“My research explores how artificial intelligence (AI) can improve student learning and teacher teaching,” says Molenaar. “The starting point is educational, psychological knowledge of how students learn and pedagogical-didactical understanding of teaching. From this theoretical background, current applications of AI in education are analysed and innovative applications are developed. I aim to augment human learning and teaching with artificial intelligence in so-called hybrid intelligent systems. In this work, we also have explicit attention for the skills students need for living and learning in an AI area.”
“In a world where artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly important, it’s vital that students develop the skills needed to use, understand, and control AI-enabled systems,” says Molenaar. “Students who are able to self-regulate their learning are better equipped to cope with the faster pace of life in the age of AI.”
In the National AI Education Lab (NOLAI), where Molenaar is the director, she collaborates with schools, scientists, and entrepreneurs to develop innovative applications of AI in education and investigates the responsible use of AI in education. Together with Sanna Jarvela from the University of Oulu, she runs the Center for Learning and Living with AI (CELLA).
About Inge Molenaar
Inge Molenaar was born in Son en Breugel in 1975 and simultaneously completed two studies, Cognitive Psychology, and International Business, at Maastricht University. She obtained her PhD from the University of Amsterdam in 2011 on computerised support for self-regulated learning. She developed a virtual agent that supported primary school students in regulating their own learning process.
During her career, Molenaar has been both an academic and an entrepreneur. In 2001, her proposal for Ontdeknet [Discovery Net] won the Ministry of Education’s ‘Education in the Knowledge Society’ contest. Between 2001 and 2005, she developed Ontdeknet, an electronic learning environment in which hundreds of students collaborated with experts. In 2012 she became an assistant professor at Radboud University and founded the Adaptive Learning Lab. Here she continued designing and developing educational technologies and investigated their effects on student learning.
During her career she received a number of grants, among which a Veni Grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO), an ERC Starting Grant, and an Open Research Area Grant. She is a Jacobs Foundation Fellow and developed the National AI Education Lab (NOLAI), which was financed by the National Growth Fund.