Teaching AI to Help Students Learn: Reflections from My Berita Minggu Interview
What a feature on the 2026 Seed Award captured about machine pedagogical intelligence, educator oversight and the human drive to learn.
On 3 October 2026, Berita Minggu / Berita Harian published an interview with me about the 2026 Seed Award and the educational questions that have shaped my work.
I am grateful to journalist Ainin Alfiyani Jailani for the thoughtful conversation, to photographer Nur Diyana Taha, and to the Berita Minggu and Berita Harian teams for telling this story.
Beyond producing an answer
Having worked in education for more than two decades, I have repeatedly encountered a crucial distinction: completing a task is not the same as understanding it.
A student may obtain a correct answer with AI yet remain unable to explain the reasoning or apply it to a related problem. This is why I am interested not only in what AI can generate, but in the teaching decisions it makes along the way.
My doctoral research at the Singapore University of Technology and Design examines machine pedagogical intelligence: the capacity of an AI system to make teaching decisions suited to a learner’s needs. Just as importantly, educators should be able to inspect and assess those decisions.
Keeping educators central
AI can act quickly, but speed alone does not make an experience educationally sound. Systems need appropriate boundaries, an explicit teaching approach and meaningful human review.
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That principle informs my work on Agentic Studio and applications including Archie Math, CALLIOPE, Praxis and ClioMake. Each explores different educational contexts, but the underlying concern is consistent: technology should serve learning and remain accountable to the people using it.
From research to co-design
The feature also discusses my books Machine Pedagogical Intelligence, Teaching Machines How to Learn and Co-Designing Educational AI. Together, these projects reflect a progression from conceptual questions to systems, prototypes and collaborative design.
The 2026 Seed Award, organised by the Design Business Chamber Singapore, is especially meaningful because it recognises the combination of critical thinking, creativity and innovation. I see that recognition not as an endpoint, but as encouragement to continue developing and evaluating this work responsibly.
What AI cannot replace
AI’s ability to generate content will continue to improve. But education depends upon something more fundamental: the human desire to understand, practise and keep improving.
Our task is therefore not to remove people from learning. It is to design tools that help learners think more deeply and enable educators to exercise informed judgement.
I welcome conversations with educators, researchers and institutions interested in co-designing or evaluating educational AI in real contexts.
Read the original Malay-language feature:
https://www.beritaharian.sg/singapura/penyelidik-raih-anugerah-bangun-teknologi-bantu-pelajar-guna-ai
Read the accompanying reflection on my website:
https://nizamkadir.com/featured-in-berita-minggu-designing-ai-that-helps-students-learn/
