Address by Senior Minister of State for Education & Sustainability and the Environment, Dr Janil Puthucheary, at the National Technology Enhanced Learning (NTEL) Conference 2025 at Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT)

Professor Chua Kee Chaing, President, SIT,

Distinguished Guests, Ladies & Gentlemen,

Good afternoon.

(A) Opening

1. Good afternoon, happy to be back at SIT again. Today, we are exploring ideas in technology and pedagogy and we want to discuss the future of learning.

2. Since its inception in 2015, NTEL has grown to become a key platform for the cross-institutional sharing and discussion of EdTech works in teaching and learning. Importantly, it is a strong collaboration between our local universities, educators, technologists, and policymakers.

3. I would like to thank SIT, especially for hosting this year's NTEL.

4. It is fitting that NTEL is being held in SIT's new Punggol Campus, in the heart of a smart digital district that engages in real-world tech-enabled learning.

(B) Anticipating the transformation of AI and an AI-pervasive future

5. AI is already transforming the way in which we live, work, and interact.

1. We cannot imagine going through our daily lives without access to our little personal pocket assistants. They are often powered by digital assistants. Some of them have names - Siri and Alexa. Some of them manage our schedules, and some of them manage our holiday itineraries. But whether it's manging schedules, getting us to the Punggol Digital District on time, navigating the traffic or finding recipes, all of these require the use of smart technology, to optimise our daily routines. Customer service across industries from banking to retail is also increasingly fronted by Agentic AI.
2. These are ways AI and technology improve productivity and optimise existing workflows.

6. In doing so, new job roles are created. That's what this is about, and that then becomes the interface between education and learning. If we train students for jobs that are not going to be around tomorrow, we risk encoding obsolescence. As AI developments reshape work and industries, we have important questions facing us as educators:

1. What qualities do our students need to thrive in a complex and ambiguous world – both in terms of the hard and soft skills; and
2. Consequently, how should education and educators respond to these challenges and questions?

(C) Developing Learners in the Age of AI

7. Today's conference theme 'Balancing Bytes and Bonds' is timely. How should learners learn and prepare themselves for an AI-pervasive world?

Baseline AI competencies

8. Regardless of the industry that we are talking about, regardless of the job role and task, our students will need familiarity with AI tools and emerging technologies. This is foundational before they can start innovating with AI in their respective domains.

9. Our Institutes of Higher Learning are enhancing students' baseline digital skills and AI-related competencies, with AI-focused modules and programmes:

1. NUS's upcoming Acacia Residential College will offer interdisciplinary courses for students to explore the relationship between AI and various facets of work and life. It will also teach practical skills in generative AI, AI programming and machine learning.
2. NTU offer compulsory modules on computational thinking, applications in data science, and use of AI through discipline-specific content.

Soft Skills and Dispositions

10. But developing these technological competencies is insufficient. More than ever, students need more that. You heard from the students this afternoon their appreciation for human-centred skills. These students expressed it in terms of the faculty, the learning process, the educators. The need for human-centred skills like creative problem-solving, systems-thinking, effective communication will extend well outside the educational space into their ability to translate their technological skills in AI, their foundational knowledge of technology into a real-world effect, especially in an AI-pervasive world.

11. Our Autonomous Universities are mindful of developing these soft skills in their curriculum and programmes:

1. SIT's Industry-Ready Skills Framework helps students develop essential, workplace skills such as adaptability and transdisciplinary thinking in a structured and intentional way. These skills training are intentionally woven into the curriculum, both in and outside the classroom.
2. SMU's Co-Curricular Transcript showcases students' co-curricular participation and highlights their soft skills in addition to their academic achievements.

Industry Domain Expertise

12. Our Institutes of Higher Learning must also work closely with our industry partners to have a deep domain understanding of competencies required. First, a foundational understanding of technology which includes the competencies in AI, then the development of skills around human-centred processes - creativity and dynamism. The third bucket is then that deep industry link – a deep domain understanding of the competencies required, ensuring that curriculum remains relevant for our students in meeting the workplace demands of today and the anticipated demands of tomorrow.

(D) Technology as an enabler in education, but educators at the heart of education

13. In doing all of this, not only do we have to prepare for an AI-pervasive world, but we can also use AI to make learning more effective and efficient. AI has enabled adaptive and personalised learning to take place at scale:

1. SUSS has developed the Adaptive Learning System to provide personalised learning for its adult learners. This system diagnoses learning gaps and provides individualised learning support through hints and feedback. It is a scalable solution that complements make-up classes conducted by faculty.

14. Beyond all of this, we want our learning to be meaningful, inclusive, and connected, and that is fundamentally why you need to have educators at the heart of the education process, and not the technology.

15. It is a human educator that you need in order to form real connections with students, cultivate values, foster empathy and drive collaboration through mentorship, and for the foreseeable function and in the long-term, continue to uphold one of the key functions of an educator, which is to be a good role model. We want our students to grow into better versions of themselves, and that is not something that can be easily replaced by technology. Values, empathy, collaboration, mentorship and role modelling.

1. Data analytics can and does inform educators where to intervene; AI tools can and do generate content for self-directed learners, but only an educator can offer that sense of connection, influence students' motivations, and ultimately provide that thing that most of us take away from our own personal education journey – inspiration. Human inspiration that comes from the relationship.

16. Real transformation of our tasks, institutions and processes comes when educators rethink, redesign, and reimagine the AI-enabled-learning experience for the learner.

1. For instance, two days ago at the Applied Learning Conference, I mentioned that SIT is developing a Living Lab Network, a digital university-wide data platform. This is commendable as it is important to make use of the technology to create opportunities for our students, faculty and industry partners.
2. But the real deep, authentic learning for our students will only happen because SIT is also driving the collaboration with academic staff and industry partners, and thinking through the use of these platforms to develop practical skills and innovative solutions.

17. It is the educators who discern which combination of EdTech or AI tools should be used to maximise learning for a certain discipline, and help students guard against the possible risks that come with AI adoption.

1. In SUSS's post-graduate Applied Linguistics programme, students examine responsible use of AI in designing language testing materials. This then becomes a matter of study and discipline that our faculty and educators can engage in.

18. This is why in order to scale educational transformation, we must invest in our educators, and upkeep a culture of pedagogical innovation, sharing and experimentation within a community of practice. Our IHLs contribute significantly to this.

1. NUS convenes an integrated university-level forum for faculty to exchange ideas, and resources across faculties.
2. At SMU, all new teaching staff are inducted into teaching with AI along with Edtech and AI tools.
3. At SUTD, faculty and staff members are encouraged to build their own Custom GPT in a professional sharing workshop. We have to become familiar with these tools as educators and as educational institutions, even as we role model its appropriate use to our students and learners.

(E) Closing: Transforming education together

19. We have today, a community of faculty across our local universities and industry partners, all of whom "dare-to-experiment", test out ideas, share what works and what to avoid.

20. Similar to how the Covid-19 vaccine was developed at an unprecedented pace through the sharing of knowledge, we must continue to share and learn extensively to surf the wave of the AI age and the changes that it brings.

21. I am heartened to see that the sharing and learning culture between institutions, educators, and technologists remains strong, as it always has been. It is that sense of collaboration, sharing and learning that has made all these technological advancements possible, and so going forward, we must remember that and continue to build on that spirit in order to extract value for the next generation of learners.

22. Together, we shape the future of learning and foster a vibrant ecosystem of innovation and resilience.

23. Thank you all, if I can echo the sentiments of many of our students, for preparing our educators and students to thrive in tomorrow's AI-driven landscape. Wishing everyone a meaningful and transformative NTEL 2025. Thank you.