ASU faculty explore next-gen AI tools for education

Danielle McNamara, executive director of the Learning Engineer Institute, spotlights emerging AI solutions that address real-world challenges in teaching and learning.

JOYCELYN MUÑOZ

October 13, 2025

This article is included in the third publication of The AI Journey at Arizona State University.

When Danielle McNamara describes the power of AI in education, she lights up. “The key affordance of generative AI,” she says, “is that it allows instructors, faculty and staff to be in the driver’s seat to create their own tools that solve their own problems.” —-

As executive director of the Learning Engineering Institute (LEI) at Arizona State University, McNamara is turning that vision into action through the Principled Innovation Grant Program, which supports faculty-led projects using AI to transform teaching and learning.

Building AI solutions for education

Established in 2023, the Learning Engineering Institute (LEI) focuses on enhancing student success and well-being through evidence-based, scalable innovations.

The team is working to develop AI experiences like Syllabot and Syllabus Helper, both designed to support faculty in developing and improving their course syllabi.

Syllabot serves as a generative AI assistant, helping students ask and receive answers about their course requirements. Building on that foundation, Syllabus Helper gives faculty feedback on tone and learning objectives — and even suggests revisions when student questions reveal gaps in clarity.

Danielle McNamara holding a copy of "The AI Journey at the Agentic AI" and the Student Experience Conference in Tempe.

Photo by Tabbs Mosier, ASU Enterprise Technology.

Tackling real-world challenges

LEI also offers a unique grant program that empowers interdisciplinary teams to use ASU’s CreateAI Builder — the university’s generative AI toolkit — to design transformative solutions to real educational challenges.

To date, 18 projects across two cohorts have been awarded, spanning a range of applications, from game-based simulations to conversational AI tools that assist educators in navigating complex classroom situations.

The first cohort of projects awarded addressed broader issues in education. The Refugee Policy Game, developed by an interdisciplinary team of faculty that includes Adnan Turan and Janel White-Taylor. The AI-enhanced simulations replicate real-world challenges faced by refugees in educational settings, allowing users to consider policies from the perspective of marginalized communities.

The second cohort of awarded projects, launched in October 2025, includes the Corrective Feedback Chatbot, produced by Bryan Smith, Jinjing Zhao and Emilia Gracia. This AI experience offers corrective feedback to second-language learners, helping them improve their oral language development.

On the horizon: Multi-agent

Another ambitious development is ReQUESTA, an academic question generator that uses a multi-agent framework. Created in partnership between the LEI and Enterprise Technology, ReQUESTA is currently being integrated into CreateAI Builder to help faculty generate and refine multiple-choice questions for exams.

In the future, students will be able to use it to practice active learning by answering questions aligned with course material. The system employs modular multi-agent architecture, text-aware planning and alignment, and cognitive depth and diversity to ensure questions accurately reflect the original teaching content.

For McNamara, these projects exemplify the spirit of learning engineering — creativity, experimentation and collaboration. “It allows our faculty and staff to be creative and to design educational solutions that put principled innovation into practice.”