Authentic Learning Through Advances in Technologies

Dr. Ting-Wen Chang is a research fellow and the Director of International Cooperation Office in the Smart Learning Institute of the Beijing Normal University for doing the research on Smart Learning as well as making many international cooperation projects. He was an associate research fellow of the Collaborative & Innovative Center for Educational Technology at the Beijing Normal University in China from 2014 to 2015. From 2011 to 2013, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Athabasca University in Canada, funded by NSERC/iCORE/Xerox/Markin Industrial Research Chair Program. His research mainly focuses on smart learning environment, technology enhanced learning, adaptivity and personalization, user/student modelling, multimedia Learning instruction, multi-screen learning environment, and computer-assisted instruction. Dr. Chang has published more than 40 refereed journal papers, book, book chapter, and international conference papers. He received the Outstanding Paper Award at ED-MEDIA 2009 and GCCCE 2009, the Best Paper Award at ICALT 2013 (IEEE). In 2014, he also received the Young Researcher Award from the IEEE Technical Committee on Learning Technology.

Dr. Ronghuai Huang is a Professor in the Faculty of Education and Dean of Smart Learning Institute in Beijing Normal University (BNU). He serves as the Vice Chairman of the China Association for Educational Technology; Vice Chairman of the China Educational Equipment Industry Association; Deputy Director of the Collaborative and Innovative Center for Educational Technology; Director of Digital Learning and Public Education Service Center; Director of Professional Teaching and Guiding Committee for Educational Technology; Director of Beijing Key Laboratory for Educational Technology. He received the “Chang Jiang Scholar” award in 2016, which is the highest academic award issued to an individual in higher education by the Ministry of Education in China. Dr. Huang has been engaged in the research on educational technology as well as knowledge engineering since 1997. He has accomplished or is working on over 60 projects, including those of key science and technology projects to be tackled in the national “Ninth Five-year Plan”, “Tenth Five-year Plan” and “Eleventh Five-year Plan” and the projects in the national 863 plan as well as others financed by the government. His ideas have been widely spread, with more than 180 academic papers and over 20 books published in the domestic front and overseas.

Dr. Kinshuk is the Dean of the College of Information at the University of North Texas, USA. Prior to that, he held the NSERC/CNRL/Xerox/McGraw Hill Research Chair for Adaptivity and Personalization in Informatics, funded by the Federal government of Canada, Provincial government of Alberta, and by national and international industries. He was also Full Professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems and Associate Dean of Faculty of Science and Technology, at Athabasca University, Canada. After completing first degree from India, he earned his Master’s degree from Strathclyde University (Glasgow) and PhD from De Montfort University (Leicester), United Kingdom. His work has been dedicated to advancing research on the innovative paradigms, architectures and implementations of online and distance learning systems for individualized and adaptive learning in increasingly global environments. Areas of his research interests include learning analytics; learning technologies; mobile, ubiquitous and location-aware learning systems; cognitive profiling; and, interactive technologies.