Theses
The chair welcomes student suggestions for bachelor’s as well as master’s theses related to the research field E-Learning and New Media. In particular, we support experimental studies and subsequent quantitative data analysis.
Our staff members present available research topics on their respective web pages and will gladly consult you on the choice of your thesis topic. In case you are interested in a research field presented here, please do not hesitate to contact the corresponding staff member.
The following overview will give you an impression of possible topics:
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- Design of Digital Agents (e.g., regarding anthropomorphism or group affiliation)
- Embodiment and Perspective-Taking in Virtual Reality
- Efficacy of Gamification Elements
- Cognitive Psychological Methods (e.g., "Who said what" Paradigm, Approach-Avoidance Task)
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Other suggestions:
| Programming of a personalized open-source tool in Python with interface to OPAL |
The goal is to design an installable application that includes various functions (e.g., blocklists, ambient noise/learning music, planning tools, gamification elements, time tracking) and can be connected to OPAL. |
| Exploration of different design variants of personalized Smart Personal Assistants, considering individual learner characteristics |
Based on self-reported OPAL usage and other learner characteristics, various learning clusters are formed, and preferences for the use of different design variants of a Smart Personal Assistant are examined in a vignette study. |
| Investigation of different design variants of personalized Smart Personal Assistants by considering individual learning and design preferences |
A Smart Personal Assistant will be designed to consider individual preferences (e.g., regarding the use of specific gamification elements), and the effectiveness of using different design variants will be examined in an experimental study. |
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- Artificial Intelligence as a Learning Medium - Application and Interaction
- Educational Agents and Their Representation
- Adaptability of Learning Material and Medium
- Emotional Design through Embodiment
- Metacognitive Knowledge in the Construct of Cognitive Load (CLT)
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Other suggestions:
| Artificial Intelligence as a Learning Tool |
Literature Review: AI is on everyone's lips, and the benefits as well as the rules in the learning context are widely discussed. Initial research studies show controversial results. Here, an overview of the current state of research and potentials in the context of CLT (Computer-Aided Language Teaching) could be provided. |
| Cooperative Lego Study |
Cooperative learning shows great potential. But does it also work with a robotic arm? Here, we aim to investigate which variables we need to influence in a cooperative setting to promote interaction and create a cooperative learning scenario. |
| Artificial Intelligence as an Educational Agent |
Empirical Study: Educational agents create more familiarity with the learning material and can influence learning motivation. What effects arise when we can interact with the EA (Educational Agent) powered by AI? |
| Personalization of Learning Material |
Empirical Study: Educational agents can influence the learning experience through parasocial interactions. But what happens when the learner can personalize their own EA? |
| Metacognitive Knowledge |
The measurement of different subtypes of cognitive load often leads to discussions as they cannot be well differentiated in questionnaires. Can pretraining help? |
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- Learning with Concept Maps (Creation of Concept Maps)
- Optimization of Whiteboard Animations
- Measurement of Cognitive Load
- Investigation of the Disfluency Effect
- Segmentation Effect in Multimedia Learning
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- Social cues in multimedia learning: the influence on learning outcomes and credibility
- Personalization in languages with several polite forms
- Accents, dialects
- Retrieval Cues and Context-dependent Memory in multimedia learning
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Other (concrete) suggestions:
| Investigating the generalizability of the retrieval cue effect to learning with learning texts and videos. |
TThe aim is to investigate whether the retrieval cue effect, which has been widely demonstrated for the learning of simple word lists, can be generalized to multimedia learning environments with whole learning texts videos and whether retrieval cues can improve learning performance and reduce cognitive load. |
| Identification of forms of personalization in learning texts and videos that are conducive to learning and possible moderators of the personalization effect. |
The aim is to investigate which forms of personalization in learning texts and videos are conducive to learning and which factors may influence the personalization effect. |
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- Game-based Learning and Educational Equity: Learning games as an opportunity to provide access to education for all
- Personality, Group Dynamics, and Cooperative/Collaborative Learning: who learns well together with whom?
- Multimedia Learning in the Neurodivergent Domain (ADHD/Autism) and in cases of cognitive and learning deficits
- Learning with Instructional Videos: Design recommendations for effective video-based instruction
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Other (concrete) suggestions:
| Personality and Cooperative/Collaborative Learning |
Investigation into how personality traits influence collaborative learning: who learns better in a team? And do certain personality constellations contribute to successful cooperative/collaborative learning? Investigation conducted as a laboratory or school experiment. |
| Design of a Smart Personal Assistant for Neurodivergent Students or Pupils |
Neurodivergent students or pupils should be assisted by a Smart Personal Assistant to navigate university or school life more successfully and happily. How should this assistant be designed to guide students, for example, through exam preparation or to help in acute crises? Various design elements will be discussed and tested through experimental studies. |
| Differentiated Examination of Individual Design Effects in Instructional Videos (especially with specific target groups) |
The known design effects will be examined more closely in terms of their implementation. For example: how much signaling should be used simultaneously to be supportive for certain target groups (more is more, or less is more)? What colors should be used for signaling? (-> emotional design) Can strategically placed personalization (direct addressing in particularly important content) further enhance the learning-supportive effect? This will be investigated through experimental studies. |
| Design and/or Programming of a Learning Game App for Students with Migration Backgrounds |
The aim is to develop a learning game app that helps children who have come to Germany as refugees or migrants to better navigate and integrate into school life more quickly. Cultural and linguistic aspects will be considered, as well as general design recommendations. A prototype will be developed and tested on a small sample. |
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- Influence of Linguistic Variation on Learning Outcomes (e.g., Language Complexity, Audio Quality, Accent, Dialect)
- Physiological Measures (e.g., Heart Rate Variability)
- Eye-Tracking
- Digital Learning Games
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- Accent and Dialect (in Educational Agents)
- Credibility Measurement of Educational Agents
- Virtual Pedagogical Agents
- Culture and Learning
- Context and Learning
- Organizational Learning
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- Influence of Seductive Details or Decorative Elements on Learning Performance
- Learning efficacy of erroneous examples
- Learning effects of observing drawing processes in whiteboard teaching formats
- effects of the order of different teaching methods, e.g. worked examples and problem solving
- Verbal redundancy
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