Invited Speakers
Professor Michelle M. Neumann
The University of Sheffield, UK
Michelle M. Neumann is an expert in the field of early childhood education, digital technologies (social robots, tablets, apps), and emergent literacy development, and conducts research in preschool and primary school settings. Michelle has experience in using a multi-method approach that incorporates qualitative and quantitative analysis, and she has been recognised as a lead researcher in Australia, in the field of Early Childhood Education by the Australian Government (2021-2023) and has been successful in gaining research funding. Michelle has developed several early educational programs and digital resources for early literacy and language learning, and published a book, several book chapters and research articles in national and international peer-reviewed journals, having over 10 years’ experience working as a primary and secondary school teacher. She is passionate about leading research teams that seek to understand how young children interact, engage, and communicate with social robots and how AI-enabled social robots could be used to support early literacy and language learning in the classroom.
Abstract: Young children interact positively with social robots during a variety of preschool activities. These child‑robot interactions have been linked to learning benefits in language, literacy, and communication, with many children readily engaging in conversations with social robots. Despite these advantages, social robots present limitations for everyday classroom use as they are costly, not fully autonomous, and often require significant human input to script dialogue and coordinate speech with physical movements. These demands, combined with practical and technical constraints in busy early years environments, can make sustained use difficult. This presentation will outline these issues while also considering emerging opportunities offered by new GenAI‑enabled social robots. Such systems have the potential to support more fluid, natural conversations with children and may reduce some of the manual programming required with earlier‑generation social robots. At the same time, integrating GenAI into child‑robot interactions introduces new dilemmas, including concerns around data privacy and ethical use. The discussion will highlight key considerations for responsibly adopting GenAI‑enabled social robots in early childhood settings, offering recommendations for design, implementation, and future research. It will also explore ways to optimise design features and identify meaningful opportunities for integrating GenAI‑enabled social robots into early childhood education. The aim is to support thoughtful decision‑making by researchers, schools, teachers, and parents about how social robots can enhance preschool learning while navigating the complexities involved in their use.
Assoc. Prof. Celina da Silva
York University, Canada
Celina da Silva, MN/ Collaborative Bioethics, PhD holds the position of Associate Professor at York University in Toronto, Canada. Her research is centered around virtual serious games (VSGs) and virtual reality. She has received grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada and eCampus Ontario to support her work in this area including a recent SSHRC grant received in 2024.
Dr. da Silva’s recent study, backed by SSHRC funding focuses on developing open-access VSGs tailored for International Educated Nurses (IENs). She is collaborating with IENs using a co-design approach and leveraging the Morai open-access framework to create culturally relevant VSGs. These immersive virtual experiences aim to tackle the challenges faced by IENs as they transition into the Canadian healthcare system. Additionally she has partnered with research teams to explore the transitional needs of post-secondary students and mid-career workers with disabilities. The objective of these initiatives is to develop engaging digital tools customized for the unique needs of marginalized communities, through a person-centered approach.
Leveraging her multifaceted expertise in game design, virtual reality, and community-engaged scholarship, Dr. da Silva occupies a pivotal role in harnessing the power of transformative digital tools for positive social impact. Her innovative projects aim to enhance learning, wellbeing, and accessibility in the virtual world by centering the “lived experiences” of end-users and prioritizing social good.
Assoc. Prof. Yanlan Shi
Beijing Language and Culture University, China
Yanlan Shi, Doctor of Literature, Associate Professor, Beijing Language and Culture University. The major field of study is international Chinese language education. She has been teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages for 29 years and has extensive experience in both language teaching and intercultural communication. She went to Japan and Singapore several times to teach Chinese or give short-term lectures. She was a visiting scholar at Columbia University in the city of New York during 2007-2009. In 2013, she received the certificate of completion from the Institute of Chinese Culture and Cross-Cultural Communication at Beijing Foreign Studies University. In 2014, she earned the certificate of completion for the Senior Workshop on Sustainable Development of Culture and International Language Education at Beijing Normal University. From 2015 to 2019, she was a visiting professor at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA. She designed and implemented personalized teaching plans based on students’ needs and proficiency levels, utilized various teaching methods to stimulate students' interest in learning, cultivated students' autonomous learning abilities, and encouraged their active participation in class discussions and practical activities. The published articles include 'Teaching Dimensional Digitized Newspapers Course' (Digital Chinese Teaching, July 2014) and 'A Brief Review on the Development of Digital Teaching Chinese' (Modern Educational Technology, December 2013). The book 'The Subject Words Group and Related Research Based on the Dynamic Circulation of Mainstream Newspapers in China' was published by Guangming Daily Press, Beijing, in April 2021. Current research interests are international communication, Multimodal Teaching, and Blended Teaching.
Prof. María José Latorre-Medina
University of Granada, Spain
Prof. María José Latorre-Medina holds a PhD in Education from the University of Granada, Spain. She is Associate Professor in the Department of Teaching and School Organisation at the Faculty of Education, Economy, and Technology of Ceuta, University of Granada, Spain. Her research career began more than twenty years ago at the same university, where she has carried out her main scientific and technical work. Since the completion of her doctoral thesis, which focused on the practical knowledge of future teachers, her scientific production has been continuous and intense, developing various studies that have resulted in numerous specialised publications. Many of this works have been published in indexed scientific journals. She has been a member of the FORCE research group (School-centred Teacher Training). From 2021, she leads the FYDAD research group (Training, Development and Teaching Activity). Her main research areas are professional knowledge, teacher training and quality of education.
In terms of internalisation, she has taken part in teacher mobility programmes. She has spent several periods in universities of excellence abroad. She has had the privilege of working with professors from York St John University and the University of London in the UK and from Maryland, Columbia and Connecticut in the US.
Throughout her career, she has also held the position of Vice-Dean of External Practices and Educational Innovation at the Faculty of Education, Economy and Technology in Ceuta, University of Granada. She was also the coordinator of the Early Childhood Education degree at the same faculty.
URLs Scientific Production:
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2237-9341
https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=rACxz_IAAAAJ&hl=es&oi=sra
Abstract: In line with the conference theme, Reimagining education with technology: innovation, inclusion, and impact, my presentation will focus on the field of initial teacher training, more specifically, on the field of ethical training for teachers. We start from the premise that, today, ethics is not only the “battleground” of emerging technologies, including AI, but also of teacher training programs themselves. In recent years, numerous authors have explored how emerging technologies are redefining the educational landscape, focusing not only on their innovative potential (first advantage), but also on the ethical imperative of inclusion—which they promote—(second advantage), and on the need to measure their real impact in order to transfer the results (third advantage). To such an extent that today it seems very difficult to imagine education without technology. But, without a doubt, it would be much more difficult to conceive of it without teachers who are well prepared to face the challenges posed by today's highly digitalized society. My proposal, as leader of the FYDAD Research Group (Training, Development, and Teaching Activity) at the University of Granada (Spain), is that we reimagine education with teachers trained in professional (digital) ethics. This would truly be an act of pedagogical renewal and an ethical imperative for educational inclusion. In this way, we could indeed think about or “reimagine” education from the ethical, safe, and reliable use of technology. This presentation aims to provide evidence in this regard.
Asst. Prof. Chandra Reka Ramachandiran
Xiamen University Malaysia, Malaysia
Assistant Professor Dr. Chandra Reka Ramachandiran is the Head of Programme (Software Engineering) at Xiamen University Malaysia. Her research expertise spans Teaching and Learning Tools, Human-Computer Interaction, Mixed Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and Affective Engineering (Kansei Engineering).
An accomplished researcher, Dr. Chandra has presented and published extensively in renowned conferences and high-impact journals. She has successfully secured multiple national and international research grants, reflecting her strong contributions to the field. She was also awarded the prestigious JASSO Scholarship, a research collaboration between the University of Malaya and Chiba University, Japan.
Beyond research, Dr. Chandra is actively involved in the academic community, serving as a reviewer and technical committee member for numerous ACM and IEEE conferences, along with other international events. She is deeply committed to both teaching and research, continuously advancing the field of Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence and other Emerging Technologies.
Senior Lecturer Dr. Nurul Farhana Jumaat
Universiti Malaya, Malaysia
Dr Nurul Farhana Jumaat is a senior lecturer from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. She is also the editorial board for Innovative Teaching and Learning Journal and a frequent reviewer for ISI indexed journal namely Journal of Educational Computing Research (JECR) and Education and Information Technologies Journal. To date, she has secured 7 research grants in which she acted as Project Leader and a member of 24 other research related to online learning, learning analytics and computer-based T&L.
Abstract: The rising prevalence of mental health issues among university students poses significant challenges to their well-being. To effectively address this issue, it is crucial to develope a professional application that integrates psychological assessment and stress relief functions. This paper presents the development and evaluation of Positive Mind, an Android-based mobile mental health application rooted in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), specifically tailored for undergraduate students. The study encompasses the identification of system requirements, the development of the application, and an investigation into its usability and efficacy. While statistical significance was not achieved in terms of enhancing positive emotional well-being (p > 0.05), qualitative feedback revealed valuable insights. Usability assessment through SUS obtained an average score of 74.375 indicated positive user perceptions overall, while specific areas for improvement were identified. Moreover, a weak positive correlation was found between usability and improvements in depression and stress levels, while a moderate positive correlation was observed for anxiety levels. This study confirms that the proposed mobile mental health application provides positive support for university students' emotional well-being. Based on this finding, future research can further optimize the application's features with AI integration to enhance the functionality and effective user engagement.
Dr. Phillip Benachour
Lancaster University, UK
I am a Senior Teaching Fellow in the School of Computing and Communications and Director of the International Partner Campuses in the Faculty of Science and Technology at Lancaster University.
For international role in the Faculty, I have oversight of the international partner campuses giving direction on operations and advising the Dean and Faculty leadership group.
My current research interests and topics relate to the use of technology to understand and support learning. The topics I am working on fit within the broad area of Technology Enhanced Learning.
Abstract: E-commerce fraud and scams are a growing problem globally. Despite efforts from organisations and technology enhancements, human vulnerability remains a weak point. Commonly used traditional cybersecurity trainings and awareness campaigns have been criticised for their lack of engagement. Existing literature shows that the use of game-based learning (GBL) could potentially increase security awareness and encourage adaptive behaviour while improving engagement. However, it tended to focus more on phishing or a mix variety of cyber fraud and scams. A pilot inter-group experiment involving 46 consumers (aged 18-54) was conducted online to gauge users’ attitudes, behaviour, and motivation towards protection from e-commerce fraud and online scams. Participants chose between a traditional quiz (control group = 16) and a quiz-style role-playing game embedded with the same quiz (treatment group = 30). The effectiveness of GBL was evaluated using the quiz scores of both sets of groups based on the risk behaviour diagnosis (RBD) methodology. Results of the experiment show that interest in games, e-commerce usage frequency, and fear of victimisation are the key motivators for the treatment group to undertake action to increase their literacy on e-commerce fraud and scam prevention. Ninety percent (90%) of the treatment group felt that they learnt practical tips during gameplay. Further, the treatment group participants displayed high knowledge and awareness on e-commerce fraud and scams (mean score = 86.7%) and performed better than participants who did not play the game. The analysis of the results also show that the treatment group participants are likely to display good cyber hygiene (RBD discriminating value = 2.2) while the converse is true for the control group (RBD discriminating value = -0.4). These results indicate that GBL can be effective in promoting knowledge and awareness on cybercrime and cybersecurity topics. Authorities and private organisations should consider enhancing their existing efforts by incorporating GBL in their trainings and awareness campaigns. The user study results and proposed balanced mechanics techniques can provide insights to broader applications designs related to gamification in education and gamified assessment methods. Based on research into learner engagement, we explore how flow, meaningful choices, incentives, and task duration can be applied to stimulate behaviour, motivation, and engagement levels.
