HCI Series: Amy Ogan (Carnegie Mellon) - Pushing the Boundaries of Educational Technology
Pushing the Boundaries of Educational Technology
With increased access to digital technologies worldwide and across socioeconomic groups, the world is poised for a revolution in teaching and learning practices. The COVID-19 pandemic has enabled new opportunities for some learners but starkly reminds us that these resources are still not equally distributed. New technologies can foster equal opportunities for education and quality of life, or amplify social divisions. The research from my lab informs the design of next-generation learning technologies for a global audience. We work to build educational experiences through a technological medium with a human-in-the-loop approach, thus enabling us to push the boundaries of the application of technology to learning. This approach allows us to address the humanity and context of the learner and the ecology in which they learn.
In this talk I will delineate the ends of a learning technology spectrum through the exploration of two projects: 1) supporting learners in vulnerable positions, such as the cocoa-growing regions of Africa, to have greater opportunities to learn with low-tech devices, and 3) improving teaching through the use of novel sensor systems in the classroom that help teachers ensure that their teaching reaches every student with the same opportunity for learning and interaction. In both of these examples we match the experience to the context through our work with stakeholders as diverse as parents, teachers, local and national governments, foundations, and community members.
Register to receive Zoom login details here. The event will also be livestreamed on YouTube (no registration necessary) here.
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This talk is part of the Department of Computer Science Fall seminar series on human-computer interaction. Future talks:
11/30: Hiroshi Ishii, MIT Media Lab
More information on these speakers and their talks will be posted soon.
Host: Marshini Chetty
Amy Ogan
Dr. Ogan is the Thomas and Lydia Moran Assistant Professor of Learning Science in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. She is an educational technologist focusing on ways to make learning experiences more engaging, effective, and enjoyable. Her training spans many disciplines, with undergraduate degrees in Computer Science and Spanish, and a Ph.D. in Human-Computer Interaction supported by a fellowship from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). She has since been named a New Champions Young Scientist by the World Economic Forum, a Rising Star in EECS by MIT, received the McCandless Early Career Chair, and been awarded the Jacobs Early Career Fellowship to study the use of educational technologies in emerging economies. Amy has a faculty appointment at CMU Africa in Rwanda, been a visiting researcher at USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and has conducted field research on the deployment of educational technology across many international sites. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Google, the J.S. McDonnell Foundation, the X-PRIZE Foundation, and the Jacobs Foundation.Website
