Interactive Events Proposal @ICCE 2023

Organisers:

Dr. Yanjie SONG, Prof. Ping LI, Prof. Siu-Cheung KONG, Prof. Qing LI, Prof. Xuesong ZHAI, Prof. Chengjiu YIN and Dr. Peter Hiu Fung NG

Topic:

Metaverse in Education: Design, Applications, and Challenges

Abstract:

Metaverse is the next generation of internet and has been heralded as a trend of future education with great potential. Innovations in using augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR), CAVE (a cave automatic virtual environment), and other artificial intelligence technologies to design and develop a variety of platforms for educational and training purposes are increasing rapidly. The adoption of these innovations will bring about transformations in education. In this interactive event, the organisers from Hong Kong, Mainland China and Japan will introduce their innovations and applications, discuss challenges, and explore future work with regard to the metaverse in education. The innovations include design and development of (1) language and culture learning through VR and metaverse — simulating embodied cognition and action in a multimodal behavioral and neurocognitive platform; (2) a 3D metaverse platform – ‘Cheer Zone Metaverse’ to establish a virtual community that leverages immersive environments for behaviour interactions, employing diversified avatars for affective communication, and implementing equitable mechanisms for knowledge creation; (3) a ‘Central Venous Catheters Training Prototype System’ by combining Haptics devices (Touch X) and VR Goggles to reproduce the sense of touch and enhance the sense of immersion in medical education; (4) Play2Earn APPs by applying GameFi and gamification concept to facilitate whole person education (Humane, Physical Development, Social & Spiritual) in higher education; and (5) a 3D metaverse platform – ‘Learningverse’ to support teaching, social and cognitive presences in immersive, collaborative and interactive learning environments. In tandem with these innovations and applications of metaverse in education, issues and types of versatile data sharing in educational metaverse systems (EMS) and metaverse literacy are also important topics to be explored and discussed in this interactive event.

Agenda: 

Bio of Organizers:

Dr. Yanjie SONG, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

Dr. Yanjie Song is an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Information Technology at The Education University of Hong Kong. She obtained her PhD in educational technology at the University of Hong Kong and her MEd in IT, Multimedia and Education at University of Leeds, UK. Her research areas focus on innovative pedagogy design, multimodal learning analytics and design and development of applications with metaverse, augmented reality, and virtual reality technologies, including two award-winning apps - ‘VocabGo’ app with augmented reality and virtual reality for vocabulary learning, and the ‘m-Orchestrate’ app for teacher orchestration in collaborative inquiry-based learning in international Invention Innovation Competitions. Her research team also developed the metaverse platform – ‘Learningverse’ which won ‘Bronze medal’ in ‘Geneva Inventions’ 2023 (Switzerland). Dr Song has over 100 journal papers, book chapters and conference papers, and was among the top 2% in the Stanford list of the world’s most-cited scientists in 2020.

Prof. Ping LI, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

Ping Li is Sin Wai Kin Foundation Professor in Humanities and Technology, Chair Professor of Neurolinguistics and Bilingual Studies, and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He previously served as President of the Society for Computation in Psychology and Program Director at the U.S. National Science Foundation while being a Professor of Psychology, Linguistics, and Information Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University. He uses cognitive neuroscience methods and digital technologies to study neuroplasticity and individual differences in learning and in understanding the relationships among language, culture, technology, and the brain. Prof. Li is currently Editor-in-Chief of Brain and Language and Senior Editor of Cognitive Science. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Prof. Siu Cheung KONG, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

Prof. KONG Siu-Cheung currently is Research Chair Professor of the Department of Mathematics and Information Technology (MIT); and Director of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Competency Education Centre (AIDCED), the Education University of Hong Kong. Prof. Kong has produced over 290 academic publications in the areas of STEAM education, computational thinking education, artificial intelligence literacy, etc. Prof. Kong is at present serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning (RPTEL) and Journal of Computers in Education (JCE). Prof. Kong is on the list of Stanford Top 2% Scientist in Education in 2019 (single-year data), in 2020 and 2021 (single-year data & career-long data). He was the winner of 2019-2020 HKSAR University Grants Council Teaching Award (Team Award). Prof. Kong is leading an international project on promoting computational thinking development and coding education for eight years starting from 2016. He is also leading a three-phase project on Artificial Intelligence Literacy education for school teachers, senior secondary students, university students and administrative staff in Hong Kong from 2020 to 2025.

Prof. Qing LI, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

Qing Li received the B.Eng. degree in computer science from the Hunan University (Changsha), China, and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from the University of Southern California (Los Angeles), USA. He is a Chair Professor and the Head of Department of Computing, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His current research interests include multimodal data mining and management, conceptual data modeling, social media computing, Web services, and e-learning systems. He has authored/co-authored over 480 publications in the above areas. Prof. Li is also actively involved in the research community and has served as an associate editor of several technical journals, including IEEE Transactions on Artificial Intelligence, IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems (TCDS), IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering (TKDE), the ACM Transactions on Internet Technology (TOIT), Data Science and Engineering, ​and World Wide Web, in addition to being a Conference and Program Chair/Co-Chair of numerous major international conferences. Prof. Li has sat/been sitting in the Steering Committees of ACM RecSys, IEEE U-MEDIA, DASFAA, WISE, FFD, and ICWL. He is a fellow of IEEE.

Prof. Xuesong ZHAI, Zhejiang University, China

Xuesong Zhai is a research professor at College of Education, Zhejiang University, and he is the IEEE member in educational society. He has been a postdoctoral fellow at School of Educational Technology, Beijing Normal University, majoring in Education Technology. His research interests include but not limited to the area of interactive learning, construction of smart learning environment and emerging technology enhanced learning. He is the board member of Humanities & Social Science Communications of Nature, the associated editor of IEEE TLT. He has published more than 60 research papers in indexed journals, such as Educational Technology & Society, Interactive Learning Environments, Higher Education and Journal of Computer Assisted Learning.

Prof. Chengjiu YIN, Kyushu University, Japan

Chengjiu Yin is currently a Professor at Research Institute for Information Technology of Kyushu University, Japan. He received his Ph.D from the University of Tokushima, Japan in March 2008. Prof. Yin has more than 10 years of experience in the field of Educational Technology such as Language Learning, Mobile Learning and Learning Analysis. His current research foci are lying in Educational Data Mining and Learning Analytics. He has published more than 150 academic papers, 45 of which are journal papers (including 20 SSCI/SCI-indexed and 7 EI-indexed journal papers). He was also an invited speaker at International Joint Conference on Information, Media and Engineering (ICIME2018). Prof. Yin received two best paper awards and a few best paper nominees in different conferences. He obtained Early Career Research Award 2019 in APSCE (Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education), a top research organization in the field of computer and education in Asia.

Dr. Peter Hiu Fung NG, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

Dr Peter Ng is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computing (COMP) and Rehabilitation Sciences (RS) at PolyU, and he is in charge of the Game Lab and deputy programmer leader of FT Broad Discipline of Computing (EIS Steam) and MSc Metaverse Technology in COMP. His interests are artificial intelligence, metaverse, play2earn APP and mixed reality development. He has developed Green Coin which combine the ESG and Blockchain concept. GreenCoin has obtained more than 3000 active users within three years. He received his BSc, MSc and PhD at Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2004, 2007 and 2013. He received one of the best ACG+ Capital teams from the Hong Kong Home Affairs Department in 2017, Merit Awards of Teaching by PolyU FENG in 2017 and 2021, Team awards of Teaching by PolyU FENG in 2021, Merit Awards of Service by PolyU FENG in 2019, Gold winner for the Community Outreach Award (eLFA2021) in 2021, Best ten teachers in the Greater Bay Area STEM Excellence Award 2022 (HKSAR). His funded project is over HK$83.1M (PI/Co-PI: 16.68M and Co-I: 66.42M). His funded project is related to mixed-reality (23M), healthcare (53M) and teaching(31M).