Bio:

Olesia Pavlenko is a Ph.D. student in Education at the University of New Hampshire whose work examines how technology, artificial intelligence, and digital literacies reshape teaching and learning in multilingual contexts. Her research focuses on multilingual learners, equity, and the role of digitally and AI-mediated environments in expanding access to knowledge across educational settings. She investigates how innovative tools can support inclusive, multimodal, and equity-oriented language and literacy education.

With over 15 years of international experience in teaching, academic leadership, and curriculum design, Olesia has taught in higher education, mentored more than 100 undergraduate tutors, and led professional development for K–12 teachers working with multilingual and high-needs communities. Her publications appear in Language Learning & Technology and TESOL Journal, with forthcoming work on critical AI literacy, digital game-based learning, and multimodal assessment. Her scholarship integrates quantitative methods, experimental and quasi-experimental design, and applied linguistics frameworks to examine learning, interaction, and access in digitally mediated environments .

She has presented at leading conferences, including the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), the American Educational Research Association (AERA), TESOL International Association, and the Computer-Assisted Language Instruction Consortium (CALICO). She currently serves as Chair-Elect of the AERA Graduate Student Council, a national leadership role supporting approximately 7,000 graduate student members. Recognized with national awards, fellowships, and research grants, Olesia is also a widely recognized Kahoot! educator, whose gamified learning resources have reached over 8.6 million learners worldwide across one of the most widely used global educational platforms .

Her work advances human-centered approaches to digital and AI-supported education, with particular attention to equity, access, and learner engagement. More broadly, her research contributes to conversations at the intersection of education, technology, and society, with growing emphasis on inclusion, information equity, and global educational challenges.