Empowering Educational Innovation Through Design: Volume Two Best Practices from University Students

Dr. Dejian Liu is the Chairman and Executive Director of NetDragon Websoft Inc., and Co-Dean of the Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University, China. He also serves on the Governing Board of the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE), and as the Chairman of the Judging Committee for the Global Competition on Design for Future Education (GCD4FE). Dr. Liu also pioneered 'Design Methodology', an innovative design theory grounded in advanced design concepts and practical cyberlearning experiences worldwide. In 2017, he taught the course 'Next Generation Design: Methods and Heuristics' to students from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. 

Dr. Guangju Chen is the Former Vice President of Beijing Normal University (BNU), and President of Beijing Normal University Zhuhai (BNUZ), China. He is also the Deputy Dean of the Smart Learning Institute of BNU, and Chairman of the Steering Committee, Global Competition on Design for Future Education (GCD4FE).

Dr. Michael Agyemang Adarkwah is a Research Associate at the Institute for Education and Culture,  the Chair of Adult Education, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany, and was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Smart Learning Institute, Beijing Normal University (BNU), China. He serves as   an Editor of the book series Assessment of Educational Technology  (AET), a Senior Editor for Frontiers of Digital Education, and  an Associate Editor for SN Social Sciences , the Journal of Applied Learning and Teaching (JALT), and the Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice (JUTLP).

Dr. Fei Cheng, Ph.D. in Design, is an Assistant Researcher at Capital Normal University, Founder of Beijing GUMIRA Design Consulting, and Member of the Korea KECD Modern Design Association. Her main research areas include interdisciplinary design thinking practices, new media teaching research, computer vision, and on-demand teaching paradigms.

Ms. Hongyan Kuai is the Director of the Design and Learning Lab, Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University, China, and her research focuses on educational technology and educational design. For over a decade, she has participated in the planning and organizing of the Global Competition on Design for Future Education (in its eighth edition as of 2025), which has attracted over 10,000 college students and K-12 teachers from more than 35 countries and regions. She has also planned and organized various academic events such as the Global Smart Education Conference (now in its tenth edition as of 2025), student forum on the global future education, and the annual Academic Week on Smart Learning. Additionally, she has been involved in the development of global course resources on design and learning, including a Chinese textbook, an English book, and a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC).

Dr. Ronghuai Huang is a Professor of Education at Beijing Normal University, China. He is the Co-Dean of the 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. Professor Huang has undertaken over 100 vertical and horizontal research projects at national and provincial levels, published more than 40 academic books worldwide, and authored over 400 academic papers in Chinese and English.