This project is in its preliminary stages. In my #Make research strand I am exploring how computer hardware and other electronic technologies are prioritized in the makerspace literature. I am interested in asking "How does a focus on electronic systems shape our idea of what it means to create?" That is is there a difference between making as a human practice and to #make or the ability to keep up with trending (electronic) innovations.

Of particular interest are:

• Approaches to Systems Education

• Use of makerspace technologies for systems education

In this research strand I interrogate the relationships between anti-Blackness, Black Life and computing. When humans perpetuate bias such as negative racialization, that same bias and racism are embedded within our technology and education systems. For example, this affects facial detection algorithms, search queries, and more. In this work I join a community of scholars to engage with theory from Black Studies, Digital Media Studies, Information Science, Education, and the Learning Sciences.

Publications:

Jones, S. T., Smith, A. D. R. (2026). Frictions in Cozy Gaming: How Dynamics of Power, Race, and Cultural Flattening Shape World Building in Palia. In CHI PLAY '26 (forthcoming)

Jones, S. T., Smith, A.D.R. (2026). Stepping Starstones: Alternative Readings of Worldbuilding in Palia. In Well Played V15 N1: Well Read Games. 

Best Paper Award - Jones, S. T. (2025). Utopian Futures, Ends of the World, and Other Stories We Tell Ourselves About the Roles of Race in the Learning Sciences. In Proceedings of the 19th International Conference of the Learning Sciences-ICLS 2025, pp. 745-753. International Society of the Learning Sciences. 

Jones S. T., Moore, S, Vossoughi, S. Treading Lightly With Computer Science Education: Politicized Care as an intervention on Black Life, International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS), Montreal (June, 2023) (Link to paper)

Jones, S. T., and Melo N.. "'Anti-blackness is no glitch' the need for critical conversations within computer science education." XRDS: Crossroads, The ACM Magazine for Students 27.2 (2020): 42-46. (Link)

Jones, S. T., and melo, n. a.(June, 2021). “We Tell These Stories to Survive: Towards Abolition in Computer Science Education” (Link)

Visit our linktree for resources on abolition and computing: https://linktr.ee/CSAbolition

Public Scholarship:

Blacklifeai.com - Blackness and AI Public Syllabus. 

Jones, S.T., Melo, N. A., Shaw, M. S., We Teach These Stories to Survive: Towards Abolition In Computer Science Education - Zine Edition, May 12, 2023, SAJ Publishing (Link)

Jones, S. T. (2024). Dissertation Program - Computing at the End of the World: Examining Black Life, anti-Blackness, and Liberatory Pursuits in Computing Practice and Learning (Link)

Dissertation Work: 

Computing at the End of the World: Examining Black Life, anti-Blackness, and Liberatory Pursuits in Computing Practice and Learning (Stephanie T. Jones, 2024, Embargoed)

Read more on this work here

MAJIC (Making a Just Inclusive Community) is a team within the Technological Innovations for Inclusive Learning and Teaching Lab (tiilt) that focuses on intergenerational learning and community partnerships. Our work has involved  workshops that brings caregivers and children to learn together, teacher training and prof, and work with refugee and immigrant youth. MAJIC work is currently on hiatus.

MAJIC team Art by Beck Mallwitz

Publications:

Best Paper Award - M. Perez, S.T. Jones, S. Lee, and M. Worsley. 2020. Intergenerational Making with Young Children. In Proceedings of Fablearn Conference Virtual New York 2020 (Fablearn’2020). ACM, New York, New York, USA.

S.T. Jones, M. Perez, S. P. Lee, K. Furuichi, and M. Worsley. 2019. Facilitation in an Intergenerational Making Activity: How Facilitative Moves Shift Across Traditional and Digital Fabrication. In Proceedings of IDC Boise conference (IDC’19). ACM, Boise, ID, USA, 6 pages.

Perez M., Furuichi K., Jones S., Lee S., Suzuki K., Worsley M., Using Multimodal Analytics to Analyze Family Interactions in a “Making” Activity. Companion Proceedings 9th International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge (LAK19), CrossMMLA Workshop, 2019

The SportSense (formerly Data in Motion) project develops workshops for youth to interact with wearable technology in the context of sports. "The SportSense project imagines how unlocking new curiosities within athletes could transform the landscape of STEM learning, both in terms of who participates and types of innovations that emerge. In partnership with local organizations, we create learning environments where students are introduced to ways that technology can help them improve their athletic performance, and ways that sports can improve their understanding of STEM concepts." This project has led toward the development of Black Kids Predict. This work is ongoing within the tiilt lab and led by Dr. Marcelo Worsley.

Goals:

• Design and development of novel wearable devices in conjunction with teachers and youth

• Helping youth see the bidirectional learning opportunities between  physical computing and athletics.

• Provide opportunities for students and teachers to gain exposure and expertise in STEM+C through interdisciplinary activities.

Publications:

Stephanie T. Jones, JaCoya Thompson & Marcelo Worsley (2020): Data in Motion: Sports as a site for expansive learning, Computer Science Education, DOI: 10.1080/08993408.2020.1805287 (Link)

Clegg, T., Edouard, K., Greene, D., Jones, S., Melo, N., Nasir, N., Shapiro, R. B., Smith, M., Wright, C. G., Worsley, M., & Zimmermann-Niefield, A. (2020). Reconceptualizing Legitimate and Generative Learning Experiences in Sports and Technology. In Gresalfi, M. and Horn, I. S. (Eds.), The Interdisciplinarity of the Learning Sciences, 14th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS) 2020, Volume 1 (pp. 461-467). Nashville, Tennessee: International Society of the Learning Sciences. (Link)

Melissa Perez, Stephanie Jones, JaCoya Thompson, and Marcelo Worsley. 2019. Data in motion: Supporting youth interest in athletics through multimodal data analytics. XRDS 25, 4 (July 2019), 50-53. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3331073

A workshop held in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab.  The aims of this workshop were to support Kenyan students and professionals in developing technologies within the context of agriculture, accessibility, and design for manufacturing. We partnered with three local Kenyan companies in order to allow the participants to design for real applications. As a facilitator for this experience, Dr. Jones designed curriculum for using the ESP8266 IoT boards in Agriculture contexts and gave a presentation on AI and its applications.