Applicant: Lude Rozema (Education and Child Studies)

Many students find statistics courses intensive and complex and have difficulty actively practicing the material. In addition, they are increasingly using AI for preparatory assignments, which carries the risk of inept or inappropriate use. This can undermine the learning process and actually detract from their understanding of the subject matter. To address these challenges, Lude Rozema is developing a responsible, Socratic AI chatbot that actively guides students in deepening their understanding. The chatbot encourages critical thinking by asking questions rather than providing direct answers, thus offering additional tools for students to work with the material independently.

Applicant: Shaza Saadeh, Minja Sarovic & Tirza Smits (Education and Child Studies)

Students are increasingly using AI, but often do not know what is and is not permitted within their study program. In addition, there is often a lack of awareness about the risks and opportunities of this technology, as well as a lack of reflection on their own attitudes and use. To address this, Saadeh, Sarovic, and Smits are developing an interactive module focused on AI literacy. This module familiarizes students with AI and encourages them to actively reflect on their own use. The goal is for students to take ownership of their AI use and learn to critically assess how to utilize the possibilities of AI in a responsible manner.

Applicants: Marit Guda, Kim Stroet & Tirza Smits (Education and Child Studies)

Students are increasingly being asked to work on assignments in groups. This requires skills that not all students have mastered. To support students in this, Guda, Stroet, and Smits have developed an online collaboration tool in which students are asked during the collaboration how the collaboration is going and to reflect on this. With the help of this Grass Shoots, they want to further develop this tool and include an AI component as part of the tool. This AI component works as a chatbot that asks questions about specific themes, which should help students to clarify their preferences.

Applicant: Marieke Tollenaar (Psychology)

This Grass Shoots project investigates whether practicing conversation skills with GenAI chatbots in clinical skills courses helps students strengthen their conversation skills and stimulates self-efficacy and autonomous learning. This application is a follow-up to the Grassroots research project “AI Chatbot Use in Clinical Skills Education: Feasibility and Effectiveness for Suicide Prevention Skills Assessment.” This research had positive results in terms of feasibility and showed that students in the Master's program in Clinical Psychology have a positive attitude toward the use of chatbots for training clinical conversation skills. Through this Grass Shoots project, Tollenaar aims to further develop the possibilities of GenAI chatbots in clinical skills education and deploy them on a larger scale.

Applicant: Sebo Uithol (Psychology)

Students often find it difficult to gain an overview of the many events, movements, and philosophical perspectives within the history of psychology and to understand how they are interrelated. As a result, their knowledge remains fragmented and they lack a clear overall picture of how psychology has developed. To address this challenge, Uithol is developing an online, interactive timeline with a wiki-like structure. Students can navigate between thinkers, movements, and developments and explore their connections. The items also include formative tests, allowing students to check their understanding and prepare for the exam in a targeted manner.