Students at ETH Zurich experience just how entertaining teaching can be in the lectures given by April Wang, Professor of Educational Technology. If she hadn't pursued an academic career, she would probably be a comedian today. Her field of research, human-computer interaction, also deals with interchange – but between artificial intelligence and users.
The young professor has fond memories of Heilbronn: “Before I came to ETH Zurich in November 2023, I travelled directly from the USA to Heilbronn for the first GTF three years ago. That was my first stop in the German-speaking world, even before I went to Zurich.” She received her doctorate from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, USA. Even looking back, she still shivers at the thought of the city: “In Michigan, it snows six months of the year. I had to get up early every morning and remove the snow off my car.”
Zurich is also not far from the snow-capped peaks of the Alps, yet the weather conditions there are much more pleasant. The move to ETH has paid off in more ways than just the temperature: “I received a lot of support when I set up my own research group. The environment is characterized by freedom and autonomy,” she says. But she is not the only one to benefit; the university also gained a fresh perspective with her arrival: “There is a lot of research at ETH in mathematics and the fundamentals of language models – but for me, the part that deals with the application to humans is always the most exciting.”
A Blind Date With Pascal
This brings things full circle, because: “I fell in love with programming from day one.” And of the countless programming languages, Pascal was the first one she learned. “In secondary school, I took part in a summer coding camp where I was taught Pascal. That's the programming language developed at ETH by some of my colleagues. It's as if I'm back where I started in the world of coding,” she recalls.
The math enthusiast of yesteryear is now busy writing code to execute algorithms and test hypotheses. “It's great to develop an application and then see how people try it out. Maybe that's why I'm more interested in human-computer interaction than in developing systems or core algorithms.”
This quickly crystallizes educational technology as a branch of research for Wang: “Artificial intelligence is changing the way the world of programming works. It's no longer just about how to program faster, but how to help people think slower but more independently.” Because although AI can solve tasks faster, the question remains whether this was achieved through blind trust in the electronic helper or through one's own thinking.
Stairs Instead of Lifts
Wang sees this as a danger for the next generation: “I enjoy hiking in Switzerland. If I only take the lift to get on a mountain and no longer use the stairs, my muscles will weaken.” What's more, taking the shortcut means missing out on a sense of achievement, which in the long term reduces the enjoyment of learning. “People expand their knowledge through trial and error.”
As a scientist, she is trying to make this hypothesis measurable: “I am interested in how I can collect the biometric signals that show us whether the students are really engaged in the process.” That is why she and her team are trying to collect a lot of behavioral data about what the interaction looks like. In the long term, they also want to combine this data with information about the emotional reactions of the users.
Opening Pandora's Box
Every ending is a new starting point, but one element forms the basis: “When we try to solve a research question, we open Pandora's box and ten new, interesting questions arise that need to be answered.” She received and hopes to get more answers from researchers from all over the world during and after the Global Technology Forum: “I met many like-minded people there with whom I shared my research results and gathered feedback – we want to establish long-term collaborations.”
The infrastructural challenges posed by the newly established ETH Zurich Campus in Heilbronn also feed into her teaching: “In my master's program “Designing Educational Technology”, I set the students the task of ideally linking the two locations of Zurich and Heilbronn with the help of AI technology in a kind of semester-long hackathon.” Humor is also part of her curriculum: “I like to tell jokes in my lectures, and when I retire one day, I might become a talk show host,” she says with a laugh. Teaching can be very entertaining – especially with April Wang.