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Assistant Professor of Education, University of Southern California

Dr. Stephen AguiIar is an Assistant Professor of Education in the Educational Psychology concentration. His areas of expertise include motivation and self-regulated learning as they relate to the design and implementation of educational technologies. He specializes in learning analytics, data visualizations, and gameful approaches to teaching and learning.

His research focuses on the design, efficacy, and motivational implications of learning analytics-based applications, and how they can be used in ways that promote social justice and educational achievement among ethnic and racial minority students. Specifically, Aguilar studies how data visualizations of academic achievement influence students' academic motivation and self-regulated learning strategies. He was also awarded funding from the American Educational Research Association (AERA) to study how Hispanic students’ sense of control contributes to their post-secondary achievement and aspirations.

Aguilar received a B.A. in Philosophy and Psychology from Georgetown University, a M.A. in the Humanities (Philosophy) from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in Education and Psychology from the University of Michigan. Previously, he taught sixth and seventh grade in East Palo Alto, California and served as a the Director of Institute Technology for Teach For America-Los Angeles’s summer institute.

Experience

  • –present
    Assistant Professor of Education and Psychology, University of Southern California

Education

  • 2016 
    University of Michigan, Ph.D., Education and Psychology
  • 2014 
    University of Michigan, M.S., Psychology
  • 2008 
    University of Chicago, M.A., Humanities (Philosophy)
  • 2005 
    Georgetown University, B.A., Philosophy & Psychology