labour and Welfare Administration. Ekaterina is Norway's ambassador for Women in Immersive Tech.

 

Speech Title: Educational Immersive Technologies in a cross-disciplinary context?

Immersive technologies (VR/AR/XR and Metaverse) have recently had an explosive development, opening broad opportunities in the context of education. As learning environments, these technologies afford immersive, adaptive and explorative learning spaces, well suited for developing high-impact pedagogies. A successful adoption of these technologies for educational purposes requires not only affordable and high-quality equipment, but also solid pedagogical methodology and cross-disciplinary collaboration between different stakeholders, subject matter experts, educators, learners and developers. This talk provides an overview of several cross-disciplinary projects at the Innovative Immersive Technologies for Learning group (IMTEL) and lab at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, discussing development of educational immersive applications in the fields of climate change, language, neuroscience, history, protection of civilians, career guidance and other areas.