Jiayu Cheng | Researcher

Biography

I am a second-year PhD student in Learning Sciences and Technologies at the University of Pennsylvania, and a Wonder Lab Fellow, working with Dr. Bodong Chen. Prior to my doctoral studies, I worked as a secondary school teacher in Taiwan.

My research focuses on AI in education, with an emphasis on teacher–AI collaboration . I aim to design and implement AI systems that support educators’ learning, professional development, and knowledge building .

Research Interests

AI in education

Teacher Learning

Knowledge Building

Meta Design

Recent News

Oct 2025
Presented the paper Educators’ AI Journey: Developing AI Competencies in a Professional Development Program in ICQE Nominated for Best Student Paper Award

June 2025
Presented the poster Evaluating Student Agency in AI-Generated Lesson Plans in ISLS.

Aug 2024
Started my PhD journey at Penn GSE and joined the Wonder Lab.

Dec 2023
Awarded the Taiwanese Government Scholarship for Overseas Students—Educational Technology field.

Projects

Knowledge Building Innovation Network

The Knowledge Building Innovation Network (KBIN) connects members of knowledge building’s global community to continuously innovate on infrastructures for learning and knowledge building.

Website

AI Alignment with Education

This project critically examines how GenAI tools can uphold fundamental educational values. By combining technological evaluations with forward-looking design explorations, we aim to shape the next generation of AI-driven educational technologies.

Tool

Publications

Cheng, J., Gao, Y., Liu, X., Barany, A., & Chen, B. (2026). Educators’ AI Journey: Developing AI Competencies in a Professional Development Program. In Carmona, G., Lima, C., Santos, M.J., Benítez, H., Montero-Moguel, L., Galarza-Tohen, B. (eds) Advances in Quantitative Ethnography. ICQE 2025. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 2677. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-12229-2_2 Nominated for Best Student Paper Award

Chen, B., Cheng, J., Wang, C., & Leung, V. (2025). Pedagogical Biases in AI-Powered Educational Tools: The Case of Lesson Plan Generators. Social Innovations Journal, 30(2). Retrieved from https://socialinnovationsjournal.com/index.php/sij/article/view/10004

Liang, Y., Lee, A. V. Y., Cheng, J., Wang, C., et al. (2025). Design patterns for online collaborative learning in higher education: A survey of ijCSCL studies. In Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL 2025). https://doi.org/10.22318/cscl2025.447338

Cheng, J., Wang, C., & Chen, B. (2025). Evaluating student agency in AI-generated lesson plans. In A. Rajala, A. Cortez, R. Hofmann, A. Jornet, H. Lotz-Sisitka, & L. Markauskaite (Eds.), Proceedings of the 19th International Conference of the Learning Sciences – ICLS 2025 (pp. 2953–2955). International Society of the Learning Sciences. https://doi.org/10.22318/icls2025.764888

Curriculum Vitae
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Education

University of Pennsylvania
2024 - Present

Ph.D. in Learning Sciences and Technologies

National Chenchi University, Taiwan
2018 - 2020

M.Ed. in Education

National Kaohsiung Normal University, Taiwan
2011 - 2015

B.A. in English

Experience

Danfeng Senior High School, New Taipei City, Taiwan
2020 - 2024

Teacher

Dongnan Junior High School, Yunlin County, Taiwan
2016 - 2018

Teacher

Honor

Dean’s Fellowship
2024 - 2026

University of Pennsylvania

Taiwanese Government Scholarships for Overseas Study
2024 - 2028

Ministry of Education, Taiwan

Full Scholarship for Educators
2018 - 2020

Ministry of Education, Taiwan