'Show it, Don’t Just Say It’: The Complementary Effects of Instruction Multimodality for Software Guidance
Designing adaptive tutoring systems for software learning presents challenges in determining appropriate instructional modalities. To inform the design of such systems, we conducted an observational study of ten human teacher-student pairs (N=10), where experienced design software users taught novices two new graphic design software features through multi-step procedures. These lessons were limited to three communication channels (speech, visual annotations, and remote screen control) to mimic possible AI tutor modalities. We found that annotations complement speech with spatial precision and remote control complements it with spatial and temporal precision but both of them cause intrusion to learner agency. Teachers adaptively select modalities to balance the need for instruction progress with students' cognitive engagement and sense of digital territory ownership. Our results provide further support to the contiguity principles and the value of agency in learning, while suggesting precision-agency trade-off…
Subtitle: Pre-Conference Talk by POH Emran Bin Elias. Contact: scisseminar@smu.edu.sg. Speaker Details: , POH Emran Bin Elias
PhD Student
School of Computing and Information Systems
Singapore Management University, Emran POH is a first-year PhD student, where he studies how people learn with and around AI. Advised by Asst. Prof. Jiannan Li, his current work examines AI intervention timing in software learning and agentic systems — particularly the tension between a tutor that's precise and one that leaves room for agency. He will be presenting one paper and two workshop papers at CHI 2026, including work… RSVP: . Reserve a seat: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=ynmKyZpakUeiQ_Bq_WdGTejbEKPlArBJhZomj91naG9UNzBKMDhBMzJYSTZMTkdaUVJTTTBYMzRRUy4u. Type: Seminars & Workshops. Subject: Information Technology & Systems. Audience: Public.
Tuesday, March 31, 2026, 2:00 PM – 2:30 PM.
Meeting room 4.4, Level 4. School of Computing and Information Systems 1,
Singapore Management University, 80 Stamford Road, Singapore 178902.
For more info visit computing.smu.edu.sg. AgentSpec: Customizable Runtime Enforcement for Safe and Reliable LLM Agents ]
Agents built on LLMs are increasingly deployed across diverse domains, automating complex decision-making and task execution. However, their autonomy introduces safety risks, including security vulnerabilities, legal violations, and unintended harmful actions. Existing mitigation methods, such as model-based safeguards and early enforcement strategies, fall short in robustness, interpretability, and adaptability. To address these challenges, we propose AgentSpec, a lightweight domain-specific language for specifying and enforcing runtime constraints on LLM agents. With AgentSpec, users define structured rules that incorporate triggers, predicates, and enforcement mechanisms, ensuring agents operate within predefined safety boundaries. We implement AgentSpec across multiple domains, including code execution, embodied agents, and autonomous driving, demonstrating its adaptability and effectiveness. Our evaluation shows that AgentSpec successfully prevents unsafe executions in over 90% of code agent cases, elimi…
Subtitle: Pre-Conference Talk by WANG Haoyu. Contact: scisseminar@smu.edu.sg. Speaker Details: , WANG Haoyu
PhD Candidate
School of Computing and Information Systems
Singapore Management University, Haoyu WANG is currently a PhD candidate at the Singapore Management University co-advised by Prof. C.M. Poskitt and Prof. Jun Sun. His current research interest mainly focus on ensuring the safety and security for AI software. Besides, he also interested in fuzzing fundamental software systems including compilers, smart contracts, etc. RSVP: . Reserve a seat: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=ynmKyZpakUeiQ_Bq_WdGTejbEKPlArBJhZomj91naG9UMkRSQjUzSUhIV0xORzQ0MlpJSUdRR1Q1US4u. Type: Seminars & Workshops. Subject: Information Technology & Systems. Audience: Public.
Tuesday, April 7, 2026, 1:00 PM – 1:30 PM.
Meeting room 4.4, Level 4. School of Computing and Information Systems 1,
Singapore Management University, 80 Stamford Road, Singapore 178902.
For more info visit computing.smu.edu.sg. MITB Virtual Information Session (Singapore)
Public Events
RSVP: . Reserve a seat: https://scispg.smu.edu.sg/acton/media/44865/mitbis0426. Type: Information Sessions. Subject: Analytics for Business, Consumer & Social Insights. Information Technology & Systems. Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Finance & Financial Markets. International. Leadership. Learning & Professional Development. Operations Management. Organisational Behaviour. Strategic Management. Audience: Public.
Saturday, April 11, 2026, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Online
This information session will be conducted virtually via Zoom. Please register for the session by clicking on the “Register Now” button that leads you to our event registration form.
MITB Coffee Session in Seoul (South Korea)
Public Events
RSVP: . Reserve a seat: https://scispg.smu.edu.sg/acton/media/44865/mitbkrcs0426. Type: Information Sessions. Subject: Analytics for Business, Consumer & Social Insights. Information Technology & Systems. Innovation & Entrepreneurship. International. Law. Learning & Professional Development. Operations Management. Organisational Behaviour. Strategic Management. Audience: Public.
Monday, April 13, 2026, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM.
Peninsula Lounge & Bar, Lotte Hotel Seoul
30 Eulji-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul 04533, Republic of Korea.
AI at the Crossroads: Trustworthy Foundations or Transformative Futures
Join us for an inspiring session on the future of artificial intelligence. Discover how trust, ethics, and innovation are shaping the next generation of intelligent systems — and what it means for research, industry, and society. This symposium brings together two leading voices in artificial intelligence to explore the evolving landscape of trustworthy and transformative AI. As language models and intelligent systems become increasingly integrated into our daily lives, the need for ethical, transparent, and impactful AI has never been greater. Through two compelling talks—one focused on the ethical foundations of AI and the other on its transformative potential in research and society—we aim to gain a deeper understanding of how responsible AI can shape a smarter, fairer future. This event is designed for academics, professionals, and the public alike, offering insights into both the promises and responsibilities of next-generation AI.
RSVP: . Reserve a seat: https://forms.office.com/r/MPmuzF830s. Type: Conferences & Symposiums. Subject: Information Technology & Systems. Audience: Public. Academic Community. Current Student.
Wednesday, April 22, 2026, 9:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
SMU Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium.
For more info visit computing.smu.edu.sg. MITB Coffee Session (Singapore)
Public Events
RSVP: . Reserve a seat: https://scispg.smu.edu.sg/acton/media/44865/mitbcsscis0426. Type: Information Sessions. Subject: Analytics for Business, Consumer & Social Insights. Information Technology & Systems. Innovation & Entrepreneurship. International. Learning & Professional Development. Operations Management. Organisational Behaviour. Strategic Management. Law. Audience: Public.
Wednesday, April 22, 2026, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
In-Campus
SMU School of Computing and Information Systems
Limited seats available!
SMU Doctor of Engineering (EngD) Virtual Information Session
Infosessions
RSVP: . Reserve a seat: https://scispg.smu.edu.sg/acton/media/44865/engdis0426. Type: Information Sessions. Webinar & Online Learning. Subject: Business. Leadership. Operations Management. Organisational Behaviour. Strategic Management. Audience: Professionals. Prospective Student.
Thursday, April 23, 2026, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
Virtual via Zoom
Details will be provided via email upon registration.
For more info visit scispg.smu.edu.sg.