Research topic Archives - Page 2 of 23

Nov282025 by Heather WehnerNo Comments

Exploring the Future of Digital Teaching at #EduNext25

Artificial Intelligence, Conference, Event, Higher Education

On 26.11.2025 our team had the privilege of participating in #EduNext25, a full-day conference dedicated to the future of digitalization and AI in higher education. Hosted by studiumdigitale at Goethe University Frankfurt, the event brought together educators, researchers and innovators from across Hessen and beyond to discuss how technology can transform teaching and learning. The opening remarks by Prof. Dr. Viera Pirker, Minister TimonGremmels and Prof. Dr. Hendrik Drachsler set the tone: digitalization and AI are not just trends, they are essential tools for shaping the academic experience of tomorrow. One highlight was the EduConnect session, where universities from the HessenHub network and the QuiS program showcased their latest projects and approaches to digital learning. Another highlight was the panel discussion on strategic alliances for future teaching. Experts from various…

Nov142025 by Heather WehnerNo Comments

LAMASS@DiLea Study Report and Data Set Now Published

Empirical Study, Higher Education, Learning Analytics, Project, Publication, Report

What factors influence academic success and dropout rates in digital study formats at universities? What factors and effects at the subjective, curricular and institutional levels can be empirically measured and how do they interact in digital study formats? Can a factor analysis be used to compare digital and face-to-face study formats? The LAMASS@DiLea project team now present the answers to these questions in the newly published project report “LAMASS-Studie: Studienerfolg und Studienabbruch in digitalen Studienformaten”. It is a comprehensive analysis of academic success and dropout rates in digital study formats. The results of the study are valuable for existing digital study formats and for degree programs that wish to boost their use of digital technology. The dataset has also been published and is available to download. Modell des Studienabbruchs in…

Nov62025 by Nina MouhammadNo Comments

New Pub: From Nervous to Noteworthy: Evaluating SPEAKS

Competence development, Conference, Conference, Higher Education

Public speaking can be nerve-wracking, but it’s also a skill every professional needs. Many students leave higher education feeling unprepared to speak confidently in front of an audience. Traditional courses exist, but providing enough guidance to every student is time- and resource-intensive. This is where SPEAKS comes in. SPEAKS (Speech content Preparation for Effective and Authentic Knowledge Sharing) is an educational software designed to guide students through preparing the content of their speeches. The tool and its evaluation were presented at ECEL 2025 in a paper authored by Nina Mouhammad, Jan Schneider, Roland Klemke and Daniele Di Mitri as part of the HyTea-project, highlighting its potential to support students in developing better speech content and becoming more confident regarding public speaking. The tool uses a fully scripted, chat-based interface with…

Oct312025 by Heather WehnerNo Comments

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…

Oct312025 by Heather WehnerNo Comments

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,…

Sep172025 by Heather WehnerNo Comments

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…

Jul212025 by Heather WehnerNo Comments

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…

Jun272025 by Heather WehnerNo Comments

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…

Jun122025 by Heather WehnerNo Comments

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…

May222025 by Heather WehnerNo Comments

New Pub: Pedagogical Framework for Hybrid Intelligent Feedback

Artificial Intelligence, Feedback, Journal, Publication

[caption id="attachment_7525" align="alignright" width="300"] Principles of hybrid intelligent Feedback[/caption] ChatGPT and other Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools have quickly become an active part of everyday academic life. Both teachers and students use them regularly to do research, summarize texts or responses, create exercises or quizzes or explain course content. But GenAI needs to be used in a sensible manner and consistent with sound teaching principles. Otherwise, it could lead to an over-reliance on technology and neglect the important roles of teachers and students. Ideally, GenAI should be used to complement rather than replace human-centered education. When pedagogical practices combine the strengths of humans and AI, this can ultimately lead to enhanced creativity, empathy and academic comprehension of students. A recently published paper explores a promising field of human-AI collaboration in…