Zhilin Zhang
About Me
Human-Computer Interaction; Artificial Intelligence; Education; Social Computing
My research interests are broadly in Human-Computer Interaction, Artificial Intelligence, and Education. I study human-computer interaction (HCI) to better understand and improve human interaction with AI and complex algorithmic systems. I design and build intelligent systems to support scalable and accessible teaching and learning through a computational lens.
I received my B.S. and M.S., both in Computer Science, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), co-advised by Professor Lawrence Angrave and Professor Karrie Karahalios. I also worked with Professor ChengXiang Zhai in the Data and Information Systems Laboratory.
Please feel free to contact me at: zhilinzhang66@gmail.com
Latest Updates
[07/2021]: Best Paper Awards at ASEE 2021
Our paper "A UDL-based large-scale study on the needs of students with disabilities in engineering courses" has won the "3rd Best Paper Award & 2nd Best Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Paper Award".
[05/2021]: TWO NEW PAPERS ACCEPTED AT ASEE 2021
Our papers "How Students Search Video Captions to Learn: An Analysis of Search Terms and Behavioral Timing Data" and "A UDL-based large-scale study on the needs of students with disabilities in engineering courses" were accepted by ASEE 2021.
[05/2021]: A NEW PAPER ACCEPTED AT SOUPS 2021
Our paper "WebAlly: Making Visual Task-based CAPTCHAs Transferable for People with Visual Impairments" was accepted by SOUPS 2021.
[01/2021]: BECAME A TEACHING ASSISTANT FOR CS225
I started to work as a Teaching Assistant for CS225: Data Structures, with Professor Carl Evans and Professor Brad Solomon.
[12/2020]: A NEW PAPER ACCEPTED AT CHI 2021
Our paper "Attitudes Surrounding an Imperfect AI Autograder" was accepted by CHI 2021.
[09/2020]: BEST PAPER HONORABLE MENTION AT ASEE 2020
Our ASEE 2020 paper "Improving Student Accessibility, Equity, Course Performance, and Lab Skills: How Introduction of ClassTranscribe is Changing Engineering Education" has won the "Best Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Paper Honorable Mention".
[08/2020]: BECAME A TEACHING ASSISTANT FOR CS410
I started to work as a Teaching Assistant for CS410: Text Information Systems (Text Retrieval and Mining), with Professor ChengXiang Zhai.
[08/2020]: A LIGHTNING TALK ACCEPTED AT CRA 2020
I gave a lightning talk "ClassTranscribe: Addressing the COVID Challenge and Promoting Better Equity in Education" at CRA 2020.
Portfolio
ClassTranscribe is a Microsoft sponsored e-learning platform. I analyzed behavioral data of 1,894 users totaling more than five million interactions with the system. We published the results at SIGCSE and ASEE. My on-going research is to further investigate students’ attitudes and behaviors towards searching and learner sourcing.
I used a grounded-theory approach to code the qualitative data from a 22-participant interview study. The results provided insights into students’ folk theories, interaction strategies, perceived accuracy, satisfaction and fairness towards the AI grading system. The paper has been accepted by CHI 2021.
I led the design and implementation of a 20-participant user study on an integrated friend-sourcing tool that helps visually impaired people with inaccessible web tasks. The user study investigated users’ attitudes towards the tool, regarding friend-sourcing vs. crowd-sourcing, paid vs unpaid, privacy concerns, and impacts on their relationship.
I designed and developed an Android app using the Android Accessibility Service to automatically record users’ interactions with other apps on the phone. The logged data include gestures, screenshots, and view hierarchies. We are using the data to mine user habits and generate task shortcuts.
In this study, I used the ZIPT system to collect and analyze data from 20 participants on their opinions regarding privacy concerns over popular mobile apps (Facebook, Amazon, Chase, etc.) The results shed light on mobile users’ privacy concerns beyond their personally identifiable information (PII).
A VR game on Oculus, created with Unity. I implemented several attacking modes of the Ninja. I also ran user studies and enhanced the user experience on decreasing dizziness, improving prompts and controlling gestures, and enriching the experience of the boss fight.
Publications
(* = Equal Contribution)
Advancing Learnersourced Caption Editing for Video-Based STEM Education
In Submission at CSCW 2021
Bhavya, Si Chen, Zhilin Zhang, Tiffany Wenting Li, ChengXiang Zhai, Lawrence Angrave, Yun Huang
How Students Search Video Captions to Learn: An Analysis of Search Terms and Behavioral Timing Data
ASEE 2021 - Full Paper [pdf]
Zhilin Zhang*, Bhavya*, Lawrence Angrave, Ruihua Sui, Chirantan Mahipal, Rob Kooper
A UDL-Based Large-Scale Study on the Needs of Students with Disabilities in Engineering Courses
ASEE 2021 - Full Paper [pdf]
3rd Best Paper Award & 2nd Best Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Paper Award
Jenny Amos*, Zhilin Zhang*, Lawrence Angrave*, Hongye Liu*, Yiyin Shen, Kusum Vanwani
WebAlly: Making Visual Task-based CAPTCHAs Transferable for People with Visual Impairments
SOUPS 2021 - Full Paper [pdf]
Zhuohao Zhang, Zhilin Zhang, Haolin Yuan, Natã Barbosa, Sauvik Das, Yang Wang
Attitudes Surrounding an Imperfect AI Autograder
CHI 2021 - Full Paper [pdf]
Silas Hsu*, Tiffany Wenting Li*, Zhilin Zhang, Max Fowler, Craig Zilles, Karrie Karahalios
Improving Student Accessibility, Equity, Course Performance, and Lab Skills: How Introduction of ClassTranscribe is Changing Engineering Education
ASEE 2020 - Full Paper [pdf]
Best Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Paper Honorable Mention
Lawrence Angrave, Karin Jensen, Zhilin Zhang, Chirantan Mahipal, David Mussulman, Christopher Schmitz, Robert Baird, Hongye Liu, Ruihua Sui, Maryalice Wu, and Rob Kooper
Who Benefits? Positive Learner Outcomes from Behavioral Analytics of Online Lecture Video Viewing using ClassTranscribe
SIGCSE 2020 - Full Paper [pdf]
Lawrence Angrave, Zhilin Zhang, Genevieve Henricks-Lepp, Chirantan Mahipal
Attitudes, Behaviors, and Learning Outcomes from Using ClassTranscribe, a UDL-Featured Video-Based Online Learning Platform with Learnersourced Text-Searchable Captions
UIUC - Master's Thesis
Zhilin Zhang
What Benefits? Exploring the Influences of Student Behaviors in an Online Video Class
UIUC - Undergraduate Senior Thesis
Zhilin Zhang
ClassTranscribe: Addressing the COVID Challenge and Promoting Better Equity in Education
CRA 2020 - Lightning Talk [video]
Zhilin Zhang, Lawrence Angrave
Contact Me
Please feel free to contact me at zhilinzhang66@gmail.com