Human - Computer Interaction and Education (HCIE)

Topic Cluster Chair: Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Inf. Dr. Maria Knobelsdorf

 

Research Agenda

Human - Computer Interaction and Education (HCIE) focuses on research questions related with digital humanism, computer science education, technology education, game-based design, and human-centered design of systems in general. As an outcome, research of HCIE  results in usable interfaces, assistive technology, technology-enhanced therapies, gamification technology, data visualizations as well as insights and improvement of student learning of programming, pedagogical approaches to computing education and research-oriented teacher education of Computer Science.

Interacting with technology, HCIE’s research agenda is aspiring to:

  • Improve quality of life: User experience – effectiveness – personal fulfillment
  • Increase social inclusion – decrease digital divide
  • Drive digital transformation by empowering individuals and society through technology interaction

From a theoretical and methodological point of view, HCIE’s research is strongly interdisciplinary combining theories and methods from a variety of research fields like Computer Science, Education, Humanities, Psychology, and Sociology with a strong focus on:

  • Human-centered design and design-based research
  • Qualitative social methods like grounded theory, biographical approaches, qualitative content analysis, videography
  • Quantitative methods (numerical data gathering for descriptive or experimental studies, statistical and machine learning approaches, data-driven methods)
  • Theories from Learning Sciences (Socio-cultural cognition theories, constructivism)

Research Seminar HCIE (summer term 2024)
  • 500503 SE Doctoral Research Seminar - Human-Computer Interaction and Education

Research Groups

HCIE has strong connections and intersections to other research groups at the Faculty of Computer Science regarding, e.g., learning analytics, data visualization, or security and privacy. Therefore, HCIE is open to and welcomes any kind of research related to the cluster topic’s research agenda. Currently, HCIE relies on research from the following three research groups, which contribute to the research agenda:

Research Group Cooperative Systems (COSY)

  • Cultural, political & ethical aspects of digital change
  • Intuitive and sustainable use of innovative ICT
  • Situational user conditions vs. universal technology

Research Group Education, Didactics and Entertainment Computing (EDEN)

  • Individual Interest in Computer Science of K-12 Students
  • CS Competences Development
  • Socio-technical systems and technology-enhanced learning
  • Person-Centered technology enhanced Learning (PCeL)
  • Research with focus on human perception
  • Efficacy of applications of games & gamification fostering 
  • Compliance, persuasion, well-being, health, psychology, art

Designated Members

Designated members of the research cluster HCIE in alphabetical order: