Mit Morningsoid Academy for Design (Crazy) fellow Caitlin Morris Is architect, artist, researcher and educator who studied psychology and used online learning tools to teach coding and other skills. She is an observer in a soft voice, with a keen interest in the way people use space and react to their environment. By combining her observation skills with active community commitment, she works at the intersection of technology, education and human connection to improve digital learning platforms.
Morris grew up in the north of the rural state in a family of creators. She learned to sew, cook and build things with wood at a young age. One of her previous memories is a small hand saw that she made – with the help of her father, a professional carpenter. There were wooden handles on both sides to facilitate sawing.
Later, when she needed to learn something, she would turn to communities based on projects, rather than books. She learned to code late at night, taking advantage of the platforms focused on the community where people answer questions and publish sketches, allowing her to see the code behind the objects that people have made.
“For me, it was this huge moment of awakening to feel as if there was a path of expression that was not a traditional class of computer science,” she said. “I think it’s partly why I feel so passionate about what I do now. It was the big transformation: having this community available in this really personal way and based on projects. ”
Subsequently, Morris became involved in community learning in various ways: she is co-organizer of the Mit Media Lab learning festival; She directs community creative coding meetings; And it has been active in community open source software development.
“My years of organization of learning and manufacturing of communities – in person and online – have shown me first -hand how much social interaction can be powerful for motivation and curiosity,” said Morris. “My research really consists in identifying the elements of this most essential social magic, so we can design digital environments that better support these dynamics.”
Even in his work, Morris sometimes works with a collective. It has contributed to the creation of around 10 large artistic installations which combine movement, sound, imagery, lighting and other technologies to immerse the visitor in an experience evoking an aspect of nature, like flowing water, birds in flight or the kinetics of the crowd. These wonderful installations are commanding and soothing at the same time, perhaps because they concentrate the mind, the eye and sometimes the ear.
The student graduate of MIT and Folish colleague Caitlin Morris contributed the design, the development of the design, the electrical design and the engineering, the development of the firmware and the manufacturing at the “Diffusion choir”, an installation of the hypersonic collaborative artist, as well as sosolimimated and plebian design.
Video: hypersonic
She has done a large part of this work with Hypersonic based in New York, a company of artists and technologists specializing in large kinetic facilities in public spaces. Before that, she obtained a BS in psychology and a BS in architectural sciences of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, then an MFA in design and technology of the School of Design of the new school.
During, between, after, and sometimes simultaneously, she taught design, coding and other technologies in high school, first cycle and higher education.
“I think what brought me to teaching is that the way I learned as a child was not the same as in the class,” explains Morris. “And I saw it later in many of my students. I felt like the normal way to learn things did not work for them. And they thought it was their fault. They just didn’t really feel welcome in the traditional education model. ”
Morris says that when she worked with these students, throwing tradition aside and saying instead: “You know, we will simply do this animation. Or we are going to do this design or this website or these graphics, and we will approach it in this completely different way ” – she saw people” unlock and be like, “Oh my God. I didn’t think I could do that. ”
“For me, it was the hook, it is magic. Because I came from this experience of having to understand these unlocking mechanisms for me, it was really exciting to be able to share them with other people, these unlocking moments.”
For her doctoral work with the group of fluid interfaces interfaces of MIT Media Lab, she focuses on personal space and emotional gaps associated with learning, in particular online learning and assisted by AI. This research is based on its experience by increasing human connection in physical and virtual learning environments.
“I develop a framework that combines a behavioral analysis led by AI with an assessment of human experts to study the dynamics of social learning,” she says. “My research examines how models of social interaction influence the development of curiosity and intrinsic motivation in learning, particularly emphasizing understanding of the way in which these dynamics differ between real peers and the environments supported by AI.”
The first step in his research is to determine what elements of social interaction cannot be replaced by a digital tutor based on AI. After this evaluation, its objective is to build a prototype platform for experiential learning.
“I create tools that can simultaneously follow observable behaviors – such as physical actions, linguistic indices and interaction models – while capturing the subjective experiences of learners by reflection and interviews,” explains Morris. “This approach helps to connect what people do with what they think of their learning experience.
“I aim to make two main contributions: first, analysis tools to study the dynamics of social learning; And second, prototype tools that demonstrate practical approaches to support social curiosity in digital learning environments. These contributions could help to fill the gap between the effectiveness of digital platforms and the rich social interaction that occurs in effective learning in person. ”
His goals make Morris a perfect adjustment for the MIT purse. A declaration in the MAD’s mission is: “The rupture of traditional education, we promote creativity, critical thinking, manufacturing and collaboration, exploring a range of dynamic approaches to prepare students for complex and real challenges.”
Morris wants to help community organizations manage the rapid changes in education powered by AI, once she finished her doctorate in 2026. “What should we do with this” physical space against virtual space “?” she asked. It is the space that currently capsizes Morris’ thoughts.