Chair of Human-Centered Technologies for Learning
Research Clusters
AI for Empowerment and Learning
Focus: Developing AI systems that amplify human learning, creativity, and agency through collaborative human-AI partnerships.
Technologies: Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, natural language processing, generative models.
Immersive Environments for Human Augmentation
Focus: Advancing human perception, collaboration, and innovation through immersive technologies.
Technologies: Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), spatial computing.
Our research pioneers human-centered AI that transforms how individuals learn, create, and thrive. By fostering collaborative partnerships between humans and AI, we enhance educational experiences, spark innovative thinking, and promote agency in domains like professional development, social interaction, and lifelong learning.
We create immersive environments that augment human perception and capabilities, empowering users to explore virtual worlds, design innovative solutions, or collaborate in enhanced realities. By integrating human-centered AI, these systems adapt to user needs, enabling applications in fields like education, training, entertainment, and social interaction.
Multimodal and Adaptive Systems for Empowered Interaction
Focus: Enabling intuitive, personalized, and inclusive human-technology interaction through dynamic, multi-sensory systems.
Technologies: AI, VR, AR, eye-tracking, multimodal sensing.
Eye Tracking and Gaze-Based Interaction
Focus: Harnessing eye-tracking to enhance human attention, intent, and social connection in interactive systems.
Technologies: Eye-tracking, AI, multimodal sensing, VR/AR integration.
We develop multimodal and adaptive systems that empower users by making technology responsive, intuitive, and tailored to individual needs. By combining multi-sensory interfaces with human-centered AI, these systems support seamless interaction for creative expression, professional workflows, and inclusive applications, ensuring accessibility for diverse users across contexts like collaboration, productivity, and innovation.
Our gaze-based research augments cognitive and social capabilities by using eye-tracking to capture user intent and enhance interaction. Integrated with human-centered AI, these systems empower users in real-time collaboration, creative design, and inclusive communication, with applications spanning education, healthcare, gaming, and professional environments, ensuring accessibility and engagement for all.
News
Skin-Deep Bias Featured on Deutschlandfunk 🎙️
Can the appearance of an AI interviewer influence how fair a hiring decision feels?
In a recent interview with Tobias Krone from Deutschlandfunk, Carrie Lau, a PhD researcher from HCTL at the Technical University of Munich, discussed findings from our research, Skin-Deep Bias, exploring how AI interviewer appearances shape perceptions of trust, fairness, and bias in AI-assisted recruitment.
The interview was featured on Deutschlandfunk's Campus und Karriere programme.
🎧 Listen to the interview (in German)
📄 Read our paper: Skin-Deep Bias – CHI 2026
Interview by Tobias Krone | Deutschlandfunk – Campus und Karriere
Carrie Lau Successfully Defends Doctoral Thesis
Carrie's research investigates how generative AI (GenAI) can be designed and evaluated to support cultural and social inclusion, focusing on meaningful participation in cultural heritage and fair participation in AI-mediated interactions.
Through immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences, she explored how GenAI-driven dialogue, immersion, personalization, and adaptive guidance shape engagement with living cultural traditions. She also examined GenAI as a social actor, exploring how AI avatar identity influences perceptions of fairness and bias in job interviews, and how behavioral measures such as eye tracking can complement self-reports in evaluating human–AI interactions.
Suleyman Ozdel Successfully Defends Doctoral Thesis
Süleyman’s research explores how eye tracking can connect the understanding of human behavior with the design of intelligent interactive systems while addressing the privacy challenges of using sensitive behavioral data.
His work examines attention and cognitive processes in immersive virtual reality (VR) environments and develops models that use gaze to interpret activities and predict viewing behavior. Alongside these applications, he investigates the personal information that eye movements can reveal and develops methods for analyzing gaze data while protecting the underlying recordings. These studies examine how interactive systems can benefit from gaze information while preserving users’ privacy.
New Paper at ITET 2026
Wunmin Jang, Hong Gao, Tilman Michaeli, and Enkelejda Kasneci examine visual attention and communication patterns in distributed pair programming and what they mean for programming education. The paper was presented at ITET 2026 in Hiroshima, Japan, where it received the Best Presentation Award.
Between Hype and Reality - Interview with Prof. Kasneci
AI is reshaping education. But are we asking the right questions? The latest issue of didacta Magazin features an interview with Prof. Enkelejda Kasneci by Roman Eisner on exactly that. The interview tackles the tensions that matter most right now: How do we use AI in classrooms without students skipping the skills they still need to build? How do we stop a digital divide from widening between those who have access and those who don't? And how do we actually prepare teachers for a technology that is moving faster than our research base? The conclusion? Read the full interview to find out.
Best Presentation Award at the ITET 2026
Wunmin Jang from our research group received the Best Presentation Award at the 2026 7th International Conference on Information Technology and Education Technology (ITET 2026), held in Hiroshima, Japan, on June 5-7, 2026. The award recognized the work titled "Understanding Visual Attention and Communication in Distributed Programming for Programming Education." The presentation was delivered in the conference session "Educational Technology Tools: Design, Interaction, and Learning Outcomes." Co-organized with IEEE, the conference brought together current research in the field of educational technology.