Category: Embodied Interfaces & Responsive Environments
Year: 2019 | Carnegie Mellon HCI Institute, NSF REU

Independent research exploring smartwatch interfaces for teachers in AI-assisted K-12 classrooms. Investigated unobtrusive real-time analytics supporting teacher efficiency and educational equity.

Research Questions: How can wearables provide actionable data without disrupting teaching? How can interface design increase educational equity in AI-assisted learning?

Key Insights:

• Smartwatches bridge classroom technology ecosystem (student devices ↔ wearable ↔ smartboards)

• Well-designed alerts help teachers identify struggling students before they fall behind

• Glanceable info (<2 sec wrist glance) + haptic alerts reduce cognitive burden

• Contextual awareness: interface adapts to teaching phase

Research Approach: User interviews, classroom observations, speed dating (rapid storyboarding), affinity diagramming, iterative prototyping (Proto.io, Flinto)

Impact on Current Work: Established principles for supportive technology: contextually appropriate, cognitively unobtrusive, ethically grounded, expertise-respecting. Same principles guide RAI—people in distress need support that doesn't demand attention or add burden.

Technologies: Proto.io, Flinto, WatchOS/WearOS design, speed dating, affinity diagramming