Laura Graf

Laura Graf is a PhD student at the Technical University of Munich under supervision of Oleksandra (Sasha) Poquet. She has been working in the Learning Analytics Group there since 2023, studying effects and potential of AI for learning scenarios in collaboration with the Chair for Applied Software Engineering. She has a degree in medical informatics and extensive experience developing Machine Learning methods for more reliable applications that preserve human agency and understanding. She is passionate about data science and the development of technology that addresses the diverse needs of learners and workers, considering both engineering and social science perspectives.

The PhD project aims to understand group dynamics in higher education software engineering projects. Such collaboration experiences can be formative for the students’ identity as future professionals, as studies, e.g. on the relationship between STEM graduates leaving the field to social aspects such as feeling valued for their contributions, especially for minorities in the field, indicate. With LLMs changing how students study and produce software, new collaborative patterns emerge that potentially strongly affect group dynamics. We will study such changes to inform instructional practices for computer science education.