Using AI to Boost Self-Regulated Learning in Online Environments?

Step into the world of education's future with our exceptional panelists. Dr. Zhang Huiyu, a leading figure in AI and Analytics education, joins Kara McWilliams, VP of Product Innovation at ETS, and Jeff Bergin, VP of Learning and Experience at the General Assembly. Together, they'll illuminate the transformative role of AI in learning and share insights that promise to shape tomorrow's education landscape. Learn more about the panelists below.

Dr Huiyu Zhang began her professional career as a Research Scientist at Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) before fulfilling her inner calling of becoming a lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic (TP). With more than a decade of experience, she has trained over one thousand students and working adult learners in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Analytics through full-time programs and short courses. She won TP’s Teaching Excellence Award in 2018. Huiyu believes that to develop lifelong learners, lecturers themselves must be equipped with the right skillset, toolset and mindset. As a Senior Academic Mentor, she supports her colleagues in this initiative by coaching them to review and analyze the effectiveness of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment practices, and engage in collaborative partnership with the industry and other educational institutions to stay relevant on the changing needs. She also inspires them to embrace new strategic teaching and learning (T&L) directions by spearheading T&L innovations as a principal investigator of several funded research projects in AI and Analytics, including having chatbots for personalized learning. With a track record of building and deploying over 10 chatbots for Pre-Employment Training (PET) and Continuous Education Training (CET) subjects to support self-regulated learning and improve student outcomes, her work on AI educational chatbots has earned her the 2023 Education Innovation Award.

Kara McWilliams is the Vice President of Product Innovation and Development at ETS, which includes the ETS AI Labs. Kara and her teams lead the ideation, co-design, development, and testing of innovative, assessment and learning products. Kara is also responsible for the enterprise-wide AI strategy including the development and deployment of novel AI/NLP capabilities to support both operational efficiencies and new products and services. Kara and her teams work across the K12, Higher Education, Workforce, and Global Languages markets.

Previously, Kara was the Vice President of Learning Science and Insights at Macmillan Learning. There she led the area that worked closely with Product to design, develop, and bring to market the next generation learning platform, Achieve. Kara received a Ph.D. in educational research, measurement, and evaluation and an M.A.T. in curriculum and instruction —both from Boston College. She received a B.A. in political science & history from the College of the Holy Cross.

Jeff Bergin is the Vice President of Learning and Experience at General Assembly, where he leads the online design and delivery of accelerated technical training for career readiness. Previously, Jeff served as the Vice President of Learning Products and Experience at Universal Technical Institute where he launched a high-fidelity learning experience that drove improvements in learner performance and completion. Prior to that, Jeff served as the Vice President of Learning Research and Design at Macmillan Learning, where he led the R&D for a new active learning platform and the VP of Learning & Experience Design at Pearson, where he launched Pearson’s flagship online learning product, CourseConnect. Jeff earned a Ph.D. from Arizona State University, where his research focused on the impact that learner-centered pedagogies make on student performance and persistence in online environments. He taught at Maricopa Community Colleges, facilitated design workshops through Northwestern University’s Design for America, and served on the executive board of the Emerging Learning Design Conference and Journal at Montclair State University. He has published and presented on a wide range of topics related to online learning design and has been affiliated with i-NACOL, Quality Matters, U.S.D.L.A., and the American Council
on Education.

Meet Danny Glick, the visionary Academic Director at Edge, Center for EdTech Research and Innovation. From unraveling the dynamics of game-based vocabulary learning to pioneering AI-powered virtual-human training's impact on self-regulated learning, Glick's expertise spans K-12 to higher education. Learn more about Dr. Glick's expert background below.

Dr. Danny Glick is the Academic Director at Edge, Center for EdTech Research and Innovation, where he works on a range of EdTech research projects related to emerging technologies in education. In K-12 education, he is investigating how learner factors are associated with successful game-based vocabulary learning, and examining the impact of interactive Geometry courses on young learners’ STEM learning. In higher education, he is examining the impact of an AI-powered virtual-human training on student self-regulated learning (SRL) strategy practice and use, and investigating the learning processes and outcomes in interactive music-based language learning apps. Prior to that, Danny established the pedagogical implementation strategy for Edusoft, a subsidiary of ETS, where he led a team of EdTech implementation specialists specializing in designing, implementing and evaluating large-scale technology-enhanced learning and assessment solutions, serving K-20 institutions in over 30 countries worldwide. Danny is a former visiting scholar at the University of California, Irvine’s Digital Learning Lab, where he examined whether an interactive video-based SRL training can change Latino students’ learning behavior and improve performance. Dr. Glick is the author and co-editor of a wide range of publications, including, most recently, “Supporting Self-Regulated Learning and Student Success in Online Courses”, “Early Warning Systems and Targeted Interventions for Student Success in Online Courses”, and “Predicting Success,
Preventing Failure”.

Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA with a subsidiary office (IGI Science and Technology, Ltd.) operating out of Beijing, China, IGI Global is a leading medium-sized independent international academic publisher of cutting-edge, high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarly reference publications in the three major academic subject areas of Business & Management, Scientific, Technical, & Medical (STM), and Education. With a commitment to facilitating the discovery of pioneering scientific research, this publishing house has empowered over 200,000+ expert researchers from leading institutions globally to bring advanced research books from conceptualization to completion in an impressive 6-9 months from proposal acceptance to publication. IGI Global journal articles have a rapid turnaround, on average taking 2-4 weeks, and are then added to a significant portfolio of nearly 200 journals within IGI Global’s Open Access Journal Program. Through traditional and open access publishing workflows, this unique proprietary process makes tomorrow’s research, which enhances and expands the body of knowledge, available to the research community today.