Shuang Quan, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Education

Director of AI in Education Lab

I am an Assistant Professor of Education at Juniata College. I earned my Ph.D. in Innovation in Curriculum and Instruction from Fordham University's Graduate School of Education, with a professional background in Early Childhood Education and Literacy Education. My research focuses on designing, implementing, and evaluating emerging technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs), to support young children's literacy development, especially those from diverse linguistic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

I founded the AI in Education Lab (AEL), where I lead interdisciplinary studies exploring how conversational AI tools can support language, cognitive, and social-emotional development for young children. I am also committed to and actively engaged in developing curriculum for teacher preparation programs to equip future educators to become AI-literate and AI-competent in contemporary classrooms.

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AI in Education Lab (AEL)

The AI in Education Lab (AEL), launched in December 2024, brings together talented student researchers from Education and Computer Science to collaboratively design, develop, and implement AI-powered tools that support the language and cognitive development of young children from diverse linguistic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Early Literacy Development

Developing innovative approaches to support language and literacy development in early childhood education settings.

Educator Preparation

Preparing future educators to integrate AI technologies effectively and ethically in their teaching practice.

AEL team members facilitated the Language & AI Panel at the EAP 30th Anniversary Celebration, held at the Statton Learning Center at Juniata, April 2025.

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Publications

Conversational AI in children's home literacy learning: effectiveness, advantages, challenges, and family perception

Quan, S., Tu-Shea, X., Ding, Y., Du, Y., Zheng, Q., Gerdich, E. L. (2026). Conversational AI in children's home literacy learning: effectiveness, advantages, challenges, and family perception. Computers & Education: Artificial Intelligence, 100549. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2026.100549

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Impacts of Traditional, Digital, and AI-Integrated Home Literacy Environments on Children's Literacy Skills in the Age of AI

Quan, S., Ding, Y., Zhang, C., George-Puskar, A. (2025). Early Education and Development.

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A citizen science approach towards parents-administered remote language assessment for bilingual Mandarin-English children: an evaluation of in-person and telehealth settings

Du, Y., Tang, Y., Fong, K., Liu, Y., Wang, D., Tu-Shea, X., Liu, Y., Zheng, Q., Quan, S., Xiong, J., Sheng, L. (2026). A citizen science approach towards parents-administered remote language assessment for bilingual Mandarin-English children: an evaluation of in-person and telehealth settings. Frontiers in Education. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1696031

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Training school psychologists with a specialization in the early childhood population

Ding, Y., Quan, S., Liu, R.-D., Liu, H.-P., Chevalier, R., & Zhang. C. (Under Review). Training school psychologists with a specialization in the early childhood population. School Psychology International.

Under Review

Parents, Children, and ChatGPT in Home Environments: The Conversation Content and the Interaction Mode

Quan, S., Du, Y., & Lyu, Y. (2025). In Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-6).

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Video Presentation

Young children and ChatGPT: parents' use of ChatGPT in parenting

Quan, S., Du, Y., & Ding, Y. (2024). Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-7).

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Video Presentation

Grants & Awards

2025-2027 $10,000 Principal Investigator - Innovative Educational Initiatives (IEI) Grant, Juniata College. Project: Preparing the Future Teachers: AI in Education Lab (AEL) as An Innovative Educational Initiative (IEI) in the Teacher Preparation Program
2025-2026 $2,000 Research Fellowship Award - Education Research Innovation Network (ERIN), Digital Future Institute, Teacher College, Columbia University
2025 $2,500 Summer Research Award - Juniata College. Project: Conversational AI in Early Literacy Development
2024 $500 Graduate Assistantship Award - Center's Giving Circle: Graduate Assistantship Award, Center for Educational Partnership, Fordham University
2020-2024 Graduate Assistantship Award - Fordham University

Grants Under Review & In Preparation

2026-2027 $7,500 Principal Investigator - Small Grants Program for Early Career Scholars, Society for Research in Child Development. Project: Leveraging Conversational AI in Supporting Children's Home Literacy Learning (Under Review)
2026-2029 $50,000 Principal Investigator - Small Research Grants on Education, Spencer Foundation. Project: AI-Enhanced Home Literacy Learning for Word-Letter Knowledge and Narrative Skills (In Preparation)

Conference Presentations

Title	Conference
AI vs. Parent: Supporting Early Literacy at Home Through Conversational Agents	AERA 2026, Los Angeles, CA
Training of School Psychology Students Through an Interdisciplinary Approach	NASP 2026, Chicago, IL
Examining Parental Behaviors Across Languages During a Telehealth Mandarin-English Receptive Language Screener (MERLS)	ASHA 2025, Washington, D.C.
Understanding Parent-Child Interaction to Enhance Bilingual Young Children's Online Language Assessment Experience	AECT 2025, Las Vegas, NV
Parents, Children, and ChatGPT in Home Environments: the Conversation Content and the Interaction Mode	CHI 2025, Yokohama, Japan
Home Literacy in the Digital Age: Impacts of Literacy-Related Digital Activities (LRDAs) on Children's Literacy Skills	AERA 2025, Denver, CO
Young Children and ChatGPT: Parents' Use of ChatGPT in Parenting	CHI 2024, Honolulu, HI
The Digital Evolution in Home Literacy: Assessing Effects on Children's Literacy Development in Post-Pandemic Era	AERA 2024, Philadelphia, PA
AI for Training Future Clinicians: A Quick Lesson on ChatGPT and Voice Assistive Technology	CSHA 2024, San Francisco, CA
Preschool Transition Practices for Children with IEPs in NYC	CEC 2023, Louisville, KY

Professional Associations

Member of American Educational Research Association (AERA)
Member of Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)
Member of Association of Computing and Machinery (ACM)
Member of Literacy Research Association (LRA)
Member of Pennsylvania Association of College and Teacher Educators (PAC-TE)

Services

Year	Role	Organization/Journal
2026	Invited Discussant	American Educational Research Association (AERA)
2026-	Reviewer	ACM Interaction Design and Children (IDC)
2025-	Reviewer	Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW)
2025-	Reviewer	Child Development Perspectives
2025-	Reviewer	ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing
2025-	Reviewer	Literacy Research Association (LRA)
2025-	Reviewer	American Educational Research Association (AERA)
2025-	Reviewer	Future in Educational Research
2024-	Reviewer	Behavioral Sciences
2023-	Reviewer	European Journal of Education
2021-2023	Editorial Assistant	Early Childhood Education Journal

Post-Secondary Teaching

Year	Role	Course
2024-	Instructor	Child Development
2024-	Instructor	Language and The Developing Brain
2024-	Instructor	Reading Difficulties
2024-	Instructor	Intro to Students with Exceptionalities