Teaching Innovation Grants

2026 - 2027 Professional Learning Communities

Applying Learning Science to Course Design - From Research to Practice: Evidence-Based Teaching at WPI

How can insights from cognitive science and educational research transform the way we structure our courses and engage students? This professional learning community brings together educators interested in grounding their pedagogical decisions in empirical evidence about how people learn, retain, and transfer knowledge.

Koksal Mus, John-Michael Davis, John McNeill, Ahmet Can Sabuncu, Stacy Shaw, & Yunus Telliel

Facilitator, Kimberly LeChasseur, Morgan Teaching and Learning Center 

Understanding Student Learning Through AI Interaction Traces 

Koksal Mus, Electrical & Computer Engineering 

This project investigates how students learn in an AI-supported Project-Based Learning environment within a high-enrollment Introduction to Cryptography course. By analyzing student–LLM interaction traces alongside project outcomes, the study examines self-regulated learning, feedback-seeking behaviors, and iterative problem-solving processes. Findings will inform learning-science-grounded design strategies for scaling AI-supported PBL in large STEM courses, offering transferable guidance for integrating AI tools in ways that strengthen engagement, conceptual understanding, and responsible use of generative technologies.

Evaluating Learning Mechanisms in an AI‑Powered Interview Simulation in ID2050 

John-Michael Davis, The Global School 

This project evaluates how an AI‑mediated interview simulation supports students in developing dialogic interviewing skills. By analyzing changes in students’ questioning strategies, metacognitive reflections, and performance in authentic interviews, the study examines learning mechanisms such as feedback specificity, iterative practice, and persona diversity. Findings will inform learning‑science‑grounded course design and produce evidence‑based guidance for integrating AI‑supported deliberate practice into experiential, project‑based learning at WPI.

The Blackboxing of Learning and the Pedagogy of Glassboxing

Yunus Telliel, Humanities & Arts 

This project develops a glassboxing pedagogy for course design that makes student–AI interaction visible rather than allowing AI tools to blackbox learning. Through documented LLM histories, annotated prompts, and reflective accounts, glassboxing foregrounds epistemic labor, critical judgment, productive failures, false starts, and moments of insight, all of which are often overlooked in mainstream approaches to course design. Drawing on engineering and humanities contexts, the project operationalizes a cross-disciplinary ethos of responsible documentation while opening space for pedagogical experimentation across disciplines.

John McNeill, Electrical & Computer Engineering 

Ahmet Can Sabuncu, Mechanical & Materials Engineering 

Stacy Shaw, Social Science & Policy Studies 

Exploring Project-Based Learning (PBL)--Reimagining PBL for the Next Generation of WPI Education 

Ryan Madan, Zoe Eddy, Lane Harrison, Tsitsi Masvawure, Raul Orduna-Picon, and Lou Roberts

Project-based learning has shaped WPI’s identity for over five decades—but how might we reimagine its possibilities to meet the needs of today’s learners and tomorrow’s disciplines? This peer learning community invites faculty and staff to collectively explore innovative approaches to PBL that expand our understanding of what project-based education can achieve in a modern educational context 

Mapping Students' PBL Experiences to their Growth as Communicators

Ryan Madan, Humanities and Arts, PI

PBL is widely praised for improving student communication abilities, but we know little about HOW PBL fosters that growth. To fill this gap, I will create a student survey to correlate specific elements of the project experiences with students' perceptions of their writing engagement, thereby providing data to help us understand how to shape PBL dynamics to maximize communication gains. The survey will be piloted by my D’27 IQP cohort but will be flexibly designed for other project contexts. 

The Role of Relationality for Project-Based Learning in the Age of AI

Lerie Gabriel, Humanities and Arts

Drawing on relational approaches to writing instruction, this project engages PBL to develop technical communication assignments in the context of emerging technologies, particularly generative AI. It will guide students towards analyzing and designing archival systems with attention to ethical AI use integration. More broadly, it will produce assessment strategies for evaluating students’ critical, creative, and ethical engagement with emerging technologies to be shared amongst educators at WPI. 

Improving Data Visualization in PBL Contexts

Lane Harrison, Computer Science

In many student projects at WPI, data visualizations are significant artifacts. Students use them for discovery and sensemaking, present them to stakeholders, and include polished versions in posters and final reports. This project will combine the latest knowledge, design methods, and tools from the data visualization research community into guidelines, examples, and activities to improve how projects at WPI promote data literacy and competencies.

Visualizing qualitative data: A brief "how to" guide for your IQP report

Tsitsi Masvawure, Department of Integrative and Global Studies

Students collect enormous amounts of qualitative data during their IQPs, but struggle to report on it in visually engaging ways. Consequently, IQP reports can read like a data dump or appear too “data thin” when qualitative data are being reported. I will develop a guide (i.e. booklet), that will provide concrete examples of different visuals (e.g., word clouds, network maps, heatmaps etc) that can be used to distil large amounts of text into compelling, nuanced yet easy to digest visuals. 

Enhancing the Writing-Learning Bond

Raul Orduna Picon, Chemistry and Biochemistry

How might we design scientific writing experiences that students actually care about? Traditional approaches to teaching chemistry make disciplinary concepts and practices feel relevant on paper but rarely meaningful in practice. This project designs, deploys, and assesses approaches that transform the general chemistry laboratory into a welcoming space where students feel included and valued. Through contextualized storytelling, writing-to-learn activities, and writing communities of practice, I aim to make scientific writing a purposeful and empowering experience.

What’s the Story? Maximizing the Long-term Value of the MQP Report

Lou Roberts, Biology and Biotechnology

This project will leverage what students have experienced through writing in their humanities, IQP, and courses and apply that knowledge to their MQP writing process. Identifying, recalling, and revisiting their story as they write will help them shape their background, present their data effectively in their results, and guide their discussion. The goal is the students will produce a final report with a clearly stated, cohesive narrative that is reflected throughout the MQP report, thus increasing its value, potency, and readability as an open access resource.

Zoe Eddy, The Global School

2026 - 2027 Course and Program Projects 

Strengthening Learning Through Observation 

Esther Boucher-Yip, Professor of Teaching, Humanities and Arts, Dr. Ingrid Matos-Nin, Professor of Teaching, Humanities and Arts, and Michelle Borowski, Adjunct Instructor/Lecturer, Humanities and Arts

This project advances the pedagogy of observation as a teachable, transferable skill that strengthens attention, interpretation, and reflective judgment. Its goal is to develop and share structured strategies for slow looking, guided noticing, and evidence-based descriptions drawn from the humanities, social sciences, and experiential learning. By creating adaptable teaching and learning materials disseminated through Canvas Commons, the project supports multidisciplinary integration and aims to improve student learning outcomes, deepen analytical engagement, and cultivate attentiveness as a core academic skill.

Bridging Rigor and Belonging: Calculus-Based ECR Tutorials in Introductory Mechanics

Thomas Noviello, Instructor, Physics, PI, and Rudra Kafle, Associate Professor of Teaching, Physics

This project will create six story-driven mechanics tutorials that put students in the role of scientists and engineers where they will use calculus to build, test, and refine real models. The goal is to make introductory mechanics both more rigorous and more welcoming in our fast-paced 7-week terms. The impact will be stronger conceptual understanding, greater confidence with mathematical modeling, and reusable instructor guides that make student-centered teaching consistent across sections. 

Designing and Evaluating an Embodied Learning Framework for Graduate Robotics Education

Agheli Mahdi, Associate Teaching Professor, Robotics Engineering, PI, and Connor McCann, Assistant Professor, Robotics Engineering

This project designs and evaluates a scalable learning framework that integrates research-grade robotic systems into theory-intensive graduate robotics courses. By pairing analytical modeling with structured physical validation, the initiative strengthens students’ ability to translate theory into real-world performance. Piloted in RBE 521, the framework will support broader adoption across the Robotics Engineering curriculum and position the department for future innovation in research-integrated graduate education.

Scaling AI-Supported Project-Based Learning in High-Enrollment Cryptography Course

Koksal Mus, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Electrical & Computer Engineering

This project scales and evaluates an AI-supported, adversarial Project-Based Learning model in a high-enrollment Cryptography course of over 100 students. The goal is to prepare graduates for industry by embedding iterative design, vulnerability discovery, and structured attack–refine cycles into course architecture. By rigorously assessing learning outcomes and AI use, the project will produce a transferable implementation toolkit and evidence-based framework for responsible AI integration in large, mathematically rigorous engineering courses.

Developing AI-Infused Modules for Responsible Research at WPI

Laura Roberts, Assistant Teaching Professor, Integrative & Global Studies, PI, Courtney Kurlanska, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Integrative & Global Studies, and Caitlin Ferranini, Assistant Teaching Professor, Integrative & Global Studies

This project develops and pilots three AI‑infused instructional modules to help WPI students and faculty integrate generative AI responsibly into undergraduate research while balancing AI use with academic integrity. Modules address AI’s benefits and limitations, AI‑supported literature reviews, and qualitative research methods and analysis. A series of workshops and the option to participate in a pilot study will be provided for faculty.  The project will promote responsible AI use, transparency, and assist students and faculty in navigating emerging AI tools. 

Developing a flipped format for BB3950 Molecular Biology to achieve learning outcomes in the age of AI

Scarlet Shell, Associate Professor, Biology and Biotechnology, PI

This project will develop materials to implement a flipped format for BB3950 Molecular Biology, allowing students to achieve learning objectives that are not possible with currently available materials. In a traditional course format, in-class sessions focus on content delivery, and out-of-class assignments focus on use and application of material. However, students often complete assignments by AI without developing the intended skills. We must therefore change our approach to achieving learning outcomes related to integration and application.