CS researchers are applying AI to instruction

The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is known for its research endeavors.  However, with a total research expenditure of over $300M, it’s easy to overlook years of high-impact technological advances in educational practices at Illinois. Computer-assisted instruction started in Illinois with the development of PLATO, or Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations, in 1960. By 1985, PLATO-IV was in use on over 100 campuses across the globe, public schools, and FAA instructional facilities.

Currently, the Computer-Based Testing Facility (CBTF) is an in-person facility where students can take computer-based exams securely. Developed in 2014, CBTF is now jointly operated by the College of Literature, Arts and Sciences and the Grainger College of Engineering.

Several professors at the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science are undertaking research projects to apply artificial intelligence (AI) to instruction, building on the Illinois Grainger Engineering tradition of innovative engineering education. Many of them are partnering with Grainger College of Engineering and campus colleagues to expand the relevance of their research beyond computer science instruction.

CS professor Jule Schatz is the principal investigator for the Illinois portion of the Break Through Tech AI Program, designed to equip underserved undergraduate students with the skills needed to thrive in the fast-evolving fields of AI and machine learning (ML). The NSF has issued a continuing grant of $1.3 million for the Collaborative Research: CUE-T: Expanding the undergraduate AI talent pipeline by democratizing access to instructional capabilities across institutions of higher education (IHEs) project. The project is a collaboration between Cornell Tech, Hofstra University and Illinois.

Schatz says, “Illinois ran and will now continue to run the summer portion of the program for a cohort of around 60 students. The students learn machine learning foundations through online material and a synchronous weekly 3-hour lab. At the end of that, they go on to work in groups on industry-provided machine-learning problems. During this whole process, they receive mentorship and interview/job prep from industry professionals.”

Photo Credit: Grainger College of Engineering

Researchers incorporate their findings into courses. A research team led by CS professor Hanghang Tong and Jingrui He, professor and MSIM program director in the School of Information Sciences and CS, N NCSA and CDA affiliate, has received a new $800,000 NSF AI-Safety program grant for safe graph neural networks; “NetSafe: Towards a Computational Foundation of Safe Graph Neural Networks.” Graph neural networks (GNNs) represent a family of deep learning methods designed for interrelated data.

Tong says that the research group will apply what they learn to coursework at the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science and the School of Information Sciences. “The results of this project will be assimilated into the courses that we teach at Illinois, including CS412, CS512, CS514 and IS577, and IS407.”CS professors Han Zhao (Principal Investigator) and Tong Zhang (Co-Principal Investigator) have received a $800,000 NSF award for their project SLES: Monitoring, Improving, and Certifying Safe Foundation Models. The SLES project aims to increase the safety of the large language models behind AI. It’s hard to think of a topic in computing technology that’s more top of mind generally and more relevant to students preparing for careers in the field.

Zhao and Zhang said the team will “incorporate the research outcomes from this research project to strengthen further the curriculum of two courses in the CS department: CS 442 Trustworthy Machine Learning and CS 598: Machine Learning Algorithms for Large Language Models. We aim to initiate a grad-level course starting in Fall 2025.”The resulting graduate-level course on Trustworthy AI will be offered to students from underrepresented groups at Illinois to promote diversity in AI research.

“We want to understand and influence policies and how we should restrict or encourage the use of generative AI tools. We believe that computing is involved in most engineering curricula. If we can build tools to help people learn within their classrooms, we can accelerate how computing helps within these disciplines, whether engineering or beyond. The focus right now is on engineering just for the scope. And then beyond that, we'll be certain that what we're building will have an impact.”

Alawini has focused on the challenges students face when learning database programming. In their proposal, the team plans on using the “advanced capabilities of a Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (GPT) model with an online assessment feedback system… to enhance both the accuracy and effectiveness of error detection and feedback.” A diverse group of student submissions were used to “fine-tune” the GPT models. The models became better at recognizing programming errors and thus giving students constructive suggestions for programming.

Algorithms and discrete math courses depend on hand-graded, extensive start-to-finish homework exercises, a barrier to quality online instruction. A collaborative, continuing NSF grant involving three universities, with a budget of $1.3 million, will begin in January 2025 and run until the end of 2027. It aims to address this discrepancy.

The “Collaborative Research: CUE-T: Theory-ABCs: Transforming Online Theory Instruction while building Ability, Belonging, and Confidence” team features Illinois Grainger Engineering Siebel School of Computing and Data Science professors Jeff Erickson and Geoffrey Herman as principal and co-principle investigators, along with CS professor Yael Gertner. Diana Franklin from the University of Chicago is the lead investigator. The Utah State University principal investigator is Seth Poulsen, who obtained his PhD in computer science at Illinois in 2023, co-advised by Geoffrey Herman and Matthew West.  

This project will explore the design and use of online homework problem types for theory instruction. The Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL) helps the campus navigate generative AI in teaching and learning, including the Generative AI Solutions Hub and GenAI Dialogues.  If successfully developed and integrated into computer science instruction, such innovative solutions will increase student success in obtaining computer science degrees, especially for students less confident in their abilities. When analyzing challenges and strategies, the project will recruit diverse participants and analyze data intersectionally, providing case studies on the experiences of students from multiple populations historically marginalized in computer science to augment traditional quantitative methods across the entire population.

_{Grainger Engineering Affiliations}

<sub>Jule Schatz is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of computer science.

Hanghang Tong is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of computer science and University Scholar.

Han Zhau is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of computer science and is affiliated with electrical and computer engineering.</sub>

_{Tong Zhang  is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of computer science.} 

_{Abdussalam Alawini is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of computer science.} 

_{Jeff Erickson is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of computer science. Jeff Erickson holds the Sohaib and Sara Abbasi Professorship.} 

_{Geoffrey Herman is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of computer science. Geoffrey Herman holds the Severns Teaching Professorship.} 

_{Volodymyr Kindratenko is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of computer science and is affiliated with electrical and computer engineering and is Assistant Director at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and the Director for the Center for Artificial Intelligence Innovation (CAII).}

_{Sotiria Koloutsou-Vakakis is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of civil and environmental engineering.}

_{Tomasz Kozlowski is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of nuclear, plasma and radiological engineering.} 

_{Christopher Tessum is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of civil and environmental engineering.} 

_{Yael Gertner is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of computer science.}

_{Matthew West is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of mechanical science and engineering affiliated with computational and engineering and the School of Earth, Society & Environment Department of Climate, Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences. Matthew West is a William H. Severns Faculty Scholar.}