Yipu Zheng, a doctoral researcher in the Transformative Learning Technologies Lab. Caption to be supplied.
Yipu Zheng, a doctoral researcher in the Transformative Learning Technologies Lab, has received two grants to develop an artificial intelligence tool that supports students in project-based learning.
The tool is designed to give students timely, useful feedback as they work on open-ended projects, the kind of work that is central to constructionist classrooms but difficult for a single teacher to support at scale. Rather than grading or replacing student work, the system is built to help learners reflect, revise, and keep momentum on projects of their own design.
Recognition and funding
The work received support from the Learning Engineering Tools Competition and from Columbia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. The grants will fund continued development and classroom testing with teachers and students.
The goal is not to automate teaching, but to give students more room to pursue ambitious projects with the support they need. Paulo Blikstein · Director
Part of a broader research program
The project is one of several efforts in the lab to study how AI can be designed for student-centered learning. That research spans tools for science inquiry, fabrication, and data science, and it is grounded in long-running partnerships with schools in New York and abroad.
Development and testing of the tool continue through the coming year, with findings to be shared as the work progresses.