In preparation for future trends, many industries in Thailand aim to integrate AI technologies into their organizations. They will require a skilled workforce to design, implement, evaluate, and maintain these AI-enabled applications. According to a recent study by NXPO 2023 (Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council), approximately 30,000 new tech jobs will be created in the next 5 years, far exceeding the current 6,000 graduates in digital technology in 2020. For the future development of Thailand, one of the most critical aspects of future development is, no doubt, education. Our goal at CMKL University is to provide technological infrastructure, a flexible learning model, and innovative, relevant learning content to broadly disseminate the knowledge and skills required to advance Thailand’s digital economy. 

CMKL University offers a unique undergraduate program called AiCE (AI and Computer Engineering). The AiCE program uses an innovative, self-directed, competency-based curriculum that allows each student to develop to his or her full potential. The A1CE is a software system that supports the AiCE competency-based curriculum. A1CE is an AI-enabled, cloud-based platform that supports individualized, self-paced learning, specializing in topics in digital technology. It is built around the competency-based pedagogical model pioneered in CMKL University’s ground-breaking AI and computer engineering bachelor’s degree program (Rujirek, 2022). 

The competencies in the software are a set of skills a student must demonstrate via functional assessments such as projects or problems. The goal is to help students manage their personal study plan while providing an engaging, gamified environment where they can track their progress and achievements. The application challenges students to complete their tasks and collect the “competency cards” for each set of skills they have mastered. They would be given the autonomy to select each competency they want to master and the timeline for which they would submit assessments. 

‍

‍

In addition, the A1CE application also allows students to redo their tasks in order to achieve the desired outcome, thus, promoting learning through repetition in a stress-free environment. The A1CE software serves as a roadmap for students for each semester, which can be visualized as a quest to explore new areas of knowledge.

‍

‍

Aside from being practical for students, the A1CE application also allows instructors to track the student's progress. The calendar icon on the application displays a set of events for each week and could be filtered by category and competency, thus, facilitating time management among instructors and students.  

‍

‍

In the future, the A1CE application plans to further develop to include an animated version of the instructor with the original teacher’s vocalizations while delivering the lectures online. Our goal is to create a plausible action sequence that will enhance learner engagement as well as provide visual cues to the content. The animations will provide a higher-quality video than the current live video with lower bandwidth requirements.

‍