May 2023 - Institute for Advanced Learning Technologies

Scaling Up Computer Science Education for Students with Disabilities

May 15, 2023

Today, University of Florida (UF) researchers and Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) announced that they are launching a professional development program for computer science (CS) teachers and special education teachers, called CS Inclusion. The development of the program was supported by a $100,000 grant from Google. The program focuses on providing teachers with strategies and resources to expand access to computer science for students with disabilities, who make up 15% of all K–12 students in public schools nationwide.

UF Associate Professor of Educational Technology and CS Education Maya Israel, along with a team of experienced teachers and instructional staff from UF and BCPS, are developing a “coach the coach” model for professional development that can be used by schools nationwide and globally. The strategies can be adapted by teachers to meet the individual needs of their students.

“We’re doing something extraordinary here at UF with our partners in Broward County Public Schools,” said Israel. “With support from Google, we are expanding the scope and reach of this initiative both within Broward, the sixth largest school district in the country, and beyond.”

“At the heart of the CS Inclusion program is expanding access to in-demand careers for all students,” said Dr. Lisa Milenkovic, Supervisor of STEM and Computer Science in BCPS Applied Learning Department. “All students can benefit from CS. The knowledge and skills they learn can be used in virtually every industry that exists today – and career paths that will exist in the future. We are excited to be participating in this grant-funded program.”

CS Inclusion builds upon CSEveryone, the existing efforts out of UF to expand CS education in K-12 settings through teacher preparation as a part of the Kenneth C. Griffin CS Education for All Initiative. The CSEveryone team, led by Israel, is working to develop, implement and research innovative approaches that prepare educators everywhere to teach computer science to all K–12 learners.

“We believe that all students deserve the opportunity to explore, advance, and succeed in computer science,” said Carina Box, Google’s Tech Education Partnerships Lead. “The CS Inclusion effort is a scalable and sustainable solution to address a critical challenge that will have an immediate and lasting impact on so many students.”

To learn more about the CS Inclusion program in action and how it is already impacting students in BCPS, read “These teachers are bringing computer science to students with disabilities” in Google’s blog, The Keyword.

For more information on the CS Inclusion initiative, visit browardschools.com/browardcodes.

“We’re doing something extraordinary here at UF with our partners in Broward County Public Schools,” said Israel. “With support from Google, we are expanding the scope and reach of this initiative both within Broward, the sixth largest school district in the country, and beyond.”

UF partners on NSF-funded National Artificial Intelligence Research Institute focused on STEM learning

May 4, 2023

The National Science Foundation announced today that it has selected a team of scientists from the University of Florida and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to lead a $20 million institute to advance artificial intelligence to promote STEM education.

The AI Institute for Inclusive Intelligent Technologies for Education (INVITE) will be based in Illinois with UF as a major partner and with scholars and practitioners from across the U.S.

“AI holds the potential to transform STEM education by learning from diverse students’ data and empowering teachers to customize students’ experiences,” said Kristy Elizabeth Boyer, managing director of the new institute and a professor of computer science in UF’s Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. “The INVITE Institute will collect unparalleled datasets for training AI systems to deliver this customized learning, with a partner network of over 96,000 students across 24 school districts in eight states.”

The INVITE Institute seeks to fundamentally reframe how educational technologies interact with learners by developing AI tools and approaches to support three crucial noncognitive skills known to underlie effective learning: persistence, academic resilience and collaboration.

“We’re honored to be selected to partner on this important NSF institute, which is critical to ensuring that teachers know each child’s strengths and weaknesses and can adapt their strategies accordingly,” said UF President Ben Sasse. “At the University of Florida, we recognize that AI isn’t the next big thing, it is the big thing; using these technologies to help young people succeed will provide significant long-term benefits for our state, our nation and our world.”

The institute’s use-inspired research will focus on how children communicate STEM content, how they learn to persist through challenging work, and how teachers support and promote noncognitive skill development. The AI-based tools created as a result will be integrated into classrooms to empower teachers to support learners in more customized ways.

“Supporting all children as they achieve their goals is one of the most promising ways we can harness AI to benefit society,” said Maya Israel, an associate professor of Educational Technology at UF and senior personnel of the INVITE Institute. “With unique capabilities among its partner institutions, the INVITE Institute will create new techniques and technologies that benefit tens of thousands of students from a range of backgrounds and experiences.”

A key purpose of the INVITE research is to broaden engagement with and learning of STEM among historically marginalized groups at K-12 levels by investigating emerging AI techniques and building intelligent technologies. Postsecondary students will be heavily involved through educational and research opportunities that strive to build a diverse workforce of scientists and engineers.

“In the INVITE Institute, our talented faculty will leverage unique AI infrastructure in a multi-institutional effort that addresses arguably the most important responsibility we have, namely the preparation of our children for future success,” said David Norton, vice president for research at UF. “University of Florida researchers will join others to understand how AI and related technologies can improve the educational experience for K-12 learners. This is critically important as we seek to elevate education for all students in our country.”

The institute will build national capacity for AI research and broadening participation in computing through nationwide partnerships, professional development programs, outreach and community activities, and provide a wide range of AI in education resources.

The NSF’s funding partner for the INVITE Institute is the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences.

With more than $500 million in support from the NSF and its funding partners, the National AI Institutes represent the most significant federal investment in AI research and workforce development to date, according to the agency.

This story was originally published at news.ufl.edu.

Kristy Elizabeth Boyer, Ph.D.

Maya Israel, Ph.D.

“This is a perfect example of dynamic collaboration across UF that promises to transform education,” said College of Education Dean Glenn Good. “Dr. Israel has been leading research around computer science in K-12 settings for years, growing significant domain expertise, and her work with this NSF AI Institute will surely capitalize on that compendium of knowledge.”