From ba4b66456a9ec1660e5e1196d67eb14a57873de5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Philippos Savvides Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2026 13:49:49 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 1/3] docs: editorial pass on README, HOW-IT-WAS-MADE, and About bio - Drop the duplicate "An interactive data story" lead in README; the tagline already says it once. - Replace two "fresh eyes" cliches (README retrospective, HOW-IT-WAS-MADE realization) with concrete language about going back to the data with newer statistical tools. - Tighten "What I realized was that I didn't need to know..." to "I didn't need to know..." in HOW-IT-WAS-MADE. - Switch the About-Philippos bio in the footer from third person to first person to match the rest of the site's voice. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) --- HOW-IT-WAS-MADE.md | 4 ++-- README.md | 4 ++-- index.html | 2 +- 3 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-) diff --git a/HOW-IT-WAS-MADE.md b/HOW-IT-WAS-MADE.md index 5323660..81909ef 100644 --- a/HOW-IT-WAS-MADE.md +++ b/HOW-IT-WAS-MADE.md @@ -10,11 +10,11 @@ That's the fate of most dissertations. Years of work, compressed into a PDF, fil ## The Realization -In early 2026, I revisited my data with fresh eyes and modern tools. I found something the original analysis missed: an ecological fallacy hiding in the results. A correlation that looked real at the group level vanished within each condition. That was a genuine discovery, buried in an eight-year-old dataset. +In early 2026, I went back to the data with newer statistical tools. I found something the original analysis missed: an ecological fallacy hiding in the results. A correlation that looked real at the group level vanished within each condition. That was a genuine discovery, buried in an eight-year-old dataset. I wanted to share it in a way that did the finding justice. Not as another paper. Not as a slide deck. As something people could experience. -Around the same time, I started using [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code), Anthropic's AI coding tool. What I realized was that I didn't need to know how to build a website from scratch. I could describe what I wanted, and build it through conversation. +Around the same time, I started using [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code), Anthropic's AI coding tool. I didn't need to know how to build a website from scratch. I could describe what I wanted and build it through conversation. ## The Process diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 9a12b3b..5a36aae 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ An interactive data story exploring VR, learning, and a surprising statistical f ![The ecological fallacy reveal — dots colorized by condition show the overall correlation disappears within each group](docs/screenshot.png) -An interactive data story built from a 2018 PhD study (n=108) that tested whether VR headsets improve learning. The answer was surprising: the simulation matters, not the headset — VR and desktop produced identical outcomes (Cohen's d = 0.23) while both massively outperformed passive instruction (d > 2.4). A 2026 reanalysis uncovered an ecological fallacy hiding in the original results: a correlation that looked real at the group level vanished within each condition. +The 2018 PhD study (n=108) asked whether VR headsets improve learning. The answer was surprising: the simulation matters, not the headset. VR and desktop produced identical outcomes (Cohen's d = 0.23) while both massively outperformed passive instruction (d > 2.4). A 2026 reanalysis uncovered an ecological fallacy hiding in the original results — a correlation that looked real at the group level vanished within each condition. [**View the Interactive Story**](https://savvides.github.io/dissertation/) @@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ The full addendum with all citations is in [`dissertation.md`](dissertation.md#u ## 2026 Retrospective -In 2026, I revisited this study with fresh eyes — red-teaming the methodology and reanalyzing the original data ([`data.csv`](data.csv)) using modern statistical tools. The core finding is rock-solid: interactive simulations produced massive learning gains over passive instruction (Cohen's d > 2.4). But the theoretical claims around *why* could be made much stronger. Key issues: +In 2026, I went back to the original data ([`data.csv`](data.csv)) and red-teamed the methodology with modern statistical tools. The core finding is rock-solid: interactive simulations produced massive learning gains over passive instruction (Cohen's d > 2.4). But the theoretical claims around *why* the result occurred could be made much stronger. Key issues: - **Confounded conditions** — The low immersion group received fundamentally different content (video/text vs. interactive simulation), confounding immersion with interactivity - **Uncontrolled time on task** — VR group spent ~10 more minutes than control (25.9 vs. 16.2 min) diff --git a/index.html b/index.html index 191408e..b231a48 100644 --- a/index.html +++ b/index.html @@ -129,7 +129,7 @@

How This Was Made

About Philippos

-

Philippos Savvides is an educational researcher with a PhD in Educational Technology from Arizona State University. His work focuses on how learners interact with simulations, virtual environments, and emerging interfaces.

+

I'm an educational researcher with a PhD in Educational Technology from Arizona State University. My work looks at how learners interact with simulations, virtual environments, and emerging interfaces.

LinkedIn →
From b00a979e8ce04721dd7e949e61f16f18e8be5e9f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Philippos Savvides Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2026 13:51:53 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 2/3] =?UTF-8?q?docs:=20humanizer=20pass=20=E2=80=94=20drop?= =?UTF-8?q?=20performative=20reveals=20and=20rule-of-three?= MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit - README lead: replace "The answer was surprising:" with the answer itself, and trim "uncovered an ecological fallacy hiding in" to "the presence- learning correlation is an ecological fallacy." - README retrospective: drop "rock-solid" and the passive "could be made much stronger." Replace "Key issues:" announcer with a colon that introduces the list directly. - HOW-IT-WAS-MADE Realization: drop the duplicate "hiding in" pattern; replace "a genuine discovery, buried in an eight-year-old dataset" with "a real finding, eight years late." - About bio: break the rule-of-three "simulations, virtual environments, and emerging interfaces" and replace "My work looks at how" with a direct verb plus a doublet that has voice. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) --- HOW-IT-WAS-MADE.md | 2 +- README.md | 4 ++-- index.html | 2 +- 3 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/HOW-IT-WAS-MADE.md b/HOW-IT-WAS-MADE.md index 81909ef..ea35bc7 100644 --- a/HOW-IT-WAS-MADE.md +++ b/HOW-IT-WAS-MADE.md @@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ That's the fate of most dissertations. Years of work, compressed into a PDF, fil ## The Realization -In early 2026, I went back to the data with newer statistical tools. I found something the original analysis missed: an ecological fallacy hiding in the results. A correlation that looked real at the group level vanished within each condition. That was a genuine discovery, buried in an eight-year-old dataset. +In early 2026, I went back to the data with newer statistical tools. The original analysis had missed an ecological fallacy in the results. A correlation that looked real across the whole sample vanished within each condition. A real finding, eight years late. I wanted to share it in a way that did the finding justice. Not as another paper. Not as a slide deck. As something people could experience. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 5a36aae..fc765e1 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ An interactive data story exploring VR, learning, and a surprising statistical f ![The ecological fallacy reveal — dots colorized by condition show the overall correlation disappears within each group](docs/screenshot.png) -The 2018 PhD study (n=108) asked whether VR headsets improve learning. The answer was surprising: the simulation matters, not the headset. VR and desktop produced identical outcomes (Cohen's d = 0.23) while both massively outperformed passive instruction (d > 2.4). A 2026 reanalysis uncovered an ecological fallacy hiding in the original results — a correlation that looked real at the group level vanished within each condition. +The 2018 PhD study (n=108) asked whether VR headsets improve learning. They don't. VR and desktop produced identical outcomes (Cohen's d = 0.23); both crushed passive instruction (d > 2.4). What mattered was the simulation, not the display. A 2026 reanalysis added something the original paper missed: the presence-learning correlation is an ecological fallacy — real at the group level, gone within each condition. [**View the Interactive Story**](https://savvides.github.io/dissertation/) @@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ The full addendum with all citations is in [`dissertation.md`](dissertation.md#u ## 2026 Retrospective -In 2026, I went back to the original data ([`data.csv`](data.csv)) and red-teamed the methodology with modern statistical tools. The core finding is rock-solid: interactive simulations produced massive learning gains over passive instruction (Cohen's d > 2.4). But the theoretical claims around *why* the result occurred could be made much stronger. Key issues: +In 2026, I went back to the original data ([`data.csv`](data.csv)) and red-teamed the methodology with newer statistical tools. The headline finding holds: interactive simulations crushed passive instruction (Cohen's d > 2.4). The theoretical story about *why* doesn't: - **Confounded conditions** — The low immersion group received fundamentally different content (video/text vs. interactive simulation), confounding immersion with interactivity - **Uncontrolled time on task** — VR group spent ~10 more minutes than control (25.9 vs. 16.2 min) diff --git a/index.html b/index.html index b231a48..ee80950 100644 --- a/index.html +++ b/index.html @@ -129,7 +129,7 @@

How This Was Made

About Philippos

-

I'm an educational researcher with a PhD in Educational Technology from Arizona State University. My work looks at how learners interact with simulations, virtual environments, and emerging interfaces.

+

I'm an educational researcher. PhD from Arizona State, in Educational Technology. I study how people learn from simulations and virtual environments — what helps, what gets in the way.

LinkedIn →
From 1f671139921dcd408d6faeb027e6cbd9df763bf1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Philippos Savvides Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2026 13:53:27 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 3/3] docs: drop inaccurate bio from About Philippos footer column Replace the column heading "About Philippos" with the author's name and remove the bio paragraph. Better an empty column than a wrong claim. LinkedIn link remains for readers who want more context. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) --- index.html | 3 +-- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/index.html b/index.html index ee80950..d2c3687 100644 --- a/index.html +++ b/index.html @@ -128,8 +128,7 @@

How This Was Made

-

About Philippos

-

I'm an educational researcher. PhD from Arizona State, in Educational Technology. I study how people learn from simulations and virtual environments — what helps, what gets in the way.

+

Philippos Savvides

LinkedIn →