2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Investigating Instructors’ Experiences in a Neurodiversity-Focused AI Training Program

In this paper, we examine the multifaceted challenges instructors encounter in a neurodiversity-focused AI summer training program for community college students. Our research draws on interview data from multiple instructors involved in the program's implementation to illuminate the complexities of teaching AI concepts to a diverse group of neurodivergent learners. Instructors faced timely challenges adapting to students' varied learning styles and preferences, particularly in balancing conceptual and technical instruction. For instance, some instructors adopted a code-focused approach, while others prioritized high-level understanding. This difference led to confusion among certain students who struggled to reconcile the varying levels of abstraction. Instructors grappled with managing the social and emotional dynamics of the classroom, including addressing students' social anxiety, facilitating effective communication, and navigating instances of interpersonal conflict. The compressed timeframe of the program, coupled with the demanding nature of the material, compounded these difficulties. The lack of robust assessment strategies for gauging student’s technical and social learning made it difficult for instructors to effectively tailor instruction to individual needs. In this paper, we highlight the evidence-based need for more comprehensive training programs and support systems for instructors tasked with teaching AI to neurodivergent learners. These programs should address pedagogical approaches for accommodating diverse learning, cognitive, and communication styles, strategies for managing the social-emotional complexities of inclusive classrooms, and effective methods for assessing learning in neurodiversity-focused educational settings. Insights gained from this research can inform the development of more inclusive and effective AI education programs that empower all learners to succeed.

Authors

Prof. Andrew Begel Carnegie Mellon University [biography]

Dr. Andrew Begel, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Software and Societal Systems Department at Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to this, he spent over 16 years as a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research. Andrew’s goal is to create inclusive workplaces where all people, especially those with disabilities and the neurodivergent, can be successful, without discrimination. His recent work has helped people on the autism spectrum gain employment and facilitate social interaction, helped blind software developers collaborate with their sighted colleagues, and used affective computing and biometrics to better understand how software developers do their work.
Dr. D. Matthew Boyer http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4191-260X Clemson University [biography]

Dr. Boyer is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering and Science Education and an Educational Proposal Writer in the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences.
Rick Kubina Pennsylvania State University
Somayeh Asadi University of Virginia
Taniya Mishra
Ren Butler Carnegie Mellon University [biography]

Ren Butler is a Ph.D. student in Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University. Ren researches psychological safety in neurodiverse AI engineering teams. Ren aims to discover design principles for software development tools that support psychological safety among engineers with social and emotional differences. This will be useful for fostering team learning, well-being, and productivity.
JiWoong Jang Carnegie Mellon University [biography]

Joon is a Ph.D. student at CMU's School of Computer Science, where he focus on understanding, designing, and building AI-equipped assistive technology (AT) and how such tools affect and alter existing social dynamics in intro- and extra-spective ways – tackling stigma, user-assimilation, and the AT adoption/abandonment problem through his research.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025