Research

Dr. Matthew Schmidt (2nd to the left) and I (2nd to the right) receive the 2022 AECT Crystal Award in Las Vegas, NV.

My research endeavors primarily highlight three academic passions: (1) designing and implementing AI-driven immersive technologies in healthcare professions education, (2) measuring learning experience through a multidimensional lens, and (3) working with PK-12 teachers on technology integration with a focus on GenAI in teaching and learning. Methodologically speaking, my work often applies design-based research and mixed-methods approaches.

I have been involved in multiple design projects funded by institutions, and national agencies. Funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), I co-developed an award-winning psychoeducation intervention, Diabetes Journey, for youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Funded by the University of Florida Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment (CAN), I helped create a virtual reality technology that is sensitive to autistic people’s preferences and needs. 

Currently, I am leading two internal funded projects. I received a Faculty Seed Grant in Science and Engineering to support the fine-tuning of a specialized language model for healthcare education. Separately, with funding from the Center for Teaching and Learning, I collaborated with healthcare experts, including clinicians and faculty members, to develop an AI-enhanced virtual simulation for interprofessional education.

Selected projects:
  • AI-enhanced learning technologies in healthcare professions education (ongoing);
  • Examining PK-12 teachers’ perceptions and integration of AI applications (ongoing);
  • Assessing pre-service teachers’ AI literacy using the KSA and TAM models (ongoing);
  • Cultivating academia-industry research partnership through iterative formative evaluations for an exam prep company (completed);
  • Exploring roles and competencies of center directors at the Centers of Teaching Excellence (CTE) in American universities (completed);
  • and more.

Research Assistants Needed

If you’re interested in pursuing a PhD and my research aligns with your interests, feel free to reach out via my UGA email. Please include a brief introduction and share how you see us potentially working together.

Ideal candidates should have strong skills in C# and Unity development, with experience in integrating LLMs via API, handling real-time communication, and coordinating animations or multimodal outputs. Familiarity with TTS and backend development is highly desirable, especially in healthcare education contexts.

Scholarship

  1. Wang, R., Lu, J., Pei, B., Jones, E., Brinson, J., & Brown, T. (2025). Designing and Evaluating an AI-driven Immersive Multidisciplinary Simulation (AIMS) for Interprofessional Education. arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.08891.
  2. Lu, J. (2025). A Systematic Literature Review of Usability Definitions and Psychometric Properties of Instruments in the Field of Learning Design and Technology. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2025.2459165
  3. Pei, B., Lu, J., & Jing, X. (2025). Empowering preservice teachers’ AI literacy: Current understanding, influential factors, and strategies for improvement. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 8, 100406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2025.100406
  4. Schmidt, M., Lu, J., Huang, R., Lee, M., Francois, M., & Wang, X. (2024). Human-centered Computing: Participatory and Inclusive Learning Design on a Virtual Reality Space with Autistic People. Educational Technology & Society, 27(4), 283-301.https://www.jstor.org/stable/48791556
  5. Schmidt, M., Newbutt, N., Lee, M., Lu, J., Francois, M. S., Antonenko, P. D., & Glaser, N. (2023). Towards A Strengths-based Model for Designing Virtual Reality Experiences for Autistic Users. Autism, https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613231208579
  6. Schmidt, M., Lu, J., Luo, W., Cheng, L., Lee, M., Huang, R., … & Modi, A. (2022). Learning experience design of an mHealth self-management intervention for adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Educational technology research and development, 1-39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-022-10160-6
  7. Lu, J., Schmidt, M., Lee, M., & Huang, R. (2022). Usability research in educational technology: a state-of-the-art systematic review. Educational technology research and development, 1-42. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-022-10152-6
  1. Zhang, Z., Lu, J., Pei, B., & Huang, Y. (2024, October). Advancing Engineering and Computing Education Through the Lens of Learning Analytics. In 2024 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) (pp. 1-8). IEEE.
  2. Du, H., Xing, W., Pei, B., Zeng, Y., Lu, J., & Zhang, Y. (2022, April). A Descriptive and Historical Review of STEM+ C Research: A Bibliometric Study. In International Conference on Computer Supported Education (pp. 1-25). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40501-3_1 
  3. Du, H., Xing, W., Pei, B., Zeng, Y., Lu, J., & Zhang, Y. (2022). Trends and Issues in STEM+ C Research: A Bibliometric Perspective. In CSEDU (1) (pp. 69-80). https://doi.org/10.5220/0010998800003182
  1. Lu, J. & Schmidt, M. (2024). Exploring the Needs and Preferences of Autistic Users in Extended Reality: A Participatory and Human-Centered Approach. In: Bourguet, ML., Krüger, J.M., Pedrosa, D., Dengel, A., Peña-Rios, A., Richter, J. (Eds) Immersive Learning Research Network. iLRN 2023. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1904. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47328-9_10
  1. Lu, J. (2024, January). Navigating the Teaching Landscape: Strategies for Success. [Keynote]. Presented at the Institute for Teaching and Learning Excellence, Stillwater, OK.
  2. Lazarevic, B., & Lu, J., (2023, December). AI Landscape: Application in Instruction and Research. [Keynote]. Education in the Age of AI conference (Срб. Образовање у доба вештачке интелигенције), Udruženje Biblioteka plus & Centar za razvoj projektnog učenja, Belgrade, Republic of Serbia.
  3. Lu, J. (2023, March). Designing for Learner Success: A Review of Usability Studies in Learning Experience Design and Technology. Presented at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN (online)
  4.  

Awards

Liu, N., Lu, J., Southwood, R., Douglass, E., Lavender, D., Thompson, S., Hufford, M., Schmidt, M., & Palmer, R. (2025)

ACM SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining

In recognition of the original paper “Fostering Clinical Counseling Skills in Pharmacy Education with AI-driven Training Systems”

Jie Lu & Matthew Schmidt (2023)

Awarded by Association for Educational Communications Technology (AECT) Research & Theory Division, in recognition of the proposal “Challenging the Status Quo of Usability Research: Examining the Constructs and Psychometric Properties in Existing Instruments”. 

Jie Lu & Matthew Schmidt

Awarded by the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN) in the 2023 international conference, in recognition of the original research short paper “Exploring the Needs and Preferences of Autistic Users in Extended Reality: A Participatory and Human-Centered Approach“.

1st Place: Matthew Schmidt, Jie Lu; Kimberly Driscoll, Wenjing Luo, Avani Modi. (2022)

Awarded by the Division of Distance Learning (DDL) in the 2022 AECT International Convention, in recognition of Diabetes Journey.

$1500 per semester

Awarded by the University of Florida’s College of Education from 2019 to 2021. 

  • ACM SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining
  • 2023 AERA Annual Meeting Graduate Student Assistance Fund
  • UF Office of Research Award