Intern’s Mission Is to Make Learning Accessible to Everyone

Tessa Wolf entered her second semester in college as a computer science major whose undiagnosed developmental disability was affecting her ability to focus on complex class material.

She soon felt left behind.

Eventually, Wolf decided to shift her studies to a major she believes better accommodates her disability, later diagnosed as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) — and to discover a fascination with instructional design. But she never forgot the confusion and overwhelm she endured or her belief that, with the right assistance, others with ADHD could avoid the same challenges.

Wolf hopes her internship with Every Learner Everywhere will help uncover ways AI can make a difference in situations like those she faced early in her college career. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign senior is part of the summer and fall 2024 cohort of interns, who are researching the use of artificial intelligence in higher education.

AI for adaptive instruction

The Chicago-area native describes her first year of college as a time in which she worried her background as a student at a small high school with relatively few resources would put her behind her classmates. Wolf’s difficulty maintaining attention as she struggled with class material compounded the problem.

“If AI were more widely used while I was a computer science major, it would have been a lot easier for me,” Wolf says. “AI is beneficial not only for being able to look up information and get explanations, but it’s also really helpful for organizational skills. I think it can be very helpful as a supplementary resource.”

Without this type of assistance, Wolf struggled to adapt to instruction that she says wasn’t a good match for her learning style.

Social, technical aspects of AI

Wolf found a better fit when she changed her major at Illinois to learning and education studies, with a concentration in digital environments for learning, teaching, and agency. She is minoring in informatics and disability studies.

She also has worked with her university’s Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning, discovering how instruction can accommodate the various ways students learn. Additionally, she has conducted research about how technology can facilitate these efforts to provide equitable instruction.

“I like to think that what I am studying is everything that’s being researched in the internship,” Wolf says. “I have the social and technical background of technology as well as an interest in underrepresented groups. It was a good introduction to what I’m working on.”

Tech education for educators

Wolf’s work in the Every Learner internship focuses on text-generative AI — the tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity that college instructors most frequently encounter, she says.

Too often, however, these AI tools also are a source of confusion for faculty who want to incorporate them into their lessons. And that confusion can prevent them from capitalizing on AI’s potential for adapting instruction to students’ needs.

She and her fellow interns are working to help college instructors overcome any uncertainty they have about the use of AI. The group’s research will inform an AI toolkit that faculty and learners can use to make the best use of the technology.

“It’s really important for faculty to have at least some kind of understanding as to how AI should be used in class before they actually implement it,” Wolf says. “And we’re in a weird transitional period where the students are often smarter about it than the professors because we are digital natives, and we understand technology in a way that our professors don’t.”

Emphasis on advancing mission

Although her own experiences ignited her passion for adaptive instruction, Wolf says her mother — on the faculty of College of Lake County’s Grayslake, Ill., campus — was familiar with Achieving the Dream, one of Every Learner’s network partners. Wolf was impressed with the network’s contributions to the community college’s efforts to promote equitable student success.

“The mission of providing better learning for everyone, regardless of their demographics or ability, is exactly what I wanted,” she says.

Wolf also hopes to set the stage for her own future academic and career endeavors in education equity. She’d like to pursue a master’s degree in instructional design, and she’s considering a career path in nonprofit work or research.

“I’m just trying to get as much experience as I can within the field,” she says, “to see what’s the best way for me to continue my passion of helping to improve the state of higher education. The biggest goal is just to make sure that learning is accessible for everyone.”