Chairholder

My focal research themes are about learning processes in applied contexts that are supported by digital media.

• Digital media can provide dynamic and interactive visualizations. Those visualizations are important for fostering understanding in multimedia learning. For instance, focused animations can support the understanding of spatial structures by showing spatial transformations explicitly (such as rotation, zoom-in/zoom-out, spatial perspective taking). The design of visualizations may interact with individual differences in spatial abilities.
• Wayfinding in real environments is another example. Assistance systems provide dynamic visualizations that help us to navigate successfully. However, acquisition of spatial knowledge beyond the traveled route can be impeded when using navigation assistance. This affects spatial orientation.
• In my research, I take a use-inspired, theory-based and experimental approach. For example, visualizations for navigation assistance systems are designed and experimentally varied. These variations are thought to support the formation of specific mental representations of environmental space in human memory. These mental representations are derived from spatial cognition theories.

Visit the research page to learn more.

• Study of Psychology at the J.W. Goethe Universität in Frankfurt / Main, Germany, and at the Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany (Diploma in Psychology 1998). Study course for Popular Music and Jazz at the Conservatory of Hamburg, Germany (1990) und Study of Music (Piano) at the Conservatory of Vienna, Austria (1993 – 1994, not completed).
• Doctoral Dissertation 2002 in Psychology at the University of Leipzig, Germany about The processing of verbal and tonal information in the working memory of musicians and non-musicians.
• Postdoctoral research fellow and project manager at the Fraunhofer Institute Integrated Publication and Information Systems in Darmstadt, Germany (2001 – 2004). Postdoctoral research fellow at the Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany (2005 – 2011). Stand-in professor for Educational Psychology at the University of Augsburg, Germany (2009 – 2010).  
• Habilitation (postdoctoral lecture qualification) 2011 in Psychology about Spatial learning – dynamic visualizations and inter-individual differences.
• Full professor for Psychology of Education at the University of Mannheim since 2012.

Teaching. Students enrolled in programs for the teaching degree for secondary schools at the University of Mannheim (Lehramt Gymnasium, Bachelor of Education, Master of Education) attend my lectures and seminars in Psychology of Education. My courses focus on psychological foundations of learning and memory (including skill acquisition and expertise), inter-individual differences, quality of instruction, instructional methods, development of competences of teachers, and the quality of the school system. Furthermore, I am involved in teaching Psychology for students enrolled in M.Sc. Psychology (e.g., the lecture Educational Psychology together with Prof. Dr. Oliver Dickhäuser, as well as research-oriented courses with small groups).

Supervision of Bachelor theses and Master theses. I supervise and examine B.Sc. and M.Sc. theses in Psychology as well as Master theses in the Master of Education program.

Development of Curriculum and Quality. I work together with the University’s center for teacher education and innovation in teaching (Zentrum für Lehrerbildung und Bildungsinnovation, ZLBI) to adapt the curriculum according to current challenges for schools (e.g., heterogeneity of learners in secondary school classrooms). We develop course formats that combine working for and within the society with learning and reflection in the seminar (Service Learning).