She earned a bachelor's degree in linguistics and economics for the National University of Singapore. She recently earned a Ph.D. degree in educational technology at Michigan State University, where she also earned a master's degree in teaching English to speakers of other languages and computer assisted language learning. She also has a post-grad diploma of education in teaching secondary level language arts and mathematics from the National Institute of Education at Nanyang Technological University. Tan has experience with K-12 teaching, distance learning and assisting faculty in the public schools and university in utilizing technology.