Excited to give an invited presentation/ for the the National Academy of Sciences meeting on What to do About and With AI in Education: Challenges and Opportunities for AI in Teaching and Learning
Excited to give a keynote presentation for the GRAILE Sense Making Lectures on Advancing the Science of Collaboration with AI
Excited to give a keynote presentation for the LEAD retreat
New podcast for Rising Tide: Change Makers
So happy to announce that our patent is finally finalized Nov. 9th 2021
Dowell, N. M. & Nixon, M. T. (November 9, 2021). Computational linguistic analysis of learners' discourse in computer-mediated group learning environments. Application Number: US Patent No. 11,170,177. United States of America.
I'm an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine, Faculty Innovation Fellow at UCI Beall Applied Innovation, the Director of the Language and Learning Analytics Laboratory (LaLA-Lab), and Vice President of the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR), which is an interdisciplinary network of leading international researchers who are exploring the role and impact of analytics on teaching, learning, training and development. My primary interests are in Cognitive Science, team dynamics, learning analytics, artificial intelligence, and inclusive STEM. In general, my research focuses on using language and discourse to uncover the dynamics of socially significant, cognitive, and affective processes. I am currently applying computational techniques to model discourse and social dynamics in a variety of environments including small group computer-mediated collaborative learning environments and collaborative design networks. My research has also extended beyond the educational and learning sciences spaces and highlighted the practical applications of computational discourse science in the clinical, political and social sciences areas.
The Language and Learning Analytics Laboratory (The LaLA-Lab), is situated in the UCI School of Education and brings together an interdisciplinary group of students and faculty who explore the intersections of technology with teaching, learning, and education, with a particular focus on learning analytics, educational data mining, and collaborative engagement. Dr. Nia Dowell, Assistant Professor in Education at UC-Irvine, is the director of The LA-Lab that includes researchers with backgrounds in cognitive science, information, psychology, and statistics. The LA-Lab takes a multi-disciplinary approach that builds on theories and methods in the learning sciences, cognitive psychology, human-computer interaction, and computational social sciences. Dr. Dowell and her team conduct basic research on sociocognitive and affective processes across a range of educational technology interaction contexts and develop computational models of these processes and their relationship to learner outcomes. Their research uses a range of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques such as computational linguistics and machine learning. Current projects focus on i) understanding differences in students’ socio-cognitive engagement patterns across gender and racial lines, ii) identifying interpersonal dynamics that characterize varying levels of sense of belonging during collaborative interactions, and ii) developing AI based interventions to promote inclusivity in digitally-mediated team problem-solving environments.
Computational Discourse Science
Publications
Conference Presentations
Invited Presentations
Awards & Honors