Northern Illinois U to Introduce Center Dedicated to Ed Tech Research

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 11/29/18
education technology

Next year Northern Illinois University will open CREATE Center, a new facility dedicated to "cross-disciplinary research on engaging advanced technology for education." It will be housed in the College of Education.

The center is expected to draw faculty and researchers from campus, industry and organizations to work together on multidisciplinary projects. Faculty from several NIU colleges, including Education, Engineering and Engineering Technology, Health and Human Sciences and Liberal Arts and Sciences have already begun planning research projects. Students, including future teachers, will also be part of the center operations, working on research projects, for example.

One such project is AVAUS (A Virtual Advisor for Under-represented Students), which is focused on student advising for STEM success at community colleges. That project will also bring in researchers from the University of Florida and the Bellwether College Consortium.

Other research efforts include Project IDEAL, which is exploring the use of a human-like robot to mediate young children's collaboration, and Project MathGirls, which uses virtual peers as learning companions to help change high school girls' negative self-images and attitudes toward STEM.

CREATE was the vision of Yanghee Kim, a professor and technology research chair in the College of Education, who will serve as director.

"Through the innovative use of technology, the programs will seek to address educational challenges we face in the real world and also create new opportunities for marginalized groups of students and teachers in conventional settings," she said in a statement. "The door is wide open; the center will welcome any NIU researchers who have solid ideas and are passionate about implementing their ideas."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • person signing a bill at a desk with a faint glow around the document. A tablet and laptop are subtly visible in the background, with soft colors and minimal digital elements

    California Governor Signs AI Content Safeguards into Law

    California Governor Gavin Newsom has officially signed off on a series of landmark artificial intelligence bills, signaling the state’s latest efforts to regulate the burgeoning technology, particularly in response to the misuse of sexually explicit deepfakes. The legislation is aimed at mitigating the risks posed by AI-generated content, as concerns grow over the technology's potential to manipulate images, videos, and voices in ways that could cause significant harm.

  • close-up illustration of a hand signing a legislative document

    California Passes AI Safety Legislation, Awaits Governor's Signature

    California lawmakers have overwhelmingly approved a bill that would impose new restrictions on AI technologies, potentially setting a national precedent for regulating the rapidly evolving field. The legislation, known as S.B. 1047, now heads to Governor Gavin Newsom's desk. He has until the end of September to decide whether to sign it into law.

  • illustration of a VPN network with interconnected nodes and lines forming a minimalist network structure

    Report: Increasing Number of Vulnerabilities in OpenVPN

    OpenVPN, a popular open source virtual private network (VPN) system integrated into millions of routers, firmware, PCs, mobile devices and other smart devices, is leaving users open to a growing list of threats, according to a new report from Microsoft.

  • interconnected cubes and circles arranged in a grid-like structure

    Hugging Face Gradio 5 Offers AI-Powered App Creation and Enhanced Security

    Hugging Face has released version 5 of its Gradio open source platform for building machine learning (ML) applications. The update introduces a suite of features focused on expanding access to AI, including a novel AI-powered app creation tool, enhanced web development capabilities, and bolstered security measures.