College of Education Working Papers and Reports Series

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  • Publication
    Prompt Literacy in the Sanctioned Curriculum: Addressing an Urgent Gap in AI Education
    (Univerity of Massachusetts Amherst, 2024-10) Gattupalli, Sai
    Integrating prompt literacy into sanctioned educational curricula is essential for navigating the evolving digital landscape dominated by AI-driven tools. Current curricula predominantly focus on traditional, subject-based instruction, leaving a gap in preparing students to interact critically and responsibly with generative AI. Prompt literacy, defined as the ability to construct precise prompts to guide AI outputs, is a core competency for retrieving, interpreting, and ethically managing AI-generated information. A pedagogical model for embedding prompt literacy into the curriculum offers educational systems a framework to adapt to rapid technological advancements. Recognizing prompt literacy as a sanctioned skill enables learners to better handle the cognitive, ethical, and technical challenges of an AI-mediated world, equipping them for informed and responsible engagement with AI technologies.
  • Publication
    Fine-Tuning a GenAI Chatbot in the Development of Math Modules for Early Elementary Learners
    (University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2024-10) Gattupalli, Sai; Maloy, Robert; Edwards, Sharon
    We present the development and implications of using a fine-tuned generative AI chatbot, Estella Explainer Math Bot 2 (EEMB 2), to create math modules for early elementary learners. EEMB 2, integrated with the Usable Math platform, serves as a reading and problem-solving coach for educators and tutors. Our iterative design approach leverages prompt engineering, contextual storytelling, audio enhancements, and human review to ensure age-appropriate, engaging content. This innovative AI-enhanced method has potential applications across disciplines, offering scalable, personalized learning experiences while supporting teacher professional development. Ethical considerations and human-centered design principles are crucial to maintain balance and effectiveness in AI-driven educational interventions.
  • Publication
    The Creative Thinking & Learning Studio: A Catalyst for STEAM-based Adult Learning
    (2023-01-01) Gattupalli, Sai; Martalock, Peggy
    This experience report examines the transformative impact of the Creative Thinking & Learning Studio at the Greenfield Community College, a vibrant hub fostering STEAM education and the Reggio Emilia philosophy of learning and teaching. This case study illustrates how interdisciplinary collaboration and practical engagement in a hands-on environment revolutionize traditional educational practices, shaping innovative, critical thinkers.
  • Publication
    Developing Usable Math Online Tutor for Elementary Math Learners with NoCode Tools
    (2023-01-01) Maloy, Robert W.; Gattupalli, Sai; Edwards, Sharon A
    Usable Math, an online OER math tutor, leverages the functions of NoCode tools including Google Slides and Carrd to provide interactive math word problem solving for teachers and students in grades 3-6. The goal is to support elementary learners in developing mathematical reasoning and computation skills through engaging math problem practice, hints and motivational cues. By developing Usable Math and making it available and accessible, we demonstrate to teachers practical ways they can use NoCode tools to support elementary students in acquiring knowledge and skills as math problem solvers.
  • Publication
    Prompt Literacy: A Pivotal Educational Skill in the Age of AI
    (2023-01-01) Gattupalli, Sai; Maloy, Robert W.; Edwards, Sharon A
    Prompt literacy signifies a major leap in education, offering a potent tool to interact with generative AI systems. As an emerging necessity in the 21st century and beyond, it encompasses the formulation, interpretation, and analysis of AI prompts. Poised to be foundational for all future generations, this discourse brings to light its emergence in parallel with generative AI and its transformative role in pedagogical contexts for the coming decades and beyond.
  • Publication
    Comparing Teacher-Written and AI-Generated Math Problem Solving Strategies for Elementary School Students: Implications for Classroom Learning
    (2023-01-01) Gattupalli, Sai; Maloy, Robert W.; Edwards, Sharon
    Teachers and teacher educators are actively exploring the ways to use Generative AI tools like ChatGPT-4 in elementary math education. In this paper, we compare teacher-written and AI-generated hints and strategies for solving fourth grade math word problems as part of an open online math tutor called Usable Math. When given the perspectives of a 10-year math teacher and four virtual coaches (Estella Explainer, Chef Math Bear, How-to Hound, and Visual Vicuna), ChatGPT-4 provides text-heavy, largely procedural problem solving strategies. Teacher-written hints offer more ways to differentiate learning for students through the use of shorter, more child-accessible language; visual and graphical images; animations and gifs; and growth mindset-building statements that affirm children’s effort and persistence in solving math word problems.
  • Publication
    “No Hay que Cercenar a los Estudiantes”: Maestros de Inglés Descolonizando sus ideologías Lingüísticas y Prácticas Pedagógicas en Colombia
    (2021-01-01) Medina Riveros, Rosa A; Parra Perez, Diana Angelica; Austin, Theresa Y.
    Con la globalización y la conectividad, las personas, sus idiomas y culturas entran en contacto a veces chocando entre sí; produciendo prácticas lingüísticas híbridas. El multilingüismo crítico y el translanguaging/ translenguajear son herramientas poderosas que nos pueden guiar para navegar la hibridación cultural y la diversidad semiótica. Esta ponencia explora cómo docentes de Inglés como lengua extranjera en Colombia utilizan el multilingüismo crítico y el translanguaging/ translenguajear (García & Li Wei, 2014) como herramientas de descolonizar sus propias ideologías y prácticas docentes. En el contexto de un desarrollo profesional transnacional de un año con profesores multilingües de inglés como lengua extranjera en Colombia, los maestros e investigadora desarrollamos prácticas de multilingües descolonizadoras que podrían resultar útiles para otros estudios. La primera práctica consistió en identificar la colonialidad (Mignolo, 2007) del uso del lenguaje en el contexto. La segunda práctica implicó interpretar y cuestionar las posturas monolingües de los participantes para desarrollar una postura multilingüe. Desarrollamos esto al reconocer, deshacer y cuestionar las historias de alfabetización. Una tercera práctica consistió en crear espacios multilingües subalternos. Dimos la bienvenida a las prácticas multilingües, a través de entrevistas y artefactos producidos por los maestros. Una cuarta práctica fue discutir prácticas pedagógicas que empoderan a los estudiantes. Incluimos en este estudio, investigaciones provenientes del Sur Global en otros idiomas además del inglés. Esta ponencia contribuye a tomar una mayor conciencia del uso descolonizador del multilingüismo.
  • Publication
    Holyoke Ethnic Studies Program Report: 2021-2022 School Year
    (2022-01-01) Arce, Joel A.; McNeill, Olivia; Nygreen, Kysa
    Cariño. Community. Criticality. Culturally Relevant Content. Centering Students. How might schools in the U.S. be different if these five concepts were the guiding principles of teaching and learning? What transformations—what individual and societal shifts—might we experience if all members of our learning communities, particularly those from historically marginalized groups, were met with love, respect, support, an opportunity to understand the root causes of societal issues, and a chance to see themselves and their communities as irreplaceable parts of history? For students, teachers, and supporters of Holyoke Ethnic Studies (HES), these five concepts, also known as the 5 C’s, are not just aspirations, they are everyday realities waiting to be shared. In Holyoke, HES has experienced documented success in the form of student achievement, engagement, and matriculation. The heart of HES, however, is in the power of the people who advocate for humanizing education spaces with cariño, community, criticality, culturally relevant content, and students at the center. The purpose of this report is to offer a snapshot of the people, efforts, and legacies at the core of this important work. We begin with an explanation of Ethnic Studies, broadly answering the question: What is Ethnic Studies and why is it important? Next, we offer an overview of the HES program, paying special attention to the 5 C’s, the curriculum, community and university partnerships, and impact data on the program. We then situate HES among the legacies and lineages of other Ethnic Studies programs and activist movements throughout the U.S. in the following section, before sharing opportunities for solidarity and community engagement. We hope that this report can be a tool for educators, students, administrators, and community members to see themselves reflected in the broader fight for educational justice.
  • Publication
    Coloniality, and Subalterns in the Colombian English Language Teaching Policy: De-silencing Teachers as Policy Actors
    (2018-01-01) Medina Riveros, Rosa A; Austin, Theresa Y
    The Colombian government has designed language policies to increase the level of English- Spanish bilingualism in the last decades. In 2014, the Colombian government launched 'Colombia: Very Well', the National Plan of English (NPE) that was created in consultancy with a private firm This study explores the English Language policy in Colombia through postcolonial sociology analyzing coloniality, imperialisms and subalternities and the connections across transnational agencies (macro- level), national actors (meso-level), and classroom teachers' enactments of the policy (micro level). It calls for de-silencing teachers and recognizing them as knowledgeable policy actors.
  • Publication
    The Art and Science of Promptgramming
    (2024-01-01) Gattupalli, Sai
    In this paper, I explore the emerging field of Promptgramming, a technique essential for harnessing the potential of generative AI. Promptgramming involves crafting strategic prompts to guide AI systems, a skill that becomes increasingly crucial as AI tools become more integrated into our daily technological landscape, particularly in education. I discuss the core principles and best practices of Promptgramming, emphasizing its importance in creating personalized and engaging educational content. Additionally, I address the ethical considerations and challenges that arise with the integration of AI in education, such as academic integrity, bias, privacy, and misinformation. Looking towards the future, I highlight the integration of AI into mainstream operating systems and its implications for society, calling for a focus on AI literacy and ethical usage. The paper synthesizes these concepts, underscoring the necessity for educators and society to adeptly navigate the emerging landscape of AI, ensuring its responsible and effective application in enhancing learning experiences and societal development.
  • Publication
    On Human-Centered AI in Education
    (2024-01-01) Gattupalli, Sai; Maloy, Robert W.
    As AI advances, human-centered principles are key to harnessing its benefits ethically. We explore scaling human-centered AI to enrich education. Thoughtfully implemented, AI could enable personalized, equitable learning and amplify teachers’ strengths, and also facilitate more intuitive human-AI collaboration. However, benefits require mitigating risks around privacy, bias, transparency, and social-emotional impacts. Multidisciplinary teams should research embedding ethics into systems. Policymakers need to develop guardrails for privacy, fairness and accountability. Schools should pilot applications cautiously and demand explainable AI. Diverse voices must guide tool development to enhance autonomy and inclusion. With care, human-centered AI may propel an educational renaissance that uplifts learning and the human spirit. But we must build this future on moral foundations serving all students.
  • Publication
    Developing a Culturally-Responsive Coding Scheme for Game Design
    (2023-01-01) Gattupalli, Sai
    This research seeks to advance culturally-responsive computing education (Eglash et al., 2013) by creating an instrument to systematically analyze manifestations of students’ cultural contexts within the collaborative artifacts they produce using the WL curriculum learning activities. With an aim to develop an analytical “tool” to identify, categorize, describe and study cultural signatures in WL game design rtifacts, the RQ becomes: RQ: How can Pusch’s seminal framework of cultural dimensions inform systematic analysis methodology to decode students’ localized cultural contexts, worlds views, and self-conceptions reflected through their collaborative game designs using the WearableLearning education technology across 3 countries?
  • Publication
    Theories and Practices of Emotion, Movement, and Embodiment in Mathematical Learning
    (2023-01-01) Lee, Will; Gattupalli, Sai
    Physical movements, emotion, and embodiment are fundamental to mathematical learning. Problem: Lack of study in collaborative embodiment. Identified applications of embodiment using virtual reality. An exploratory analysis of a set of videos for an embodied mathematical game was conducted.
  • Publication
    How Translanguaging can Transform Teacher Education: Using Communicative Repertoires for Teacher Education in Colombia
    (2019-01-01) Medina Riveros, Rosa A
    Using multimodal and digital ethnography, this year-long study makes visible how a community of seven Colombian English language teachers collaborate to make sense of, and use multilingual, multimodal, and digital literacy resources in innovative ways. This study draws on critical multilingualism, translanguaging, and communicative repertoires to respond to this question: How do teachers negotiate and co-construct multilingual, multimodal, and digital strategies for language learning in a Colombian university? Translanguaging and communicative repertoires are powerful theoretical and pedagogic tools that illuminate how to navigate semiotic and digital diversity in education. With translanguaging, García and Li (2014) advocate for the active and complex use of speaker’s linguistic and semiotic repertoires for learning. Likewise, Canagarajah (2007) and Rymes (2012) recommended the inclusion of communicative repertoires for language learning. transcripts, Notes of online teacher workshops, multimodal texts produced by the teachers, and surveys were analyzed using elements from constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2014), and multimodal narrative analysis (Barkhuizen, 2014). The findings reveal how teachers struggle to include local linguistic and cultural resources, and how translanguaging and multimodality can support language teacher education through a change of perspectives. Translanguaging in non-English dominant contexts must be contextualized and theorized in new ways. A second finding consisted in changing perspectives for teacher education. Using multimodal narrative analysis, the study revealed how using teachers’ whole communicative repertoires is beneficial for reflection and negotiation of meaning moving from monoglossic views to translanguaging.
  • Publication
    A Review of Organizational Laws and Management Policies of the Roman Catholic Church to Address Clerical Child Sexual Abuse in the 20th Century
    (2022-01-01) Rashid, Faisal
    During the early 1980’s and 1990’s, clerical child sexual abuse (cCSA) in the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) gained public attention, escalating into a major scandal by the beginning of the 21st century. The Vatican’s response and ignorance expressed globally created the impression that the RCC had encountered the problem of cCSA for the first time, only recently; in the 20th century. The ecclesiastical authorities sought to justify their strategies of non-reporting of abuse to secular authorities, silencing victims, and transferring abusing priests to other locations, as a result of being surprised and confused by a phenomenon, they had been unaware of. The ‘Nolan Report’ commented that the RCC’s ignorance of pedophilia compounded by a desire to save the reputation of the Church, and a Christian instinct to forgive, led to failures to recognize the extent of abuse, scrutinize candidates for priesthood, and appropriately convey suspicion or proof of alleged misconduct. This paper examines the organizational laws and management policies developed by the RCC in the 20th century to address reported cCSA and highlights the perception of ignorance of the ecclesiastical authorities regarding pedophilia and deviant sexual behaviors amongst clerics as incredulous, in light of historical evidence. Such evidence includes knowledge, awareness, and development of organizational laws and internal institutional management strategies at the highest level of ecclesiastical governance, a continuously developed culture of secrecy, and an organized effort to avoid intervention of secular authorities.
  • Publication
    Clerical Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church of England and Wales: A Commentary of child safeguarding (Cumberlege Commission, 2007)
    (2020-01-01) Rashid, Faisal; Barron, Ian
    This commentary conducts a review of the child protection management mechanisms developed within the Catholic Church of England and Wales in light of the recommendations made by the Cumberlege Commission (2007). The commentary examines the performance of these mechanisms in order to identify shortcomings and suggest improvements and specifically analyses the response of ecclesiastical administrative authorities to the principle of ‘paramountcy of child safety’ as guaranteed in the Children Act 1989/2004 and Human Rights Act 1998. The commentary concludes that despite the Cumberlege Commission, child protection mechanisms continue to be set within (i) a centuries old clerical mind-set, (ii) closed institutional hierarchical governance, (iii) a secretive clerical culture and (iv) the complicated organisational management structure of the Roman Catholic Church.
  • Publication
    First Catholic Church of England and Wales safeguarding structure to protect children from Clerical Sexual Abuse: A Commentary on Nolan (2001) till Cumberlege (2007)
    (2020-01-01) Rashid, Faisal; Barron, Ian; Hyun, Jungsun
    The current commentary analyses the Nolan Report (2001) and the Annual Reports (2001-2007) of the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and vulnerable Adults (COPCA) formed as a result of the Nolan Report (2001). The commentary determines how wilfully the Catholic Church of England and Wales responded to the Nolan recommendations. This paper explores the success of this first child-safeguarding model (2001 - 2007) in relation to the deficiencies and structural modifications suggested by the Cumberlege Commission (2007). In conclusion, the commentary identifies a range of shortcomings and difficulties in the establishment of a uniform and secure child protection mechanism within the Catholic Church of England and Wales.