CERL welcomes Victoria Macann.

Victoria Macann is the new 1855 Assistant Professor in the Department of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering and the Department of Counselling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education. Originally from New Zealand, Victoria has worked in undergraduate and K-12 computing education research and is particularly interested in the beliefs, motivations, and identities of students that shape educators’ instructional decisions.

In particular, Victoria’s research investigates what motivates students to persist in computing courses and how they perceive the relevance of computing to their disciplines and future careers. The goal of this work is to develop a nuanced understanding of how different student groups, particularly those from non-computing majors, experience and benefit from computing courses. In addition, her work investigates students’ efficacy and motivation when learning with generative AI in engineering and computing courses. The goal of Victoria’s research is to inform the design of curricula and pedagogy that better serves students for whom computing is not their primary field and also leverage AI as a support for learning while also maintaining opportunities for independent thinking, problem-solving, and human interaction.

Victoria is currently recruiting graduate students for the upcoming academic cycle. Prospective applicants are encouraged to reach out to her directly via email before applying.