I am a Research Psychologist in the Computer Science Department at North Carolina State University. In 2014, I completed my M.S. in Human Factors Psychology and Applied Cognition under the direction of Dr. Douglas Gillan (Psychology), Dr. Eric Wiebe (STEM Education), and Dr. Anne McLaughlin (Psychology) focusing on user perceptions and experiences with interactive technologies. I am enthusiastic about and dedicated to research, design, and development efforts focused around advanced learning technologies. Accordingly, my interests center on gaining a deeper understanding of the knowledge acquisition and learning process. Specifically, I am interested in how knowledge of student interactions with technology and corresponding cognitive and affective states can be applied to facilitate the learning process.

My work integrates research in cognitive psychology, education, human computer interaction and computer science to study how to create highly motivating, engaging, usable, and effective learning environments or support systems. I am also interested in game-based learning, adaptive learning technologies, user experience research, human-computer-interaction, user modeling, and educational analytics.

Education

M.S. Psychology, Human Factors and Applied Cognition (2014)
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

B.A. Psychology (2010)
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

B.S. Business Management (2009)
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

Publications

Megan Frankosky, James H. Creager, Eric Wiebe, Philip Buffum, Kristy Boyer, Wookhee Min, and James Lester. Game-based Programming Challenges: Stealth Assessment of Student Competencies. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, 2016.

Megan Frankosky, Eric Wiebe, Philip Buffum, and Kristy Boyer. Spatial Ability and Other Predictors of Gameplay Time: Understanding Barriers to Learning in Game-based Virtual Environments. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, 2015

Megan Frankosky, Jennifer London, Isaac Thompson, Tara Behrend, and Eric Wiebe. Data Analytics for Modeling User Behavior within MOOCS: a Comparison of Clustering Techniques. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, 2015.

Megan Hardy, and Douglas Gillan. Voluntary Task Switching Patterns in Everyday Tasks of Different Motivational Levels. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 56(1), San Diego, CA, pp. 2128-2132, 2012.

Megan Hardy, Joseph Grafsgaard, Eric Wiebe, Kristy Boyer, and James Lester. Physiological Responses to Events during Training: Use of Skin Conductance to Design Adaptive Learning Systems. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 57(1), Boston, MA, pp. 2101-2105, 2013.

Jim Creager, Wesley Wardlaw, Megan Frankosky, Addison Engligh, and Gabbriel Pappalardo. Human Factors Methods in a Design Cycle Framework. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 58(1), 457-461, Chicago, IL, 2014.

Philip Buffum, Allison Martinez-Arocho, Megan Frankosky, Fernando Rodriguez, Eric Wiebe, and Kristy Boyer. CS principles goes to middle school: learning how to teach” Big Data”. Proceedings of the Forty-Fifth ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, pp. 151-156, Atlanta, Georgia, 2014.

Eric Wiebe, Allison Lamb, Megan Hardy, and David Sharek. Measuring engagement in video game-based environments: Investigation of the User Engagement Scale. Computers in Human Behavior, 32, 123-132, 2014.

Eric Wiebe. Angela Shelton, Lindsay Patterson, Megan Hardy, Mike Carter and Chip Sheffield. Elementary Students Use of Argumentation and Evidentiary Support in Science Notebooks. In Annual Meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, 2013.

Megan Hardy, Joseph Grafsgaard, Eric Wiebe, Kristy Boyer, and James Lester. Integrating Affective Computing and Adaptive Training: An Exploratory Analysis to Link Postural Data and Learner Engagement to Knowledge Acquisition. Paper presented at the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, 2012.

Projects

Engage
A game-based learning environment for teaching computer science principles to middle school students.

Java Tutor
An affect-enriched natural language tutorial dialogue project for 1st year post-secondary computer science education.