Professor Looi Chee-kit, Research Chair Professor of Learning Sciences, looks at how the learning environment will be in the near future.
Combining learning sciences with computer science
Appointed by the University last year as Research Chair Professor of Learning Sciences, Professor Looi has a wealth of experience and knowledge in learning sciences, AI in education, and computational thinking. His research has had a significant impact on educational practices. He is a Fellow of the International Society of the Learning Sciences, and an Emeritus Professor at the National Institute of Education of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
Professor Looi came to learning sciences through research in artificial intelligence (AI). “I began as a computer scientist, focusing my interest on AI for my master’s and my doctoral degree,” he explains. Earning his PhD at the University of Edinburgh at a time when AI was relatively still in its infancy, he was investigating how this technology could benefit society. “I wanted to take AI out of the laboratory and put it to good use. Education was the sector in which I felt the technology could have the most impact,” he adds. Consequently, he designed systems to help students learn programming, mathematics and geography.
It was this early attempt at practical implementation, in the 1990s, that led Professor Looi to understand the significant barriers in bringing technology to learners. Teachers faced challenges in adopting and designing technology-enabled curricula for many reasons, one of which being that assessment systems were not aligned with the use of technology in learning and teaching. “This issue made me curious and, as I delved deeper, I saw that building systems was only one piece of the problem,” he explains. “It convinced me to move away from my orientation in technology and take a broader look at education.”
Practical application of technology
Presenting a keynote talk on AI in Education at a conference in China in 2024
This brought Professor Looi into the research area of learning sciences, and he dedicated his research to understanding how students learn and finding ways for technology to enhance this. Whereas, decades ago, teachers and textbooks were the sole providers of content for learners, the internet now provides a huge bank of resources. AI, however, has the ability to make that content even more freely accessible and interactive to learners, and to personalise their learning experiences. “As with the internet, it’s vital to enable students to take a critical stance towards information. And that’s where the educators come in,” says Professor Looi. He envisages a classroom, in which AI serves as a learning tool as well as performing a teacher’s administrative tasks. “AI will do the heavy lifting, allowing teachers to focus more on students’ needs.”
The technology can go beyond that, though. Professor Looi has carried out significant research in implementing ‘rapid collaborative learning’. He explains that AI can dispense the knowledge, while the teacher elicits students to form their own ideas and then think them through. For example, in a traditional large class, only one student is active at a given time – the one answering the question. However, if students each have a tablet, when they are prompted by a teacher or an AI program, they can scribble down their ideas, enabling further group discussion and interaction. “In this scenario, it’s not only the loudest class member who gets heard. It enables teachers to use the Socratic method, whereby the students discover the key issues themselves through dynamic interaction. The teacher guides the class through the discussion, ensuring the key learning points are covered or thoroughly discussed,” he says. This method can be applied to discussing solutions in maths, analysis of historical events, language learning, and in many other subjects and disciplines.
An interdisciplinary future
Professor Looi points out, however, that his vision of learning sciences is much more than students merely using technology to learn. “As technology gets more pervasive, we need to be more than just consumers, otherwise AI technology will overwhelm or overtake us. Going forward, everyone will need a basic understanding of how it works, and even be creators,” he says. With some basic fundamental understanding of how computers work, students can adopt a computational thinking mindset: identifying problems and designing solutions which are precise enough for humans or computers to follow to solve the problem. “Taking a complex problem, deconstructing it, analysing it in a logical manner and finding patterns in the solution, allows students to be productive problem solvers and learn. This does not only apply to STEM subjects, but also humanities, for example,” says Professor Looi.
To facilitate this, EdUHK offers AI literacy courses to students, nurturing them with knowledge of how AI works, and how to use it in an ethical manner, such as declaring usage in assignments. “Undergraduates need to know AI’s limitations and constraints. Tools like generative content creation are still relatively new,” explains Professor Looi. “We coach them to use AI to help with their careers and to be digitally savvy, so that they will share their ethical use practices with the younger generation and use the technology for the benefit of society, such as helping the disadvantaged,” he adds.
As Chair Professor, he sees his role as bringing a learning sciences perspective to leadership, collaboration and innovation at the University. “We’ve started a research cluster, and the intention is for it to eventually grow into becoming a learning sciences research centre,” he says. With the interdisciplinary nature of learning sciences, Professor Looi is looking to conduct research in conjunction with other academics. “Collaborating with other departments at the University, such as Psychology and Early Childhood Education, for example, we can conduct research across a wider spectrum, and set up interdisciplinary taught postgraduate programmes,” he explains. “This is important as learning sciences and AI-based technologies are important to how all subject disciplines are taught today, and how they will be in the future,” he says.
| Profile: |
|---|
| PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh, UK |
| Founding Head, Learning Sciences Lab, Singapore |
| 2010 – Research on rapid collaborative learning, recognised in the US National Educational Technology Plan as a pivotal example of technology-enabled innovation with substantial impact on education |
| 2008-2017 – Conducted a decade of transformative research on seamless learning, enhancing educational practices in schools and leading to multiple successful research spinoffs that fostered innovative learning environments |
| 2017-2019 – Served as President of the Global Chinese Society for Computers in Education |
| Publications – Authored over 150 papers in international journals, more than 60 books or chapters, and 180 refereed international conference papers |
| Emeritus Professor at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University |
| Fellow of the International Society of Learning Sciences |
| Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education |
Other Interview Articles
