Dissertation Title: Transformative Lenses: Empowering Learners with New Perspectives Using Generative AI and Augmented Reality

Abstract: 

Learning is a fundamental human drive that has been shaped by technological advancements over the years. The emergence of generative AI marks a profound shift—its capacity to produce text, images, and video challenges long-held beliefs about what only humans could create. This shift offers new opportunities for how people learn, including enabling the design of more customized and personalized learning experiences. Recognizing that learning is deeply influenced by our perceptions of ourselves, others, and our environment, I propose creating transformative lenses powered by generative AI and augmented reality (AR) to adapt what learners perceive, as a means to empower them with new perspectives. I design and implement a set of novel interactive systems and experiences as case studies that span knowledge acquisition, creativity, and communication tasks. Studying these systems, I demonstrate that such lenses can help people to realize new possibilities to enhance their learning and task performance. Reflecting across these case studies, I distill design considerations for transformative lenses applied to oneself, others, and the material environment. Furthermore, I discuss the broader implications of this work on the future of learning and skill enhancement with respect to generative AI and AR.

Committee members:
Prof. Pattie Maes, Germeshausen Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab
Prof. Mitch Resnick, LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research, MIT Media Lab
Prof. Elena Glassman, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering & Applied Sciences
Prof. Juho Kim, Associate Professor in the School of Computing at KAIST