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With a new semester underway and spring bringing fresh energy to our community, we’re excited to reconnect and share what’s been happening at LTXD, G4L, and ECT.
In this issue, we highlight moments, projects, and voices from Fall 2025, while also looking ahead to what’s blooming this spring. We’re grateful to our LTXD, G4L, and ECT students and alumni, faculty, ALT staff, and all contributors for helping our community continue to grow.
Brownbag Speakers
Brownbag Speakers
Our Fall 2025 Brownbag speakers joined from in and beyond NYU to share work ranging from motivation, to interaction design, to data literacy and virtual reality. Click on the presenters' names below to view their event recordings, and to learn more about them and their work!
Framing Data: Exploring Narrative Patterns in Middle School Students’ Data-Driven Comics.
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Regenerative User Experience: Reimagining Interaction Design for a Post-Capitalist World
Data Visualization Education using Gamification and Student-curated Examples
The Avatar Professor: Research & Reflections on Four Years of Teaching and Meetings in VR
Events
Events
Congrats to our Fall 2025 Graduates!
Congrats to our Fall 2025 Graduates!
At the ECT Thesis Expo & Celebration in December 2025, we celebrated our LTXD and G4L graduates over posters, conversation, and community at 370 Jay St. View their projects below, and check out our award winners, who earned special recognition at the event for their standout work.
Join us for our Spring 2026 Thesis Expo & Celebration
Join us for our Spring 2026 Thesis Expo & Celebration
NYU ECT will host its Spring 2026 Graduate Project EXPO as a celebratory showcase of this year’s graduating cohort. From experimental prototypes to immersive experiences, the exhibition brings together the bold ideas, research, and innovation developed throughout students' ECT journeys. RSVP coming soon！
Connected Learning Summit (Fall 2025)
Connected Learning Summit (Fall 2025)
The 7th Annual Connected Learning Summit lit up the first week of October with an energizing mix of conversation, creativity, and community. Hosted in collaboration with the CREATE Lab, the NYU EdTech ECT programs, and the Connected Learning Lab at UC Irvine, the event brought together educators, researchers, designers, and founders from across K–12, higher education, and industry.
Throughout the week, participants joined thoughtful talks, hands-on sessions, and project spotlights that explored how connection, technology, and playful design can open new possibilities for learning. Whether tuning in online or attending local meetups, many left with fresh ideas, renewed inspiration, and new collaborators to dream with.
Check out these photos for a look back at some of our favorite moments from CLS 2025!
ECT Mixer Event
ECT Mixer Event
Contributed by: Sanjana Vinjamuri, Lourdes Keochgerian and Maitreyi Nandhakumar
Second year LTXD students, Lourdes Keochgerian and Maitreyi Nandhakumar, hosted the ECT Mixer. During the event, ECT students collectively took part in and construct an updated ECT Student Board featuring Polaroid photographs and a collage-inspired backdrop. Throughout the semester, students were asked to take a photo holding a piece of paper with their name and complete the phrase, “I am …”. As the image was developing, each participant was asked to decorate part of the poster board where their image would live, showcasing their artistic lens.” The full board can be seen on our ECT floor.
NYU Steinhardt AI Summit: AI Policy & Implementation in Education
NYU Steinhardt AI Summit: AI Policy & Implementation in Education
Contributed by: Sanjana Vinjamuri
NYU Steinhardt held an AI Summit on November 19th, 2025, detailing the uses of AI in education spaces and the ethics and policies surrounding the implementation of AI in classrooms. Two graduate students from the LTXD program, Lourdes Keochgerian and Sanjana Vinjamuri, and one G4L masters student, Zane Kerr, spoke about the pros and cons of implementing AI in classrooms, what policies seem to be effective, and what the future holds in AI and education.
Additionally, clinical Assistant Professor, Allison Starks, who teaches Foundations of Learning Sciences and Foundations of Cognitive Sciences, presented on the current state of AI policies in K-12 schools, calling for efforts to adapt and revise these policies to align with the current state of AI.
Click here to watch a recording of the event, including the panel with Lourdes and Sanjana, and Allison Stark’s presentation.
ECT Labs in the News
ECT Labs in the News
Research Labs Showcase!
Research Labs Showcase!
On November 18, 2025, the ECT Program hosted a Faculty Research Labs Showcase, giving our community an up-close look at the work shaping the future of learning, design, and technology. The open-house format encouraged attendees to wander through a lively mix of demos, conversations, and research displays—turning the space into a playground of ideas and possibilities.
For many students, especially those just beginning their ECT journey, the showcase offered a concrete glimpse into the real-world projects our labs are pursuing and the opportunities they open up. It was also a moment to connect with faculty, asking questions, and finding new points of entry into ongoing work.
See below for projects highlighted by the labs this year!
CREATE LAB
Inventing the Future of Learning
CREATE LAB
Inventing the Future of Learning
CREATE Lab (directed by Jan Plass) continues to lead interdisciplinary research at the intersection of learning sciences, games, immersive media, and personalized AI.
Teams made significant progress across a wide portfolio:
Learning Game Design Patterns and Emotional Design for Learning
Generative AI for personalized learning support
VR simulations for biology, astronomy, and public-health education
STEMXR for Equity, leveraging AI and multimodal sensing
Digital play and wellbeing studies with children ages 8–12
Project HOPE, providing cognitive, mental-health, and coding interventions for Syrian refugee youth
The lab also expanded the DREAM platform, offering access to research-based educational games and simulations. CREATE continues to host a wide range of research and development opportunities for students.
RIDDLE
RIDDLE
Designing AI-Supported Tools for Inquiry & Data Literacy
This year, RIDDLE (directed by Camillia Matuk) advances multiple initiatives exploring how AI and interactive media can deepen students’ research and data literacies.
StudyCrafter continues to evolve as an AI-supported platform where learners design human-behavior experiments through interactive stories. The team expanded AI feedback features, built curricular materials, and analyzed student-generated artifacts from university and youth programs.
With Critical Data Stories, researchers partnered with teachers and teens to design tools that support data storytelling and social-issue inquiry. Recent studies examined how youth remix data on platforms like TikTok and how educators approach data storytelling in classrooms.
Through MindHive and You:Quantified, the lab facilitated community-science projects with high school classes, building tools for multimodal data visualization and fostering ethical reasoning in human-subject research. The teams conducted classroom studies, teacher interviews, and multiple rounds of curriculum refinement.
Finally, the Dynamic Data Visualizations project broadened foundational understanding of how people perceive animated data. Interviews with designers and experiments with viewers are informing best-practice design guidelines.
ECT student Sanjana Vinjamuri reports on the work happening in RIDDLE to uncover how students navigate research design, feedback, and data storytelling with technology. Learn More>>>
AUGMENT-ED LAB
AI, Multimodal Analytics, and High-Impact Learning
AUGMENT-ED LAB
AI, Multimodal Analytics, and High-Impact Learning
This year, the AUGMENT-ED Lab (directed by Xavier Ochoa) continues to expand its work at the intersection of AI, learning sciences, and multimodal interaction, with several exciting project updates and new directions.
One major focus is the continued development of OPAF v.2 (AI-Augmented Oral Presentation Deliberate Practice), an enhanced version of the lab’s AI-supported presentation training system designed to provide scalable, structured feedback for students’ communication skills.
The lab is also advancing the Theory-Measurement-Evaluation (TME) framework to provide automated ways to build explainable learner models (think estimating the learner's mental, emotional and motivational states) that can help provide actionable feedback and personalized scaffolding.
In STEM education, STEMXR4E integrates AI and multimodal sensing technologies to improve engagement and equity in immersive STEM learning environments where teachers become the architects of advanced learning experiences without needing to know about the complexities of those technologies.
Finally, the lab continues to refine Auggie, a pedagogically grounded LLM-based agent designed to bring voice and embodied interaction into AI learning tools.
Together, these projects reflect AUGMENT-ED’s growing commitment to designing AI systems that responsibly and effectively enhance the acquisition and development of 21st century skills.
AI-Supported High-Impact Learning
AI-Supported High-Impact Learning
Professor Bouwmeester’s work this year centered on how AI can expand access to high-impact learning experiences and strengthen foundational communication skills.
AI-Assisted Project-Based Learning
In collaboration with partners at NYU and the University of Florida, the team refined tools that help students navigate the complexity of project-based learning. This includes AI-supported scaffolds for planning, decision-making, and reflection, all designed to lower barriers for learners engaging in authentic, open-ended work.
CaPS – Communication & Presentation Skill Advancement
CaPS integrates human coaching with AI-driven, in-class feedback to help students build durable communication skills. The project is deeply collaborative, involving an interdisciplinary team and student co-designers from across NYU, and was recently features in a TeachTalk series and accompanying article by Elizabeth McAlpin, Director of Educational Technology Research, NYU IT.
Computational Logic Lab
Professor Neuman’s lab investigates how humans and AI reason about ethical dilemmas.
Computational Logic Lab
Professor Neuman’s lab investigates how humans and AI reason about ethical dilemmas.
This year, the Computational Logic Lab is deepening its research into how large language models reason—particularly in response to ethical dilemmas.
A central update is the lab’s comparative work examining how different AI models respond to moral scenarios. The team is mapping AI-generated reasoning to frameworks such as moral foundations theory and stages of ethical development, while developing new methodologies for benchmarking ethical reasoning in AI systems.
One highlighted project, “Six Llamas,” analyzes how differences in training data (including religious corpora) may shape model responses to ethical questions—opening new conversations about bias, influence, and moral framing in AI systems.
The lab is also continuing development of Alan and Ada, a photo-realistic chatbot tutor that explores how AI agents function as examiners versus listeners in learning environments.
Together, these projects reflect the lab’s growing focus on understanding how AI “thinks,” how it reasons about ethics, and what that means for responsible human–AI collaboration.
Creative AI & Robotics Lab
Creative AI & Robotics Lab
Professor Ali’s lab leads innovative research on creativity, AI literacy, and inclusive learning experiences for children.
Key efforts this year include:
A co-creative storytelling tool designed for neurodivergent youth
Social-robot–supported creative interaction, published at HRI 2025
Multiple AI & Art curricula implemented in New York City and international schools
Creative coding and embodied-AI toolkits for K–12
A systematic scoping review of AI in arts learning (forthcoming 2026)
AI literacy initiatives such as DAILy, Day of AI, and AI & Art Policy projects
Emerging research on multi-agent AI systems, including translation and feedback agents
The lab’s work continues to amplify youth agency and creative expression in the age of AI.
News Beyond ECT
News Beyond ECT
Tech in the Classroom: A History of Hype and Hysteria
Tech in the Classroom: A History of Hype and Hysteria
ECT Assistant Professor, Safinah Ali was interviewed by WIRED regarding AI and education. The article discussed the past panics society faced with new technologies such as calculators and iPads and explained how these beliefs can be illustrated through parents' paranoia and fear over their child’s education. In her interview with the author, Safinah Ali furthers this point by discussing the common misconceptions that revolve around AI and children’s education. When discussing how AI would impact children’s abilities to learn, Safinah said, “Learning is more than just retrieving some information and some knowledge.” You have your social circles, you have friends, you have this teacher-student interaction. Those things all stay.”
Want to get more involved with ECT?
Want to get more involved with ECT?
Get Involved!
Get Involved!
Interested in getting more involved with ECT? Reach out to Camillia Matuk (cmatuk@nyu.edu) or Maaike Bouwmeester (mb262@nyu.edu) for opportunities with the newsletter, social media, or events.
Let's get Social
Let's get Social
Explore other ways to stay connected via our Slack, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn channels.
Thanks to the dedicated Fall 2025 Wireframe team:
and passionate volunteers:
Special shoutout to all contributors (alphabetically ordered):
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