Abstract:

Having friends and peers in student life is associated with positive aspects of academic motivation and performance. Strong ties to peers appear to correlate with academic success and to be associated with stronger university affiliation (France 2010). Research also shows that social relationships and group formation are critical factors in facilitating adjustment in an unfamiliar environment such as the university (Maunder 2013). These findings are also confirmed by the study of Heublein et al. (2017), which found that 40% of the dropouts surveyed felt they had to cope with the demands of a degree program on their own (Heublein et al. 2017, p. 160). Due in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a growing need for offerings to promote collaboration among students and dropout prevention measures.

Following the findings of the theory, it may be inferred that building peer relations in university is of high importance. The approach of building virtual communities is being pursued by the study assistance system SIDDATA (“Study individualisation through digital, data-based assistants”) – funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research. The overall goal of the tool is to help students define and pursue individual learning goals. Target dimensions are furthering the ability for self-regulated study, self-monitoring and supporting individualised studying. For this purpose, previously unlinked data are integrated within a digital assistant. By combining such data, SIDDATA should be able to provide individual study recommendations appropriate to the respective situation. At the same time, it aims at contributing to more personal responsibility in the course of studies, e. g. with regard to a students’ learning and working behaviour, also in cooperation with fellow students.

SIDDATA is currently in a continuous development phase. The prototype offers a total of ten modules to students from three university locations in Germany. The modules include, for instance, specialised interests, personality module, study abroad and also the match-making module. In the latter, the idea of forming peer groups is pursued. By specifying own interests, students got matched to peers and can form criterion-based communities with like-minded people and come into exchange virtually via SIDDATA.

For the evaluation of the assistant, four virtual focus group discussions were conducted in March 2021 as part of design thinking workshops. The focus groups surveyed were asked to select two to three modules, discuss them in a group work and participate in an online questionnaire adapted to each module. The tested modules were then transferred into a matrix with four dimensions, to show the extent to which the module is helpful and understandable. Subsequently, students were asked to make suggestions for optimisation, primarily by expressing their expectations and wishes for a digital study assistant and at the module level.

Initial experiences with SIDDATA and the match-making module confirm that building virtual communities and using a study assistant in general are of great benefit in higher education. Similarly, first evaluation results also indicate that students desire a 1:1 match with fellow students. This approach is planned for the following prototype phase of SIDDATA.

The paper presents the results of the design thinking workshops, in particular the first experiences with testing the match-making module and its further development.

Keywords:

Digital study assistant, design-based thinking, requirements engineering.