New at Leuphana: Prof Dr Dana-Kristin Mah - AI in Education

ChatGTP went online in 2022. Many educational institutions were sceptical: would students still do their own homework? Would everyone cheat in university exams? "When using AI in education, both opportunities and challenges should be discussed," says Professor Dr Dana-Kristin Mah. She is head of the newly created Junior Professorship for Digital Teaching and Learning. Her research interests are in higher education, with a focus on educational technologies, artificial intelligence, learning analytics, didactics and skills development.

She wants to demystify AI and highlight its potential for teaching: "Digital learning systems can recognise patterns, for example. Where are the strengths, where are the development needs of the learners? Based on this, systems can independently suggest further learning content or give advice," explains Dana-Kristin Mah. Above all, a confident approach to AI also involves critical thinking: "ChatGPT is mainly based on Western data sources; details of the data used are not published. The whole world is not represented, and stereotypes are reinforced. Users need to consider and reflect on this bias".

Her doctoral research focused on student attrition and how digital education technologies can help keep students in university. This included learning analytics and digital badges.

Later, at the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft, she helped set up the KI Campus, a digital learning platform on artificial intelligence. Among other things, she developed the didactic design and quality assurance criteria for digital learning programmes such as online courses and researched the need-based further development of the learning platform.

At Leuphana, the professor will continue her research in the field of higher education and also devote herself to the school sector. She primarily offers courses for student teachers. She focuses on digital and AI skills, as well as the potential and challenges of educational technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) for digital teaching and learning: "In my teaching, I integrate digital tools as a didactic resource and as an object of learning. I want future teachers to be familiar with digital teaching and learning methods and to be able to use them sensibly and competently". One didactic concept is the "flipped classroom": students learn new content at home, thus strengthening their self-learning skills. The seminars are used for practical exercises, discussion and reflection. The professor also uses digital surveys and online whiteboards for collaborative work in her courses. "I see myself as a learning facilitator and I want to be a role model for good teaching," says Dana-Kristin Mah.

Dana-Kristin Mah studied education at the Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg, the Technical University of Berlin and the University of Stockholm. She obtained her doctorate at the University of Mannheim. Her dissertation deals with academic competences and educational technologies to increase student retention. Until 2019, she was a researcher and consultant at the project management organisation VDI/VDE Innovation und Technik GmbH and the Institute for Innovation and Technology (iit). She then took on the position of Head of Research and Instructional Designer at the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft in the project "KI-Campus - The Learning Platform for Artificial Intelligence". In 2023, Dana-Kristin Mah was appointed Junior Professor for Digital Teaching and Learning at the Institute for Educational Science at Leuphana University Lüneburg.