At FHWien der WKW, “Donna, the Topic Buddy” helps students develop their initial topic ideas for their theses. The concept was presented at the Media & Learning Conference 2026.
Rapid advances in the field of artificial intelligence are also transforming university teaching methods. As a result, the MA23-funded competence team “Master Propaedeutics – Bridging Courses in Research Skills & Methods” at FHWien der WKW is using specially developed chatbots in interactive self-study modules. Four AI tutors assist students in identifying topics, formulating research questions, and developing research designs and data collection methods.
Donna, the topic buddy, asks questions instead of revealing answers
One example is “Donna, the topic buddy” who follows the principle of Socratic dialogue: Instead of revealing the answers right away, she asks students questions that encourage critical reflection. In this way, she helps students at the beginning of the academic writing process to formulate and narrow down their research topics, thereby fostering critical thinking. She guides users through a structured thinking process—from initial ideas to the identification of relevant theoretical concepts that can serve as a starting point for literature research.
Students view Donna as a competent learning companion
Melanie Dejnega from the Bridging Course team presented the innovative teaching concept as well as the results of a study on students’ perceptions of Donna, the topic buddy, at the Media & Learning Conference in Leuven (June 17–18, 2026). The results show that the AI tutor was overwhelmingly perceived by students as competent and helpful. Current challenges stem primarily from token limitations in free licenses, but also from the phenomenon of “Socratic dialogue fatigue.” However, many students also emphasized the importance of personal interaction with their advisors, which they described as irreplaceable.
The study also shows that the students did indeed take a critical view of the subject buddy: While they rated her as very competent, they were less trusting of her: “Donna, the topic buddy” was primarily perceived as a learning and process companion rather than as an authority figure. It will therefore be interesting to see in the future how student relationships with AI tutors can be structured so that they contribute optimally to student learning success.
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