Category Archives: Event

Educator CIRCLS 2023 Summer Session Series

July 14, 2023AI, EducatorCIRCLS, EventJudi Fusco

During the summer, Educator CIRCLS held a series of informational and discussion sessions in preparation for the CIRCLS’23 Convening. These sessions provided practitioners with the opportunity to learn about emerging technology for learning and think about what that might look like in their classroom or school context!

Please see information about each session. Each session will include the presentation slides and recordings.

July 12th, 3-4PM ET OR July 13th, 12-1PM ET: Informational Session 1 – What is CIRCLS and the CIRCLS Convening?
Learn about CIRCLS and Educators CIRCLS! This first session introduces the center, the summer series, and in-practice educators who are in the CIRCLS community.

Presentation Slides | Downloadable Slides | Webinar Recording

July 18th, 2-3PM ET: Overview of Emerging Technologies and AI in Education
Get an overview about issues and research in AI in Education. The session was based on the recent report on Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning from the Office of Educational Technology.

Presentation slides | Downloadable Slides | Webinar Recording

July 20th, 1-2PM ET: Assessment, Identity, and Agency
What is the role of AI when grading, and how does it affect both student and teacher identity and agency? Attendees shared their experiences on how AI grading systems have affected how they and their students who have used these systems feel.

Presentation Slides | Downloadable Slides | Webinar Recording

July 25th, 2-3PM ET: Collaborative Learning and Community Building
What does it look like to leverage AI for collaborative learning? Attendees learned about and shareed their experiences with building community with their colleagues and in small groups in the classroom.

Presentation Slides | Downloadable Slides | Webinar Recording

July 27th, 1-2PM ET: Equitable and Ethical Practices and Interactions
What does AI neglect when it comes to the needs of historically excluded populations, both among students and teachers? Attendees learned about the AI Bill of Rights for Teachers and shareed how they use or can use it in their classrooms.

Presentation Slides | Downloadable Slides | Webinar Recording

August 1st, 2-3PM ET OR August 3rd, 1-2PM ET: Informational Session 2 – What to expect at the CIRCLS ‘23 Convening
In this second informational session, attendees are invited to drop-in to ask about the CIRCLS ‘23 Convening and learn how to apply. Attendees shared their thoughts about what they would like to see at the convening.

August 2nd, 1-2PM ET: Social Robotics
Learn about the design of intelligent robots with social behaviors and their potential roles in learning settings. Attendees discussed how they see robotics technologies fitting into their classroom.

Presentation slides | Downloadable Slides | Webinar Recording

August 15th, 2-3PM: Learning and Productivity
Teacher and student insight and feedback in AI-backed educational technologies development is crucial for building effective, trustworthy implementations. Hear about student and teacher recommendations and share yours, plus think about what we as a community can do next.

Presentation slides | Downloadable Slides | Webinar Recording

Humanizing AI Research in Education by Broadening Community Engagement

September 8, 2021EducatorCIRCLS, Event, Guest AuthorPati Ruiz

Return to Educator CIRCLS.

Headshot of woman with black hair, a white wall in the background. Author: Aditi Mallavarapu

Learning Sciences and Technology Postdoctoral Researcher at CIRCLS. Her research projects all have the shared goal of collaborating with practitioners to design and build computational and analytical methods and tools to support and improve exploration-based learning. She has worked professionally as a technical consultant where she developed software solutions for healthcare and financial organizations. As an instructor she is involved with underserved communities to pique their interests in Computer Science.

This blog is the second of the three-part shared series, between NEXUS and the Center for Integrative Research in Computing and Learning Sciences or CIRCLS. The first post described the synergy between the two communities, and introduced the CIRCLS priority around broadening/inclusion in Learning Analytics/AI in education. In this post, we highlight the concerns and the importance of “broadening” participation in research of AI in education, equally raised by both the communities.

Seven people sit around a table looking and holding up colorful post-it notes. Several women wear a headscarf, two blue and two black. — Photo by Zainul Yasni (@zainulyasni6118)

The “Fate” of AI education research

Education, like many other fields, has been revolutionized in this era of datafication. The omni-present machines, with the so-called “intelligence,” are being used to improve the way we learn and teach through devices and technologies, and connect learners, teachers, and even families across ecologies (classrooms, museums, homes) to manage learning. Some innovations have started to dominate the way we learn and remember, sometimes even remembering for us. The imaginative artificial technologies enacted in Star Trek with communicators, talking virtual assistants, and video chats have become our reality. But this reality has not been equitably rolled out across individuals, schools, or communities.

As AI technologies become intertwined with our daily lives, there are justifiable concerns in society around algorithmic fairness, accountability, trustworthiness and ethics (“FATE”). Research is developing rapidly to ask how can we, as a community, rethink AI-based technological progress to address this inequity? How can we address the concerns around privacy, trust, and bias, that have become prevalent due to the prolific use of data and recording devices in these AI technologies? Progress in defining the nature of the challenges, and ways forward, is being made in both the Learning Analytics and AIED communities, but there remains much to do.

Researchers have suggested addressing these issues, in part, by broadening community engagement. With the recent transition to online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to address these issues has become more urgent.

Addressing the issues by broadening engagement

For over a decade, researchers have been working synergistically across disciplines to address issues around equity, privacy, trust and bias. Some researchers have highlighted, humanizing the issues by engaging all stakeholders, learners, educators, caregivers and domain experts, in contributing to the design of the AI systems. One goal of broadening engagement is to consider the complex dynamics that result from multiple perspectives of the different stakeholders involved in a learning process, while designing the AI system. To fully achieve this, the design process should provide the stakeholders an active and respected role, which is non-trivial. The black box-like opaqueness that many of these AI technologies possess makes it difficult for practitioners to contribute. This should not be an excuse.

One way of providing everyone a platform to voice their opinions is to reduce the opaqueness through enacting and visualizing scenarios, making the design process about the humans involved in conceiving and using the system. Taking such a human-centered approach engages practitioners in conversations around what should be measured, and how that measurement could be used in decisions, with a hopeful view of mitigating at least some unwarranted applications and effects that a researcher alone might not be able to anticipate from where they sit.

Come be a part of the conversation!

We at CIRCLS, have planned the CIRCLS’21 convening for the community with the theme of “Remake Broadening.” Broadening participation for emergent technologies, like AI design, is an important aspect of this initiative. The keynote speakers have vested interests in broadening participation in Computer Science and AI education across different age groups and communities using emergent AI technologies. They have planned to engage the attendees in thinking about “designing for broadening” through “broadening participation in design.”

The community will also be hearing from the researchers at the AI institutes, iSat, AI-ALOE and AIEngage.org (part of the 11 institutes that won the recent NSF “AI institute” competition). This session will highlight how the community of both researchers and practitioners can contribute to and participate in AI research.

We invite SoLAR members to the conversation. Our Expertise Connections sessions (September 13, 4pm Eastern: Equity and Ethics Considerations for AI) and our Strategy sessions (September 14, 3pm Eastern: Remake Broadening) will allow researchers and practitioners alike to survey the emerging landscape and think strategically about how we could remake the envisioned broadening. We’ve designed these sessions to engage participants with the most pressing topics in small group activities — a “low floor and high ceiling” setting for both practitioners and researchers, that encourages the understanding of each others’ perspectives.

We hope this plan will give all attendees the chance to shape the broadening process. Our vision for this convening is a first step to “remake broadening”. With more engagements to follow, we hope to keep the conversation going even after the convening. We hope you’ll join us. You can see details about all the sessions when you register and explore Swapcard for CIRCLS’21.

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CIRCLS meet NEXUS! Exploring Learning Analytics, AIED, and Remaking Broadening

August 24, 2021EducatorCIRCLS, Event, Written by: Judi FuscoPati Ruiz

Return to Educator CIRCLS.

Paittbrushes with different colors of paint — Image by RhondaK on Unsplash

By Judi Fusco

Let’s think about our research of the future so we can be more inclusive. Who do we involve, where do we do it, what do we research, why do we do this research, and how do we do it?

A nexus is a collection of interconnected ideas, the NEXUS blog from the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) shares practical developments in Learning Analytics with a broad audience. In this first post in a three-part shared series between NEXUS and the Center for Integrative Research in Computing and Learning Sciences or CIRCLS, we will consider ways the two communities can synergize. This post is cross posted at both SoLar Nexus on Medium and SoLAR Research.

Who We Are and What We Do

CIRCLS is a National Science Foundation funded hub that works to bring together a community of researchers, practitioners in K12 and informal settings, higher education faculty, technology developers, and graduate students, who are researching, developing, or working with emerging technologies for teaching and learning. Learning Analytics has played and continues to play a prominent and important role in projects with these future oriented technologies.

CIRCLS works to bring researchers together to address common needs, plan for the future, and create broader impact as they work to support personal-, community-, and context-centered needs with emerging technologies for learning. In our work, advancing equity is a core goal. In addition, CIRCLS helps to amplify work on emerging technologies for teaching and learning to policymakers, practitioners, and interested stakeholders. We’ve included a link to a 3-minute video to share more about how CIRCLS works to Build Community to Shape Emerging Technologies.

History and Mission

CIRCLS is a new center with a long history that is grounded with the work done in the Center for Innovative Research on Cyberlearning, which started in 2013. CIRCL supported the Cyberlearning program area at NSF, which preceded the Research on Emerging Technologies for Teaching and Learning (RETTL) program. CIRCLS is the new center supporting the RETTL program. First CIRCL, and now CIRCLS, shares reports about work that influenced the field. The projects involve ambitious designs for more equitable learning experiences with emerging technology.

Another characteristic of the projects is how they work to develop learning theories and technologies that are likely to become important to the field within 5-10 years. We see how CIRCLS projects often overlap with the research being done in SOLAR and that there are many members who are active in both communities. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a growing area and Learning Analytics is integral when thinking about AI and how it could augment learning.

In our work to bridge the gap between research and classroom practice, we involve practitioners through Educator CIRCLS and also think about policy needs for emerging technologies, specifically AI. We also have special programming for graduate students and new scholars in our Emerging Scholars expertise exchange. If interested in any of these communities, SoLAR members are welcome to visit our website, read more, and join.

Remaking “Broadening”

When you hear the term “broadening,” (or for our non-US readers from SoLAR, perhaps “inclusion” is more familiar) what do you think? Our upcoming virtual convening will focus on building an understanding of how the field can make stronger progress by examining and remaking “broad.” How can this familiar word become more meaningful and specific, leading to greater intellectual merit and impacts? How can broadening address who we involve in research, where we conduct research, what we research, why we do the research, and how we do research?

The theme “Remake Broadening” challenges our community to learn and engage in innovative ways to make positive changes in education.Through roundtable discussions, breakout sessions, plenaries, and more, we will reflect and consider next steps and recommendations for the field. Our keynote speakers, Nicki Washington and Craig Watkins will offer insights as to how we can further our work to nurture inclusive communities and how we must move forward to “broaden” multiple aspects of the field. Some of the topics the community will explore include:

Learning Analytics and Data Visualization: Broadening our View
AI and Education Policy
Equity and Ethics Considerations for Teaching and Learning with AI
Using the Learning Sciences and Computational Approaches to develop Assessments and Intelligent Tutoring Systems
Towards Equity, Accessibility, & Inclusion

Cynthia D’Angelo, Chad Dorsey, and Tiffany Barnes, the facilitators for the Learning Analytics and Data Visualization: Broadening our View session, describe what they will discuss in their session:

For example, as we think about learning analytics and broadening our view, the production and application of learning analytics has extensive implications for education choices both now and in the future. While learning analytics can be used in many ways to improve learning, we must be aware of the more subtle consequences of its use in order to ensure that they are oriented toward the most positive ends possible. We make many choices and assumptions (sometimes implicitly) at many stages of research, including question selection, data collection, data processing, analysis, and presentation. These choices frequently have equity implications, often in subtle ways.

If this sounds interesting, we hope you’ll register for CIRCLS’21 and join us in thinking about these and other issues.

In our second post, we’ll share more about the sessions focused on bringing learning sciences and computer sciences together as we think about broadening in research on emerging technologies for teaching and learning.