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​My Teaching Copilot: Prototyping an AI Assistant to Facilitate Cognitive Presence in Collaborative-Inquiry Online Learning

William & Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation ($9,982) 2025 – 2026. P.I.

Without adequate support for instructors on how cognitive presence occurs in online learners’ discourse and theoretically sound strategies for discourse facilitation, the potential of quality online discussions gets undervalued or ignored. This project aims to remedy this gap by pioneering the application of large-language models through the OpenAI platform to create an assistant to support online instructors in discussion facilitation in real time. The project builds on my ongoing work of automated classification of online learners’ cognitive presence using GPT-3.5 models and the production of an AI-adapted cognitive presence codebook. 

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Creating Diverse Data Science Learning Pathways - IUSE (# 2313644)

NSF (6.25%). 2023 – 2026. Co-P.I.

Current efforts to bring data science learning experiences to students from different backgrounds and disciplines face two major gaps: (1) a need for replicable models to support broader implementation; and (2) a lack of research that demonstrates how models can support data science identity development while attending to students with diverse disciplinary and sociopolitical backgrounds. The goal of this project is to engage students and faculty in the study, testing, and improvement of a model for project-based, workforce-relevant data science education. The model is based on the hypothesis that student choice and agency in a flexible, project-based learning environment will lower barriers to entry and encourage students with diverse backgrounds to explore data science during their undergraduate careers.

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Enhancing Graduate Students’ Learning Through Social Network Analysis with Posit Cloud 

North Carolina State University ($575 - recurring). 2024. P.I.

 

The Spread of Social Presence: Network Analysis Modeling of Students’ Peer Influence in Online Learning

National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation ($27,500). 2022 – 2023. P.I.

Social presence, the ability to perceive others and project yourself in an online environment as real, positively influences online students? motivation, satisfaction, retention, and learning outcomes in online learning. Despite being crucial for successful online learning experiences, little work has thoroughly examined the evolution of social presence over time and students? social presence influence on peers' interactions. In other words, if social presence can be learned by interacting with others. I elucidate this gap by answering the overarching question: how do online students' social presence evolution over time shape their online learning behaviors?

 

​Intercultural Training: Evaluation of Digital Badges for College of Education Teaching Assistants 

CILMAR Seed Grant Program ($2000). 2021 – 2022. Co-P.I.: Adeoye, T., Cabrera, V., Lolkus, M., Castellanos-Reyes, D., & Strait, M.). ​

 

Determining Best Practices in Higher Education post COVID-19 Grant 

Purdue University ($46,792). 2020 – 2022. Co-P.I.: Richardson, J., Castellanos-Reyes, D. & Duha, S. 

 

Supporting a Diverse and Inclusive College of Education through Digital Badges and Intercultural Training​ 

Purdue University ($5000). 2020 – 2021. Co-P.I.: Strait, M., Castellanos-Reyes, D., Lolkus, M., & Adeoye, T.