Emerging Technologies
Key Developments
Faculty Technology-Enabled (FacTEL) Learning Development Framework in NIE
FacTEL, developed in partnership with the Office of Academic and Faculty Affairs (AFA), represents a vision for faculty development in technology-enhanced education. It outlines strategies at various institutional levels, led by Digital Leadership, to transform the state of technology-enabled teaching and learning at NIE. The initiative encourages faculty to rethink and innovate their pedagogical approaches by being Digitally Fluent. The detailed proposal for faculty development programmes under FacTEL includes engagement sessions, workshops and seminars/webinars in areas such as pedagogical innovations, generative AI and other tech-enabled teaching and learning applications. These efforts align with NIE's strategic focus on leading transformative pedagogies and practices.
Web Dashboard on Education Landscape Environmental Scan and NIE-wide Audit on e-Pedagogies and Use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) Tools
The migration of the dashboard from Tableau to PowerBI was successfully completed in July 2024. Given the differences between the platforms, several features of the dashboard required rework, which was finalised in August 2024. The updates were pushed onto the testing site in early September 2024. The first round of User Acceptance Testing (UAT) will begin once ACIS has granted access permissions to the dashboard.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Literacy Package for Teachers of Singapore
This self-directed, microlearning course on AI literacy aims to prepare teachers for an AI future. This project is expected to reach 1,400 pre-service teachers. Subsequently, it will be expanded to reach out to more teachers across Singapore and potentially established as a pre-requisite for ICT modules delivered in NIE. It comprises 7 modules and incorporates real-life examples and applications, ensuring its direct relevance to the field of education. IN-Learning collaborated with Office of Teacher Education & Undergraduate Programmes (OTE) and Office of Education Research (OER) to develop microlearning packages on AI Literacy for educators, aimed at developing insightful self-directed learning experiences aligned with microlearning principles through EdApp, a Mobile Learning Management System. The team also developed an NTULearn course site for these modules which is free for students to enrol. The course was published on 1 August 2024.
AI-powered Sports Coaching Observation Tool (COT) for Values-Focused Feedback
COT is an app that enables meaningful feedback to sports practitioners to improve their craft in values-driven teaching or coaching. An AI model was trained and developed using the video dataset provided by A/P Koh Koon Teck (PESS). The Android version of the app has been developed and is undergoing a User Testing Phase with sports coaches and MOE Physical Education teachers. The user acceptance test (UAT) is expected to be completed by the end of September 2024 and the team will proceed with the review of the App and AI model after the UAT. The COT team was awarded the Incentivising ICT-use Innovations Grant (I3G) grant in October 2023.
GenAI-powered Learning EXperience Design (ALEX) Tool Add-In for Microsoft Office
ALEX, a GenAI application conceptualised by IN-Learning and Learning Sciences and Assessment (LSA) in collaboration with Microsoft, is a Human-GenAI collaboration tool with human-in-the-loop for a seamless experience in co-designing constructively aligned blended courses and lesson plans. ALEX was conceptualised to reinforce curriculum design frameworks such as Outcomes Based Teaching and Learning (OBTL) by NTU, NIE’s Enhanced Teacher Education Model for the 21st Century (TE21) Model and the Blended Learning@NIE Policy. This refines the way NIE courses are designed and developed so that the quality of the courses can be improved and potentially enhance the intended student learning outcomes. The current version of ALEX is integrated with Microsoft Word for a streamlined personalising the user experience through a contextualised course outline/lesson plan that transcends conventional responses from other GenAI applications.
As of 30 July 2024, ALEX has successfully switched to the newest model, GPT-4o. However, despite multiple rounds of testing, the response quality remains below the expected standard due to challenges with the system instructions. To address this, ACIS has recommended testing and refining the system prompt using the in-house AI Sandbox. The team is currently focused on revising and testing the system instructions to improve performance.
Faculty Technology-Enabled (FacTEL) Learning Development Framework in NIE
In partnership with the Office of Academic and Faculty Affairs (AFA), FacTEL aims to equip faculty with ‘Digital Fluency’ competencies and dispositions to rethink and innovate pedagogical practices. It illustrates a shared vision of NIE faculty development in technology-enabled teaching and learning. It also proposes strategies at different institutional levels, driven by digital leadership, to transform the state of technology-enabled teaching and learning in NIE. This will encourage faculty to rethink and innovate pedagogical approaches by being ‘Digitally Fluent’.
Seminar for NIE Faculty – ‘How students can creatively use chatbots to create simulations, games, and much more’
Dr Ken Kahn demonstrated via interactions with chatbots such as ChatGPT that a wide range of applications can be created even without computer programming skills. Large language models (LLMs) can draw on thousands of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and code libraries to empower apps co-created with students. These capabilities include vision, text and image generation, gesture recognition, speech, prediction, data analysis and machine learning. Students can co-create apps with these capabilities without any prerequisite technical knowledge. In science and humanities classrooms, teachers can encourage students to build apps that connect with the course subject matter.
'Introduction to AI' for all Educators
A new two-day Professional Development course on 'Introduction to AI' for all educators (ILA 0021, 13 hrs) will be offered on 27th-28th May 2024. This course aims to enhance AI literacy of educators to help them make informed decisions about AI technologies and evaluate the conditions under which they will enhance teachingand navigate the ethical considerations AI presents.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Literacy Package for Teachers of Singapore
The AI Literacy Package, a collaboration with AISG, is a self-directed microlearning course on AI literacy for the teachers of Singapore to prepare students for an AI future.
Two modules were completed, and additional content on AI in SLS and the MOE’s ethical framework for AI is being incorporated. Concurrently, participants for the pilot are being identified with courses being launched in March. This package aims to empower educators of Singapore with AI-related competencies to boost effective and ethical teaching practices.
GenAI-powered Learning EXperience Design (ALEX) Tool Add-In for Microsoft Office
Designed by the Learning Sciences and Assessment academic group and IN-Learning, and developed in partnership with Microsoft, ALEX enabled collaboration between NIE faculty and MOE teachers in co-designing constructively aligned technology-enabled courses and lessons.
As part of the outreach efforts, a collaborative Board of Study (BOS) paper writing workshop with OTE was held. ALEX was also presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) 2023 and Strategies with Technology for Enhancing Pedagogy Symposium (STEPS) 2024. Demonstrations were also held for NTU’s InsPIRE and for the Deans and faculty members of OTE and GPL.
The pilot study for ALEX begins in March 2024 to further inform ALEX+. This project contributes to strengthening course design quality and process in NIE and facilitates professional development in tech-enabled teaching and learning.
Sand Sustainability in Southeast Asia
The Straits Times recently featured the sand sustainability issues in Southeast Asia. Dr Edward Park discussed the research work under the recently attained MOE Tier 2 project grant including the first AI-powered monitoring system that quantifies the scale and extent of illegal sand mining and the ecological impact of these operations in January 2024. This will help to raise awareness and communicate research findings on sand sustainability in Southeast Asia to a wider audience.
Dr Park and Research Assistant Rachel Lau from the Earth Observatory of Singapore also discussed the problem and consequences of widespread sand mining activities in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta on the Climate Connections podcast in February 2024. This episode of the Climate Connections podcast was later featured in NTU News and on LinkedIn where the post was reacted to by Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, Grace Fu.
Image obtained from: ST_240129_NTU researchers to help mining companies source sand sustainably in South-east Asia.pdf
AI@NIE Workshop
Dr Nastassja Fischer, Research Fellow of Nanyang Technological University-Centre for Lifelong Learning and Individualised Cognition (NTU-CLIC), and Dr Katherine Guanji Yuan, Research Scientist of the Office of Education Research, National Institute of Education, Singapore conducted a two-hour workshop specifically designed for faculty and researchers. It was titled ‘Introductory to “R” Programming’ and held on 16 August 2023.
AI@NIE Talks
Professor Dragan Gavesic, Distinguished Professor and Centre Director of Learning Analytics at Monash University, and Director of Research in the Faculty of Information Technology, gave a talk on ‘Closing the Loop: Multimodal Analytics of Collaborative Learning’ on 18 October 2023.
Professor Chai Ching Sing, a professor from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the Chinese University of Hong Kong conducted a seminar on ‘Developing Students’ Literacy for Artificial Intelligence’ on 23 August 2023.
Professor Kay Wijekumar, Houston Endowed Professor of Teaching, Learning and Culture and the Director of the Centre for Technology and Urban School Partnerships at Texas A&M University, conducted a seminar on ‘Demystifying Literacy – Powerful Integration of Reading and Writing’ on 23 March 2023.
Professor Mutlu Cukurova, a Professor of Learning and Artificial Intelligence at the United College London and Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET), presented a talk on ‘Artificial Intelligence for School Teachers – Empowering Educators to be AI-Ready and Multimodal Learning Analytics to Extend Human Cognition in Education’ on 22 and 23 February 2023.
Associate Prof Mutlu Cukurova as Visiting Consultant
The Emerging Technologies (ET) LIFE@NIE SG ® SGA Steering Committee welcomed visiting consultant Associate Professor Mutlu Cukurova on 20 February 2023. He is an Associate Professor of Learning Technologies at University College London (UCL), UK. His stay in NIE was from 20 February to 24 February 2023.
AI@NIE Talks – 'Using Artificial Intelligence to Foster Independent Learning in STEM Education'
This talk, held on 4 August 2022, was presented by Professor Ildo Roll, Professor of Science Education from the Israel Institute of Technology.
'Education-Industry Partnership in Emerging Technologies’ (Online on Zoom)
The seminar held on 1 August 2022 outlined meriSTEM@NIE’s collaboration with two STEM industry partners to advance the field of education research and enhance the relevance of the school curriculum.
AIED Workshop on Machine Learning Mini-Lab on Supervised Learning Classification Tasks
A/P Chua Bee Leng of the Emerging Technologies (ET) LIFE@NIE SG ® SGA Steering Committee organised an AIED Workshop on Classification in Machine Learning on 18 November 2022. The aim of the workshop was to strengthen awareness and knowledge of the use of AI in education for colleagues in NIE. The course was facilitated by Mr Gi Soong Chee.
AI@NIE Launch
AI@NIE aims to transform teaching and learning with AI in NIE; and advance research on the innovative and ethical applications of AI for education. The AI@NIE Launch, with Singapore’s Second Minister for Education Dr Maliki Osman as the Guest of Honour, featured AI-related works in education at NIE as well as a keynote presentation by Professor George Siemens, professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Arlington and professor and director of the Centre of Change and Complexity in Learning at the University of South Australia.
AI@NIE Talks
Professor Sidney K D’Mello from the University of Colorado Boulder presented the talk, ‘Beyond the Click-Stream: Multimodal Learning Analytics as a NEW AIED Frontier’ on 27 April 2022. He also discussed research work using linguistics, paralinguistics, behavioural and physiological signals for the analysis of individual, small group, multi-party and human-computer interactions in education.
