Johnny (Yeonhee) Cho
Johnny (Yeonhee) Cho is a Ph.D. candidate at the iSchool.
When you meet someone who doesn鈥檛 know about your research, how do you describe it?
I usually describe my work as research on game-based learning and playful design for understanding complex digital and social problems. I study how games, both digital and non-digital, can function as learning environments where young people explore emotion, values, and decision-making around technology.
My dissertation focuses on misinformation education for teenagers, but from a game-based learning perspective. Funded by the Social Science Research Council鈥檚 Data Fluencies program, the project examines how teenagers make sense of misinformation through designed games and structured debriefing activities. Rather than asking only what teens believe, my work investigates how game mechanics, roles, and reflection spaces help them process emotions like humor, anger, guilt, and peer pressure that often drive sharing behavior online.
Beyond misinformation, I study game-based learning in related youth media contexts. In my , I co-designed a card-based game with teens, coaches, librarians, and researchers to explore emotional regulation, teamwork, and 鈥渢ilt鈥 in competitive play. I have also conducted research using social VR environments to examine how immersive, embodied interaction can support communication, collaboration, and learning.
My AI literacy research focuses on AI storytelling and AI-assisted emotional expression tools for children and youth. Rather than teaching AI as a technical system, I study how young people interpret and negotiate AI through creative interaction. In these projects, youth co-create stories with AI or compare their own emotional representations with AI-generated ones, using play and reflection to explore questions of authorship, emotion, trust, and agency. Across all of my work, my central interest is how playful systems help young people understand and navigate powerful digital technologies.
Who is the faculty member working most closely with you? What are you learning from them?
My primary advisor is Dr. Jin Ha Lee, whose mentorship has been foundational in shaping my identity as a game-based learning researcher in information science. From her, I鈥檝e learned how to study games not only as artifacts, but as systems of interaction, emotion, and meaning-making. Her guidance has helped me connect creative game design with strong theoretical grounding and rigorous qualitative research.
I also work closely with Dr. Jason Yip, director of the KidsTeam research group. Through this collaboration, I鈥檝e learned how to design games, AI-assisted tools, and storytelling activities with children and teens as co-designers. This participatory approach has deeply influenced my work on misinformation games, esports tools, and AI emotional expression projects by centering youth voice, creativity, and interpretation.
Why are you interested in this subject?
My interest comes from a long-standing fascination with play as a way of learning, exploring, and making meaning. During my master鈥檚 studies in Learning Sciences and Technology at the University of Pennsylvania, I became interested in how interactive media, especially games, shape how people learn socially and emotionally.
As I began studying misinformation, I noticed that traditional instructional approaches, such as fact-checking lessons, often failed to address why people feel compelled to believe or share content. Games offered a different entry point. They allow learners to experiment with choices, experience consequences, and reflect together. This led me to focus on game-based and story-based learning as ways to help youth navigate misinformation, esports culture, social VR, and AI systems as lived experiences.
What impact do you hope to make in the information field through your research/dissertation?
I hope my work helps position game-based learning, storytelling, and playful design as core approaches within information science, especially for youth-focused research and education. My dissertation demonstrates how misinformation education can be reimagined through games that foreground emotional and social sensemaking rather than fact-checking alone.
Through my broader work on esports, social VR, and AI storytelling and emotional AI tools, I aim to contribute design principles for playful learning systems that support reflection, empathy, and ethical engagement with emerging technologies. I hope this work informs educators, librarians, and designers who are building learning experiences in an AI-driven information environment.
What surprised you the most when digging into your research?
I was most surprised by how expressive and reflective teenagers become in game-based environments. In my research, such as misinformation games, esports card activities, social VR studies, and AI emotional expression tools, young people often articulated sophisticated ideas about responsibility, fairness, and emotional impact, especially when interacting through roles, mechanics, or shared play.
I also found that games created safer spaces for difficult conversations. Teens who were reluctant to speak in interviews opened up during play, using game elements as emotional buffers and conversation starters. These moments reinforced my belief that games don鈥檛 just teach content; they change how people relate to each other and to complex problems.
What are your career goals once you graduate?
After completing my Ph.D., I plan to pursue a faculty position in Information Science, Educational Technology, or Library and Information Studies, where I can continue building a research agenda centered on game-based learning, participatory design, and youth digital well-being.
I envision leading a research lab that partners with schools, libraries, and youth organizations to co-design games, AI storytelling systems, social VR experiences, and playful emotional tools addressing misinformation, esports culture, and AI literacy. My long-term goal is to help shape an information ecosystem where play and storytelling support emotional understanding, ethical reasoning, and responsible participation in an AI-mediated world.
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