December 2025 - EduTec Science

Dec182025 by Heather WehnerNo Comments

A Year Full of Delights

Team

In December, I always take the time to sit down and reflect on the past year and on what my team and I have accomplished. As I now sit at my desk and review the past year’s events, I am interrupted by my stomach, which is growling. And on my desk before me is a nicely wrapped bag of mixed Christmas cookies. Every year around this time, local schools, kindergartens, sports clubs, etc. have bake sales to collect money for a good cause. I am always happy to help with such efforts, and so, of course, I bought a package. And here it is right in front of me, while my stomach is growling … Maybe just a peek inside my stomach tells me ... Maybe try a cookie ...…

Dec182025 by Prof. Dr. Hendrik DrachslerNo Comments

New Pub: How Virtual Reality Mental Training Impacts Race Preparation in Recreational Runners

Augmented Reality, Computational Psychometrics, General education, Journal, New Pub, Publication

Can Virtual Reality Mental Training Help Recreational Runners Race Smarter? We’re glad to announce that our paper has just been published! 🎉 In this post, we share the key ideas and early findings from our newly published study exploring how virtual reality (VR) mental training—grounded in cognitive-behavioral (CB) techniques—may support long-distance recreational runners in adopting race strategies and strengthening motivation within a coaching context. What happens when cognitive-behavioral (CB) techniques like imagery and self-talk meet virtual reality (VR) in a coaching context? An exploratory study of recreational long-distance runners provides intriguing early signals. Why this study matters VR has been used in sports settings to support skill learning and performance, but it’s still relatively uncommon to see VR paired directly with cognitive-behavioral mental training—especially practical tools like imagery and self-talk…

Dec42025 by Heather WehnerNo Comments

New Collaborative Research Center [in:just]

Artificial Intelligence, Project

We are excited to announce that we will be part of the newly launched Collaborative Research Centre [in:just]. This center is special as it will be the first such center in the field of educational sciences and will focus on justice and participation in the educational system. Its goal is to study why inequality in Germany’s educational system continues to exist and what factors contribute to this. The spokespersons are Prof. Merle Hummrich and Prof. Vera Moser, both of whom work in the Department of Educational Sciences at Goethe University. The first phase of the Collaborative Research Centre [in:just] will be funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) from 2026 – 2029. A team of 31 researchers from fields such as education, sociology, philosophy, political science, law, geography and computer…

Dec22025 by Heather WehnerNo Comments

Moving Education Towards Didactical Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence, Event, Invited talk, Learning Analytics

ChatGPT and other GenAI tools are said to be good for learning. But does their usage really empower learners, or does it overwhelm them instead? Studies from Highly- Informative Learning Analytics (HILA) programs show how complex the effects of such AI-tools can be. While dashboards can potentially improve students’ learning outcomes, AI feedback can sometimes be helpful and sometimes be demotivating for students, depending on their feedback literacy. In a recent presentation at IWM Lectures Hendrik Drachsler argues that we need more research into Didactical Intelligence – a framework for understanding when, how and for whom AI and Learning Analytics truly improves learning and when not. Technology alone doesn’t guarantee better outcomes; its success depends on thoughtful integration into pedagogy. He therefore presented the Highly-Informative Learning Analytics research platform. This…