H-star history: building on a tradition of innovation

H-STAR was created in 2005-06 by faculty from two interdisciplinary university centers: CSLI (Center for the Study of Language and Information) and SCIL (Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning), with the intention of continuing and building on the long tradition of innovative research for which both centers are known, but with the much broader scope required to tackle the major people-technology problems of today.

CSLI

CSLI was founded in 1983, with initial funding from the System Development Foundation (a nonprofit spinoff from the RAND Corporation) to investigate fundamental issues of language from the different perspectives of linguistics, mathematical logic, philosophy, and computation. After merging with SCIL to create H-STAR, CSLI was re-established as a separate laboratory in fall 2008.

SCIL

The Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning (SCIL) was founded in late 2001 with a focus on research directed to inventing the future of learning and establishing a center of excellence to conduct scholarly research for advancing the sciences, technologies, and practices of learning to support K-12 and college level learning and teaching. It was launched in part with a Hewlett Foundation Institutional Development Grant, Presidential Funds, and a number of National Science Foundation grants.

Wallenberg Hall

SCIL is housed in Wallenberg Hall, a state-of-the-art research laboratory and testing ground for technology applications in the classroom. In addition to its research focus, SCIL also seeks to foster innovations in higher education that serve as practical applications of the sciences of learning. This goal is achieved by engaging Stanford faculty within Wallenberg Hall and beyond, as well as globally distributed partners, in researching and testing new pedagogical applications of current and emerging technologies in the context of their regular teaching responsibilities.

LSTD program

Soon after SCIL's creation, Director Roy Pea collaborated with colleagues in the School of Education and elsewhere on the campus to establish an interdisciplinary doctoral program in the Learning Sciences and Technology Design (LSTD), which now has a cohort of over 25 full-time students, in addition to the 15-20 masters students per year in the project-focused curriculum of the Learning Design and Technology (LDT) program, established in 1997. These students are active in H-STAR Institute research activities and a vital "people" contribution of our programs.

Media X

In 2002, we launched Media X, a University-Industry Partners Program that focuses on the initiation and support of interdisciplinary research of direct relevance to industry. All Media X research is directed to issues that emerge from collaborative deliberations between the program's industry partners and H-STAR faculty and Media X leadership. Industry partners help select the actual projects funded and are invited to participate in the research.

Broad scope

Although H-STAR was founded by faculty from the two centers CSLI and SCIL, its research scope is much broader than either. As Media X grew in membership (the program currently has around 25 industry partners), so too did its research profile. We established H-STAR as a university research institute that focuses on the same broad spectrum of issues that emerged within Media X. We believe that this kind of close involvement with leading industries is the way a cutting edge university should establish new units, if they are to be responsive to the needs of society and lead the way into interdisciplinary inquiries to tackle the complex problems facing the world of tomorrow.