Professor Diane Litman (Department of Computer Science) received a research grant from the National Science Foundation for her project “Developing and Optimizing Reflection-Informed STEM Learning and Instruction by Integrating Learning Technologies with Natural Language Processing.”
This project aims to enhance student learning and engagement in large lecture STEM courses by developing, optimizing, and evaluating a digital learning environment called CourseMIRROR. CourseMIRROR uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms and techniques to prompt and scaffold students to create in-depth reflections on their learning experiences. By closely working with a socially and culturally diverse group of students and instructors in public universities and community colleges, the project will directly affect hundreds of students through evidence-based pedagogies and the way educators provide opportunities for learning and engagement. By examining students' learning through purposeful reflection and feedback loops, this work has the potential to provide a route to personalized learning with innovative approaches to problems vital in the increasingly global economy, thereby opening an important new direction of research in learning sciences and emerging technologies.
Dr. Litman and her co-PIs Dr. Muhsin Menekse, an associate professor in the Colleges of Engineering and Education at Purdue University, and Dr. Ala Samarapungavan, a professor in Educational Psychology at Purdue University were awarded $300,000, from August 2023 to July 2025.
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Litman on this achievement!