Hello! I’m Dr. Antonette Shibani, Senior Lecturer in TD School (TransDisciplinary School), University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia. where I teach in the Master of Data Science and Innovation course. I’m a member of the UTS Centre for Research on Education in a Digital Society (CREDS), which explores the dynamic relationship between technology and learning across contexts. My PhD was in Learning Analytics from the Connected Intelligence Centre, UTS. My first and last names might appear differently across places (but it’s a story for another time), call me Shibani!
As modern computing technologies progress towards automation and improved efficiency, there is increasing opportunity to harness them for social good. A computer science engineer by training, I develop applied technologies that can transform real-life practices. My research is in the field of ‘Learning Analytics’ and ‘AI in Education’ where we apply analytic techniques and artificial intelligence to understand and improve educational practice.
In my work cutting across the fields of data science and education, I build computational systems making use of data analytics (text analytics and Natural Language Processing/NLP in particular), to improve teaching and learning contexts. My expertise is in ‘Writing Analytics’ where my work involved developing tools that provide automated feedback on students’ writing and making use of NLP techniques to study the process of writing. More recently, my work examines the impact of generative AI and LLM support systems for education. I have also worked on text mining and machine learning to automatically identify teamwork dimensions from online chat logs of students. I study how these technologies are integrated in the classroom to examine their potential impact on students. I believe that technical advancement by itself is not of immense value for learning, until and unless it actually impacts the educational context.
Having established a strong research profile in the field of Learning Analytics, I have presented my work at various international conferences, and have delivered talks and panel discussions across institutions. I have been an invited program committee member and reviewer for conferences and peer-reviewed journals. Details of the publications and research leadership can be found in the Research section of my blog.
I received the Emerging Scholar Award from the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) in 2024 for my significant contributions to Learning Analytics research in the Australasia region. My teaching recognitions include a UTS 2023 Citation and the Impactful Educator Award 2024 (Impactful Partnerships Builder category) for collaboration with external stakeholders and innovation to create a demonstrable impact on data science students. I was recognized as one of Australia’s rising WiDS Stars (WiDS=Women in Data Science) by the Australian Data Science Network in 2023. I am a recipient of the Future Women Leaders Conference Award, 2019 for early career female leaders in academia who are actively involved in the fields of Engineering and IT, and the ACM-W scholarship award from the Association of Computing Machinery, New York for Women in Computing.
I served as an elected executive committee member of the Society for Learning Analytics Research SOLAR from 2019 – 2023 and founded the Special Interest Group on Writing Analytics. I co-host the SoLAR Spotlight- Conversations on Learning Analytics podcast series, disseminating leading research among the wider community. (Check out Episode 18: Explainable models for Learning Analytics, Episode 12: Learning Analytics Practitioners and Practice, Episode 09: 21st Century Skills and Learning Analytics, Episode 06: Privacy and Ethics in Learning Analytics, Episode 03: Giving a voice to stakeholders in Learning Analytics Design, Episode 01: Learning Analytics – Past, Present, and Future).
In another world, I’m the mom of a toddler who likes to keep me on my toes 🙂
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