Dr. Pengkai Pan, the CEO and founder of ALO7, initiated the league of learning power and coined the phrase “learning power is existing power” during the International Conference of Learning Power—an event sponsored by ALO7. Professor Nicholas Negroponte, the director of Media Laboratory and Dr. Pan’s mentor, was invited to attend the conference and gave a lecture outlining the theme of the conference.

The conference was followed by an interview with Dr. Pan, conducted by the website Fangtanchina.

Over the past decade, Dr. Pan has become a prominent figure in the field of education and is considered a role model to many young learners. Although there are several older institutions in the same industry, ALO7 has excelled due to Dr. Pan’s progressive ideas and designs, his devotion to changing the traditional Chinese educational model, and his insistence on collapsing conventional barriers that put young learners at an educational disadvantage.

Dr. Pan graduated from Zhejiang University where he received a bachelor’s degree. Shortly after, he studied under one of China’s leading computer experts and engineering academics, Mr. Yunhe Pan. After earning a second bachelor’s degree in the field of industrial design, Dr. Pan was encouraged to become an educator.

During his time as an educator, Dr. Pan considered opening his own business in order to make improvements to the existing educational system. It was at that time that Professor Nicholas Negroponte’s book Being Digital caught his attention. The Professor Negroponte’s elaborate description of the future and how it will be heavily influenced by the evolution of the Internet inspired Dr. Pan. Dr. Pan then ambitiously set his sights on designing his own Internet-based business. He then made a decision that would change his life forever: he began postgraduate studies and a doctoral program at MIT.

Dr. Pan received a National Scholarship for students who study abroad. The award was issued by the Ministry of Education in China and was awarded by the then-Prime Minister Jiabao Wen. After receiving his PhD, Dr. Pan refused numerous lucrative invitations from several well-known enterprises in the United States, and instead focused on launching his own business in China.

Relying on the knowledge he had gained during his time at MITA media laboratory, Dr. Pan used his industrial design ideas to create a new method of teaching that would improve Chinese students’ English language acquisition using scientific and technical approaches. With the support of Harvard University and MIT, Dr. Pan created the voice recognition player SAYBOT, which was sponsored by Professor Negroponte. Dr. Pan adjusted the direction of his business and began to cooperate with the teaching supervisor at Disney English, Andrew Shewbart. Dr. Pan began to realize that it was not the right time to focus on strictly marketing a voice cognition player. As he and his new partner, Mr. Shewbart, were skilled in different fields, they collaborated to develop a mixed, three-dimensional English teaching and learning system. They named it ALO7.

After five years of production, the ALO7 platform became increasingly stable and practical, generating an increasing stream of revenue. Currently, ALO7 is a renowned provider of international English language products that boast over ten million registered users. The company has a long list of clients, including national English training groups, such as New Oriental Education, Xueda Education, Only Education, and numerous other top-tier public schools. All of these clients take full advantage of ALO7’s digital teaching materials and commend its course design, teaching ideas, art design, and technical support.