Prof. Dr. Lisa Bardach, University of Giessen, Department of Psychology

July 16, 2025

Abstract

The rapid advancement of digitalization has raised important questions about how to effectively integrate digital educational technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) into teaching and learning environments. As these tools become increasingly embedded in classrooms and educational platforms, the need for effective strategies to enhance digital learning has become more urgent.
In this talk, Prof. Bardach will explore how we can better support digital learning by drawing on three strands of recent research. First, she will present findings from studies on student learning, engagement and dropout within intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs), highlighting how usage patterns differ depending on assignment structures within the system. Second, she will share insights from analyses of digital trace data, capturing learner characteristics and behaviors both in controlled laboratory settings and in real-world contexts. Finally, Prof. Bardach will discuss their recent work critically examining current research syntheses on AI in education, pointing to common shortcomings, and outlining potential pathways for making these syntheses more educationally meaningful and methodologically rigorous.

Speaker Biography

Lisa Bardach is a full professor of Educational Psychology with a focus on Digital Teaching and Learning at the University of Giessen, Department of Psychology, and an affiliated professor at the Kaunas University of Technology in Lithuania. Her research focuses on individual differences (e.g., motivation, personality, self-regulation, and cognitive abilities), their interplay, and their behavioral traces in digital environments. Given that children and adolescents are growing up in increasingly culturally diverse and often unequal worlds, she is also interested in how schools approach cultural diversity and how they can address social inequities. Additionally, she conducts research on digital learning and develops interventions based on digital technologies to support children’s and adolescents’ positive school-related development.

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