New Pub: Optimizing Formative Assessment with Learning Analytics

New Pub: Optimizing Formative Assessment with Learning Analytics

Assessment, Learning Analytics, Literature review, New Pub
The teaching and learning processes in education need to be effective. This is something that all parents, teachers and educational scientists can agree on. To help us track the learners’ achievements and educational progress and ultimately show whether the teaching and learning processes are effective, we rely on formative assessment. Learning analytics has the potential to assist in formative assessment. So far there has not been enough evidence collected to prove this potential support. Thus, many have reservations about the connection between the results of learning analytics and formative assessment models. If the results from learning analytics don’t match well with formative assessment approaches, teachers may be reluctant to trust, understand or use those insights to guide their teaching. This issue is addressed in a recently published study which introduces…
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New Pub: ChatGPT in Education

New Pub: ChatGPT in Education

Journal, New Pub, Research Methods
Early studies on the usage of ChatGPT in educational settings have reported substantial learning gains from ChatGPT applications. But how valid are these studies? Is using ChatGPT in education really as effective as it seems? A newly published paper takes a deeper look at key findings from past debates about media and teaching methods to reveal frequent conceptual challenges that arise in studies about the effectiveness of ChatGPT. When researchers compare different types of media for learning, they sometimes mix up the effects of the teaching style with the features of the technology. If the instructional methods and the technological features are confused with one another, it makes it difficult to be able to interpret the actual effect of ChatGPT. To help pinpoint the conceptual difficulties of these efficacy studies,…
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New Pub: Design, Development and Evaluation of HILA

New Pub: Design, Development and Evaluation of HILA

Artificial Intelligence, Keynote, Learning Analytics, Publication
How can AI-supported learning analytics be integrated into educational processes in a significant way?  How can they be designed, tested and further developed to effectively improve teaching and learning practices? These questions were addressed by Hendrik Drachsler in his keynote at the Learning AID 2024 in Bochum, which has recently been published in the conference proceeding “Learning Analytics, Artificial Intelligence und Data Mining in der Hochschulbildung”. In his keynote, Hendrik stresses the importance of content-specific applications that address genuine educational needs and are supported by empirical evidence demonstrating their effectiveness. The key to fostering adaptive and sustainable learning experiences is to understand and accommodate learners’ individual needs. Hendrik argues that technological progress alone is not sufficient to improve education. His ongoing research shows that AI-supported learning analytics can only bring…
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A Heartfelt Welcome to our New Colleague Sricharan Sammeta

A Heartfelt Welcome to our New Colleague Sricharan Sammeta

Team
We’re happy to extend a warm welcome to a new addition to our extended team, Sricharan Sammeta, who has just started this September for the Educational Computer Science unit of DIPF and will be working closely with us. Sricharan completed his Master of Engineering in Mechatronics at the Technische Hochschule Rosenheim, where he focused on applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to solve complex engineering and data-driven challenges. Over the past years, he has worked on projects that involved implementing core machine learning and AI concepts - from deep learning and generative AI to MLOps and multi-agent LLM systems. His work has focused on transforming advanced AI methods into scalable, real-world applications using platforms like AWS and GCP. During his time at DIPF, Sricharan plans to develop AI-powered tools designed…
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A Big Welcome to our New Colleague Hruday Kumar Kolla

A Big Welcome to our New Colleague Hruday Kumar Kolla

Team
We’re delighted to welcome Hruday Kumar Kolla to the Educational Technologies team at DIPF! Hruday joined us this September as an AI Software Developer, working under the guidance of Prof. Hendrik Drachsler. Hruday brings a rich background in artificial intelligence and software development. He completed his Master’s degree at the University of Siegen, where he also conducted his thesis at Bosch, focusing on unsupervised AI for defect detection. Over the past four years in Germany, he has explored a wide range of AI use cases, gaining hands-on experience across industries. Before joining DIPF, Hruday spent over a year at Mercedes-Benz in Sindelfingen as an intern and working student, developing AI-based web applications and working on cloud deployment strategies. Now at DIPF, Hruday is excited to apply his expertise to the…
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A Warm Welcome to our New Colleague Leon Camus

A Warm Welcome to our New Colleague Leon Camus

Team
We happily introduce Leon Camus, who has joined our team this September as a doctoral researcher. Leon’s research journey began during his Bachelor's studies, where he explored short answer grading in educational contexts. He continued this line of work during his Master's in Computer Science at TU Darmstadt, focusing on the implementation and enhancement of short answer grading systems with integrated feedback mechanisms. Throughout his academic career, Leon has gained extensive experience in digital learning environments—designing, extending and applying them in various educational settings. His expertise spans natural language processing, educational technology and automated assessment. Building on his foundation in natural language procesing, his PhD research focuses on automatic annotation of textual data. We look forward to accompanying you on your academic journey and welcome you to the EduTec team!
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New Pub: How Feedback Literacy Moderates Student Perceptions of Feedback

New Pub: How Feedback Literacy Moderates Student Perceptions of Feedback

Feedback, Higher Education, Journal, New Pub
Whether or not students receive effective feedback can have a big impact on their overall learning process. The more qualitative and personalized the feedback is, the more effective it is in supporting the students with their individual learning goals. The latest developments in learning analytics and artificial intelligence have made it possible to provide a large number of students with personalized feedback automatically and simultaneously. Despite these technical advances, there is still much to be learned about the ability of students to use this feedback for their scholastic benefit. So far, only a limited number of studies have examined the impact of feedback literacy on students' perceptions of feedback, which is particularly true for technology-enhanced learning environments. A newly published paper addresses this issue and focuses on how students interpret…
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New Pub: How Learners Interpret and Respond to Feedback in Learning Analytics Dashboards

New Pub: How Learners Interpret and Respond to Feedback in Learning Analytics Dashboards

Feedback, Journal, New Pub, Self-Regulation
Online learning platforms can generate a great amount of data about how students engage in the learning process. This data is used to develop learning analytics dashboards as feedback tools to assist students in self-regulating their learning. But how do students use these tools to self-reflect? And how can they use the information provided by learning analytics dashboards (LAD) in a meaningful way? In a new publication these questions are explored using the data from an experimental study with 417 students, which investigated how the students interpret and respond to feedback from LADs. In the study,  the students were divided into 2 groups: A treatment group was given personalized self-regulated learning (SRL) feedback from the LAD on the basis of interactions and progress; A control group was given minimal feedback…
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New Pub: Tracking students’ progression in developing understanding of energy using AI technologies

New Pub: Tracking students’ progression in developing understanding of energy using AI technologies

Artificial Intelligence, Journal, Publication, School
[caption id="attachment_7553" align="alignright" width="400"] Instructional unit, with pre- and post-test, as well as lesson-set-level assessment[/caption] In physics education, some students fail to have the foundational knowledge of energy concepts needed to engage in societal debates on climate change and energy transformation. A newly published study highlights the potential of AI to identify students with different learning trajectories and to help bridge the knowledge gaps. The researchers used a digital workbook designed to teach energy concepts to collect detailed interaction data from over 500 students. After applying exclusion criteria, data from 172 students were analyzed to identify their productive and unproductive learning curves. [caption id="attachment_7554" align="alignleft" width="400"] Example single choice pretest item[/caption] By using machine learning, specifically random forest models, and natural language processing (NLP), the researchers were able to classify…
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A Warm Welcome to Our Guest Researcher Yildiz Uzun

A Warm Welcome to Our Guest Researcher Yildiz Uzun

New Pub
We are delighted to welcome Yildiz Uzun as a guest researcher in our team! Yildiz is a PhD student at the Knowledge Lab, Institute of Education (IOE), University College London (UCL). Her research explores how students regulate their learning with the support of learning analytics feedback in the form of a dashboard, with a particular focus on how they engage with this feedback. She also examines how engagement with analytics feedback can be scaffolded and enhanced through the integration of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistant. During her visit to DIPF, she will collaborate with Prof. Hendrik Drachsler and the EduTec team to advance her current AI-driven feedback process by analysing student queries to the AI assistant, evaluating the pedagogical quality of AI responses and identifying ways to optimise conversational systems…
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