Tamara Tate, PhD
Tamara Tate is Associate Director of the Digital Learning Lab.
Her research focuses on technology-supported learning, school-based digital literacy interventions, and analysis of digital writing.
Tamara leads the Lab's work on generative AI and writing. As the PI of a NSF-funded grant, she is studying the use of generative AI in undergraduate writing courses.
She also studies secondary student writing as a member of the IES-funded national WRITE Center and is part of the Elementary Computing for All team.
Tamara received her B.A. in English and her Ph.D. in Education at U.C. Irvine and her J.D. at U.C. Berkeley.
Tamara can be reached at [email protected]
Her research focuses on technology-supported learning, school-based digital literacy interventions, and analysis of digital writing.
Tamara leads the Lab's work on generative AI and writing. As the PI of a NSF-funded grant, she is studying the use of generative AI in undergraduate writing courses.
She also studies secondary student writing as a member of the IES-funded national WRITE Center and is part of the Elementary Computing for All team.
Tamara received her B.A. in English and her Ph.D. in Education at U.C. Irvine and her J.D. at U.C. Berkeley.
Tamara can be reached at [email protected]
Generative AI & Writing
The development and rapid diffusion of generative artificial intelligence over the last two years represents a great disruption to writing and writing education. Educators need research-based guidance on how and when to teach their students to use AI in writing without compromising the development of students’ writing skills. At heart is a contradiction–if we don’t teach students to use these powerful new AI tools, we will be robbing them of the AI literacy they need for their future study and careers. However, if we allow them to use AI in unmonitored ways at too young an age, students will develop neither the writing nor AI literacy skills needed for success.
I am currently the PI of an NSF grant which is developing a generative AI-based platform and curriculum for use in writing instruction. This project is using design-based implementation research to understand the best practices for integrating AI writing tools into an undergraduate engineering writing course and the impact such integration has on students’ development as writers. We are iteratively developing a curriculum that can be used to integrate AI writing tools into undergraduate writing and communication courses, a pedagogically informed AI writing platform to ensure reliable and scaffolded access to generative AI, and professional development to support instructor use of the curriculum and platform. The AI tool helps students improve their writing and AI literacy by allowing them to interact with AI in a structured, scaffolded, and bounded way. Students receive personalized support by using the embedded prompts in the platform while writing, with a particular focus on helping them effectively plan and revise their writing, both underutilized parts of the writing process of developing writers. Visit the project website to learn more and access our resources.
Recent Publications
Can AI Provide Useful Holistic Essay Scoring?
Tate, Steiss, Bailey, Graham, Ritchie, Tseng, Moon & Warschauer
Comparing the Quality of Human and ChatGPT Feedback on Students' Writing
Steiss, Tate, Graham, Cruz, Hebert, Wang, Moon, Tseng, & Warschauer
Educational Research and AI- Generated Writing:
Confronting the Coming Tsunami,
Tate, Doroudi, Ritchie, Xu, & Warschauer
In the news...
Selected Presentations
- December 6, 2024,
- September 2024, Evolving practices for instructors in the age of generative AI, UCI Teach Day. [SLIDES]
- April 2024: AERA, Comparing the quality of human and ChatGPT feedback on student writing. [SLIDES]
- February 2024: UCOP Academic Congress on Artificial Intelligence, AI for Teaching & Learning, Los Angeles, CA [SLIDES]
- January 2024: Reedley College, What is ChatGPT and Why Should I Care?, Reedley, CA [SLIDES]
- November 2023: Literacy Research Association, Writing Research Study Group, Atlanta, GA [SLIDES]
- November 2023: AI Symposium. Santa Clara County Office of Education, San Jose, CA [SLIDES]
- October 2023: Navigating the Brave New World of Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT: How to Benefit the Instructional Classroom. CCCCI Fall 2023 Conference. San Diego, CA [Handout]
- October 2023: Think Like a Robot: AI and Disciplinary Literacy. AI and Education: Navigating the Mind Fields. Orange County Department of Education. Costa Mesa, CA [SLIDES]
- September 2023: Evolving Practices for Instructors in the Age of Generative AI. Friday SLO Talks. California Outcomes Assessment Coordinators Hub. [SLIDES] [Recording]
Additional Projects
WRITE Center
Interested in writing in history classes? Visit the IES-funded WRITE Center website for great resources on writing, history, and our work on a new intervention. The WRITE (Writing Research to Improve Teaching and Evaluation) Center for Secondary Students researches academic writing, placing special emphasis on source-based argument writing in history, and provides national leadership and outreach activities to support improvement of secondary writing research and practice related to academic writing across the curriculum. The Digital Learning Lab is supporting the WRITE Center through analysis of writing corpora and development of digital tools to support the teaching and learning of source-based argument writing in history.
Elementary Computing For All
A collaboration between with university researchers and K-12 practitioners to promote computational thinking for multilingual students in elementary schools. Visit the website for more information and resources including curriculum for teachers.
Online Learning Research Center
Created in spring 2020 to communicate research-based information about online learning to those forced online due to emergency distance learning, the OLRC’s website provides access to 5 years’ NSF-funded research about online learning conducted by the Digital Learning Lab. Whether a first-time online instructor looking to get started, a veteran seeking to improve online teaching, a student seeking ways to improve online study skills, or a scholar or educational leader seeking the latest research on online learning, the OLRC.US site was designed to provide evidence-based resources to improve achievement and equity in online learning.
Slides from our 2023 AERA presentation, Equity Online.
Interested in writing in history classes? Visit the IES-funded WRITE Center website for great resources on writing, history, and our work on a new intervention. The WRITE (Writing Research to Improve Teaching and Evaluation) Center for Secondary Students researches academic writing, placing special emphasis on source-based argument writing in history, and provides national leadership and outreach activities to support improvement of secondary writing research and practice related to academic writing across the curriculum. The Digital Learning Lab is supporting the WRITE Center through analysis of writing corpora and development of digital tools to support the teaching and learning of source-based argument writing in history.
Elementary Computing For All
A collaboration between with university researchers and K-12 practitioners to promote computational thinking for multilingual students in elementary schools. Visit the website for more information and resources including curriculum for teachers.
Online Learning Research Center
Created in spring 2020 to communicate research-based information about online learning to those forced online due to emergency distance learning, the OLRC’s website provides access to 5 years’ NSF-funded research about online learning conducted by the Digital Learning Lab. Whether a first-time online instructor looking to get started, a veteran seeking to improve online teaching, a student seeking ways to improve online study skills, or a scholar or educational leader seeking the latest research on online learning, the OLRC.US site was designed to provide evidence-based resources to improve achievement and equity in online learning.
Slides from our 2023 AERA presentation, Equity Online.