Chung Yuan Christian University (CYCU) held its second AI Teaching and Learning Benchmark Course Practice and Showcase Competition on September 10–11 at the Chang Ching Yu Memorial Library. Faculty and students demonstrated how artificial intelligence can be integrated into real learning environments, including statistics, problem-solving, English speaking, and course assessment.
Through applications such as real-time feedback, adaptive learning, and interactive learning scenarios, CYCU is moving beyond the use of AI as a simple answer-generating tool. Instead, AI is being positioned as a learning partner that supports critical thinking, problem-solving, and greater learner autonomy, reflecting the university’s continued efforts to advance innovative and student-centered teaching.
The competition brought together 250 faculty members and students, with 56 student teams and 28 faculty teams presenting AI-enhanced teaching and learning practices. Student projects focused on real learning challenges, using AI to analyze problems, provide feedback, and support personalized learning pathways, while faculty explored ways to integrate AI into course design and assessment across different disciplines. The competition was supported by the Yueh-Ma Chung Yuan Foundation and the DHC Development Fund of CYCU’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.
CYCU President Ying-Ming Lee emphasized that the value of AI in education lies not in the number of tools adopted, but in how effectively they address real teaching needs. Outcomes from the inaugural competition have already been integrated into CYCU’s teaching systems, including the award-winning AI Teaching Assistant for Programming Education. CYCU will continue to support faculty in exploring discipline-specific applications of AI and translating innovative ideas into practical teaching resources.
Provost Cheng-Wen Lee noted that CYCU has continued to advance the use of AI in teaching and learning since the inaugural competition. This year’s projects demonstrate how AI is moving beyond standalone tools to become part of the broader learning process, supporting feedback, assessment, and course design. Moving forward, CYCU will further expand AI applications across the curriculum, enabling faculty to adapt the technology to different disciplines and helping students develop more self-directed approaches to learning.
The student division recognized a champion, runner-up, third-place team, five merit award recipients, and several special awards for AI learning applications, creativity, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
The champion team from the Department of Information Management developed a Discord-based AI-assisted statistics learning system that provides automated assessment and real-time feedback to strengthen statistical reasoning and academic English skills. The runner-up team from the Master’s Program in Smart Computing and Big Data created avocado, an adaptive AI learning platform designed to address fragmented learning materials, conceptual connections, and individual learning gaps. The third-place team from the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering developed OR Mentor, which guides students through problem interpretation, mathematical modeling, and reflection, encouraging them to think first before receiving AI-generated prompts.
The faculty division presented two Outstanding Awards, seven Excellence Awards, and ten Merit Awards, with the top honors going to Shih-Ping Cheng of the Center for General Education and Shan-Ying Chu of the Department of Business Administration.
Cheng developed “CoachGPT: Journey Through London,” an AI-powered scenario-based speaking system that combines voice interaction, a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) knowledge base, and real-time personalized feedback. By engaging students in interactive English conversations and repeated practice, the system integrates AI directly into the language learning process and supports more immersive, individualized speaking practice.
Also receiving an Outstanding Award, Shan-Ying Chu of the Department of Business Administration developed a dual-track AI assessment model using GPT-4o and Discord to evaluate both statistical reasoning and English communication. The system uses Socratic-style dialogue to guide student thinking, while a standardized oral examination helps address concerns over AI-generated answers.
The course also extends AI-enhanced EMI teaching across colleges, institutions, and international settings. Judges noted that this year’s faculty projects moved beyond individual AI tools to deeper integration with course design and assessment, while placing greater emphasis on critical thinking, AI ethics, and student agency.
CYCU emphasizes that AI-enhanced teaching and learning will continue to move beyond competition showcases and into everyday classroom practice. By combining faculty innovation with student-centered learning, the university aims to build scalable and practical models that can be applied across disciplines.
As AI continues to evolve rapidly, CYCU will further strengthen AI literacy and innovation among faculty and students, guided by the principle of using technology wisely and applying knowledge for the benefit of society. The goal is to keep technology grounded in the core purpose of education—supporting meaningful learning and responding to real social needs.
