Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology

Florian Berens

Florian Berens has been a research associate at the Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology at the University of Tübingen since March 2023.

At the Tübingen Center for Randomized Controlled Field Trials, he is working on ways to link different data formats within educational intervention studies. In particular, he uses linkages of survey data and test data with digital behavioral traces from digital learning systems. However, qualitative data forms are also considered for analysis. In this way, he attempts to form classical educational science approaches and modern learning analytics into a holistic view of learning processes.

Florian Berens uses his methodologically diverse approach to comprehensively investigate the effectiveness of educational interventions. The focus is on analyzing the effectiveness of educational technologies. In particular, Florian Berens examines ways to design feedback processes within digital learning environments and their cognitive and motivational effects. In addition to the effects on learning performance, he also considers effects on motivation, interest, self-concept, and subject-specific beliefs. He considers these effects not only in general, but also in relation to personal characteristics of the learners.

In addition to his own research projects, Florian Berens is currently involved in the Interact4School and AI2Teach projects at the Hector Institute and is also active in teaching in the area of methodological training.

Publications

Publications in peer-reviewed anthologies

  • Berens, Florian, Findley, Kelly & Hobert, Sebastian (forthcoming). How Students´ Statistics Beliefs influence their Attitudes: A Quantitative and a Qualitative Approach. In: Burrill, Gail, Reston, Enriqueta & Souza, Leandro (eds.) Research on Students’ Interactions with Data in Teaching Statistics: International Perspectives. Springer.

  • Hobert, Sebastian & Berens, Florian (2021). Learning Analytics for Students: A Field Study on Giving Students Access to Their Own Data. In: Sahin, Muhittin & Ifenthaler, Dirk (eds.) Visualizations and Dashboards for Learning Analytics: Advances in Analytics for Learning and Teaching, pp 213-231. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81222-5_10.

Publications in conference proceedings with peer review

  • Berens, Florian (2022). What Changes Students´ Attitudes? A Qualitative Panel Study on How and Why Attitudes Toward an Introductory Statistics Course Change. In S. A. Peters, L. Zapata-Cardona, F. Bonafini, & A. Fan (Eds.), Bridging the Gap. Empowering & Educating Today’s Learners in Statistics. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Teaching Statistics (ICOTS11 2022), Rosario, Argentina. International Association for Statistical Education. https://doi.org/10.52041/iase.icots11.T3G 

  • Findley, Kelly, Justice, Nicola & Berens, Florian (2022). Lois Lane, Superman, and Iron Man: How Perspectives of Statistics Relate to Students’ Identities and Career Pursuits. In S. A. Peters, L. Zapata-Cardona, F. Bonafini, & A. Fan (Eds.), Bridging the Gap. Empowering & Educating Today’s Learners in Statistics. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Teaching Statistics (ICOTS11 2022), Rosario, Argentina. International Association for Statistical Education. https://doi.org/10.52041/iase.icots11.T3F 

  • Findley, Kelly & Berens, Florian (2020). Assessing the Disciplinary Perspectives of Introductory Statistics Students. Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339712352_Assessing_the_Disciplinary_Perspectives_of_Introductory_Statistics_Students. 

  • Hobert, Sebastian & Berens, Florian (2019). Fostering Students’ Motivation to Learn Daily on a Voluntary Basis: A Gamified Mobile Learning Approach for Formal Learning Settings. International Conference on Information Systems 2019 Proceedings. https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2019/learning_environ/learning_environ/11. 

  • Hobert, Sebastian & Berens, Florian (2019). Small Talk Conversations and the Long-Term Use of Chatbots in Educational Settings: Experiences from a Field Study. Third International Workshop, CONVERSATIONS 2019. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39540-7_18.

Publications in edited volumes without peer review

Publications in conference proceedings without peer review

Editorships

  • Mays, Anja, Dingelstedt, André, Hambauer, Verena, Schlosser, Stephan, Berens, Florian, Leibold, Jürgen & Höhne, Jan Karem (Hrsg.) (2020). Grundlagen - Methoden - Anwendungen in den Sozialwissenschaften: Festschrift für Steffen-M. Kühnel. Springer, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-15629-9. 

Further publications

Conferences

Conference presentations

2023:

  • Berens, Florian (2023). Mixing Digital Behavioral Data, Survey Data and a Qualitative Panel: Understanding Learning Behavior and Motivation Form Three Angles. Mixed Methods Research in Education - Joint Conference of the German Sociological Association’s (DGS) Section Education, and DGS Working Groups 'Mixed Methods' and 'Science and Higher Education': Hannover, 15. November 2023.

  • Berens, Florian, Findley, Kelly, Justice, Nicola & Kinson, Christopher (2023). Disciplinary Appropriation at the Beginning of a Statistics Major. International Association on Statistics Education Satellite Conference to the World Statistics Congress: Toronto, Canada, July 12, 2023.

  • Justice, Nicola, Findley, Kelly, Berens, Florian & Kinson, Christopher (2023). Do I Belong? Statistic Majors’ Identity Formation in their First Year. United States Conference on Teaching Statistics: State Collage (PA), United States, June 02, 2023.

  • Findley, Kelly, Justice, Nicola, Berens, Florian & Kinson, Christopher (2023). Linking Students’ Statistical Perspectives with Identity through the Lens of Disciplinary Appropriation. Researchers on Statistics Education Network Conference: online only, May 03, 2023.

  • Berens, Florian & Hobert, Sebastian (2023). Attitudes toward statistics matter – especially as they influence students´ learning behavior: Empirical evidence towards deeper insight into a black box. Researchers on Statistics Education Network Conference: online only, May 03, 2023.

  • Berens, Florian (2023). KI Tutoren in Studium und Facharztausbildung der Zukunft. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Kardiologie: Mannheim, 15. April 2023. (eingeladener Vortrag)

2022:

  • Berens, Florian (2022). What Changes Students´ Attitudes? A Qualitative Panel Study on How and Why Attitudes Toward an Introductory Statistics Course Change. International Conference on Teaching Statistics: Rosario, Argentina, September 13, 2022.

  • Berens, Florian, Findley, Kelly & Justice, Nicola (2022). Lois Lane, Superman, and Iron Man: How Perspectives of Statistics Relate to Students’ Identities and Career Pursuits. International Conference on Teaching Statistics: Rosario, Argentina, September 12, 2022.

  • Berens, Florian & Hobert, Sebastian (2022). Influence of the Design of Open-Ended Survey Questions Using Conversational Agents or Voice-Based Input on the Responses. DAGStat Conference 2022: Hamburg, 28. März 2022.

  • Berens, Florian & Hobert, Sebastian (2022). Why Are the Motivated Successful in Our Classes: A Learning Analytics Study on the Effects of Attitudes Toward Statistics on Learning Behavior. DAGStat Conference 2022: Hamburg, 28. März 2022.

  • Berens, Florian (2022). Nutzung digitaler Lernverhaltensdaten in Lernforschung und Bildungssoziologie: Beispiele zur kombinierten Nutzung verschiedener Datentypen für die Sozialforschung. Frühjahrstagung der Sektion Methoden der empirischen Sozialforschung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie: Mannheim, auf Grund der Covid-19 Pandemie online gehalten, 25. März 2022.

2021:

  • Berens, Florian (2021). Learning Analytics for Research: Das Anwendungsbeispiel des Erfolgreichen Lernens in videobasierter Statistiklehre. Statistische Woche: Gemeinsame Jahrestagung der Deutschen und der Österreichischen Statistischen Gesellschaft, des Verbandes Deutscher Städtestatistiker und der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Demographie: Kiel, auf Grund der Covid-19 Pandemie online gehalten, 14. September 2021.

  • Berens, Florian (2021). Learning Analytics for Students: Studierenden Zugang zu ihren eigenen Daten geben. Statistische Woche: Gemeinsame Jahrestagung der Deutschen und der Österreichischen Statistischen Gesellschaft, des Verbandes Deutscher Städtestatistiker und der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Demographie: Kiel, auf Grund der Covid-19 Pandemie online gehalten, 14. September 2021.

  • Berens, Florian & Findley, Kelly (2021). Using mixed methods approaches in validating psychometric instruments. International Conference on Social Science Methodology (RC33): Nicosia, Cyprus, Held hybrid due to the Covid-19 pandemic, September 10, 2021.

  • Berens, Florian (2021). Flipping service learning by implementing it in research seminars on empirical methods. International Conference on Social Science Methodology (RC33): Nicosia, Cyprus, Held hybrid due to the Covid-19 pandemic, September 09, 2021.

  • Berens, Florian (2021). Statistics beliefs of freshmen in the social sciences - an evaluation of qualitative interviews. Conference of the International Group for the Psychologyof Mathematics Education: Khon Kaen, Thailand, Held hybrid due to the Covid-19 pandemic, July 20, 2021.

  • Berens, Florian & Hobert, Sebastian (2021). Using Data Science to improve Statistics Teaching: Educational Data Mining and Learning Analytics?. World Statistics Congress: The Hague, Netherlands, Held online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, July 14, 2021.

  • Findley, Kelly & Berens, Florian (2021). Students’ Perspectives about Statistics: Developing an Instrument to Capture Beliefs about our Field. World Statistics Congress: The Hague, Netherlands, Held online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, July 14, 2021.

  • Berens, Florian, Findley, Kelly & Hobert, Sebastian (2021). Students Beliefs about Statistics and their Influence on the Students´ Attitudes toward Statistics in Introductory Courses. 14th International Congress on Mathematical Education: Shanghai, China, Held hybrid due to the Covid-19 pandemic, July 13, 2021.

  • Berens, Florian & Hobert, Sebastian (2021). Should We Use Conversational Agents and Voice-Based Input in Online Surveys?. Annual Conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research: Los Angeles (CA), United States, Held online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, May 13, 2021.

  • Berens, Florian & Findley, Kelly (2021). New Ideas for Testing a Psychometric Intrement Using Mixed Methods. Annual Conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research: Los Angeles (CA), United States, Held online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, May 12, 2021.

2020:

  • Berens, Florian & Hobert, Sebastian (2020). Learning Analytics for Students and Lecturers: Individuelles und aggregiertes Feedback in Großveranstaltungen. Göttinger Tag der Lehre: Göttingen, 14. Dezember 2020.

  • Berens, Florian & Hobert, Sebastian (2020). Supporting the Teaching of Methods by Intelligent Digital Intermediaries. Annual Conference of the Section Methods of Political Science in the German Political Science Association: Friedrichshafen, Germany, September 04, 2020.

  • Berens, Florian & Hobert, Sebastian (2020). Learning analytics as a tool to feedback lecturers. International Association on Statistics Education Roundtable Conference before the International Congress on Mathematical Education: Nanjing, China, Held online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, July 11, 2020.

  • Berens, Florian & Hobert, Sebastian (2020). Use of artificial tutors in large classes. Colloquial Meeting of the Department of Statistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Champaign (IL), United States, March 04, 2020.

  • Findley, Kelly & Berens, Florian (2020). Assessing the Disciplinary Perspectives of Introductory Statistics Students. Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education: Boston (MA), United States, February 29, 2020.

  • Bauer, Sebastian, Berens, Florian, Halverscheid, Stefan, Ike, Sina, Pustelnik, Kolja, Wendland, Julia & Wilms, Matthias (2020). Modelle der analytischen Geometrie. Tagung der Kommission Lehrerinnen- und Lehrerbildung Mathematik: Kassel, 28. Februar 2020.

2019:

  • Hobert, Sebastian & Berens, Florian (2019). Fostering Students’ Motivation to Learn Daily on a Voluntary Basis – A Gamified Mobile Learning Approach for Formal Learning Settings. International Conference on Information Systems: Munich, Germany, December 17, 2019.

  • Hobert, Sebastian & Berens, Florian (2019). Small Talk Conversations and the Long-Term Use of Chatbots in Educational Settings - Experiences from a Field Study. Conversations 2019: Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 19, 2019.

  • Berens, Florian & Hobert, Sebastian (2019). Einsatz künstlicher Tutor_innen in Großveranstaltungen. Göttinger Tag der Lehre: Göttingen, 06. November 2019.

  • Berens, Florian (2019). Messung statistischer Kompetenz am Ende eines Einführungskurses in die Statistik. Statistische Woche: Gemeinsame Jahrestagung der Deutschen und der Österreichischen Statistischen Gesellschaft, des Verbandes Deutscher Städtestatistiker und der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Demographie: Trier, 10. September 2019.

  • Berens, Florian & Hobert, Sebastian (2019). Kontinuierliches Lernen in Einführungen in die Statistik durch intelligente Systeme unterstützen. Statistische Woche: Gemeinsame Jahrestagung der Deutschen und der Österreichischen Statistischen Gesellschaft, des Verbandes Deutscher Städtestatistiker und der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Demographie: Trier, 10. September 2019.

  • Berens, Florian (2019). Statistics beliefs of advanced social science students - a qualitative evaluation of focus groups. International Association on Statistics Education Satellite Conference to the World Statistics Congress: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 14, 2019.

  • Berens, Florian (2019). Stress und Coping im Vergleich von Fach- und Lehramtsstudierenden. Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Didaktik der Mathematik: Regensburg, 05. März 2019.

2018:

  • Berens, Florian (2018). Discussing a project: Measuring, explaining and treating attitudes and beliefs in statistics education at university level. Herbsttagung des Arbeitskreises Stochastik der Gesellschaft für Didaktik der Mathematik: Würzburg, 04. November 2018.

  • Berens, Florian (2018). Discussing a project: Measuring, explaining and treating attitudes and beliefs in statistics education at university level. Nachwuchskonferenz der Gesellschaft für Didaktik der Mathematik: Münster, 01. Oktober 2018

  • Berens, Florian (2018). Zwei Weltbilder zur Statistik und deren Bedeutung für die Einstellungen zur Statistikausbildung. Statistische Woche: Gemeinsame Jahrestagung der Deutschen und der Österreichischen Statistischen Gesellschaft, des Verbandes Deutscher Städtestatistiker und der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Demographie: Linz, 11. September 2018.

  • Berens, Florian (2018). Transferability of the world views based on Grigutsch and Törner to the domain of statistics and their relation towards attitudes. International Conference on Mathematical Views: Helsinki, Finland, August 22, 2018.

  • Berens, Florian (2018). Attitudes towards Research as a source for negative Statistics Attitudes. International Conference on Teaching Statistics: Kyoto, Japan, July 10, 2018.

  • Berens, Florian & Hobert, Sebastian (2018). Statistische Attitudes als Moderatorvariablen in der Evaluation aktivierender Methoden in Statistikvorlesungen. Gemeinsame Jahrestagung von Gesellschaft für Didaktik der Mathematik und Deutscher Mathematiker-Vereinigung: Paderborn, 09. März 2018.

2017:

  • Berens, Florian (2017). Mit Thomas Müller in die statistische Bildung: Grundvorstellungen und Begriffsentwicklung am Beispiel der Lagemaße. Autorentagung zum Sammelband Grundlagen, Methoden, Anwendungen: Festschrift für Steffen Kühnel: Göttingen, 16. November 2017.

  • Berens, Florian (2017). Discussing a project: Attitudes and Beliefs in Statistics Education and their implications for teaching and learning (at university level). Nachwuchskonferenz der Gesellschaft für Didaktik der Mathematik: Essen, 19. September 2017.

2014:

  • Berens, Florian, Zimoch, Matthias & Cordes, Melanie (2014). Improve teaching by (virtual) enactive learning with the Collection of Goettingen. Workshop at Quality Class in Mathematics Education at CIEAEM 66: Lyon, France, July 19, 2014.

Poster presentations

  • Barth, Jakob, Berens, Florian & Hobert, Sebastian (2022). How early can we provide feedback? Predicting success using data on learning behavior and supervised machine learning. International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference: Newport Beach (CA), United States, Held online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, March 24, 2022.

  • Berens, Florian & Hobert, Sebastian (2021). First design cycles to develop a concept of learning analytics as a feedback provider. Conference of the International Group for the Psychologyof Mathematics Education: Khon Kaen, Thailand, Held hybrid due to the Covid-19 pandemic, July 22, 2021.

  • Berens, Florian & Hobert, Sebastian (2020). The Implications of Attitudes and Beliefs on Interactive Learning in Statistics Education. Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education: Boston (MA), United States, February 29, 2020.

  • Hobert, Sebastian & Berens, Florian (2019). Einsatz von Chatbot-basierten Lernsystemen in der Hochschullehre - Einblicke in die Implementierung zweier Pedagogical Conversational Agents. Gemeinsame Jahrestagung der Fachgruppe Bildungstechnologien der Gesellschaft für Informatik und der Gesellschaft für Medien in der Wissenschaft: Berlin, 17. September 2019.

  • Berens, Florian & Hobert, Sebastian (2019). Interactive Learning on Demand: A Chat-based App for Statistics Education.International Conference on Technology in Mathematics Teaching: Essen, Germany, July 22, 2019.

  • Berens, Florian & Hobert, Sebastian (2018). Attitudes toward Statistics as Moderator Variables in the Evaluation of Activating Methods in Lectures on Statistics. International Conference on Teaching Statistics: Kyoto, Japan, July 10, 2018.

  • Berens, Florian, Schlosser, Stephan & Höhne, Jan Karem (2018). On-device and off-device multitasking and its effect on web and mobile web survey completion. General Online Research Conference: Cologne, Germany, March 01, 2018.

Conference organization

  • Hobert, Sebastian & Berens, Florian (2023). Organization and Chairing of the Minitrack: Innovative E-Learning Systems and Learning Analytics. American Conference on Information Systems: Panama City, Panama, August 10-12, 2023.

  • Berens, Florian (2022). Leading the team organizing the main topic `Advances in statistics education research´ working with Katie Makar, Laura Martignon, and Tulia Esther Rivera. International Conference on Teaching Statistics: Rosario, Argentina, September 11-16, 2022.

  • Berens, Florian (2022). Organization and chairing of the SIG `Learning Analytics and Statistics Education´. International Conference on Teaching Statistics: Rosario, Argentina, September 11-16, 2022.

  • Hobert, Sebastian & Berens, Florian (2022). Organization and Chairing of the Minitrack: Learning Analytics and Intelligent Learning Applications. American Conference on Information Systems: Minneapolis (MN), United States, August 10-14, 2022.

  • Berens, Florian (2021). Organization and Chairing of the Session: Teaching qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods in social science programs. International Conference on Social Science Methodology (RC33): Nicosia, Cyprus, Held hybrid due to the Covid-19 pandemic, September 07-10, 2021.

  • Hobert, Sebastian & Berens, Florian (2021). Organization and Chairing of the Minitrack: Learning Analytics and Intelligent Learning Applications. American Conference on Information Systems: Montreal, Canada, Held hybrid due to the Covid-19 pandemic, August 05-07, 2021.

  • Hobert, Sebastian & Berens, Florian (2020). Organization and Chairing of the Minitrack: Learning Analytics and Intelligent Learning Applications. American Conference on Information Systems: Salt Lake City (UT), United States, Held online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, August 12-16, 2020.

  • Mays, Anja, Dingelstedt, André, Hambauer, Verena, Berens, Florian, Schlosser, Stephan & Höhne, Jan Karem (2017). Autorentagung zum Sammelband Grundlagen, Methoden, Anwendungen: Festschrift für Steffen Kühnel: Göttingen, 16. November 2017.

Curriculum Vitae

since 03/2023
Postdoc

at the Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology at University of Tübingen

10/2016 - 02/2023
Research assistant

at the Center of Methods in the Social Sciences (since 10/2022: Institute of Methods and Methodological Principles in the Social Sciences) at University of Göttingen

02/2020 - 03/2020
Visiting Scientist

at the Department for Statistics at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA)

since 04/2017
Doctoral studies in social sciences

at University of Göttingen

10/2012 - 11/2016
Master of Education in high school teaching ("Gymnasium") with the subjects mathematics & politics/economics

at University of Göttingen

10/2012 - 10/2016
Master of Arts in Political Science

at University of Tübingen

10/2009 - 08/2012
Bachelor in mathematics and political science in the profile teaching profession

at University of Göttingen