Understanding students' skills and growth edges (UX Evaluation)
2018, Opportunity Education Foundation, research scientist
The skills we hope students have by the end of high school (perhaps collaboration, self-reflection, open-mindedness...) aren't often the ones targeted by standardized tests. What skills do high school students currently have, and how can we re-design classroom experiences to better support growth?
Methods: Longitudinal case study analysis, personas, contextual inquiry, affinity diagramming, internal communication through research briefs
Changing the rules with bi-dialectal virtual peers (HCI Research)
2012-2017, Carnegie Mellon University, NSF doctoral fellow
Technologies have amazing potential to provide personalized learning, but when it comes to culture, most systems are one size fits all. How can progressive tech help change the status quo and mitigate systematic classroom prejudice?
This work was presented at the World Economic Forum (2016) and the Global Education and Skills Forum (2017). It was referenced in The Economist (2017) and The Art of Screen Time (2018). It received a Best Paper award at Artificial Intelligence in Education (2013).
Methods: conceptual design, storyboarding, conversation & thin-slice rapport analysis, semi-structured interview, analysis of variance
Space CoDES: Code-switching as a game mechanic (UX Design)
2014, Carnegie Mellon University, NSF doctoral fellow
The design of any system communicates cultural values and drives users' behaviors. How can games provide a safe environment for kids to practice complex and (traditionally) controversial skills like context-based code-switching? This was a collaboration with the Entertainment Technology Center.
Methods: storyboarding, iterative play-testing, family focus groups
Snag'em: building feminist communities in tech departments (UX research)
2010-2011, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, DREU
Undergraduate women and PoC are the most likely CS majors to choose to work on applied projects and reach out to under-served populations. Despite the inherent value in this drive, our research found that these goals are often perceived as "less than" the values purported by more dominant groups (more frequently things like 'build cool stuff.') How can value-sensitive technologies help create a department-wide community that values outreach and tech for social good?
Methods: contextual inquiry, semi-strutured interview, survey design, analysis of variance, action research, value-sensitive design