From November 18 to 20, AI for Education Singapore 2025 was successfully held at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Over 400 participants attended the event, including government representatives, university leaders, scholars, industry experts, and students from Singapore, China, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Brazil, and other countries. The conference included seven keynote speeches, three keynote dialogues, twelve parallel sessions, and five lab visits. DI-IDEA hosted a session “The Nexus of AI, Education, Society, and Industry” at the conference.
Group photo
During the opening ceremony on the morning of November 18, Professor Tan Ooi Kiang, Associate Provost of NTU shared the university’s innovative approach to integrating AI with teaching. Following that, Professor Sun Hua, Secretary-General of DI-IDEA, Director of the Office of the Provost and Director of the Center for Excellent Teaching and Learning of Peking University, introduced the university’s global initiatives and practical efforts in AI in education. He highlighted four key areas of focus: nurturing future-ready teachers, designing future classrooms, planning future schools, and creating future learning hubs. He emphasized Peking University’s forward-thinking exploration of new models that merge science and education.
Tan Ooi Kiang and Sun Hua delivering speeches
Professor Song Jie, Party Secretary of the School of Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics at Peking University delivered a speech titled “Co-Creating Education through Judgment, Taste, and Task-Aware AI”, where she stressed that education in the AI era should focus on guiding students to understand the deeper meaning behind tasks, with an emphasis on developing their critical thinking and creativity. Professor Zhang Ying, Deputy Secretary-General of DI-IDEA and Vice Dean of Guanghua School of Management at Peking University gave a presentation, “TeachPod: A Faculty-Centered AI Tool”, to introduce the AI-powered teaching assistant tool “TeachPod”, which was developed by Guanghua School of Management to support instructors in course design and classroom.
Song Jie and Zhang Ying delivering speeches
In the afternoon of November 18, the panel discussion at DI-IDEA session was led by Zhang Ying and included Ben Leong, Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore, Ingrid Winkler, Associate Professor at the National Center for Integrated Manufacturing Systems and Technology in Brazil, Lydia Cao, PhD candidate at the University of Toronto, and Wang Xingru, Chief Strategy Officer at Beijing ModelBest Technology Co., Ltd. Members of DI-IDEA also contributed to the session. Lin Jie from the School of Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University presented “Beyond Usability: Disciplinary Ecologies and the Social Drivers of GenAI Adoption in Graduate Education”; Chen Leheng introduced the “PKU Quest: Reducing AI Hallucination & Forcing Critical Thinking” platform; Ho Shen Yong, Executive Director of the Centre for Research and Development in Learning at NTU, spoke on “Developing Pedagogy from First Principles in the Age of AI”.
DI-IDEA sub-forum speakerss
During the conference, PKU delegation met with President Lily Kong of Singapore Management University (SMU) and held working meetings with representatives from the university’s The Centre for Teaching Excellence, International Office, and School of Economics.
Delegation meeting with representatives from Singapore Management University
