Dr Steven C. Pan
Director, Learning Sciences Laboratory
National University of Singapore
Dr. Steven C. Pan is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Director of the Learning Sciences Laboratory at the National University of Singapore (NUS), where he leads research into the mechanisms and optimisation of human learning. His research focuses on strategies that help learners acquire durable, flexible knowledge and apply them in real-world educational contexts. Dr. Pan is an action editor and special issue editor for Educational Psychology Review and serves on the editorial boards of seven psychology and education journals, including Journal of Educational Psychology, Learning and Instruction, and Psychological Bulletin. He is also a research associate at the AI Centre for Educational Technologies and the Centre for Holistic Inquiry into Lifelong Learning at NUS. Dr. Pan has been named one of the world’s highest-producing early career scholars in educational psychology and has received the Association for Psychological Science’s Rising Star Award.
Keynote
Topic: Do Effective Learning Strategies Still Matter in the Age of Generative AI?
In just a few years, generative AI has emerged as a disruptive force in many domains, including education. Its transformative capabilities have led many educators to question whether conventional approaches and beliefs about educational practice should be abandoned altogether in favour of new paradigms. Drawing on recent empirical research, this keynote will examine whether learning science-backed approaches—such as active learning, generative learning, and effective learning strategies—remain relevant in the age of AI. The findings highlight both the promise and perils of generative AI and related learning technologies: On one hand, they can dramatically reduce desirable difficulties that support the learning process, with potentially negative consequences; on the other, they can enable effective learning strategies to be implemented at scale and in ways previously not feasible, yielding positive effects. Taken together, these patterns provide valuable insights into how learning can adapt and evolve in an AI-driven world.