European University Alliances seek to integrate teaching, research, and administration across borders by aligning digital and internationalisation strategies. This paper first outlines the alliances’ common objectives and governance models. It then highlights the pivotal role of a federated IT infrastructure—providing identity management or interoperable learning systems—and explains why ongoing technical decisions are necessary to meet evolving regulations and the need for scaling and interoperability, as described, for example, in the Higher Education Interoperability Framework (HEIF). Using the Technical Commission (TC) of Unite! as a case study, the article maps its mandate, composition, and end‑to‑end workflow. The final sections reflect on lessons learned, noting success factors and future directions (e.g. the implementation of the TC within the core organisation of the alliance) to sustain transnational collaboration.

In 2026, it is unavoidable to use the internet without encountering Artificial Intelligence (in short, AI). Search engines do not just search, but offer next to links answers generated by AI, chatbots help you with your bookings on websites, pupils in school generate themselves exemplary exams based on the study materials offered by their teachers, and so forth. However, neither outputs based on AI nor our usage thereof nor how we interpret it is accurate and without inherent problems. Partially, this is due to users’ misconceptions on how AI tools function. From where we are standing – and this is prior to empirical evidence – we argue that the following seven statements about AI warrant heightened attention, especially viewed with their implications for education, schools and universities: 1. AI tools are neutral, objective and unbiased 2. AI tools function logically 3. AI tools think and learn like humans 4. AI tools are empathetic 5. AI tools are ecologically and socially unproblematic 6. AI tools act in accordance with the law 7. AI tools render knowledge and competence acquisition obsolete In this article we address these so-called “Myths of AI use” and highlight that the underlying notions are not true and why so. We do so aiming to raise awareness, and to stimulate and support prospective research on AI myths.

This contribution presents the development and testing of a peer-review process for content quality assurance in MOOCs, implemented in the course “E-Assessment – auf Kurs gebracht”. The process was evaluated regarding complexity, duration, collaboration with external reviewers, and learners’ perception. Results show that the procedure can be smoothly integrated into MOOC development. Reviewers contributed beyond expectations by providing materials, didactic advice, and legal-ethical reflections. Learners rated the videos (very) positively (92.7

Producing and delivering MOOCs within European university alliances presents technical, organizational, and licensing challenges, particularly regarding multilingual accessibility, interoperability, and platform integration. This paper examines these challenges through a case study of the "Open Educational Resources in Higher Education" MOOC, developed with all partner institutions of the Unite! university alliance. The course was produced in all official alliance languages and used AI-driven tools (HeyGen) to generate multilingual instructor avatars for efficient localization. A key aspect of this MOOC was its open licensing approach. By adopting a Creative Commons (CC BY 4.0) license, the course materials were designed for reuse and dissemination across different educational contexts. To ensure broad accessibility, the MOOC was made available on the Austrian national MOOC platform iMooX.at and embedded within Unite! Metacampus, the alliance's federated LMS. For this, Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) for cross-platform interactions was used. Through LTI, course activities and materials on iMooX.at were linked to Metacampus, allowing users to access materials, track progress, and interact within a unified learning environment. This strategy supported federated access and engagement across institutional systems. This paper outlines the technical and organizational strategies used in developing the MOOC, discussing key challenges and providing recommendations for openly licensed, AI-supported, and LTI-integrated MOOCs within European university alliances. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of structuring cross-institutional MOOCs that are pedagogically, technologically, and organizationally sustainable while advancing open education principles in higher education.

In the dynamic landscape of higher education, digital technologies are crucial for fostering collaboration and knowledge dissemination. European universities are embracing this shift through "European Universities", transnational alliances aimed at enhancing academic exchange and innovation. The Unite! alliance, as part of its Erasmus+ project, established the "Community Digital Campus" (Cm.2) to develop a modern digital campus framework. Based on an analysis to identify and document the technological, organizational, and legal needs for such a campus, using desk research, surveys, and stakeholder discussions, key requirements are formulated. Key requirements identified include ensuring interoperability among digital infrastructures, robust decision-making processes for IT, strategic support for existing systems, and addressing budgetary considerations for federated systems.

The integration of generative AI (genAI) chatbots into Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) presents new opportunities for supporting self-regulated learning (SRL). This study examines 1,302 chatbot interactions from two Austrian blended MOOCs, where a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) chatbot based on GPT 4o-mini was deployed to assist students. Using the process-action framework by Lai (2024), we categorize chatbot interactions into key SRL processes: defining, seeking, engaging, and reflecting. Results show that students predominantly use the chatbot for information retrieval, content summarization, and quiz-based reinforcement, with 41

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technology necessitates addressing the topic of self-regulated learning (SRL) given its potential for personalized learning experiences. Educational Technologies (EdTech) have the capacity to facilitate SRL within educational contexts, particularly in remote learning scenarios. This study explores the interplay between EdTech and SRL, highlighting their synergistic relationship. Through a systematic scoping literature review following the methodology of Peters et al., evidence from 328 records in the Scopus database was synthesized, with an analysis of 112 reports meeting the inclusion criteria published between January 2015 and February 2024. Zimmerman's cyclical phases model emerged as the predominant SRL framework in connection with EdTech. Additionally, the identified EdTechs were categorized into eleven clusters based on shared characteristics and mapped onto Zimmerman's SRL model to create an EdTech-SRL-Synergy-Map. Recommendations are made for future research, particularly in the secondary education sector, and the significance of SRL practices in an educational landscape permeated by AI is emphasized.

In the era of transformative technologies, generative artificial intelligence (genAI) offers profound opportunities and challenges for education. This study explores the development and execution of an interactive workshop designed to equip educators with foundational genAI literacy. Using a design-based research (DBR) framework, the workshop leverages interactivity and contextual relevance to introduce genAI concepts, prompting strategies and ethical considerations. Participants engaged in a scripted learning workshop design, comparing human and AI responses, exploring genAI’s probabilistic foundations, context dependency, and vulnerability to manipulation. Conducted across 12 workshops with 191 participants in Austria, this study revealed significant improvements in self-perceived genAI understanding, with 70% of participants reporting better grades in post-assessment evaluations. Feedback emphasized the workshop’s strengths in interactivity and relevance, alongside recommendations for deeper school-specific applications. Scalability analysis showed that workshop duration remained consistent regardless of group size, suggesting potential for broader implementation. The findings highlight the effectiveness of scripted learning workshop design in fostering critical AI literacy, preparing educators to critically evaluate and ethically integrate genAI into pedagogical practices. This adaptable model contributes to the discourse on professional development in AI-enhanced education.

Open educational resources (OER) are widely recognized for improving access to education and enabling the sharing of knowledge. However, in the context of European university alliances such as Unite!, OER offer additional, often underappreciated benefits that are crucial for cross-border collaboration and sustainable development in higher education. This paper explores three key aspects of OER that are particularly relevant to European alliances. First, OER enable the legally secure use of educational resources across national borders, addressing uncertainties about copyright laws, particularly for translations and adaptations. This ensures compliance with different legal frameworks while fostering collaboration. Second, OER support sustainability by ensuring that investments in educational materials are not limited by restrictive usage rights. This is especially critical in alliances where shared resources are central to fostering long-term cooperation and aligning with sustainability goals, a priority for Unite!. Finally, OER contribute to digital sovereignty by empowering institutions and educators to create, adapt, and share resources without relying on proprietary platforms or licenses. This coincides with European alliances’ broader strategic objective of promoting autonomy and resilience in their digital ecosystems. By highlighting these often-overlooked benefits of OER, the present research aims to broaden the perspective on their strategic importance in fostering collaboration, sustainability, and sovereignty within European university alliances.

This paper explores the challenges and first experiences of implementing federated virtual learning management within the European University Alliance “Unite!”. Through the lens of Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI), the study investigates the complexities inherent in connecting Learning Management Systems (LMS) across diverse institutional contexts. This research examines the general hurdles faced by European university alliances in adopting federated LMS. Additionally, it outlines the LMS infrastructure of Unite! in early 2024 and discusses the pilot initiatives undertaken to utilize LTI for connecting LMS platforms at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz). The pilots involve integrating Unite!'s Metacampus with various platforms, including Moodle-based systems from TU Graz. The pilots demonstrate that the integration of LTI is not trivial, as it impacts technology, administration, and teaching due to the novelty of the system (requiring an explanation of how it works). However, the implementation is successful, with difficulties encountered only in specific browsers. Drawing from these pilot experiences, the paper presents insights and lessons learned regarding the efficacy of LTI in facilitating cross-platform connectivity within Unite! and offers implications for future implementations.

With the rise of generative AI models, such as large language models (LLMs), in educational settings, there is a growing demand to ensure the quality of AI-generated multiple-choice questions (MCQs) used in higher education. Traditional quiz development methods fall short in addressing the unique challenges posed by AI-generated content, such as consistency, cognitive demand, and question uniqueness. This paper presents the QUEST framework, a structured approach designed specifically to evaluate the quality of LLM-generated MCQs across five dimensions: Quality, Uniqueness, Effort, Structure, and Transparency. Following an iterative research process, AI-generated questions were assessed and refined using QUEST, revealing that the framework effectively improves question clarity, relevance, and educational value. The findings suggest that QUEST is a viable tool for educators to maintain high-quality standards in AI-generated assessments, ensuring these resources meet the pedagogical needs of diverse learners in higher education.

Automated editing technology offers notable efficiencies in educational video production. This study contrasts the time-saving benefits of automated editing against manual professional editing. Raw learning video footage was recorded in a professional studio with a green screen and presented in a frontal lecture style. The raw footage underwent editing by both an automated tool and professional editors. Time comparison results revealed significant savings with the use of automated tools. The paper further investigates the impact of automated editing on the learning video quality from the learners’ viewpoint. An online survey with 129 participants evaluated their perceptions of potential learning outcomes after viewing automatically and manually edited versions of two videos. The survey found a statistically significant difference in perceived learning potential from one of the videos, although not for both. Additionally, the study considers how differences in study group characteristics might influence these results. In summary, while automated editing presents a compelling case for production time reduction, its impact on the perceived quality of educational videos remains uncertain, necessitating additional research to understand the subtleties of learner interaction with video content.

Die Maker Education eröffnet neue Lernmöglichkeiten und birgt vielfältige Potenziale. Dabei muss es nicht immer gleich der voll ausgestattete Makerspace sein, in dem die Schüler:innen projektorientiert und fächerverbindend arbeiten.

In today's rapidly evolving educational landscape, European universities are increasingly relying on digital technologies for collaboration and learning. European Universities, as transnational alliances, aim to reshape higher education by fostering academic exchange and innovation across borders. With over 40 alliances in existence, enhancing virtual mobility and exchange through interconnected learning infrastructures has become imperative. This paper provides insights into Learning Management System (LMS) adoption within European alliances, focusing on the Unite! alliance as a case study. While Unite! demonstrates successful implementation of Moodle as its central LMS, challenges persist in achieving uniformity across all partners. A desktop analysis of European alliances reveals that Moodle might be the most often used LMS in February 2023. A description of the LMS implementation within the Unite! analysis shows as well that a majority uses Moodle – at least as a second LMS. So, although the decision for a federated LMS based on Moodle might be the right one, these results as well indicate the need for tailored technical solutions for future developments for some partners and disparities in lecturers‘ and students‘ concerning a Moodle so that pre-emptive measures to ensure equitable participation are important. Despite these challenges, Unite!'s experience underscores the potential of Moodle as a widely adopted platform, prompting further exploration into solutions like LTI integration.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) already plays a significant role in education and society altogether. With the rapid and largely impactful development in the field of generative AI, we must consider the potential changes and shifts of the new normal. Generative models like ChatGPT, Google Bard, Bing Chat, DALL-E, and many others, are proving to be powerful allies and assistants in practically every branch and aspect of life. Given their proficiency in language and their technical capabilities, we must acknowledge their significance and ensure they are not overlooked. In this work, we focus on their impact on education and what is the feedback from the educational community. We want to determine exactly how generative AI is used and how it can be used in education. Our goal is to review more, and new papers, to classify the papers based on the subject the paper has covered, the type of the study, the educational level it concerns, and how is generative AI generally perceived. After the analysis, we conclude that it is perceived as generally positive, with most papers focusing on higher education, and STEM subjects while mostly using qualitative research methods.

Digital skills are necessary for first-year students at Austrian universities. This paper unveils results from two surveys among first-year students at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz): Pre-Covid-19 data (n=921) is derived from a larger study on digital literacy among first-year students in Styria (Janschitz et al., 2021, N=4,676). The same questions were posed in the 2021 ‘Welcome Days’ survey after the Covid-19 distance learning phases (n=1,207). Surprisingly, the only significant change is a noticeable increase of skills concerning the digital signature. This article additionally presents the development of a lecture on digital skills that was implemented at TU Graz as a massive open online course (MOOC).