AI-EMOT
Project description
This research advances emotional support in programming education by addressing three interrelated challenges: high student dropout rates in information technology (IT), the growing demand for IT professionals in Europe, and the ethical implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in education. While Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) offers powerful opportunities for personalization and learner support, the EU AI Act establishes strict requirements for transparency, accountability, and the responsible use of learner data. Emotions are increasingly recognised as essential components of learning and performance, particularly in programming education, where many students fail to complete their studies within the expected time frame. To address this issue, the project conducts a pre-study followed by a 2.5-year longitudinal case study examining how students’ emotions are associated with collaborative problem-solving (CPS) in programming courses. A central research focus is on scripting—a pedagogical form of scaffolding that structures and guides cognitive, social, and motivational processes during collaboration. Instructional scripts will be developed and implemented under both scripted and non-scripted conditions using experimental and control groups (n=150+150) to assess their short- and long-term effects on learning outcomes, engagement, and emotional dynamics. The study integrates multimodal data analysis, ambulatory assessments, and pre-test/post-test designs to develop transparent, effective, and ethically compliant methods for identifying and analysing emotions in line with the requirements of the AI Act. Complementing the empirical work, a Delphi study with international AIED experts will be conducted to synthesise ethical principles, best practices, and policy recommendations for the responsible use of AIED. The project ultimately contributes to the development of trustworthy, human-centred, and regulation-aligned approaches to emotional support and AI integration in programming education.
