Group Decision Making with Swarm AI
This study considers group decision-making outcomes that are mediated through artificial swarm intelligence (ASI)—an emerging form of artificial intelligence (AI) modeled on the collective intelligence displayed in nature through swarms of bees and colonies of ants (Purdy et al., 2020). Swarm AI is a particular implementation of ASI that provides an expressive visual interface for groups to collectively converge upon a decision. As COVID-19 and increased work from home/remote work has shifted organizational decision-making tasks to online environments, we investigate the capacity for Swarm AI to assist distributed groups in quickly making decisions that are accepted and that are perceived to be fair. We also investigate the potential of the anonymity offered by this visual interface to equalize power and status differentials of group members, potentially empowering members of underrepresented groups in the decision-making process. To test this, participants will be randomly assigned into groups that will make a subjective policy decision using one of three group decision-making procedures: voting, consensus, and Swarm AI conditions. The results of this study will contribute to interdisciplinary research at the intersection of group decision making and AI.
Zoom Fatigue and its Implications among Higher Education Students
Online teaching has become quite pervasive in higher academia since the beginning of the pandemic and ZOOM, indeed, is one of the most popular audio video platforms that is being used for synchronous teaching across the US colleges. Many students and instructors are reporting Zoom fatigue. Thus, the following project empirically explores how extensive use of ZOOM for learning is affecting the mental and physical health of college students, causing them to experience the ZOOM fatigue. More specifically, we want to understand how verbal and nonverbal immediacy, reduced mobility, increased cognitive load due to constant self-monitoring and presentation are related with perceived learning and mental/ physical exhaustion of college students. Additionally, we want to explore if certain features of ZOOM are helping mitigate the Zoom fatigue among students. Using the mixed method approach, the study will use quantitative and qualitative data to determine the implications of using ZOOM on college students’ learning and physical/ psychological health.
“Learn by Doing” Meets “Nothing About Us Without Us”: A Research Mentoring Program for Autistic College Students to Develop Universal Design for Learning (UDL)-based Online Supports
Despite increasing enrollments, graduation rates remain low for autistic students (38.8%). The transition to college is challenging for many students, but is particularly difficult for autistic students due to ineffectual supports and services, and lack of opportunities. This project will improve diversity and inclusion for autistic students at Cal Poly and beyond. We will create a unique, 7-month research mentoring program that will serve as both a source of social support and as a “gateway to employment.” Three autistic students will be matched with peer mentors, who will provide one-one-one technical and design skills training so mentees can participate fully in a research project, as well as academic and socio-emotional supports targeted to meet mentees’ individual needs. Mentees and peer mentors will be paid as research assistants to help develop a self-paced, asynchronous online workshop to ease students’ transition to college by providing the information and strategies they need to be successful. Autistic Cal Poly students will choose the workshop’s topic based on their most pressing support needs, and universal design for learning methods will be incorporated to ensure workshop is beneficial for all, while being fully accessible to autistic students. Community based participatory research methods will support an equal partnership between the research team and autistic study participants. This project will empower autistic participants by providing them with opportunities to increase their academic and professional skills, welcome them into a supportive community, and help them develop the confidence and skills they need to be successful.
Expanding the “Technically Human” Podcast Series
Building on the existing “Technically Human” podcast, this project seeks to establish and centralize an emerging discourse about ethical technology, by expanding the series in a partnership with Cal Poly students and Dr. Elise St. John, in the DxHub. Exploring the relationship between ethics and equity, the podcast anchors a conversation about ethics and technology in an inclusive approach. The podcast explores interdisciplinary connections in ethical tech, grounding this emerging conversation in an arena that allows for the exploration of intellectual, methodological, and cultural diversity. This funds from this grant will support a student to work on the podcast, in a role that include producing, editing, and engaging with experts, to produce 30 new episodes of the series by the end of AY 2022 (1 episode/week, 10 weeks/quarter, 3 quarters/year). The project contributes to the larger Ethical Tech @ Cal Poly Initiative, localizing and creating connections with colleague at peer institutions, industry, and critical spaces of thinking about this topic, through storytelling by a diverse array of guests. The series allows interlocutors to tell their stories, and exposes students and the broader public to them, aligning with CET goals of using technology to voice experiences, while also telling new stories about technology through this media form. As a series, the podcast collects these stories and puts them in dialogue with one another, to create a larger, quilted narrative about the varied and diverse experiences of those who think about, or whose work touches on, the intersection of ethics and technology.