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Purpose The shortage of Chinese language teachers have been identified as a pressing issue globally. This paper aims to respond to the needs by investigating and designing the learning innovation with autonomous programmable robot, NAO. Design/methodology/approach By thoughtfully embedding NAO robot into teaching basic Chinese language, this research demonstrates an inquiry qualitative case study of artificial intelligence design principles and learning engagement with rule-based reasoning and progress test design. Findings This state-of-the arts robot use its emotion recognition and body language automated (LED eye with various colours) to demonstrate the Chinese words, to increase learners’ understanding and enhance their memory of the words learned. The responses conclude that the novel learning experience is more fun and interesting, thus the engagement from the axis of novelty, interactivity, motivation and interest is enhanced. Research limitations/implications It is recognised that the number of research participants was small, but the qualitative finding demonstrate key issues and recommendation that may inspire future empirical research. Practical implications Today, robotics is a rapidly growing field and has received significant attention in education. Humanoid robots are now increasingly used in fields such as education, hospitality, entertainment and health care. Educational robots are anticipated to serve as teaching assistants. Originality/value The learning engagement paradigm has shifted from manual engagement to personal response systems or mixed-reality on mobile platforms, and now with the humanoid robot, the recommendation of four principles and future work and for designing humanoid robot as a language tutor are discussed. The educational robot model can be changed to a newer robot such as CANBOT U05E.

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Purpose -Using the analogy of e-learning as "the perfect storm", the aim of this paper is to explore the disruptive nature of e-learning in higher education. Design/methodology/approach -Taking a case study of a university, the paper explores the movement from an e-intensive approach to e-learning into an on-campus blended learning approach. What are the lessons for higher education and how responsive are we to the new challenges. Is blended learning creating a new stability after change, or is it placing the university in the eye of the storm, a still small moment within an ongoing change process? Findings -The paper presents findings from the E-College Wales (ECW) project, looking at the disruptive effect on such a learning organisation from student, staff and management perspectives. It concludes by moving the focus from the e-intensive ECW project to focus on the developments during the first year of a blended learning project and the disruption endemic in such a development Originality/value -The paper will be of special interest to the blended learning policy maker, practitioners and educators. It includes a journey of a case study concerning blended learning.

Purpose This paper aims to explore the expectations of relevant stakeholders in the engineering field to better understand the demands of the twenty-first century. As the number of unemployed continues to grow in Malaysia, it is evident that as industries continue to develop, demands and new requirements for skilled workers change over time. Design/methodology/approach Through face-to-face interviews, the study explored the expectations of accreditation bodies, industry operators and academics in the engineering field. Findings Three major findings were documented: mismatch of expectations in engineering field across the stakeholders; the expected “must-have-skills” from the perspectives of the stakeholders; and the need to reassess how information transmission is cascaded to all stakeholders and remains relevant to market demand. Research limitations/implications It is recognized that the findings from this study may only be relevant to the engineering field and not to the other different disciplines, but the qualitative findings provide some key issues in understanding the gap between relevant stakeholders that may motivate future studies to further extend into the other disciplines. Practical implications With this mismatch drawn out clearly, all relevant stakeholders would be able to revisit and revaluate their existing strategy in addressing, cascading crucial information and equipping graduates with analytical skills to gain immediate employment in the market. Originality/value A clearer understanding on the expectations and the “must-have-skills” required in the engineering field in the twenty-first century.

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