Walt Wells


2025

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Cognitive Engagement in GenAI Tutor Conversations: At-scale Measurement and Impact on Learning
Kodi Weatherholtz | Kelli Millwood Hill | Kristen Dicerbo | Walt Wells | Phillip Grimaldi | Maya Miller-Vedam | Charles Hogg | Bogdan Yamkovenko
Proceedings of the Artificial Intelligence in Measurement and Education Conference (AIME-Con): Works in Progress

We developed and validated a scalable LLM-based labeler for classifying student cognitive engagement in GenAI tutoring conversations. Higher engagement levels predicted improved next-item performance, though further research is needed to assess distal transfer and to disentangle effects of continued tutor use from true learning transfer.