Research Professorship of Learning Sciences in Higher Education

Deutsch

Marcus Specht Photo: Volker Wiciok

New forms of artificial intelligence are dramatically changing our everyday lives. In particular, the knowledge people acquire and how they acquire it has been influenced in recent years by increasingly powerful versions of generative AI models with ever-faster iterations. Questions of knowledge acquisition, motivation, information literacy, and critical thinking all play an important role.

Psychology of Digital Teaching and Learning

The design and development of "Intelligent Learning Technologies" are associated with interdisciplinary challenges as well as fundamental insights from learning and instructional psychology.

In the research professorship revolving around the topic of "Psychology of Digital Teaching and Learning", human-computer interaction in teaching and learning processes is viewed on three levels:

A) Knowledge and Skill Acquisition,

B) Regulation,

C) and Motivation.

These levels are essential variables of successful teaching and learning to research learning technologies, learning activities, instructional designs, and their effects.

Learning Engineering

Marcus Specht's research is based on the principle of learning engineering. It involves systematically applying evidence-based principles and methods from educational technology and learning sciences to create engaging, effective learning experiences. The goal is to help learners overcome difficulties and challenges, and develop a better understanding of learning and learners.

This research professorship shares many similarities with the Learning Analytics research professorship, particularly with regard to iterative and systematic data collection. It also maintains close and continuous contact with the Computer Linguistics professorship to stay up to date on the latest findings in the field of large language models, automated scoring, and testing AI prototypes.

News from the Research Professorship

Marcus Specht Appointed New Scientific Director of CATALPA

Mancus Specht and Friedrich Hesse Photo: Hardy Welsch/Henrik Schipper

Change at the top of CATALPA: Prof. Dr. Marcus Specht recently took over as the research center's new Scientific Director.
MORE

"How do we shape responsible innovation?"

Marcus Specht and Lena Oden, she is holding a pair of VR glasses Photo: Volker Wiciok

Computer scientist Prof. Lena Oden and psychologist Prof. Marcus Specht discuss high-performance computing, learning research in living labs, and responsibility.

More

    • Use of Learning Analytics and its effects on metacognitive processes, learning outcomes, and learning motivation
    • Use of Augmented and Virtual Reality for the development of authentic problem-solving competence, deliberate practice, and development of horizontal competencies
    • Use of artificial intelligence and its influence on self-efficacy, learning success, and learning motivation

  • Prof. Dr. Marcus Specht

    Marcus SpechtPhoto: Hardy Welsch

    Maria Efstathiadou

    Assistence of the research professorship Learning Sciences

    Email: maria.efstathiadou

    Phone: +49 2331 987-4678

    PRG, Room B 113 (1st Floor)

    Stella Kolarik

    Stella KolarikPhoto: Private

    Dr. Jakub Kuzilek

    Jakub KuzilekPhoto: Private

    Dr. Florence Kristin Lehnert

    Florence LehnertPhoto: Hardy Welsch

    Daiana Rinja

    Daiana RinjaPhoto: Hardy Welsch

    Academic Assistant:

    • Sascha Wanninger
    		  

  • 2025

    Journals

    • Al Owayyed, M., Tielman, M., Hartholt, A., Specht, M., & Brinkman, W.‑P. (2025). Agent-based social skills training systems: the ARTES architecture, interaction characteristics, learning theories and future outlooks. Behaviour & Information Technology, 44(9), 1787–1814. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2024.2374891
    • Lee, Y., Migut, G., & Specht, M. (2025). Unveiling cognitive processes in digital reading through behavioural cues: A hybrid intelligence (HI ) approach. British Journal of Educational Technology, 56(2), 678–711. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13551
    • Lehnert, F. K., Doublet, S., & Sim, G. (2025). Designing usability/user experience heuristics to evaluate e-assessments administered to children. Computer Standards & Interfaces, 92, 103933. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csi.2024.103933
    • Soleymani, A., Laat, M. de, & Specht, M. (2025). Exploring Personal Experience and Value Creation in Postdigital Education: Insights from a Large-Scale MOOC Survey. Postdigital Science and Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-025-00561-0

    • van Martins Jaarsveld, G., Wong, J., Baars, M., Specht, M., & Paas, F. (2025). Enhancing goal attainment in higher education with a scripted conversational agent: Effects of monitoring and reflection support in digital learning. Computers & Education, 239, 105441. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2025.105441

    • van Martins Jaarsveld, G., Wong, J., Baars, M., Specht, M., & Paas, F. (2025). Goal setting in higher education: how, why, and when are students prompted to set goals? A systematic review. Frontiers in Education, 9, Article 1511605. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1511605

    • Conferences

    • Kolarik, S. (2025). Perceived Augmented Reality Affordances in Logistics. In AHFE International, Human Aspects of Advanced Manufacturing, Production Management and Process Control. AHFE International. https://doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1006445

    • Rüdian, S., Podelo, J., Kužílek, J., & Pinkwart, N. (2025). Feedback on Feedback: Student’s Perceptions for Feedback from Teachers and Few-Shot LLMs. In Proceedings of the 15th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference (pp. 82–92). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706468.3706479

      Swamy, V., Kuzilek, J., Pinto, J., Paquette, L., Kaser, T., Liu, Q. S., & Cohausz, L. (2025). The 2nd Human-Centric eXplainable AI in Education (HEXED) Workshop. In Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Educational Data Mining. Symposium conducted at the meeting of International Educational Data Mining Society.

    • van Martins Jaarsveld, G., Wong, J., Baars, M., Specht, M., & Paas, F. (2025). Scaling goal-setting interventions in higher education using a conversational agent: Examining the effectiveness of guidance and adaptive feedback. In Proceedings of the 15th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706468.3706510

      van Meeuwen, L., Conijn, R., Ventura-Medina, E., Specht, M., Rienties, B., Viberg, O., Kaliisa, R., & Jivet, I. (2025). 2nd Workshop on Challenges and Opportunities of Learning Analytics Adoption in Higher Education: Prerequisites for Smart and Engaging Dashboards. In Companion Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge. https://www.solaresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/LAK25_CompanionProceedings-Final.pdf

      Zhang, X., Aivaloglou, E., Liut, M., & Specht, M. (2025). Assessment of Algorithmic Abstraction Skills in Higher Education: An Application of the PGK Framework. In 2025 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON). https://doi.org/10.1109/EDUCON62633.2025.11016629

    • Proceedings

    • Aleven, V., Conati, C., & Specht, M. (Eds.) (2025). International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education. https://link.springer.com/journal/40593

    • Talks and Poster Presentations

    • Soroka, E. (2025, June 28). Investigating User Needs for digital Learning Design and Perceptions of FoLA. Open Universiteit. PhD Day.

      Soroka, E., & Dahmann, K. (2025, May 13). Online Collaborative Text Insight: How to provide highly informative automated feedback? JTELSS 2025. https://ea-tel.eu/events/thematic_online-collaborative-text-insight

      Soroka, E., & Dahmann, K. (2025, May 16). Bridging Teaching and Learning: How to Design Learning That Truly Impacts Student Success. JTELSS 2025. https://ea-tel.eu/events/thematic_bridging-teaching-and-learning

    2024

    Journals

    • Çavuş, M., & Kuzilek, J. (2024). An Effect Analysis of the Balancing Techniques on the Counterfactual Explanations of Student Success Prediction Models. Journal of Measurement and Evaluation in Education and Psychology(15 (Special Issue)), 302–317. https://doi.org/10.21031/epod.1526704

    • Zhang, X., Aivaloglou, F., & Specht, M. (2024). A Systematic Umbrella Review on Computational Thinking Assessment in Higher Education. European Journal of STEM Education, 9(1), 2. https://doi.org/10.20897/ejsteme/14175

    Conferences

    • Çavuş, M., & Kuzilek, J. (July 2024). The Actionable Explanations for Student Success Prediction Models: A Benchmark Study on the Quality of Counterfactual Methods. In 17th Educational Data Mining Conference 2024, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3840/HEXED24_paper1.pdf

    • de Wit, S., Hermans, F., Specht, M., & Aivaloglou, E. (2024). Gender Differences in Story, Game and Visual Adventures in Hedy. In F. Hermans & R. Bohrer (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2024 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on SPLASH-E (pp. 1–11). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3689493.3689983
    • de Wit, S., Hermans, F., Specht, M., & Aivaloglou, E. (2024). Gender, Social Interactions and Interests of Characters Illustrated in Scratch and Python Programming Books for Children. In B. Stephenson, J. A. Stone, L. Battestilli, S. A. Rebelsky, & L. Shoop (Eds.), Proceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 1 (pp. 262–268). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3626252.3630862

    • Palomino, A., Fischer, A., Kuzilek, J., Nitsch, J., Pinkwart, N., & Paassen, B. (2024). EdTec-QBuilder: A Semantic Retrieval Tool for Assembling Vocational Training Exams in German Language. In K.-W. Chang, A. Lee, & N. Rajani (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2024 Conference of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics: Human Language Technologies (Volume 3: System Demonstrations) (pp. 26–35). Association for Computational Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2024.naacl-demo.3

    • Soleymani, A., Aerts, T., Laat, M. de, & Specht, M. (2024). Gamified Networked Learning Environments in Higher Education: A Study on Student Engagement and Value Creation in Computer Science. In Proceedings of the 18th European Conference on Games Based Learning. Symposium conducted at the meeting of European Conference on Games Based Learning (ECGBL). https://doi.org/10.34190/ecgbl.18.1.2660
    • Valle Torre, M., Oertel, C., & Specht, M. (2024). The Sequence Matters in Learning - A Systematic Literature Review. In Proceedings of the 14th Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference (pp. 263–272). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3636555.3636880
    • van der Werf, V., Hermans, F., Specht, M., & Aivaloglou, E. (2024). Variables and Variable Naming in Popular Programming Textbooks for Children and Novices. In M. Dorodchi, M. Zhange, & S. Cooper (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2024 on ACM Virtual Global Computing Education Conference V. 1 (pp. 242–248). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3649165.3690112
    • van der Werf, V., Swidan, A., Hermans, F., Specht, M., & Aivaloglou, E. (2024). Teachers' Beliefs and Practices on the Naming of Variables in Introductory Python Programming Courses. In A. Roychoudhury, A. Paiva, R. Abreu, M. Storey, K. Gama, & J. Siegmund (Eds.), Proceedings of the 46th International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training (pp. 368–379). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3639474.3640069
    • Zhang, X., Aivaloglou, E., & Specht, M. (2024). Teachers' Intention to Integrate Computational Thinking Skills in Higher Education: A Survey Study in the Netherlands. In 2024 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON) (pp. 1–9). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/EDUCON60312.2024.10578887

    • Proceedings

    • Aleven, V., Conati, C., & Specht, M. (Eds.) (2024). International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education. https://link.springer.com/journal/40593

    • Phd and Habilitation Thesis

    • Lehnert, F. K. (2024). Measuring Children's User Experience with E-Assessments:: Implications for a Better Interpretation of UX Evaluation Methods for School-Aged Children [, Unilu - Université du Luxembourg [Faculté des Sciences Humaines, des Sciences de l’Education et des Sciences Sociales (FHSE)], Luxembourg].

    • Talks and Poster Presentation

    • Soroka, E., Dahmann, K., & Menzel, L. (2024, May 15). Data-Driven Strategies for Enhanced Educational Outcomes through effective Learning Design. JTELSS 2024. https://ea-tel.eu/events/thematic_data-driven-strategies-for-enhanced-educational-outcomes

    • Software

    • Soroka, E., Menzel, L., & Dahmann, K. (2024). FoLA | digital. https://fola.digital/

  • Maria Efstathiadou

    Assistence oft the research professorship Learning Sciences

    E-Mail: maria.efstathiadou

    Telefon: +49 2331 987-4678

    PRG, Room B 113 (1st Floor)

CATALPA | 06.03.2026