Students as Innovation Partners: AI in Higher Education

Johannes Schleiss is a researcher at the Artificial Intelligence Lab of Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg. His work focuses on applied and digital educational concepts for AI and the integration of AI technologies in education. He coordinates the development of AI Engineering, a unique study program collaboratively offered by five universities in Saxony-Anhalt. Additionally, Johannes is an associated Research Fellow at KI-Campus, an learning platform for AI, and a PrüfungHochDrei-Fellow for innovative assessment formats. As a DigitalChangeMaker, he contributes to the student Think&Do-Tank at Hochschulforum Digitalisierung, where he helped develop the HFDVision program and other participation formats. Since July 2024, Johannes has been serving as a Future Scout for Generative AI in Higher Education with the Stifterverband. In 2024, he also undertook a research stay at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Daria Berndt is a Master's student in Design at the HAWK Hildesheim. In her research and work specialising in design science and communication design she focuses intensively on the risks of data gaps and data bias in AI systems in the Higher Education context. As part of the Future Scouts programme of Stifterverband and Reinhard Frank-Stiftung, one of her goals is to identify and develop effective approaches that can be used to raise awareness of these challenges among users of different status groups.

Milena Stegner is a doctoral student in the field of AI ethics at the University of Freiburg and a research assistant for AI projects at the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW) in Heilbronn. As part of the Future Scouts programme of Stifterverband and Reinhard Frank-Stiftung, she is investigating the possible applications, potential and impact of AI chatbots in higher education. She places a particular focus on the social and ethical components of chatbots.

Jan Plüer is studying for a Master's degree in Management & Technology at the Technical University of Munich, specialising in computer science. In the past year, he has trained over 2,500 people in various training formats on AI. His online course at the KI-Campus was recognised by the FAZ as one of the best courses on generative AI. As part of the Future Scouts programme of Stifterverband and Reinhard Frank-Stiftung, Jan wants to highlight further good practice examples of AI chatbots in teaching based on his experience in developing an AI chatbot at the TUM School of Management. He also wants to strengthen cross-university discourse and transfer on AI through the targeted networking of pioneering institutions.