Curriculum and Teaching, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Alexandra Thrall
- PhD Student
Alexandra “Allie” Thrall’s research critically investigates the sociotechnical dynamics of emerging digital technologies in public education, focusing on how these tools either support or undermine justice-oriented schooling. Her scholarship spans two core strands: examining the political and social implications of digital platforms in schools, and designing and evaluating K-12 and teacher education curricula. In her dissertation, Thrall employs multi-site ethnographic methods across politically distinct high school communities to examine how teachers and students navigate digital information in humanities classrooms. Rather than viewing misinformation solely through the lens of individual digital skill deficits, her work demonstrates how sophisticated digital literacy practices are shaped by political affiliations and algorithmic structures, revealing how these underlying "infopolitics" influence civic learning and democratic education.
Beyond her dissertation, Thrall engages in impactful design-based inquiry and public-facing scholarship to address pressing contemporary educational challenges. Her collaborative curricular design projects have introduced innovative frameworks for secondary and elementary classrooms, including examining economic curricula centered on constructs of care and guiding pre-service teachers to critically interrogate generative AI and technology narratives. Through partnerships such as the Civics of Technology Project and initiatives exploring caregiver pushback against educational technologies, her research extends beyond academic literature into actionable insights for educators, parents, and policymakers.
What Faculty Say
Already, at this early stage, she has attained the level of productivity and scholarly impact of a successful researcher several years removed from their degree. She is exactly the sort of a student this award is meant to recognize, and I am glad for the opportunity to shine a light on her accomplishments. - Dr. Hope Koch, Min's dissertation committee.
— Dr. T. Philip Nichols, Allie's Advisor & Dissertation Chair
