The AI Disruption Speaker Series: Ha Nguyen

Ha Nguyen is an Assistant Professor of Learning Sciences & Psychological Studies in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research, most recently supported by the National Science Foundation, Spencer Foundation, and a UNC AI faculty fellowship, examines the design and impact of learning technologies, including AI and learning analytics, in STEM education, with particular focus on how technologies can support human-human and human-AI collaboration. Nguyen is Associate Editor of Behaviour & Information Technology and on the editorial board for the British Journal of Educational Technology. She received degrees from University of California-Irvine (PhD, MA) and Duke University (BA). 

Abstract:
Much discussion around generative AI (genAI) in education has focused on questions of adoption, such as how these tools should be used in classrooms. An equally important question is how AI systems can be designed to represent community perspectives and reflect the values that students and educators consider important for learning. In this talk, I will discuss a value-sensitive design approach to developing and evaluating genAI learning technology, the impact such technology has on student learning, and how AI interactions fit within the expanding set of digital tools students use. I will illustrate these ideas through a case study of designing chatbots to help high school students develop systems thinking and science communication within a climate change curriculum.

About the speaker series:
The CIRSS Speaker Series continues in Spring 2026 on the new theme of “The AI Disruption.” Our speakers will discuss how recent advances in AI have reshaped their research — what has been made easier and what has become more difficult — and reflect upon its broader disruptive impact on society.

We meet most Wednesdays, 9am-10am Central time, in Zoom.  Everyone is welcome to attend.  More information, including upcoming speaker schedule and links to recordings, is available on the series website.  For weekly updates on upcoming talks, subscribe to our CIRSS Seminars mailing list.  Our Spring 2026 series is led by Yuanxi Fu and Timothy McPhillips, and supported by the Center for Informatics Research in Science and Scholarship (CIRSS) and the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.