Envisioning the Future of Education Through Design

This book identifies the educational problems and issues that could be solved by design and discusses how to overcome these challenges by adopting a design thinking approach. The chapters cover topics such as opportunities and challenges for the futures of education, the emerging models of design thinking for education, learning activity design, educational design for learning with special needs, designing learning spaces of the future, designing the classroom of the future, the design of authentic learning, and design of elderly education. It aims to assist educators and various stakeholders (e.g., administrators, practitioners, researchers, teachers, and students) in the educational field to realize the importance of design in education and enables them to use design and design thinking to overcome the educational challenges to achieve sustainable development.

Dr. Ronghuai Huang is a Professor of Education at Beijing Normal University and holds multiple prestigious roles in the field. He is currently the Co-Dean of Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University, the Director of the National Engineering Research Center of Cyberlearning and Intelligent Technology, and the Director of the Educational Informatization Strategy Research Base in Beijing, under the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. Additionally, he serves as the UNESCO Chair on Artificial Intelligence in Education. He has extensive expertise in educational informatization, smart learning environments, technology-supported innovative teaching, and artificial intelligence in education. Professor Huang’s contributions extend beyond recognition, as he has actively participated in over 100 national, provincial, and ministerial projects. His influential ideas have reached wide audiences through the publication of more than 300 academic papers and over 40 books, both domestically and internationally.

Dr. Dejian Liu is Founder and Chairman of NetDragon Websoft Inc., Co-Dean of Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University, and Co-Dean of Academy of Big Data Application in Chinese Education. His research fields include Internet Product Design, the Application of VR/AR, AI &Big Data in Education, Digital Education, etc. In recognition of the outstanding contributions in Engineering Technology, the Chinese government has awarded him the title of Special Allowance Expert of the State Council in 2015, enjoying national expert treatment.

Dr. Michael Agyemang Adarkwah served as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Smart Learning Institute, Beijing Normal University (BNU), China. He obtained his Ph.D. in Education Leadership and Management from Southwest University, China. He has a bachelor’s degree in nursing and has worked as a Registered Nurse (RGN) in Ghana. He has given keynote speeches on Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education at the University of Portsmouth-Kaplan Symposium and at the University of Ghana. His research interests are teaching and learning, motivation, assessment, digitalization, computers and education, adult education, special education, linguistics, and healthcare education. He is part of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Educational Studies and Multidisciplinary Approaches (JESMA), and International Journal of Modern Education Studies (IJONMES), and Social Education Research (SER). He is an Associate Editor for SN Social Sciences.

Dr. Huanhuan Wang is Assistant Professor (research) at Beijing Normal University (BNU), China. She obtained a Ph.D. degree from the Learning, Design, and Technology program at Purdue University, the USA. Her research interests focus on topics such as instructional design for personalized learning and online learning and achievement motivation.

Dr. Boulus Shehata is originally an architecture engineer from Egypt. He shifted his career to Education after being inspired by the Confucian philosophy of education. He grew up in Kuwait, studied in Europe, and lived in Asia, but he considers himself a Global Citizen. His MBA is on Human Resources Management in education, and his teaching experience include mathematics and physics. He holds a Ph.D. in International & Comparative Education from Beijing Normal University with a focus on Critical Thinking Education. He is pursuing a second Ph.D. in Educational Technology. His research interest includes student-centered digital learning and Artificial Intelligence in education. Dr. Boulus dreams of an education system that serves the learner to find, develop and make use of their potential talents; a system that integrates state-of-the-art technologies to nourish students’ 21st century skills.