University of Michigan School of Information faculty Barbara Ericson and Mark Guzdial are off to New Zealand for a semester-long fellowship. The Visiting Erskine Fellowship brings distinguished international academics to the University of Canterbury to teach and collaborate with faculty at UC. 

“I'm excited to live and work in New Zealand,” Guzdial says. “It's a beautiful place. The Visiting Erskine Fellowship is a unique opportunity to co-teach with UC faculty, to understand their issues and to share the innovations and teaching practices we've developed at U-M and in our research.” 

Guzdial, an expert on human-computer interaction, computing education and educational technology, is looking forward to working on a second edition of his book "Learner Centered Design of Computing Education.” Guzdial studies how people come to understand computing and how we can make learning processes more effective. 

Ericson’s research interests center on computing education and artificial intelligence. She creates and tests free and interactive electronic books for introductory computing courses. She is currently looking at the ways AI can be used to help students learn

“I am excited about working with the faculty at the University of Canterbury to test some new types of practice problems that my research group has been developing that leverage generative AI, but still require students to think,” she says. 

Ericson is also creating a new four-course sequence on Coursera, an online learning program that offers courses, degrees, and other learning experiences from universities and companies. It will be based on a free and interactive ebook Ericson created for the Advanced Placement Computer Science course that has benefited thousands of high school students and teachers. 

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Barbara Ericson is an associate professor of information at UMSI and an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the College of Engineering. Learn more about her by visiting her UMSI faculty profile. 

Mark Guzdial is a professor at UMSI, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the College of Engineering, a professor of education at the Marsal Family School of Education and the director of the Program in Computing for the Arts and Sciences at the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Learn more about him by visiting his UMSI faculty profile.