Talk
Improving blended learning through effective online discussion design: group size, role assignment, and timing

Bio
Heng Luo is currently a professor of educational technology and Associate Dean in the Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Central China Normal University. He received his Ph.D. degree in Instructional Design, Development, and Evaluation from Syracuse University in 2015, and worked briefly as a Research Associate at John A. Dutton e-Education Institute in Pennsylvania State University. His research work focuses on the effective integration of learning sciences, instructional design, and AI technologies to promote quality and equity of education in diverse contexts, which has led to over 50 publications in SCI/SSCI journals. His academic contribution has been recognized with scholarly awards such as TICL Outstanding International Research Collaboration Award of AERA’2022 and D&D Outstanding Practice Award in the annual conference of AECT’2019.

Talk
School-Wide Support for Students with Gifts and Talents

Bio
Garry worked as a mainstream and special education teacher and as an educational psychologist before lecturing in special education at two teachers’ colleges and four universities. He established post-graduate training programs for teachers of children with special needs in England, Barbados and New Zealand. He has published over 200 journal articles and sixteen books including: Parental Involvement in Childhood Education (2011); Inclusive Special Education (2014); Essential Evidence-Based Teaching Strategies (2022) and Inclusive Education at the Crossroads (2023).

Talk
Social and Emotional Learning as Foundation for Future Readiness

Bio
Dr. V. Scott H. Solberg Ph.D, is Professor at the Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development. Dr. Solberg is working internationally and nationally on the design, implementation, and evaluation of effective career development programs and services for especially high-need youth populations, including youth with disabilities. Currently he is co-leading a multi-country country effort to build educators’ capacity to engage in social emotional learning. This SEL effort has been recognized by World Educational Research Association as an International Research Network and culminated in a forthcoming edited volume titled “Social and Emotional Learning as Foundation for Future Readiness: Translating Research to Practice” will be released by Springer in 2025. His publications, reports, and curriculum translate career development research into practice and policy strategies that are being used by states and districts throughout the United States. He is author of the book “Making School Relevant with Individualized Learning Plans: Helping Students Create Their Own Career and Life Goals” from Harvard Education Press., co-editor of the “Handbook of Career and Workforce Development: Research, Practice and Policy” from Routledge and “Careers for Students with Special Educational Needs: Perspectives on Development and Transitions from the Asia-Pacific Region” from Springer.

Talk
Building Systemic Solutions to Support Learners with Academic Anxieties

Bio
Jerrell Cassady is Professor of Psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology at Ball State University, USA. Over the last 25 years, Dr. Cassady has been engaged in research focused on identifying the presence and the impact of academic anxieties (particularly cognitive test anxiety). He is the author of two measures in the field that have been translated and used around the globe. He currently is turning his attention to building school- and community-based support systems to help educational professional identify and support those learners who struggle with anxiety in academic contexts. He is the Director of the Academic Anxiety Resource Center (https://sites.bsu.edu/aarc) and the Research Design Studio (https://sites.bsu.edu/rds). He also serves as Editor in Chief of the journal Behavioral Sciences.