Atezaz Ahmad, Author at EduTec Science

Oct22025 by Atezaz AhmadNo Comments

PhD Defense: A Triumph in Learning Analytics: Congratulations, Dr. Atezaz Ahmad!

The entire EduTec team warmly congratulates Atezaz Ahmad on his remarkable journey, as he has successfully defended his PhD thesis and now holds the distinguished title of Dr. Atezaz Ahmad. In a compelling and rigorous defense, Atezaz presented his groundbreaking research, titled: “Uncharted Territories: Learning Analytics Indicators from a Learning Design Perspective”. His PhD dissertation explores the intersection of Learning Design (LD) and Learning Analytics (LA) and addresses the long-standing challenge of their limited alignment. While LD focuses on structuring meaningful learning activities, LA provides data-driven insights into learning processes and outcomes, yet their connection has often remained fragmented. To bridge this gap, the thesis introduces the Learning Analytics and Design Alignment (LADA) framework, a comprehensive reference model that explicitly links LD principles with LA practices by connecting learning goals, activities,…

Oct172024 by Atezaz AhmadNo Comments

Girls and Women in STEM Forum of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT)

Artificial Intelligence, Award, Conference, Digitalisation, Event, Transfer Activity

Our Co-Worker Dana Kube was selected to be a jury member of this year's Girls and Women in STEM Award of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT) in Budapest. Read her report: I'm still buzzing with the energy from the Women and Girls in STEM Forum 2024! It was an inspiring day filled with conversations on AI, inclusion, and the future of STEM with girls and women from all over Europe. The keynote speakers, Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen and Ilaria Tagliavini, emphasised the urgent need for more women to lead the next generation of scientists in Europe, highlighting the European Commission’s commitment to this mission through strategic plans for STEM education. Ilaria celebrated Girls Go Circular’s expansion to 32 countries, recognising the need for a mindset shift towards greater…

Jun102024 by Atezaz AhmadNo Comments

New Pub: Emotional and motivational effects of automated and personalized feedback

Computer-supported collaborative learning, Empirical Study, Feedback, Higher Education, Journal, Learning Analytics, New Pub, Open access

With increasingly large student numbers, providing personalized teacher feedback becomes untenable. On the other hand, providing students feedback about their work is an integral part of ensuring student support throughout their learning trajectory. Fortunately, Learning Analytics now makes it feasible to automatically deploy feedback to many students at once. However, the design of effective feedback still remains an area of investigation Joshua Weidlich, Aron Fink, Ioana Jivet, Jane Yau, Tornike Giorgashvili, Hendrik Drachsler, and Andreas Frey's recently published paper in the Journal of Computer-Assisted Learning focused on one key design feature: the reference frame. Any feedback content must be formulated in reference to some performance level, be it the average of the student group (social comparison), the desired performance level (criterion-referenced comparison), or past performance. A longstanding literature on this…

May92024 by Atezaz AhmadNo Comments

New Pub: I don’t have time! But keep me in the loop: Co-designing requirements for a learning analytics cockpit with teachers

Empirical Study, Learning Analytics, New Pub, Research Methods, School

Teacher dashboards can help secondary school teachers manage online learning activities and inform instructional decisions by visualising information about class learning. However, when designing teacher dashboards, it is not trivial to choose which information to display, because not all of the vast amount of information retrieved from digital learning environments is useful for teaching. Information elicited from formative assessment (FA), though, is a strong predictor for student performance and can be a useful data source for effective teacher dashboards. Especially in the secondary education context, FA and feedback on FA, have been extensively studied and shown to positively affect student learning outcomes. Moreover, secondary teachers struggle to make sense of the information displayed in dashboards and decide on pedagogical actions, such as providing feedback to students. Objectives: To facilitate the…

May72024 by Atezaz AhmadNo Comments

New Pub: Students Want to Experiment While Teachers Care More About Assessment! Exploring How Novices and Experts Engage in Course Design

Computer-supported collaborative learning, Conference, Conference, Higher Education, Learning Analytics, Learning Design, New Pub, Open access, Open science, Publication, Technical paper

Abstract: Learning Design (LD) is the strategic orchestration of educational components to create a rewarding experience for students and educators. Adapting it to real-world scenarios with evolving technologies, like learning analytics (LA), adds complexity but offers the potential for enhanced learning outcomes and engagement. Prior research highlights the growing importance of LA in informing LD decisions. The FoLA2 method offers a collaborative approach to course design considering LA implications. This study pursues two primary objectives. Firstly, to enhance the FoLA2 method by granting course designers access to the Open Learning Analytics Indicator Repository (OpenLAIR) that facilitates visual connections between LD pedagogies, LDLA activities, LA indicators and their metrics. Secondly, to explore how novice and expert groups utilize the FoLA2 methodology to design a course in Technology Enhanced Learning. The findings…

May72024 by Atezaz AhmadNo Comments

Atezaz’s Conference Paper Presentation at CSEDU in Angers, France

Conference, Conference, Event, Learning Analytics, Learning Design, Publication

Atezaz shared insights from their paper titled "Students Want to Experiment While Teachers Care More About Assessment! Exploring How Novices and Experts Engage in Course Design" at the CSEDU 2024 conference in Angers, France, delving into its implications and findings. Additionally, this paper received a nomination in the Best Student Paper category.

Apr152024 by Atezaz AhmadNo Comments

New Publication: Addressing gender in STEM classrooms: The impact of gender bias on women scientists’ experiences in higher education careers in Germany

New Pub

In an expert study conducted in Germany, Dana Kube and her research team delve into the complex dynamics of gender bias within STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) classrooms. The study, aimed at understanding the role gender plays in shaping the experiences of women scientists in higher education, sheds light on the challenges they face and proposes strategies for fostering gender inclusivity in STEM classrooms. The primary objective of the study was two-fold: first, to comprehensively examine the influence of gender and gender bias in STEM environments within higher education institutions, and second, to identify potential areas where Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) pedagogical interventions could mitigate these biases among students and teachers in German STEM departments. Employing the innovative group concept mapping method, the research team collaborated with women participants…

Jan152024 by Atezaz AhmadNo Comments

New Article – Gender diversity dynamics in a Computer Supported Collaborative Learning

Artificial Intelligence, Computer-supported collaborative learning, Digitalisation, Empirical Study, Gender, Higher Education, Journal, Learning Design, New Pub, Open access, Publication, Special Issue, Team

🎉 Exciting News! Our article has just been published in the magazine of Computer Assisted Learning! 📰 We delved into the fascinating world of online group learning among adults, unravelling the mysteries of emergent team roles and their intricate connection to gender dynamics in communication. 🌐👥 Have you ever wondered how team roles subtly surface and evolve in online group learning discussions? We did, too! Our research explores the subtle nuances of team roles and their subversive emergence, especially when viewed through the lens of gender diversity, in order to understand how to support more productive learning for all participants. Gender and gender diversity are group features affecting social interaction and are critical for gender-inclusive and equitable education. As such, the role of gender and gender diversity is of particular…

Jan122024 by Atezaz AhmadNo Comments

New Pub: Toward a comprehensive framework of social presence

Computer-supported collaborative learning, Higher Education, Journal, Literature review, New Pub, Open access, Special Issue

Today, students in higher education likely come into contact with different modes of learning, e.g. online learning, blended learning, and, increasingly, hybrid learning. To the extent that communication is mediated by technology in these learning modes, students can experience varying degrees of social presence with regard to their peers. Social presence refers to the feeling that others are 'real' and 'close' despite the physical separation. Especially in learning scenarios that require communication and collaboration, social presence is a crucial consideration. Despite this, research on social presence is fragmented and many other relevant theoretical accounts, while potentially informative, have been neglected. This paper, coauthored by Karel Kreijns, Jane Yau, Joshua Weidlich, and Armin Weinberger, published in Frontiers in Education, Section Digital Education, attempts to provide a comprehensive account of social presence…

Nov232023 by Atezaz AhmadNo Comments

New Pub: LAxplore: An NLP-Based Tool for Distilling Learning Analytics and Learning Design Instruments out of Scientific Publications

Artificial Intelligence, Conference, Conference, Learning Analytics, Learning Design, New Pub, Open access, Publication, Technical paper

Abstract: Each year, the amount of research publications is increasing. Staying on top of the state of the art is a pressing issue. The field of Learning Analytics (LA) is no exception, with the rise of digital education systems that are used broadly these days from K12 up to Higher Education. Keeping track of the advances in LA is challenging. This is especially the case for newcomers to the field, as well as for the increasing number of LA units that consult their teachers and scholars on applying evidence-based research outcomes in their lectures. To keep an overview of the rapidly growing research findings on LA, we developed LAxplore, a tool that uses NLP to extract relevant information from the LA literature. In this article, we present the evaluation of…