InSon's Private Space

Hello, I'm In Son, a Research Fellow with a Passion
for Data Science Education and an aspiring Music Composer.

InSon Zeng - Intelligence,
Self-regulation, Zeal


I am In Son! I am a researcher who loves to explore learning at scale and learnersourcing in asynchronous learning environment. I had a background in statistics and mathematic education, which shaped my research direction to focus on creating personalized contents and messages in online educational platforms to engage learners.

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What are my research interests?

  1. Learning at Scale
  2. Bayesian Experimentation
  3. Learning Analytics
  4. Conversational Technology
  5. Personalized Learning
  6. Music Information Retrieval and Analysis
  7. AI-powered Concert Music Education Technology

Why learning at scale?

Because I care about the quality and accessibility of education throughout the world. Starting to teach students at the age of 13 enabled me to see the need of scalable student support assisted by artificial intelligence, which sparked my passion in designing solutions and creating personalized learning experiences.

Why does personalized learning experience matter?

As the use of computer is growing in popularity, I started to see a decrease in student engagement in traditional classes. I realized a shift from teacher-centered to a student-centered pedagogy is necessary to enhance students' learning experience and study outcomes. The vision of transforming one-size-fit-all school curriculums with personalized curriculums which highlight individual skill sets within learners has drawn growing attention among researchers and practitioners.

What are some of my research hypotheses about learning analytics?

First, for MOOC online courses, learning gain is higher

  1. with spatially contiguous verbal message than with video subtitles (because of the lower cognitive load)
  2. using keywords than with verbatim explanation
  3. by watching accelerated video speed (e.g. 1.25x, 1.5x) over the original speed
  4. with content-heavy learning than content-free learning

For MOOC online courses, learners prefer

  1. spatially contiguous verbal comments over video subtitles (because comments locate more closely to the learning material such as codes)
  2. spatially contiguous verbal comments over slides (because all comments are time-coded, unlike there are extraneous contents in slides)
  3. accelerated video speed (e.g. 1.25x, 1.5x) over the original speed
  4. viewing instructor’s face in lectures over screen share only lectures
  5. background music interspersed with lecture sections (use signposting to reduce cognitive load)
  6. content-heavy learning than content-free learning

Learners generally mind-wander less with

  1. spatially contiguous verbal comments over video subtitle (because comments locate more closely to the learning material such as codes)
  2. spatially contiguous verbal comments over presentation slides (because all comments are time-coded, unlike there are extraneous contents in slides)
  3. accelerated video speed (e.g. 1.25x, 1.5x) over the original speed

What are my vocational hobbies?

Music has always been my favorite pastime. I spent 8 years on self-teaching my music composition and tuning capabilities, and I am currently hosting music composition classes.


Recently I am emphatic about music information retrieval methods and experimenting how music can be leveraged as a psycho-social intervention in cognitive behavioural therapy.

What are some songs I composed or arranged, and musical analysis I conducted?

  1. Lotus Symphony 1st Movement (Op.2)
  2. Unfading Memories (Op.1)
  3. Flute Concerto No.1 Op.19 1st Movement (Op.19)
  4. Lighting Bar Rag (Op.6 No.2)
  5. Recreation Rag (Op.3 No.9)
  6. Magical Summer Days (Op.12)
  7. Old Jazz Compositions (Op.3, No.10-12)
  8. Crossing Huron River (Op.7 No.2)
  9. A Time without Regrets (Op.10, No.6)
  10. The Mid-Autumn's Dream (Op.5, No.6)
  11. The Dawn (Op.15, No.1)
  12. Autumn Sunset (Op.15 No.4)
  13. Innocence Waltz (Op.15 No.5)
  14. Die Erinnerung (Op.16)
  15. Rustic Cavalier (Op.17)
  16. La Danza della Gioventù (Op.13 No.1)
  17. Youth Mind (Op.13 No.2)
  18. Childish Time (Op.13 No.3)
  19. Lake Michigan (Op.9 No.4)
  20. The Last Mile (Op.24 No.2)
  21. God So Loved the World
  22. Piano Battle - Chopin Butterfly Etude
  23. Graduation Song - University of Macau
  24. Mojito Medley - Annappella
  25. Music Information Retrieval Tutorial
  26. More characteristic works to be released and timely updated.😄