New AI Coach Supports German Teachers
What if teachers could create their own AI assistants for their students and set them up exactly as they envision—tailored to specific learning goals and the students’ needs and abilities? German teachers are now being supported in exactly this endeavor by an AI coach developed by researchers at the University of Siegen. The “KRAFT+ Agent” guides them step by step through the process of formulating instructions for an AI assistant and testing it. Ultimately, teachers have an AI assistant at their disposal that they can use directly in their own classrooms via online learning platforms.
The starting point for the KIMADU project at the University of Siegen is the following problem: Commercially available chatbots from ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini are developed for a global mass market and therefore take on almost any task. Surveys show that many students take advantage of this freedom to use chatbots as “ghostwriters”: They hand their school assignments over to the AI, thereby bypassing work and learning processes. This poses major challenges for schools.
“ChatGPT and similar tools are not well-suited for classroom use because they can hinder or complicate learning processes,” says Torsten Steinhoff, professor of German language pedagogy at the University of Siegen and director of KIMADU’s German subproject. He sees the solution in specialized AI assistants. “This requires a sophisticated ‘megaprompt’—that is, a long list of written guidelines that are academically sound and very well coordinated. Many teachers don’t know how to do this. This is where our KRAFT+ agent comes in. With it, we provide teachers and student teachers with an AI coach that has been scientifically developed and tested by teachers. This allows them to turn chatbots into learning partners for students through dialogue and without any programming knowledge,” says the German studies scholar.
The AI assistants created in this way focus on specific subject-related tasks. For example, they help students understand textbook exercises or literary texts, write reports or analyses, or prepare speeches or presentations. In doing so, they only do what the teacher permits: They refuse to ghostwrite, ask students questions, and help them when they encounter difficulties. And they adapt to the students’ individual subject knowledge and language skills, adhere to the curriculum, and ensure data protection. The teacher always retains control of the class: the teaching assistant does not replace the teacher, but rather supports and assists them.
The concept for the KRAFT+ agent was developed by the German team of the KIMADU project. Benjamin Bäumer and Carina Krajczewski were responsible for editing and implementation. In doing so, they incorporated feedback from the German teachers participating in the KIMADU project, who had previously tested the agent extensively for its practical applicability.
KIMADU (Artificial Intelligence in Mathematics and German Instruction) is a research project at the University of Siegen. It supports 25 secondary schools in North Rhine-Westphalia in the use of generative AI in mathematics and German classes to enhance learning and is funded by the Ministry of Schools and Education of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Scientific leadership is provided by the teams of Prof. Dr. Torsten Steinhoff (German Language Pedagogy) and Prof. Dr. Ingo Witzke (Mathematics Education).
The KRAFT+ Agent is intended for German teachers of grades 5 through 10 and for students training to become German teachers. Different versions are available, depending on the user’s prior experience. The agent and all materials are available here as free educational resources and may be used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 open license.
