Schooling with ScholAIstic: Enhancing learning with GenAI

“At NUS, Generative AI (GenAI) is shifting the teaching and learning experience for students and staff. Enter ScholAIstic, a GenAI platform designed to bridge the gap between classroom instruction and real-world application through immersive, simulation-based learning. Developed by NUS AI Centre for Educational Technologies (AICET), ScholAIstic serves as a facilitator who guides and challenges students to think deeper through Socratic questioning, or engages them in role-playing to hone valuable skills through chatbot interactions. Boosting social work training ScholAIstic’s journey began in May 2024, stemming from a collaboration between AICET and the NUS Department of Social Work . Their initial project focused on an AI-powered chatbot aimed at helping social work students develop skills to navigate sensitive and challenging client situations. The innovative chatbot could simulate non-verbal cues, such as “ client starts to cry and looks away ” , allowing students to practise their responses without the pressures of real-world anxieties or the risk of impacting actual clients. ScholAIstic was deployed in the social work course SW2105 Values & Skills for Helping Relationships to simulate interpersonal client scenarios, providing a low-risk environment for students to practise and receive feedback. After the simulations, students obtain real-time AI feedback on specific skills, such as their use of affirmations, thereby sharpening their clinical social work skills. Student feedback at the end of the course showed that the tool boosted their confidence in engaging service users in clinical settings. Looking ahead, the Department of Social Work is expanding this initiative through a multi-school collaboration with NUS Information Technology , NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine , and NUS Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies . They aim to develop a new AI-roleplaying system, with plans to upgrade the current text-based interface to incorporate speech and visual AI avatars. Building confidence in interpreting dental x-rays ScholAIstic also hosts a chatbot tutor that has been successfully applied in the course OMS3100 Oral & Maxillofacial Medicine, Pathology & Radiology , helping students enhance their ability to recognise and interpret abnormalities on dental X-rays. Traditionally, students would discuss X-ray cases in tutorials, and receive feedback from their instructor, Dr Lim Li Zhen, Senior Lecturer at the NUS Faculty of Dentistry , and fellow students. However, due to time constraints, students often may not have the opportunity to present and receive feedback for entire cases. To address this, the Faculty’s teaching team worked with Ms Ng Sook Mun from AICET to build a chatbot tutor, enabling students to practise in a more structured manner and receive individualised feedback before their tutorials. Dentistry students in the course are required to use the chatbot to complete five X-ray cases prior to attending the class. The chatbot guides them through a three-stage learning process; describing the lesion (what is visible on the X-ray), categorising it (identifying the potential disease category) and giving different diagnoses with supporting reasons (possible conditions and their rationale). This approach allows Dr Lim to dedicate her time during class to address students’ questions arising from chatbot use, elaborate on deeper teaching points better handled in-person, and correct any misconceptions or chatbot errors. To refine the chatbot’s prompts for future students and cohorts, the teaching team is planning to conduct a detailed review of student performance in the chats, student feedback on the chatbot experience, and the chatbot’s quality and consistency. Highlighting its significant impact on enhancing teaching and learning, the AICET team behind ScholAIstic recently received the OpenGov Asia Recognition of Excellence Award 2026. This accolade celebrates the team’s remarkable creativity, discipline and commitment to elevating the student experience through digital innovation, ultimately empowering students with confidence, practical skills and a dynamic learning environment that prepares them for real-world challenges.

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