K12 Learning Innovation
K–12 Learning Innovation is the professional and research-based arm of my work, focused on learning design, youth agency, and human-centered innovation in education.
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With more than 30 years of experience in educational technology and learning design, I work as an advisor, researcher, and designer supporting K–12 systems, nonprofits, and research partnerships. My work bridges theory and practice, helping young people develop agency, meaning-making skills, and future-facing capacities through thoughtfully designed, culturally responsive learning experiences.
This work draws on the learning sciences, design research, and long-standing commitments to equity, youth voice, and ethical, meaningful engagement with technology.
Recent Areas of Focus
Human–AI Learning Interaction
I explore how learners make sense of themselves, their choices, and their learning through dialogic interaction with AI and other reflective technologies. This work is articulated through the Human–AI Learning Design Framework, which centers meaning-making, identity, and agency in technology-mediated learning environments.
Youth Social Innovation
I co-founded and lead learning designs that support young people in identifying real-world challenges and imagining solutions through systems thinking and design. PACTFUL is a global youth social innovation platform developed over more than six years, reaching tens of thousands of students across 32+ countries, where young people apply design thinking to local and global issues and share their work with a wider world.
Youth Agency and Voice
This work focuses on designing learning experiences that position young people as storytellers, teachers, and meaning-makers in STEAM learning. Through the SPARK-Ed Project, teen peers supported one another in sharing lived experience through storytelling and video content creation, developing voice, confidence, and early awareness of emerging interests and potential career pathways.
Learning Design Across Physical and Virtual Spaces
In NSF Project eSPAC3, we investigated how learning experiences can move from hands-on, physical making into shared virtual environments, supporting meaning-making and identity-connected learning for bilingual youth and families. The project highlighted how designing culturally familiar elements and intergenerational participation can deepen engagement and belonging in virtual learning spaces.
