story by Claire Miller
Georgia State University instructional technology doctoral student Erin Anderson has received the Kapor Foundation Research Fellowship.
The fellowship “supports individuals across academia and investigative journalism examining the state of the tech ecosystem, identifying disparities in access, opportunities and experiences across the tech sector,” according to the Kapor Foundation’s website.
Anderson is a doctoral fellow in the College of Education & Human Development’s Snap Inc. Center for Computer & Teacher Education and director of the Interactive Teaching and Learning Lab, where she works with faculty to use mixed-reality simulations to train teachers. She also works as a research assistant, helping faculty design integrated computing curricula for students with disabilities, analyzing existing K-8 integrated computing curricula, helping universities strengthen their computer science teacher preparation programs and identifying pedagogical strategies that foster critical consciousness. She is an active member of the Civics of Technology community and brings technoskepticism to her work to temper uncritical tech development.
As a fellow, she will receive $40,000 to support her research, which is focused on developing digital classroom simulations that teachers can use to practice different teaching methods.
Anderson is working predominantly with pre-service special education teachers, and she wants to ensure that the simulations she’s designing include a wide range of learners and backgrounds.
“My research is exploring ways that technologies can be designed to mitigate perpetuations of stereotypes and to make these simulations more inclusive,” she explained. “We were realizing that the technology wasn’t doing a good job of accommodating diverse learners. So, my approach to simulation development uses what I’ve learned from equitable design and puts it into mixed reality so that we’re not inadvertently developing problematic simulations.”
She’s also working with community members, experts in artificial intelligence and educational technology, and individuals with disabilities to evaluate her designs and to see how these simulations could be used for teacher certification.
Anderson also hopes that her research will provide a model that future researchers can use to train teachers and ensure that all voices are represented in the technology they’re using.
“I hope to be able to put out explicit recommendations for people interested in using this technology to train their teacher educators,” she said. “And by putting people with disabilities at the forefront of this work, hopefully it will encourage people to value their perspectives.”
To learn more about the fellowship, visit https://kaporfoundation.org/research-fellowship.