Synopsis
Universities are increasingly integrating AI into their curricula, expecting it to foster more innovative thinkers. However, it remains unclear whether this holds, and how students respond to failure when AI can generate ideas and prototypes in seconds. This quantitative study followed first-year undergraduate students in Singapore through a 13-week design thinking course, comparing cohorts that learned with and without AI. Some expected changes did not emerge, while a notable change was observed in how students felt about failure, rather than how they acted on it. This talk will examine what drives innovative thinking in AI-integrated learning, why it may be important to distinguish course-level AI integration from individual AI proficiency, and which factor best predicted course performance.
Speaker
Dr Ji-Eun Lee is a Research Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities (LKYCIC). She received her Ph.D. in Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences from Utah State University. Her research focuses on designing and evaluating technology-based interventions to enhance student learning and engagement, using learning analytics and advanced statistical methods. Before joining LKYCIC, she spent six years as a Research Scientist at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the U.S., where she led large-scale projects on technology-enhanced learning environments and mentored students. Her work has been published in leading journals such as Computers & Education and Educational Technology Research and Development.
