Cluster Lead:
Technology is constantly changing and so is the way we use it to learn. UCF’s Learning Sciences cluster not only develops new technology to improve learning outcomes but also explores how we interact with and learn using machines.
Unlocking the human potential within every learner will result in harnessing intellectual capital for solving society’s most challenging problems and saving billions of dollars.
This cluster focuses on how people learn across their lifespan in formal and informal settings and leverages theory, research and applied knowledge from the fields of education, educational psychology, learning sciences, cognitive psychology, human factors, computer science, engineering, learning analytics, Artificial Intelligence, philosophy and design.
Congratulations Dr. Roger Azevedo!
Dr. Azevedo has been named as a 2025 Fellow of the American Educational Research Association (AERA)! The AERA Fellows Program honors scholars for their exceptional contributions to, and excellence in, education research. Nominated by their peers, the 2025 Fellows were selected by the Fellows Committee and approved by the AERA Council, the association’s elected governing body. See the official AERA press release here: https://www.aera.net/Newsroom/AERA-Selects-29-Exemplary-Scholars-as-2025-Fellows
UCF Colleges Involved with Learning Sciences Research:
In The News
Learning Sciences Research
Projects
Publications
- “Lessons Learned and Future Directions of MetaTutor: Leveraging Multichannel Data to Scaffold Self-Regulated Learning With an Intelligent Tutoring System”, Roger Azevedo, Ph.D., Michelle Taub, Ph.D., François Bouchet, Ph.D., Melissa Duffy, Ph.D., Jason Harley, Ph.D., Gregory Trevors, Ph.D., Elizabeth Cloude, Ph.D., Daryn Dever, Ph.D., Megan Wiedbusch, Ph.D., Franz Wortha, Ph.D., Rebeca Cerezo, Ph.D., Frontiers in Psychology 13:813632: Jun, 2022
- “Teachers as self-regulated learners: The role of multimodal data analytics for instructional decision making”, Michelle Taub, Ph.D., Roger Azevedo, Ph.D., New Directions in Teaching and Learning 25-32: Jun, 2023
- “A complex systems approach to analyzing pedagogical agents’ scaffolding of self-regulated learning within an intelligent tutoring system”, Roger Azevedo, Ph.D., Daryn A. Dever, Ph.D., Nathan A. Sonnenfeld, Ph.D., Megan D. Wiedbusch, Ph.D., S. Grace Schmorrow, Ph.D., Metacognition & Learning: May, 2023
- “Capturing Sequences of Learners' Self-Regulatory Interactions With Instructional Material During Game-Based Learning Using Auto-Recurrence Quantification Analysis”, Roger Azevedo, Ph.D., Daryn A. Dever, Ph.D., Hana Vrzáková, Ph.D., Megan D. Wiedbusch, Ph.D., Elizabeth B. Cloude, Ph.D., Frontiers in Psychology 13:813677: May, 2022
- “RAISE: Robotics & AI to improve STEM and social skills for elementary school students”, Charlie Hughes, Ph.D., Lisa A. Dieker, Ph.D., Eileen M. Glavey, Ph.D., Rebecca A. Hines, Ph.D., Ilene Wilkins, Ph.D., Kathleen Ingraham, Ph.D., Caitlyn A. Bukaty, Ph.D., Kamran Ali, Ph.D., Sachin Shah, Ph.D., John Murphy, Ph.D., Matthew S. Taylor, Ph.D., Frontiers in Virtual Reality: Virtual Reality and Human Behaviors 3:968312: Oct, 2022
- “In-the-Wild Affect Analysis of Children with ASD Using Heart Rate”, Charlie Hughes, Ph.D., Kamran Ali, Ph.D., Sachin Shah, Ph.D., Sensors 23(14), 6572: Jul, 2023
- “WAVE: A Web-Based Platform for Delivering Knowledge-Driven Virtual Experiences”, Charlie Hughes, Ph.D., Sachin Shah, Ph.D., Kamran Ali, Ph.D., Lisa Dieker, Ph.D., IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications EEE Computer Graphics and Applications 43(3), 54-60: May, 2023
- “Reinforced Imitative Graph Learning for Mobile User Profiling”, Charlie Hughes, Ph.D., Dongjie Wang, Ph.D., Pengyang Wang, Ph.D., Yanjie Fu, Ph.D., Kunpeng Liu, Ph.D., Hui Xiong, Ph.D., IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering 1-13: May, 2023
Learning Sciences Degree Programs
The Learning Sciences track in the Education PhD program will expose students to key components of research on learning with training on using big data for research on learning analytics and data science for focus on learning for humans and machines. For more programs, search UCF programs below.
Learning Sciences Faculty
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Roger Azevedo, Ph.D.
Pegasus Professor in the School of Modeling Simulation and Training -
Charlie Hughes, Ph.D.
Emeritus Pegasus Professor of Computer Science, -
Michelle Taub, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Learning Sciences and Educational Research -
Johnathan Mell, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Computer Science -
Ivan Garibay, Ph.D.
Professor of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems -
Sarah Bush, Ph.D.
Professor of Education and Lockheed Martin Eminent Scholar Chair -
Maria Harrington, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Digital Media -
Matthew Marino, Ph.D.
Professor of Exceptional Student Education -
Ben Noel
Executive Director, Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy -
Erik Sand
Director of Strategic Partnerships, Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy -
Eleazar Vasquez, Ph.D.
Professor of Exceptional Student Education -
Annie Wu, Ph.D.
Professor of Computer Science -
Vassiliki “Vicky” I. Zygouris-Coe, Ph.D.
Professor of Reading Education -
Yogesh Singh Rawat, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Computer Science -
Varadraj Gurupur, Ph.D.
Professor of Health Management & Informatics -
Shubhra Kanti Karmaker, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Computer Science -
Joseph LaViola, Ph.D.
Professor of Computer Science -
Mengjie Li, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Modeling, Simulation, and Training -
Carolina Cruz-Neira, Ph.D.
Professor of Computer Science -
Soyoung Park, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, School of Teacher Education -
Vishnu Prabhu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Modeling, Simulation, and Training -
Christopher Randles, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Chemistry -
Dirk Reiners, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Computer Science -
Soheil Sabri, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor Director, Urban Digital Twin Lab -
Gregory Welch, Ph.D.
AdventHealth Endowed Chair in Healthcare Simulation in the UCF College of Nursing; Co-director for UCF Synthetic Reality Laboratory