Honorary Lecture – Prof. Pierre Dillenbourg
Event details
| Date | 09.10.2025 |
| Hour | 18:00 › 21:00 |
| Location | |
| Category | Inaugural lectures - Honorary Lecture |
| Event Language | English |
Date: Thursday 9 october 2025
Program:
Registration required
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Professor Pierre Dillenbourg
Conducting educational research at EPFL: who benefits?
Abstract
In a university of science and technology, it is both expected and necessary that educators and policy makers ground their decisions in empirical evidence—determining which methods are effective, under which conditions they are most successful, and which cognitive mechanisms account for their observed outcomes. While this approach reflects my various roles within EPFL, it represents only one dimension of the broader picture.
In this lecture, I will emphasize the converse perspective: that education research itself is enriched by the engineering mindset that characterizes an institution such as EPFL. Undeniably, human learners are far more complex and less predictable than electrons or atoms. Undeniably, effective teaching often depends on improvisational abilities that exceed the scope of even the most advanced algorithms. Undeniably, the lived experience of the classroom introduces emotional and personality-related variables that resist reduction to simple equations.
Nevertheless, our research in learning technologies has been significantly influenced and supported by EPFL’s computational culture. Like all scientific disciplines, education research is sustained by two foundational pillars: discovery and invention. In this presentation, I will illustrate both dimensions through a selection of projects conducted by the CRAFT and CHILI teams over the past 23 years.
About the speaker
A former teacher in elementary school, Pierre Dillenbourg graduated in educational science (University of Mons, Belgium). He started his research on learning technologies in 1984. In 1986, he applied machine learning for developing a self-improving teaching system. He obtained a PhD in computer science from the University of Lancaster (UK), in the domain of artificial intelligence applications for education. He has been senior scientist at the University of Geneva. He joined EPFL in 2002. He has been the director of Center for Research and Support on Learning and its Technologies, then academic director of Center for Digital Education, which implemented the MOOC strategy of EPFL. He is full professor in learning technologies in the School of Computer & Communication Sciences, where he leads the CHILI Lab: "Computer-Human Interaction for Learning & Instruction ». He has been the director of the leading house DUAL-T, which developped technologies for dual vocational education systems (carpenters, florists,...). With EPFL colleagues, he launched in 2017 the Swiss EdTech Collider, an incubator with more than 90 start-ups in learning technologies. He (co-)-founded 5 start-ups, does consulting missions in the corporate world and joined the board of several companies or institutions. In 2018, he co-founded LEARN, the EPFL Center of Learning Sciences that brings together the local initiatives in educational innovation. He is a fellow of the International Society for Learning Sciences. He has also been the Associate Vice-President for Education at EPFL as well as Vice-President for Academic Affairs (Provost) ad interim.
Program:
- 18:00–18:02: Opening by Prof. Sabine Süsstrunk, Dean of the IC School
- 18:02–18:10: Introduction by Prof. Rüdiger Urbanke
- 18:10–18:55: Honorary Lecture by Prof. Pierre Dillenbourg - "Conducting educational research at EPFL: who benefits?"
- 18:55–19:05: Q&A
- 19:05–19:15: Presentation of Honorary Diploma by Prof. Prof. Anna Fontcuberta i Morral, EPFL President, and Prof. Ambrogio Fasoli, EPFL Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
- 19:15–19:20: Thank you and closing by Prof. Sabine Süsstrunk, Dean of the IC School
- 19:20–21:00: Apéritif
Registration required
***********************************************************
Professor Pierre Dillenbourg
Conducting educational research at EPFL: who benefits?
Abstract
In a university of science and technology, it is both expected and necessary that educators and policy makers ground their decisions in empirical evidence—determining which methods are effective, under which conditions they are most successful, and which cognitive mechanisms account for their observed outcomes. While this approach reflects my various roles within EPFL, it represents only one dimension of the broader picture.
In this lecture, I will emphasize the converse perspective: that education research itself is enriched by the engineering mindset that characterizes an institution such as EPFL. Undeniably, human learners are far more complex and less predictable than electrons or atoms. Undeniably, effective teaching often depends on improvisational abilities that exceed the scope of even the most advanced algorithms. Undeniably, the lived experience of the classroom introduces emotional and personality-related variables that resist reduction to simple equations.
Nevertheless, our research in learning technologies has been significantly influenced and supported by EPFL’s computational culture. Like all scientific disciplines, education research is sustained by two foundational pillars: discovery and invention. In this presentation, I will illustrate both dimensions through a selection of projects conducted by the CRAFT and CHILI teams over the past 23 years.
About the speaker
A former teacher in elementary school, Pierre Dillenbourg graduated in educational science (University of Mons, Belgium). He started his research on learning technologies in 1984. In 1986, he applied machine learning for developing a self-improving teaching system. He obtained a PhD in computer science from the University of Lancaster (UK), in the domain of artificial intelligence applications for education. He has been senior scientist at the University of Geneva. He joined EPFL in 2002. He has been the director of Center for Research and Support on Learning and its Technologies, then academic director of Center for Digital Education, which implemented the MOOC strategy of EPFL. He is full professor in learning technologies in the School of Computer & Communication Sciences, where he leads the CHILI Lab: "Computer-Human Interaction for Learning & Instruction ». He has been the director of the leading house DUAL-T, which developped technologies for dual vocational education systems (carpenters, florists,...). With EPFL colleagues, he launched in 2017 the Swiss EdTech Collider, an incubator with more than 90 start-ups in learning technologies. He (co-)-founded 5 start-ups, does consulting missions in the corporate world and joined the board of several companies or institutions. In 2018, he co-founded LEARN, the EPFL Center of Learning Sciences that brings together the local initiatives in educational innovation. He is a fellow of the International Society for Learning Sciences. He has also been the Associate Vice-President for Education at EPFL as well as Vice-President for Academic Affairs (Provost) ad interim.
Practical information
- General public
- Free