Our Research Projects

Resources related to the Virtual Learning Lab’s research (code and data), can be found on Open Science Framework.

STORIZA

Storiza is an app that leverages students’ creativity to facilitate reading practice and improve oral reading fluency of elementary school students. Using advanced AI, Storiza creates stories based on student-generated prompts that are aligned with the student’s interests and reading level. Storiza is aligned with the University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI) curriculum, allowing students to read stories that match each of UFLI’s 128 lessons.  With Storiza, teachers obtain higher student engagement, have fine control of stories addressing specific phonic skills, and obtain built-in assessments. Storiza is universally designed and incorporates assistive technologies to ensure the success of students with learning differences.

MATH NATION

The Virtual Learning Lab conducted a focused program of research to learn whether and under which conditions the use of a video recommendation system within a virtual learning environment can improve students’ Algebra achievement. The researchers addressed the challenge of improving low-achieving students’ achievement in algebra, using Math Nation, a free and widely-used online learning platform for students and teachers designed to promote mastery of basic algebra, as a virtual laboratory. The team evaluated the student and teacher use of the virtual learning environment for Algebra; developed sensor-free estimates of engagement during learning, developed algorithms to estimate student achievement based on short quizzes,  created algorithms for providing video recommendations, estimated the average treatment of offering video recommendations, evaluated heterogeneity of treatment effects, and evaluated the fairness of the algorithms.