Marti Louw

Marti Louw is a faculty member in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University where she directs the Learning Media Design Center. She also serves as the Assistant Dean of Curriculum for the Integrative Design Arts & Technology (IDeATe) network, teaches in the Masters of Educational Technology and Applied Learning Sciences (METALS) and undergraduate IDeATe Design for Learning minor programs. As a design-based researcher, she focuses on how design—as a creative problem-solving form of systematic inquiry—can be used to collaboratively envision and create technology-enhanced learning environments that are socially co-constructed, personally relevant, and emancipatory.

Her current research focuses on: applied learning sciences for EdTech innovators; developing technologies to support disciplinary forms of observation and embodied learning; taxonomic identification skill development in citizen science; fostering documentation skills in creative learning contexts; and exploring emerging technology use in museum and informal learning settings.

The Learning Media Design Center is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, Gates, Digital Promise, Benedum, Grable and Mastercard Foundations. Recent awards include:

• Co-Principal Investigator, Learning Sciences for Innovators—Sustainable EdTech for Africa program. 
  PI: Dr. Amy Ogan, CMU/ HCII, CMU Africa. Mastercard Foundation.
• Co-Principal Investigator, Making Student Learners’ Cognition and Understanding of AI in the Arts Visible. 
  PI: Dr. Daragyh Byrne, CMU/ SoA. National Endowments for the Arts (NEA)
• Generative AI Teaching as Research (GAITAR) Fellowship. Exploring GenAI Use in Human-Centered Design Method Instruction. 
  CMU Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence
• Principal Investigator, Learning to See, Seeing to Learn: A Sociotechnical System Supporting Taxonomic Identification Activities in Volunteer-Based Water Quality Biomonitoring. 
  Co-PI: Dr. Kevin Crowley, Pitt/LRDC  [NSF/AISL #1623969; $1,889,574]
• Principal Investigator, Smart Spaces for Making: Networked Physical Tools to Support Process Documentation and Learning. Co-PI: Dr. Daragh Byrne, CMU, Dr. Kevin Crowley, Pitt. [NSF/Cyberlearning #1736189; $416,678]
• Co-investigator, Player-Programmed Partner Games for Low-Resource Learners. 
  PIs: Drs. Ross Higashi (CMU/CMRA) and Jessica Hammer (CMU/HCII). [NSF/AISL#1906753, $2,864,054]
• Principal Investigator, Digital Promise Product Efficacy and Feedback Study. [Gates Foundation]
• Principal Investigator, Remake Learning Research Landscape Evaluation. [Grable Foundation]