June 17, 2025
字圆其说 x ITP Camp
Workshop
As part of the 2025 ITP Camp at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Jing Chai led a workshop about hacking the impossible in education with the power of technology. ITP, often described as the “Center for the Recently Possible”, hosts this annual summer gathering of artists, technologists, educators, and creative thinkers from around the globe, united by a shared mission: to explore how emerging technologies can shape a more imaginative, inclusive, and equitable world.
Jing Chai’s workshop focused on one of the most daunting barriers in Chinese language learning: the sheer volume of “foundation characters” that learners are expected to memorize before they can begin to meaningfully engage with the language. For many participants, non-native speakers and those unfamiliar with Chinese, the numbers were shocking.
But what followed was an eye-opening journey into how the I Got One project confronts this challenge with creativity and empathy. Through playful reinterpretations, cross-cultural storytelling, and learner-centered design, the project transforms what is typically seen as a painful process into an engaging, curiosity-driven experience.
Participants were fascinated by how the project seamlessly weaves together a wide range of components including custom-designed websites, interactive installations, social media engagement, and merch to build a vibrant, multimodal ecosystem around Chinese character learning. Many attendees remarked that the project didn’t just make it easier to learn Chinese; it made it fun, meaningful, and deeply human.
The session ended with an inspiring discussion on how similar approaches could be adapted for other languages, disciplines, and communities, reminding everyone that even the most “impossible” learning challenges can be hacked with the right mix of technology, creativity, and cultural care.
