Current Ph.D. Students

Aditi Haiman, Ph.D. Candidate at Carnegie Mellon University  Department: Human-Computer Interaction Institute

Esma Nur Kahveci, Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth  (McLaren is a Ph.D. committee member; Esma works on McLaren's NSF Racial Equity project and is advised by Dr. Shakhnoza Kayumova)  Department: Education  

Past Ph.D. Students

Dr. Huy Nguyen, Ph.D. completed in January 2024 at Carnegie Mellon University  (Co-Advised with John Stamper)  Department: Human Computer Interaction Institute  
Thesis Title: "Addressing the Gender Gap in Middle School Math Education through Digital Learning Games"

Representative Papers

Nguyen, H., Stec, H., Hou, X., Di, S., & McLaren, B.M. (2023). Evaluating ChatGPT’s decimal skills and feedback generation to students’ self-explanations in a digital learning game.   Proceedings of Eighteenth European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning (ECTEL 2023).  https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2306.16639   Won the Best Paper Award    [ pdf ]   [ Online Citation ]

Nguyen, H., Hou, X., Richey, J.E., & McLaren, B.M. (2022).  The impact of gender in learning with games: A consistent effect in a math learning game.  International Journal of Game-Based Learning (IJGBL).  12(1), 1-29. http://doi.org/10.4018/IJGBL.309128  [ pdf ]    [ Online Citation  ]

Nguyen, H.A, Hou, X., Stamper, J., & McLaren, B.M. (2020). Moving beyond test scores: Analyzing the effectiveness of a digital learning game through learning analytics. In the Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Educational Data Mining, pp. 487–495.      [ pdf ]

Nguyen, H., Wang, Y.,  Stamper, J., & McLaren, B.M. (2019). Using knowledge component modeling to increase domain understanding in a digital learning game.  Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2019). (pp. 139-148).    [ pdf ]   [ Online Citation ] 

Nguyen, H., Harpstead, E., Wang, Y. & McLaren, B.M. (2018).  Student agency and game-based learning: A study comparing low and high agency.  In C. Rosé, R. Martínez-Maldonado, H.U. Hoppe, R. Luckin, M. Mavrikis, K. Porayska-Pomsta, B. McLaren and B. du Boulay (Eds.). Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED 2018). LNAI 10947 (pp. 338-351).  Springer: Berlin.   [  pdf  ] 

Dr. Ken Holstein, Ph.D. completed in 2019 at Carnegie Mellon University (Co-Advised with Vincent Aleven)  Department: Human Computer Interaction Institute;  
Thesis Title: "Designing Real-time Teacher Augmentation to Combine Strengths of Human and AI Instruction"

Representative Papers

Holstein, K., McLaren, B.M., & Aleven, V. (2019). Co-designing a real-time classroom awareness tool to support teacher-AI complementarity.   Journal of Learning Analytics.   [ pdf ]

Holstein, K., McLaren, B.M. & Aleven, V. (2018). Student learning benefits of a mixed-reality teacher awareness tool in AI-enhanced classrooms.  In C. Rosé, R. Martínez-Maldonado, H.U. Hoppe, R. Luckin, M. Mavrikis, K. Porayska-Pomsta, B. McLaren and B. du Boulay (Eds.). Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED 2018). LNAI 10947 (pp. 154-168).  Springer: Berlin.  Won the Best Paper Award (in a tie with one other paper)   [  pdf  ] 

Holstein, K., McLaren, B.M. & Aleven, V.  (2018).  Informing the design of teacher awareness tools through causal alignment analysis. In J. Kay and R. Luckin (Eds.). Proceedings of the 13th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS’18). (pp. 104-111). Won the Best Student Paper Award  [  pdf  ]

Dr. Oliver Scheuer,  Ph.D. completed in 2015 at Saarland University, Germany (Co-Advised with Armin Weinberger); Department: Educational Technology;  
Thesis Title: "Towards Adaptive Argumentation Learning Systems: Theoretical and Practical Considerations in the Design of Argumentation Learning Systems"

Representative Papers

Scheuer, O., McLaren, B. M.,  Weinberger, A., & Niebuhr, S. (2014). Promoting critical, elaborative discussions through a collaboration script and argument diagrams. Instructional Science, 42(2), 127–157. doi:10.1007/s11251-013-9274-5.  [ pdf ]  [ Online Citation ]

Scheuer, O. & McLaren, B. M. (2013).  CASE: A configurable argumentation support engine.  IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, 10 Jan. 2013. IEEE computer Society Digital Library. IEEE Computer Society, http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.3.  [ pdf ]  [ Online Citation ]

Scheuer, O., McLaren, B.M.,  Loll, F.,  &  N. Pinkwart  (2012).  “Automated Analysis and Feedback Techniques to Support and Teach Argumentation: A Survey.”  In N. Pinkwart & B.M. McLaren (Eds.) Educational Technologies for Teaching Argumentation Skills, Bentham Science Publishers.   [ pdf ]   [ Online Citation ]

Scheuer, O., McLaren, B.M., Harrell, M., & Weinberger, A. (2011).  Scripting collaboration: What affect does it have on student argumentation? In: Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Computers in Education (ICCE-2011). Chang Mai, Thailand, Nov. 28 - Dec. 2, 2011.   [ pdf ]

Scheuer, O., Loll, F.,  Pinkwart, N. &  McLaren, B.M. (2010). Computer-supported argumentation: A review of the state of the art. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning. 5(1), 43-102.  [ pdf ]  [ Online Citation ]

Dr. Amir Shareghi Najar,  Ph.D. completed in 2014 at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
(McLaren was an Associate Supervisor, with Tanja Mitrovic as Supervisor);  Department: Computer Science;
Thesis Title: "Evaluating the Benefits of Worked Examples in a Constraint-Based Tutor"

Representative Papers

Najar, A.S., Mitrovic, A.  &  McLaren, B.M. (2014).  Adaptive support versus alternating worked examples and tutored problems: Which leads to better learning? Aalborg, Denmark: In the Proceedings of the 22nd Conf. User Modelling, Adaptation and Personalization (UMAP 2014). LNCS 8538 (pp. 171-182). http://www.um.org/umap2014/. Won Best Student Paper Award   [ pdf ] 

Dr. Marieke Peeters,  Ph.D. completed in 2014 at Utrecht University, the Netherlands (McLaren was a committee member);  Department: Information and Computing Sciences;
Thesis Title:  "Personalized Educational Games - Developing Agent-Supported Scenario-Based Training"

Dr. Dimitra Tsovaltzi,  Ph.D. completed in 2010 at Saarland University, Germany (McLaren was a committee member); Department: Informatics;
Thesis title: "MENON: Automating a Socratic Teaching Strategy for Mathematical Proofs"

Representative Papers

Tsovaltzi, D., Melis, E., &  McLaren, B. M. (2012). Erroneous examples: Effects on learning fractions in a web-based setting.  International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning (IJTEL).V4 N3/4 2012 pp 191-230.  [ pdf ]

Tsovaltzi, D., Rummel, N., McLaren, B.M., Pinkwart, N., Scheuer, O., Harrer, A. & Braun, I. (2010). Extending a virtual chemistry laboratory with a collaboration script to promote conceptual learning. International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, Vol. 2, Nos. 1/2, 91–110. [ pdf ]  

Tsovaltzi, D., Melis, E., McLaren, B.M., Dietrich, M., Goguadze, G.,  &  Meyer, A-K. (2009).  Erroneous examples: A preliminary investigation into learning benefits.  In U. Cress, V. Dimitrova, & M. Specht (Eds.), Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, Learning in the Synergy of Multiple Disciplines (EC-TEL 2009), LNCS 5794, September/October 2009, Nice, France. (pp. 688-693). Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. [ pdf ]

Current Post-Docs

Dr. Mahboobeh Mehrvarz,  Ph.D. in Educational Administration completed at Shiraz University, Iran;  
Post-Doc: September 2023 to Present

Past Post-Docs

Dr. Michael Mogessie Ashenafi,  Ph.D. 2017 completed within the Department of Computer Science at the University of Trento, Italy;  
Post-Doc: May 2018 to November 2020
Current Position: Senior Engineer in Industry

Representative Papers

Mogessie, M., Wolf, S. D., Barbosa, M., Jones, N. & McLaren, B. M. (2020). "Work-in-Progress—A Generalizable Virtual Reality Training and Intelligent Tutor for Additive Manufacturing,"  6th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN), San Luis Obispo, CA, USA, 2020, pp. 355-358, doi: 10.23919/iLRN47897.2020.9155119.    [ pdf ]    [ Online Citation ]

Mogessie M., Richey J. E., McLaren B.M., Andres-Bray J.M.L., & Baker R.S. (2020). Confrustion and gaming while learning with erroneous examples in a decimals game. In: I. Bittencourt, M. Cukurova, K. Muldner, R. Luckin, & E. Millán (Eds.) Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education. AIED 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS, Vol. 12164). Springer, Cham.  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52240-7_38   [ pdf ]    [ Online Citation ]

Dr. J. Elizabeth Richey,  Ph.D. 2015 completed within the Psychology Department at the University of Pittsburgh;
Post-Doc: April 2018 to June 2019
Current Position: Teaching Faculty at the University of Pittsburgh

Representative Papers

Richey, J. E.,  Andres-Bray, J. M. L.,  Mogessie, M.,  Scruggs, R.,  Andres, J. M.,  Star, J. R.,  Baker, R. S.,  & McLaren, B. M. (2019). More confusion and frustration, better learning: The impact of erroneous examples.  Computers & Education.  DOI: 10.1016/j.compedu.2019.05.012     [ pdf ]   [ Online Citation ]

Richey, J.E., McLaren, B.M.,  Andres-Bray, J.M.L., Mogessie, M., Scruggs, R., Baker, R.S. & Star, J.R. (2019). Confrustion in learning from erroneous examples: Does type of prompted self-explanation make a difference?. In: Isotani S., Millán E., Ogan A., Hastings P., McLaren B., Luckin R. (eds). Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED 2019). LNAI 11625 (pp. 445-457). Springer, Cham.     [ pdf ]   [ Online Citation ]    

Dr. Irene-Angelica Chounta,  Ph.D. 2014 completed within the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Patras, Greece;  
Post-Doc: April 2016 to August 2018
Current Position: Professor, University of Duisburg-Essen

Representative Papers

Chounta, I-A,  McLaren, B.M., & Harrell, M. (2017). Building arguments together or alone? Using learning analytics to study the collaborative construction of argument diagrams.  In the Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL 2017).   [ pdf ] 

Chounta, I-A., McLaren, B.M., Albacete, P., Jordan, P., & Katz, S. (2017). Modeling the zone of proximal development with a computational approach.  In X. Hu, T. Barnes, A. Hershkovitz, L. Paquette (Eds), Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2017) (pp. 56-57).   [ pdf ] 

Dr. Toby Dragon,  Ph.D. 2013 completed in the Department of Computer Science, University of Massachusetts;  
Post-Doc:  January 2011 to June 2013 - Metafora project at Saarland University, Germany;
Current Position: Associate Professor and Assessment Coordinator, Department of Computer Science, Ithaca College, New York

Representative Papers

Dragon, T., Mavrikis, M.,  McLaren, B.M.,  Harrer, A.,  Kynigos, C.,  Wegerif, R.,  & Yang, Y. (2013). Metafora: A web-based platform for learning to learn together in science and mathematics. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, 6 (3), 197-207 July-Sept. 2013 © 2013 IEEE Published by the IEEE Computer Society.   doi:10.1109/TLT.2013.4   [ pdf ]  [ Online Citation ]

Dragon, T., McLaren, B.M., Mavrikis, M.,  & Geraniou, E. (2011).  Scaffolding collaborative learning opportunities:  Integrating microworld use and argumentation.  In: A. Paramythis, L. Lau, S. Demetriadis, M. Tzagarakis, & S. Kleanthous (Eds.) Proceedings of the International Workshop on Adaptive Support for Team Collaboration (ASTC-2011), held in conjunction with the International Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation, and Personalization (UMAP2011), (pp. 27-35). CEUR Workshop Proceedings, ISSN 1613-0073, online CEUR-WS.org/Vol-743/ASTC2011_Paper4.pdf   [ pdf  ]

Dragon, T., Gutierrez-Santos, S., Mavrikis, M. & McLaren, B.M. (2011).  Analysing and Supporting Students’ Interactions in Synthesized Learning Environments: A Case Study with a Microworld and a Discussion Tool.  In: Proceedings of the Seminar on Technology-Enhanced Learning for Mathematics and Science (TELMAS): Landmark Research and New Contributions. Conducted as part of EC-TEL 2011, Palermo, Italy, September 21, 2011.

Dr. Seiji Isotani,  Ph.D. 2009 completed in the Department of Knowledge Systems, Osaka University, Japan;
Post-Doc:  October 2009 - March 2011 - AdaptErrEx project at Carnegie Mellon University;
Current Position: Visiting Professor of Education, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University

Representative Papers

Isotani, S., Adams, D., Mayer, R.E., Durkin, K., Rittle-Johnson, B.,  & McLaren, B.M. (2011).  Can erroneous examples help middle-school students learn decimals?  In:  Proceedings of the Sixth European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning:  Towards Ubiquitous Learning (EC-TEL-2011).   [ pdf ]

Isotani, S., McLaren, B.M., & Altman, M. (2010). Towards intelligent tutoring with erroneous examples: A taxonomy of decimal misconceptions.  In V. Aleven, J. Kay, J. Mostow (Eds.), Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS-10), Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 6094 (pp. 346-348). Berlin: Springer.   [ pdf ]

Current Masters Students

None

Past Masters Students

Anuhauc Valero, M.S. completed in May 2013 at Saarland University, Germany
Thesis title:  “Using a Graphical User Interface to Simplify the Development of Tutorial Agents that Support Argumentation Learning Activities”

Ugur Kira, M.S. completed in August 2012 at Saarland University, Germany
Thesis title:  "Visualization and Analysis in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Systems"

Hina Manzur, M.S. completed in March 2011 at Saarland University, Germany
Thesis title:  "Learning Argumentation in 3D Narratives"

Alexander Borek, M.S. completed in July 2009 at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
Thesis title:  "How Much Assistance is Helpful to Students in Discovery Learning?"

Published Paper Based on Alexander's Masters Thesis:

Borek, A., McLaren, B.M., Karabinos, M.,  &  Yaron, D. (2009). How much assistance is helpful to students in discovery learning?  In U. Cress, V. Dimitrova, & M. Specht (Eds.), Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, Learning in the Synergy of Multiple Disciplines (EC-TEL 2009), LNCS 5794, September/October 2009, Nice, France. (pp. 391-404). Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. [ pdf ]

Jan Mikšátko, M.S. completed in December 2007 at Charles University, Czech Republic
Thesis title:  "Using Machine Learning Techniques to Analyze and Recognize Complex Patterns of Student E-Discussions"

Published Paper Based on Jan's Masters Thesis:

Mikšátko, J.  & McLaren, B.M. (2008). What’s in a cluster? Automatically detecting interesting interactions in student e-Discussions.  In B. Woolf, E. Aimeur, R. Nkambou, S. Lajoie (Eds.), Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS-08), Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 5091 (pp. 333-342). Berlin: Springer. [ pdf ]

Bruce M. McLaren: bmclaren@cs.cmu.edu