A return visit to CRADLE – plus bonus seminar recording!

A recent visit to CRADLE by Associate Professor Ying (Jane) Zhan yielded conversations and connections, as well as a presentation on GenAI feedback.

In early August, the Education University of Hong Kong’s Associate Professor Ying (Jane) Zhan spent a week visiting the CRADLE team in Melbourne. Jane previously visited CRADLE in 2023, and her most recent stay was a great opportunity to renew old acquaintances and open new conversations.

During her visit, Jane met with members of the CRADLE team to discuss future opportunities to collaborate on research. She also took the time to connect with CRADLE students, even sharing tips for visiting Hong Kong!

As part of her visit, Jane gave a special presentation to CRADLE on her recent systematic review of the impacts of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) on learning.

The increasing use of GenAI in feedback practices has sparked a heated debate in higher education: are students being handed a powerful learning tool, or just a shortcut to get the answer without the effort? The trouble is that we have been framing the problem incorrectly. Instead of asking if GenAI feedback works, the critical question is under what conditions it works.

To critically evaluate the impacts of GenAI feedback on learning, it is necessary to synthesise the findings from existing studies and identify the design elements under which GenAI feedback influences learning. To address this, grounded in Activity Theory, Jane’s seminar presented a systematic review of 54 papers published between January 2022 and January 2026 and meta-analysis of 298 effect sizes.

Jane’s thought-provoking presentation offered valuable insights into how GenAI affects students’ learning outcomes, as well as sharing helpful learnings about the systematic review process.

Jane has generously agreed to share a recording of her presentation with our wider audience – you can catch up on our YouTube channel.

You can also learn more about Jane’s previous visit, including her seminar on student perspectives of feedback literacy.

About Ying (Jane) Zhan

Dr Ying Zhan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at The Education University of Hong Kong. She specialises in feedback literacy, formative assessment, technology-enhanced assessment, and Generative AI-embedded feedback. With over 20 years of tertiary teaching experience, Dr Zhan has authored more than 70 articles in international journals and is an active researcher with a strong record of securing external research funding, including three General Research Grants and one Public Policy Research project.

In recognition of her scholarly impact, Dr Zhan was named among the World’s Top 2% Most-cited Scientists by Stanford University in 2025. She has also received the President’s Award for Outstanding Performance in Teaching (2024/25) and the President’s Award for Outstanding Performance in Research (2025/26). Dr Zhan serves as a senior editor of Cogent Education and an associate editor of Studies in Educational Evaluation and Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning.