“Education, research and practice must continuously strengthen one another”

As a researcher within the Learning Technology & Analytics research group, Claudia Diers-Lienke focuses on AI Literacy: how students and teachers can use AI critically, consciously and with a future-oriented mindset. Drawing on her experience in education, journalism and research, she works on practice-oriented and future-proof education. “We should not only control AI but also learn to collaborate with it.” 

Curiosity has always driven Diers-Lienke. Recently, she officially joined the Learning Technology & Analytics research group, one of the research groups within the Centre of Expertise Global and Inclusive Learning, as a researcher focusing on AI Literacy: AI wisdom. According to her, this is urgently needed. 

According to Diers-Lienke, there are many opinions about AI, but too little real knowledge. As she explains: “You see a lot of hype but also doom. Some people act as if they know everything, while in reality they have no idea what they are doing.” 

That is precisely why she sees an important role for research. “A researcher asks questions, dares to admit when they do not yet know something and keeps searching for new insights. That discomfort is part of the process.” 

The importance of tolerating uncertainty 

According to Diers-Lienke, conversations about AI are often characterized by extremes. On the one hand there is enthusiasm, on the other hand fear or distrust. Nuance and uncertainty are often missing. 

“AI is like something enjoyable that still carries a taboo. Everyone does it, nobody talks about it. Or people bluff about it to show off, while they actually have no idea what they are doing - and above all, they are not doing it safely,” says Diers-Lienke. That situation requires a different attitude 

in both education and research. The goal is not to immediately search for solutions, but first to understand what is actually happening. 

She emphasizes the importance of being able to tolerate uncertainty. “I distrust people who claim to know everything and I embrace liminality: the moment when you have let go of the old but have not yet found the new - and daring to remain exactly there. For a researcher, that is not a weakness, but a professional mindset.” 

Students and teachers at the centre 

Within her role at LTA, Diers-Lienke works on education in which AI is not only approached as something that must be controlled, but also as something people learn to collaborate with. 

She translates that vision into concrete educational practices in which students and teachers are actively involved. “I place students and teachers at the centre. That is where it starts.” One example is an international assignment in which students from multiple countries presented their own use of AI. As Diers-Lienke explains:  “They did ‘reverse the script’: students showed how and for what purposes they use AI, to an international audience.” According to her, learning therefore shifts from consuming towards actively investigating and consciously taking a position. 

“AI is like something enjoyable that still carries a taboo” 

 Looking beyond one’s own context 

AI Literacy is central to her work: not as a technical skill, but as a broader form of critical and conscious action. “Not AI in general, but the question: what do you need to know, understand, be able to do and critically question in order to use AI properly?” 

She further develops this approach through educational innovation and international collaboration. She is co-founder of AIDE, a community within the faculty Management & Organisation in which education is redesigned based on insights from the professional field and from students. She is also involved in an international webinar series with seven partner universities and 200 to 300 participants per session “It will be interesting to investigate what truly works and what can be improved. Theory and practice hand in hand.” 

International experience supports this work. She studied and worked in several countries and speaks four languages. “That automatically makes me look beyond my own context.”. Not only students, but also teachers are included through AIDE. “Many professional domains are under pressure and teachers do not want to educate students towards unemployment.” Through student interviews and analyses of the professional field, learning outcomes are redesigned according to constructive alignment: “That is the triangle I strive for: practice, education and research continuously feeding one another.” 

 “That automatically makes me look beyond my own context” 

Research returning to practice 

In the renewed Journalism minor, which Diers-Lienke developed together with a colleague, students actively explore the role of AI within their future professional field.  “AI is not only seen as a technology that changes things, but also as a mirror for who we are and what we find important. That is AI Literacy in the fullest sense,” confirms Diers-Lienke. 

The expansion of her work for the LTA research group was therefore a conscious step. “Half a day per week was okay to get a taste of it, but too little to really build something.” What drives her is the connection between research and practice. “Research only has value when it flows back to the teacher in the classroom and to the student. Everything we do, we do for students and their future.”