PhD defense Archives - EduTec Science

Jul92024 by Heather WehnerNo Comments

Successful PhD Defense: Understanding Self-Regulated Learning in Blended Learning Environments

Learning Analytics, PhD defense, School, Self-Regulation

On the 28th of June Hendrik Drachsler had the honor of being a jury member for the PhD defense of Esteban Villalobos at the University of Toulouse. Esteban successfully defended his thesis titled “Developing a Learning Analytics framework to understand the temporal behavior of students in Blended Learning Environments“. Especially in Blended Learning (BL) settings, Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) is crucial for student success. These environments require students to manage their learning not only in online, but also in traditional in-person activities. Esteban’s thesis advances our understanding of SRL in BL contexts through a comprehensive approach, using Learning Analytics (LA) techniques as well as the latest Sequence Analysis (SA) advancements to examine students’ behaviors via trace data and self-reported measures. One of the main goals of his thesis is the manifestation…

Dec142023 by Prof. Dr. Hendrik DrachslerNo Comments

PhD defense on Technological Responses to Distracting Media Multitasking in Digital Learning Environments

Award, Higher Education, Learning Analytics, PhD defense, School, Self-Regulation

Today, we proudly acknowledge the remarkable achievement of our team member, Daniel Biedermann, in successfully defending his PhD thesis to become Dr. Biedermann. Woohoo, congratulations! In our modern world, the reality of digital distractions through the attention economy cannot be denied. Countries like the Netherlands, for instance, are planning to ban mobiles from classrooms starting from 2024. Daniel's PhD work centered on the complex challenges of digital media distraction, a phenomenon that's prevalent largely due to our pervasive use of social media and notification systems on our phones, PCs, and tablets. Presented in his disputation, Daniel argued the need for a context-sensitive system to gain a more profound understanding of digital media distraction. In addition, Daniel addressed the crucial subject of digital self-control tools (DSCTs). His research, which provided a…

Sep122022 by Joshua WeidlichNo Comments

DGHD Nachwuchspreis for Joshua Weidlich

Award, Conference, Higher Education, PhD defense

At this year's DGHD2022 in Paderborn, the German Society for Higher Education Pedagogy (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hochschuldidaktik: DGHD) awarded Dr. Joshua Weidlich for his dissertation on the topic of social presence in online distance education. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Theo Bastiaens, he conducted his dissertation at FernUniversität in Hagen, the largest distance education provider in Germany. The jury commended the scientific merits of advancing this line of research while also providing ample practical implications for higher education teaching. The dissertation is available online here and further information about the award will be published here.

Mar112022 by Prof. Dr. Hendrik DrachslerNo Comments

PhD defense: Measuring the Unmeasurable? Towards Automatic Co-located Collaboration Analytics

Artificial Intelligence, Book, Higher Education, Learning Analytics, Multimodal Learning Analytics, PhD defense, Press

Collaboration is one of the most important skills in the 21st century. Education, therefore, focuses on learning to cooperate, both in online and face-to-face settings. Learning Analytics is increasingly being used to analyse collaborations. Can face-to-face collaborations be analysed automatically by means of sensor technology? And what is the quality of the analyses generated by this? Sambit Praharaj developed a technical prototype to achieve automated collaboration analytics. On Friday 11 March 2022 at 1.30 pm Sambit defended his thesis 'Measuring the Unmeasurable? Towards Automatic Co-located Collaboration Analytics' at the Open University in Heerlen. Collaboration analytics using sensor technology Sambit Praharaj investigated the possibilities of automating collaboration analytics in face-to-face settings. He developed a prototype that measures the quality of collaboration. Praharaj also developed a dashboard that visualises the data and…

Feb182022 by Prof. Dr. Hendrik DrachslerNo Comments

PhD defense: Educational innovation towards organizational development: the art of governing open and online education in Dutch higher education institutions

Book, Higher Education, Open access, PhD defense, Press

Forms of open online education can bring about innovation in teaching and learning. Yet there is still little sign of this transformation at higher education institutions. How can open online education innovations be embedded in higher education institutions? And what organisational preconditions for open online education exist at various levels? On Friday 18 February 2022 at 4 pm, Martine Schophuizen defended her thesis entitled "Educational innovation towards organizational development: the art of governing open and online education in Dutch higher education institutions" at the Open Universiteit in Heerlen. Open Online Education (OOO) For years, there have been high expectations regarding the potential of forms of open online education (OOO), for example, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). However, research into the effects of OOO still provides too few insights into increasing…

Oct152021 by Prof. Dr. Hendrik DrachslerNo Comments

PhD defense by Tobias Rohloff: Learning Analytics at Scale Supporting Learning and Teaching in MOOCs with Data-Driven Insights

Learning Analytics, Lifelong Learning, PhD defense

Today I had the pleasure to participate in the PhD defense of Tobias Rohloff. The overall aim of this dissertation is to investigate the implementation of LA at the scale of MOOCs and to explore how data-driven technology can support learning and teaching in this context. To this end, several research prototypes have been iteratively developed for the HPI MOOC Platform. Hence, they were tested and evaluated in an authentic real-world learning environment. Most of the results can be applied on a conceptual level to other MOOC platforms as well. The research contribution of this thesis thus provides practical insights beyond what is theoretically possible. In total, four system components were developed and extended: (1) The Learning Analytics Architecture: A technical infrastructure to collect, process, and analyze event-driven learning data based…

Mar242021 by Prof. Dr. Hendrik DrachslerNo Comments

PhD Defense on educational importance of a well-designed dashboard in the online learning environment

PhD defense, Press, Team

The impact of technology in improving educational opportunities has grown significantly in the last decade. Especially in 2020, when the corona crisis led to an unprecedented growth in online education for all ages. Online learning environments are equipped with all kinds of possibilities to generate feedback, based on educational data, the learning analytics. Ioana Jivet investigated how learning analytics can be used as a feedback tool in online learning environments. What are relevant aspects in the design of the online learning environment? And what information should the dashboard display in order to optimally support the learner in the learning process? Ioana Jivet defends her thesis 'The Dashboard That Loved Me: Designing adaptive learning analytics for self-regulated learning' at the Open University on Friday 26 March 2021 at 1.30 pm (online).…