University of Notre Dame Research Explores AI for Personalized Homeschooling

In an era where educational approaches are as diverse as the learners themselves, the University of Notre Dame is at the forefront of exploring how artificial intelligence can profoundly impact one of the fastest-growing segments of education: homeschooling. A recent study, co-authored by Notre Dame researcher Mohammad Rashidujjaman Rifat, sheds light on the potential of AI to revolutionize personalized learning for homeschooling families, offering a glimpse into a future where education is more adaptable, culturally responsive, and parent-controlled than ever before.

According to the University of Notre Dame, over 3.4 million American children are now homeschooled, representing about 6 percent of the school-age population. This number has grown significantly, nearly tripling its pre-pandemic rate. This surge isn't confined to the U.S., with countries like Canada and the United Kingdom also seeing increased interest as parents seek more customized educational paths for their children. The research from Notre Dame directly addresses the unique needs of this expanding community, aiming to provide tools that support parents in their role as engaged educators.

Empowering Parents as Reflective Partners

The core of this Notre Dame research, published in the 2026 proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, revolves around creating AI-powered platforms that put parents firmly in control. Mohammad Rashidujjaman Rifat, an assistant professor of tech ethics and global affairs at Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, emphasizes that traditional school-centered platforms are often optimized for classroom control and standardized pacing. In contrast, homeschooling families prioritize adaptable routines, value-aligned materials, and community support.

“We wanted to build something that keeps parents in control as reflective partners who shape what their children actually learn,” Rifat stated, according to the University of Notre Dame. This philosophy guided the design of their digital platform, named Homeroom, which was developed to accommodate a diverse range of homeschooling families, addressing needs from academic flexibility to cultural alignment and even school safety concerns.

The study, conducted with Muslim families in the greater Toronto area from April to July 2025, evaluated the platform's usability and effectiveness. The goal, according to Notre Dame, is to eventually expand this work to larger groups across multiple communities.

Designing for Culturally Responsive Personalization

Homeroom was designed with three key objectives:

• Supporting Active Parental Participation: Ensuring parents are central to shaping their children's education.
• Promoting Culturally Responsive Personalization: Helping families create learning environments that affirm their children's identities.
• Facilitating Collaboration: Enabling parents to connect and collaborate within trusted homeschooling circles.

The platform's workflow allowed participants to brainstorm, create, and refine stories for ethics education, and to craft curriculums that seamlessly integrated family heritage and cultural norms with age-appropriate educational standards. This focus on cultural relevance is particularly impactful, as it helps fill gaps in existing educational materials.

For instance, some parents used Homeroom to generate stories reflecting their children’s cultural identities, which are often difficult to find or costly to acquire. Parents appreciated the ability to adjust the tone, setting, and cultural motifs – including familiar foods, holidays, and everyday customs – until a story resonated perfectly with their child, according to the University of Notre Dame's findings. This level of customization ensures that learning is not just personalized academically, but also deeply rooted in a child's background and values.

This kind of tailored support is invaluable. For students and families seeking additional, free learning resources, platforms like COSMIQ offer voice-driven AI tutoring, providing instant help across subjects and grades, complementing the personalized curriculum parents might create.

The Need for Agency and Representation in AI

The research highlighted several crucial findings, particularly the strong desire for parental agency. Parents adopted a “trust-but-verify” approach, wanting to preview and edit educational materials before sharing them with their children. This control was especially critical when it came to cultural representation.

The study also revealed the importance of precision in defining cultural values. One participant, for example, asked the platform to generate stories emphasizing humility. Instead of the specific, everyday practices her children knew (like sitting on the floor to eat), she received more generalized moralizing narration. This experience underscored a broader finding: generic value labels are insufficient; families need tools to define how these values manifest concretely in their own households.

Furthermore, the Notre Dame researchers observed that participants preferred small, intimate groups for collaboration over broad forums. These smaller circles made it easier to ask sensitive questions and receive practical feedback. Parents also expressed interest in following trusted peers, adapting shared lessons with clear attribution, and even monetizing original content.

Beyond content creation, parents also sought tools to reduce administrative burdens, such as reusable rubrics, a portfolio generator, and connections to local events that could be integrated directly into student records. These practical features would significantly streamline the homeschooling process.

Addressing Broader Challenges in Human-AI Collaboration

This study is a natural extension of Rifat’s broader research agenda, which focuses on how AI can move beyond a one-size-fits-all design to better serve diverse communities with distinct cultural needs and values. It also tackles a common concern about AI: the risk of creating “echo chambers” that only reinforce existing beliefs.

While acknowledging this risk, Rifat explains that well-designed personalization can actually create opportunities for communities to encounter different perspectives rather than avoid them. The Homeroom platform, for example, included features designed to expose children to materials from outside their own backgrounds. “One of the critiques I hear is that we’re building echo chambers,” Rifat noted, according to the University of Notre Dame. “But personalization is already happening whether we like it or not. The question is whether we design it in a way that brings communities together or drives them further apart.”

Rifat co-authored the study with Ayla Khan (University of Toronto Mississauga), Nouran Yahya (University of Waterloo and University of Toronto Mississauga research assistant during the study), and Samar Sabie (University of Toronto). The research received funding from the Urban Challenge Grant program at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities.

Mohammad Rashidujjaman Rifat holds concurrent appointments in Notre Dame’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering and is a faculty affiliate with several of Notre Dame’s esteemed centers and institutes, including the McKenna Center for Human Development and Global Business, the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion, the Pulte Institute for Global Development, the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good, and the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society. His extensive affiliations underscore the interdisciplinary nature and broad impact of his work.

A Promising Future for Personalized Education

The University of Notre Dame's research into AI-driven personalized learning for homeschooling families offers a hopeful vision for the future of education. By focusing on parental agency, cultural responsiveness, and community collaboration, this work paves the way for AI tools that truly empower educators and learners. It celebrates the potential of technology to foster more inclusive and effective learning environments, ensuring that every child can receive an education that is not only academically rigorous but also deeply resonant with their unique identity and values. For those preparing for academic milestones, resources like COSMIQ's exam prep directory can offer valuable support in navigating various tests and subjects.