|
Chan is Chair
Professor of the Graduate Institute of Network Learning Technology at
National Central University in Taiwan. He has worked on various areas of
digital technology supported learning, including artificial intelligence in
education, computer supported collaborative learning, digital classrooms,
online learning communities, mobile and ubiquitous learning, digital game based learning, and, most recently, technology
supported mathematics and language arts learning.
In 1988, Chan produced his doctoral thesis, a seminal work in artificial
intelligence in education, proposing the concept of virtual learning
companion – a learning environment consisting of multiple virtual characters,
such as a learning companion and a tutor. An environment with learning companions
can provide a rich social context, allowing students to interact in diverse
social activities including collaborative learning. The field of learning
companion research is currently an active sub-area of artificial intelligence
in education.
Upon conferral of his PhD, Chan worked with colleagues to connect two IBM PC
compatible personal computers via cable. Shortly thereafter, they put their
efforts towards constructing a networked learning system comprised of tens of
personal computers, thus creating an experimental research laboratory. In
1992, they published their work on this system, which they called a
futuristic intelligent classroom. It was probably the first dedicated,
synchronous, networked learning system in the world for collaborative learning
and competitive learning games. Following those initial efforts, Chan and his
colleagues continued to conduct a series of synchronous networked learning
research via connected computers in classrooms through the nineties. Then, in
1999, with the realization that laptops were far too expensive and personal
computers were still too bulky for the classroom, Chan, along with
colleagues, developed an inexpensive wireless response clicker system called EduClick for enhancing teacher-student interactions in question-and-answer
activities. He later found that he was not the first one to conceive of the
design of such a clicker, but he was surprised by the swelling popularity of
such clickers in classrooms over the world.
In 2000, with the sponsorship of the Ministry of Education, Chan led a 4-year
learning technology project with a budget of 14 million US dollars. The
project involved more than thirty professors across Taiwan. A sub-project of
the project was to build EduCity
(www.educities.edu.tw), an online learning platform. EduCity
is comprised of a hierarchy of communities: EduCity
itself represents the whole community, consisting of websites of schools
called EduTowns; an EduTown
represents a school, consisting of the websites of the classes in that school
called EduVillages; an EduVillage
represents a class, consisting of the personal websites of the students in
that class; and the users of EduCity are called EduCitizens.
The technology that was created for EduCity is
commonly referred to as Web2.0 today. EduCity
provides students with various online resources and activities. For example, EduTowns (schools) can adopt online application programs
called ‘service items’ provided by EduCity. Members
of EduTowns have the ability to develop their own
service items and, at their discretion, service items may be shared with
other EduTowns. Additionally, we support
collaboration among teachers for the development of learning materials and
lesson plans, which can also be released as open content. Every EduCitizen, who may be a teacher or a student, can open
an online course in EduCity.
Another sub-project of this large project in 2000 was the continuation of
future classroom research. Chan and his colleagues investigated mobile
learning in the context of the outdoors, in nature, as part of the future
classroom. In real physical classrooms, they used WebPad,
a pen-based and wireless enabled computer. Later, in 2003, when Tablet PCs
first became available on the market, research was conducted into the future
of Tablet PCs in the classroom.
By the time that the project ended in 2003, EduCity,
with 1.5 million users, was possibly the largest online learning community in
the world at that time (note that Facebook started in Harvard University in
2003). It was then transferred to the largest telecommunication company in
Taiwan where it continues to operate.
Chan is now working on digital schools, called Schools of Tomorrow, after the
name of the book written by John Dewey and Evelyn Dewey published in 1919. In
particular, his team is developing digital content material in conjunction
with novel pedagogical models for elementary schools. Digital curricula has been developed that covers mathematics, reading and
writing of Chinese language, and learning English as a second language. Chan
has, for a long time, recognized that the online learning environment of EduCity and the classroom learning environment are two
separate worlds, no matter how rich the learning resources and how vibrant
the communities in EduCity; accordingly, to bridge
the gap between these worlds, Chan has been designing a conceptual
architecture for EduCity 2.0.
In addition to conducting a vigorous research campaign and being one of the
earliest researchers in the field in Asia, Chan bears a personal mission to
facilitate the building of a regional research community. In the nineties, he
co-founded two conference series, ICCE and GCCCE, and two international
academic societies, APSCE (www.apsce.net) for the Asia-Pacific region and
GCSCE (www.gcsce.org) for the global Chinese community. A few years ago, Chan
initiated an international network of world-class researchers, G1:1
(www.G1to1.org), for promoting collaboration in one-to-one technology
enhanced learning. In 2007, he founded an international conference series,
the IEEE International Conference on Digital Game and Intelligent Toy
Enhanced Learning (DIGITEL). He also advocates building research communities
by forming various Special Interest Groups (SIGs) at different regional
levels: Taiwan, the Great China, and Asia-Pacific. Chan has served on the
editorial boards of more than ten international journals, and he has served
on project review panels in Taiwan, the US and the EU.
Chan was the major designer of the first Ministry of Education Master Plan
for Information Technology in Education in 2001, the National Science and
Technology Program for e-Learning in 2003 (a cross-ministry national
program), and the research sub-program of its second phase in 2007.
Born and raised in Hong Kong, received his first degree in the UK, awarded
his master’s and doctoral degrees from the USA, and worked in academia Taiwan
since 1989, Chan considers himself truly a global Chinese. All his family
members, except for him, have Canadian citizenship. He has said that he may
retire in Africa.
|
