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Learning Scientist | Educational Technologist

Assistant Professor
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign






︎: xrzhu@illinois.edu
︎: Twitter
︎: Linkedin
︎: Google Scholar
 

Xinran Zhu 


I’m an assistant professor in Learning Design & Leadership and Instructional Design, Technology, & Organization at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Education. I earned my Ph.D. in Learning Sciences and Technologies from the University of Pennsylvania.

My research interests lie at the intersection of learning technologies, learning sciences, learning analytics, and human-computer interaction. Grounded in research-practice partnerships, I develop pedagogical designs, technological innovations, and empirical understandings of learning in authentic settings. My recent work involves designing web applications to support computer-supported collaborative learning, conducting computational research to derive actionable insights for educational practice, and investigating the potential of AI tools in augmenting human knowledge creation.

I am recruiting one PhD student starting Fall 2025. If you are interested, please email me your CV and a brief statement of interest.

Professional Experiences:

    • Assistant Professor | College of Education, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    • Research Fellow | Penn Wonder Lab, University of Pennsylvania
    • Teaching Assistant | Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania
    • Instructional Designer | College of Design, University of Minnesota
    • Graduate Instructor | College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota

Recent Updates:
  • I will attend ISLS 2024 in Buffalo in this June, presenting a symposium: Bridging Social Annotation Practice with Perspectives from the Learning Sciences and CSCL [︎preprint]. Check out our website at: https://social-annotation-ed.pubpub.org/isls24-symposium.
  • I will attend AERA 2024 in Philadelphia in this April.
  • I will attend CSCW 2023 in Minneapolis in this October.  [︎preprint]
  • I will attend ISLS 2023 in Montreal this summer [︎preprint]


When I have no idea about my data and/or writing, I do:
    • Road trips
    • Amateur filmmaking
    • Photography                                     

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