Looi, Chee-Kit

Cognisant that the examination-driven culture in most Asian schools will hinder future educational innovation, a group of concerned Asian researchers started collaboration in 2014 to develop a theory to serve as a guide to design interest- driven learning activities. This endeavour then spawned the development of the Interest-Driven Creator (IDC) Theory. The theory postulates that when their learning is driven by interest, students can be engaged in knowledge creation. The continued practice of this creation process in their daily learning routines can lead students to excel in learning performance, develop 21st century competences and eventually form creation habits to be lifelong learners. This paper, therefore, adds on to the current articulation of IDC Theory by highlighting the implementation of an IDC experimental school in Taiwan and by presenting the story of how it embodies the spirit of IDC. The school curriculum prepares students to be lifelong readers and reflective writers with broad knowledge in the fields of Math, English Language, Science, and Interdisciplinary Social Studies. It emphasises not only students’ academic growth but also their physical wellness and character building. The endeavour intends to be a comprehensive example of practice-driven research, demonstrating how theory and practice can be bridged, and how a virtuous cycle of research improving practice and practice informing research can be developed. This paper also provides a glimpse of how IDC Theory can inspire the planning and integration of IDC-based education approaches in academic curricula beyond Taiwan. The paper ends with the call for a more concerted effort to create a sustainable alliance to share professional insights into IDC Theory through a non- governmental organisation.

Asian education is known for its examination-driven orientation, with the downsides of distorting the processes of learning and teaching, diminishing students’ interest in learning, and failing to nurture twenty-first century competencies among students. As a group of Asian researchers, we have been developing Interest-Driven Creator (IDC) Theory, a design theory based on three anchored concepts, namely interest, creation, and habit. Each of these anchored concepts is represented by a loop comprised of three components. In the interest loop, the three components are triggering, immersing, and extending. The components of the creation loop are imitating, combining, and staging. The habit loop consists of cuing environment, routine, and harmony. These three loops are interconnected in various ways, with their characteristics revealed by the design process. We hypothesize that technology-supported learning activities that are designed with reference to IDC Theory will enable students to develop interest in learning, be immersed in the creation process, and, by repeating this process in their daily routines, strengthen habits of creation. Furthermore, students will excel in learning performance, develop twenty-first century competencies, and become lifelong interest-driven creators. To sharpen our understanding and further the development of the theory, we need more discussion and collaborative efforts in the community. Hypotheses arising from this theory can be tested, revised or refined by setting up and investigating IDC Theory-based experimental sites. By disseminating the framework, foundations and practices to the various countries and regions of Asia, we hope that it will bring about compelling examples and hence a form of quality education for the twenty-first century that is an alternative to the examination-driven education system. In this paper, we present an overall introduction to IDC Theory and its history, and discuss some of the steps for advancing it in the future.