On December 26, ECNU’s Shanghai Institute for AI Education (iAIE) was founded, which will focus on cultivating high-end talents in the interdisciplinary field of artificial intelligence and education.
Mei Bing, Chair of the University Council declared in her opening speech that ECNU will give full play to its advantages in educational science, phycology, brain science, software engineering, and math to promote integrated innovation. The Institute will prioritize AI education in its future development and build a highland of AI education in Shanghai and the whole country.
17 renowned experts and scholars at home and abroad, including Prof. Pan Yunhe, an academician from Chinese Academy of Engineering, were appointed members of the academic advisory committee of iAIE. They will provide decision-making consultation and intellectual support for the development of iAIE.
According to Wang Ye, Deputy Director of Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality, the founding of iAIE is an important action to enhance Shanghai’s basic theoretical research in AI and a major force to strengthen integration between AI and social governance in the city.
According to Lei Chaozi, Director General of the Department of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Education, the Institute is an important support to the development of AI education. He expressed his hope that ECNU will strengthen research in the law of education, conduct practical research featuring multidisciplinary integration, and develop more ideas to solve practical problems.
“Education is one of the most important scenarios of AI promotion and application,” said Chen Qun, Vice Mayor of Shanghai, “Although AI has produced some impact on the education sector in Shanghai and caused some changes, its education-related framework of empowerment and content remain to be clarified. In light of this, it is of practical significance to establish such an institute for systematic research.”
Prof. Yuan Zhenguo, Director of iAIE, said that along with the rapid development of science and technology, education will become the next priority of AI, which will make possible large-scale personalized education. “iAIE focuses on solving practical problems in education and offering affordable and low-risk public services. We want to make education more equitable, use technology to promote innovation in education and promote assessment reform to build a learning-oriented society that is borderless and accessible to everyone, everywhere, anytime,” Yuan said.
In the future, the Institute will focus on cultivating high-end talents in the interdisciplinary field of artificial intelligence and education and try to realize large-scale personalized education based on the new mode of online and offline integrated education. Meanwhile, it will conduct both basic and applied research, such as the Instructional design robot, Happy robot (Psychological Aid), Writing tutor robot, Language learning tutor robot that are currently under development.
Source: Shanghai Institute for AI Education
Photos by Lv Anqi
Copy editor: Joshua Mayfield
Editor: Yuan Yiwei
http://english.ecnu.edu.cn/02/a2/c1703a262818/page.htm