Education Commons^™

On Human-Centered Ai In Education, Sai Gattupalli, Robert W. Maloy

College of Education Working Papers and Reports Series

As AI advances, human-centered principles are key to harnessing its benefits ethically. We explore scaling human-centered AI to enrich education. Thoughtfully implemented, AI could enable personalized, equitable learning and amplify teachers’ strengths, and also facilitate more intuitive human-AI collaboration. However, benefits require mitigating risks around privacy, bias, transparency, and social-emotional impacts. Multidisciplinary teams should research embedding ethics into systems. Policymakers need to develop guardrails for privacy, fairness and accountability. Schools should pilot applications cautiously and demand explainable AI. Diverse voices must guide tool development to enhance autonomy and inclusion. With care, human-centered AI may propel an educational renaissance that uplifts …

The Art And Science Of Promptgramming, Sai Gattupalli

College of Education Working Papers and Reports Series

In this paper, I explore the emerging field of Promptgramming, a technique essential for harnessing the potential of generative AI. Promptgramming involves crafting strategic prompts to guide AI systems, a skill that becomes increasingly crucial as AI tools become more integrated into our daily technological landscape, particularly in education. I discuss the core principles and best practices of Promptgramming, emphasizing its importance in creating personalized and engaging educational content. Additionally, I address the ethical considerations and challenges that arise with the integration of AI in education, such as academic integrity, bias, privacy, and misinformation. Looking towards the future, I highlight …

Climate Change And Modern Education: Preparing For A Sustainable Future, Poulomi Chakravarty, Sai Gattupalli, Stephen Mcginty

College of Education Student Publication Series

Climate change is a global phenomenon that has attracted widespread attention in recent decades due to its profound impact on the environment and society. Although climate change is a phenomenon occurring since the inception of Earth, anthropogenic activities such as fossil fuel consumption due to industrialization, transportation and domestic usage, deforestation and land use changes due to urbanization have accelerated the process. Climate education has become an important part of modern education as it helps raise awareness of the issue and promote behavior of climate consciousness which leads to climate action in a positive direction. The authors highlight the values …

Usable Math: Open Online Tutor For Elementary Math Learners, Teachers And Families, Sharon Edwards, Robert W. Maloy, Sai Gattupalli

College of Education Faculty Presentations Series

Introducing Usable Math

• Free & Accessible: An OER platform tailored for elementary kids, educators, caregivers and families.
• Interactive Problem Solving: Engages students in grades 3-6 in math problem solving and design thinking.
• Four Virtual Coaches: Estella Explainer, Chef Math Bear, How-to-Hound & Visual Vicuna offer diverse problem-solving strategies through words, images, animations, and more.
• Encouragement & Motivation: After every problem a feedback slide builds children’s learning and confidence while fostering curiosity about maths.
• Multiple Modes of Learning: 17 modules explore essential math concepts and 3 new modules integrate storytelling, history, and science learning.

Investigating Pre-Service Teachers' Intention To Apply Critical Media Literacy (Cml) In Career, Chenyang Xu

College of Education Student Presentation Series

Poster presented on 2023 UMass Amherst College of Education Annual Research Showcase

In the contemporary era characterized by the proliferation of "fake news" and "alternative facts," the importance of Critical Media Literacy (CML) has never been more pronounced. This study investigates the beliefs and intentions of pre-service teachers towards the integration of CML into their future teaching practices, utilizing the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as a theoretical framework. The outcomes of this study aim to provide a comprehensive insight into pre-service teachers' perspective towards CML, serving as a significant resource for researchers, teacher education faculty, administrators, and the broader …

A Very Small Pond: Discovery Systems That Can Be Used With Folio In Academic Libraries, Jaime Taylor, Aaron Neslin

University Libraries Presentations Series

FOLIO, an open source library services platform, does not have a front end patron interface for searching and using library materials. Any library installing FOLIO will need at least one other software to perform those functions. This article evaluates which systems, in a limited marketplace, are available for academic libraries to use with FOLIO.

Nens, Jaime Taylor

University Libraries Presentations Series

NENS (non-student non-employee) are a group of designations for people who are somehow connected to UMass, but who are neither students nor employees. A person’s NENS designation determines what they have access to at UMass, including at the Libraries.

Exploring Faculty Consideration Of Instructional Resource Cost To Students, Christine N. Turner, Sarah Fitzgerald, Anne Graham

University Libraries Presentations Series

This study investigated how instructors consider resource cost and availability to students when selecting reading and viewing assignments. It employs a critical incident technique method, asking instructors to consider one course syllabus when considering their assignment practices. Findings address differences across formats including books, chapters, articles, and media. Most instructors never consulted library personnel regarding their reading and viewing assignments. Social and behavioral science instructor responses demonstrated interest in course material cost to students. Humanities and fine art instructor responses also demonstrated interest in cost and familiarity with library services. Responses from natural science, nursing, and engineering demonstrated less familiarity …

Barriers Behind Bars: Examining Gender Inequality In The Texas Prison Education System, Juliette Rice

Reports and White Papers

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing higher education policymakers and advocates with an evidence base to address how to best serve students in light of the challenges facing higher education. This brief was authored by a University of Massachusetts Amherst student as a course assignment for EDUC 674B: Higher Education Policy and was reviewed for accuracy by Professor Ryan Wells.

Expanding Access In Massachusetts: Inclusive Education For Students With Intellectual Developmental Disabilities And Autism Spectrum Disorder, Kerri Jarzabski

Reports and White Papers

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing higher education policymakers and advocates with an evidence base to address how to best serve students in light of the challenges facing higher education. This brief was authored by a University of Massachusetts Amherst student as a course assignment for EDUC 674B: Higher Education Policy and was reviewed for accuracy by Professor Ryan Wells.

Elementary Students Designing Math Learning Slideshows With Nocode Nocost Programming Tools, Sharon Edwards, Robert W. Maloy, Sai Gattupalli

College of Education Faculty Presentations Series

Introducing Usable Math

• Free & Accessible: An OER platform tailored for elementary kids, educators, caregivers and families.
• Interactive Problem Solving: Engages students in grades 3-6 in math problem solving and design thinking.
• Four Virtual Coaches: Estella Explainer, Chef Math Bear, How-to-Hound & Visual Vicuna offer diverse problem-solving strategies through words, images, animations, and more.
• Encouragement & Motivation: After every problem a feedback slide builds children’s learning and confidence while fostering curiosity about maths.
• Multiple Modes of Learning: 17 modules explore essential math concepts and 3 new modules integrate storytelling, history, and science learning.

Enhancing Indic Children’S Tales With Dall-E 3 Ai Imagery Panchatantra: The Story Of The Crows And The Owls, Sai Gattupalli, Sujatha Gattupalli, Girija Talluri

College of Education Faculty Presentations Series

Enhancing Indic Children’s Tales with Dall-E 3 AI Imagery

Panchatantra: The Story of the Crows and the Owls

Comparing Teacher-Written And Ai-Generated Math Problem Solving Strategies For Elementary School Students: Implications For Classroom Learning, Sai Gattupalli, Robert W. Maloy, Sharon Edwards

College of Education Working Papers and Reports Series

Teachers and teacher educators are actively exploring the ways to use Generative AI tools like ChatGPT-4 in elementary math education. In this paper, we compare teacher-written and AI-generated hints and strategies for solving fourth grade math word problems as part of an open online math tutor called Usable Math. When given the perspectives of a 10-year math teacher and four virtual coaches (Estella Explainer, Chef Math Bear, How-to Hound, and Visual Vicuna), ChatGPT-4 provides text-heavy, largely procedural problem solving strategies. Teacher-written hints offer more ways to differentiate learning for students through the use of shorter, more child-accessible language; visual and …

Prompt Literacy: A Pivotal Educational Skill In The Age Of Ai, Sai Gattupalli, Robert W. Maloy, Sharon A. Edwards

College of Education Working Papers and Reports Series

Prompt literacy signifies a major leap in education, offering a potent tool to interact with generative AI systems. As an emerging necessity in the 21st century and beyond, it encompasses the formulation, interpretation, and analysis of AI prompts. Poised to be foundational for all future generations, this discourse brings to light its emergence in parallel with generative AI and its transformative role in pedagogical contexts for the coming decades and beyond.

Developing Usable Math Online Tutor For Elementary Math Learners With Nocode Tools, Robert W. Maloy, Sai Gattupalli, Sharon A. Edwards

College of Education Working Papers and Reports Series

Usable Math, an online OER math tutor, leverages the functions of NoCode tools including Google Slides and Carrd to provide interactive math word problem solving for teachers and students in grades 3-6. The goal is to support elementary learners in developing mathematical reasoning and computation skills through engaging math problem practice, hints and motivational cues. By developing Usable Math and making it available and accessible, we demonstrate to teachers practical ways they can use NoCode tools to support elementary students in acquiring knowledge and skills as math problem solvers.

The Creative Thinking & Learning Studio: A Catalyst For Steam-Based Adult Learning, Sai Gattupalli, Peggy Martalock

College of Education Working Papers and Reports Series

This experience report examines the transformative impact of the Creative Thinking & Learning Studio at the Greenfield Community College, a vibrant hub fostering STEAM education and the Reggio Emilia philosophy of learning and teaching. This case study illustrates how interdisciplinary collaboration and practical engagement in a hands-on environment revolutionize traditional educational practices, shaping innovative, critical thinkers.

Theories And Practices Of Emotion, Movement, And Embodiment In Mathematical Learning, Will Lee, Sai Gattupalli

College of Education Working Papers and Reports Series

• Physical movements, emotion, and embodiment are fundamental to mathematical learning.
• Problem: Lack of study in collaborative embodiment.
• Identified applications of embodiment using virtual reality. An exploratory analysis of a set of videos for an embodied mathematical game was conducted.

Prompt Literacy For Stem Educators. Enhance Your Teaching And Learning With Generative Ai, Sai Gattupalli, Robert W. Maloy, Sharon Edwards, Alexandra Gearty

College of Education Working Papers and Reports Series

Understanding Prompt Literacy and Its Role in STEM Education

● Workshop focuses on prompt literacy, a pivotal skill for educators in the digital age.

● Discuss fundamentals of prompt crafting, interpret and critique AI prompts

● Hands-on activities for prompt crafting, using CAST model

● Workshop participant backgrounds include:

• Edtech, speech-language, GenEd, Special Ed, Inclusion, AP Language, English, Business, World Languages, STEM Education, and more, across various grade levels

Developing A Culturally-Responsive Coding Scheme For Game Design, Sai Gattupalli

College of Education Working Papers and Reports Series

This research seeks to advance culturally-responsive computing education (Eglash et al., 2013) by creating an instrument to systematically analyze manifestations of students’ cultural contexts within the collaborative artifacts they produce using the WL curriculum learning activities. With an aim to develop an analytical “tool” to identify, categorize, describe and study cultural signatures in WL game design rtifacts, the RQ becomes:

RQ: How can Pusch’s seminal framework of cultural dimensions inform systematic analysis methodology to decode students’ localized cultural contexts, worlds views, and self-conceptions reflected through their collaborative game designs using the WearableLearning education technology across 3 countries?

The Dean’S Racial Justice Curriculum Challenge, S Civjan, Erin Baker, Samantha Wojda, Promise Mchenga, Nick Tooker, Esha Uddin, Hannah Wharton, Sophia Chang, Lia Ciemny, Jacqueline Thornton, Wayne Burleson, Paula Rees

Publications

This Work in Progress paper will present the College of Engineering Dean’s Racial Justice Curriculum Challenge. This challenge tasks all faculty in the college to use their engineering problem-solving skills to develop creative ways to incorporate issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and racial justice in every class we teach. The challenge was inspired by our students, who requested a greater connection between the technical content of classes and real world issues, in particular the role engineers play in either fostering inclusive solutions or contributing to the propagation of inequities. The intent is to engage faculty in the development of new …

Disadvantaged Families Cannot Navigate The Quagmire Of College Choice Information, S. Kate Farmer

Reports and White Papers

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing higher education policymakers and advocates with an evidence base to address how to best serve students in light of the challenges facing higher education. This brief was authored by a University of Massachusetts Amherst graduate student in a dual Master of Higher Education & Administration (M.Ed.) and Master of Public Policy & Administration (MPPA) program as a course assignment for EDUC 674B: Higher Education Policy and was reviewed for accuracy by Professor Sade Bonilla.

Traditional Remediation Ends In Low Completion Of Remediation And College Degree!, Betul Iscan

Reports and White Papers

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing higher education policymakers and advocates with an evidence base to address how to best serve students in light of the challenges facing higher education. This brief was authored by a University of Massachusetts Amherst graduate student in the Five Colleges Center for World Languages under Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant program as a course assignment for EDUC 674B: Higher Education Policy and was reviewed for accuracy by Professor Sade Bonilla.

Holding Postsecondary Institutions Accountable: Performance Based Funding, S. Jeon

Reports and White Papers

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing higher education policymakers and advocates with an evidence base to address how to best serve students in light of the challenges facing higher education. This brief was authored by a University of Massachusetts Amherst graduate student in the Higher Education program as a course assignment for EDUC 674B: Higher Education Policy and was reviewed for accuracy by Professor Sade Bonilla.

Displaced Promises?: Examining The Impact Of Financial Aid Displacement, Sarah Haas

Reports and White Papers

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing higher education policymakers and advocates with an evidence base to address how to best serve students in light of the challenges facing higher education. This brief was authored by a University of Massachusetts Amherst graduate student in the M.Ed. in Higher Education Administration program as a course assignment for EDUC 674B: Higher Education Policy and was reviewed for accuracy by Professor Sade Bonilla.

Florida Bright Futures Program: Felony Disenfranchisement In The Sunshine State, Sasha Smith

Reports and White Papers

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing higher education policymakers and advocates with an evidence base to address how to best serve students in light of the challenges facing higher education. This brief was authored by a University of Massachusetts Amherst graduate student in the dual M.Ed/MPPA program as a course assignment for EDUC 674B: Higher Education Policy and was reviewed for accuracy by Professor Sade Bonilla.

The Covid-19 Pandemic’S Effect On College Enrollment Rates, Cenee Enriquez

Reports and White Papers

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing higher education policymakers and advocates with an evidence base to address how to best serve students in light of the challenges facing higher education. This brief was authored by a University of Massachusetts Amherst graduate student in the Dual Degree Higher Education/Public Policy and Administration Master’s program as a course assignment for EDUC 674B: Higher Education Policy and was reviewed for accuracy by Professor Sade Bonilla.

Evidence-Based School Counseling: An Evolving Paradigm, Brett Zyromski, Carey Dimmitt

EBSCC Conference Presentations

Evidence-based school counseling (EBSC) has too often been an approach defined by student-centered interventions delivered from a deficit perspective. What would happen if we stepped back and applied the same lens to the systems that are creating the barriers to student success in the first place? For example, the disproportionality of behavior referrals and suspensions of BIPOC populations is a data point that illustrates a system issue. How would the EBSC lens offer ways to deconstruct that system? Attendees will discuss and contribute to the evolution of the EBSC model and articulate approaches for using it to deconstruct racist educational …

Bookmark: The Magazine Of The Umass Amherst Libraries 2022, Carol Connare

Bookmark: The magazine of the UMass Amherst Libraries

No abstract provided.

Plants, Pipettes And Pcr, Elizabeth Vierling

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

Plants are amazing organisms that provide us with food, building materials, the pleasure of gardens, as well as providing the foundation of critical world ecosystems. Although they may look like they are just stuck in one place and doing not more than growing, they have many, many complex ways in which they respond to the environment. The goal of this STEM Ed session will be to discuss ways that plants can respond to the environment with hands on exercises and exploration of possible classroom activities. Participants will engage in state-of-the art methods of testing plant DNA composition using the polymerase …

Spring 2022 Superhydrophobic Materials, T. Leo Liu

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

Many natural surfaces, such as lotus leaves and a water strider’s leg, have shown striking water repellency so that they remain clean and dry even in “dirty” habitats. Such water repellency is called superhydrophobicity, which has stimulated lots of science and engineering imagination for self-cleaning windows, never dirty clothes, drag-reduction swimming suits, etc. In this workshop, we will use superhydrophobicity as a model to guide an integrative teaching and learning experience through hands-on experiments, critical thinking, basic science, as well as a lecture on state-of-the-art research discoveries. The objectives of this workshop are to (1) stimulate student curiosity and imagination …