On February 14, 2025, we participated in the Lecture Series "Introduction to Focus Areas" to introduce the research areas of the HCC group. Specifically, students were introduced to the topics of Responsible AI and Human-Centered Data Science, which are currently being explored in the ENKIS project ("Establishment of Sustainable Study Programs for Responsible Artificial Intelligence at the Freie Universität Berlin"). 

During this lecture, students were introduced to the fundamentals of empirical research methods, which are used to develop, evaluate, and assess how users interact with AI systems. In addition to learning about the different steps of experimental research, including defining the research question and hypotheses, specifying variables, and conducting statistical analyses, we discussed examples of current human-AI research. For instance, while many interesting methods have been developed to improve human-AI collaboration, such as Explainable AI (XAI) methods, recent studies have shown that users often do not know how to utilize them. Therefore, human-centered approaches that take into account user needs and evaluate how users perceive additional information are necessary. We presented and discussed current research, including our ENKIS example crowdsourcing experiment, to illustrate the fundamentals that students need to consider when conducting a small online experiment via a crowdsourcing platform.

The second part of the 4-hour session consisted of students applying their newly acquired knowledge. We prepared three scenarios that the students worked on in small groups. Each scenario involved potential stakeholders facing a challenge that required the help of an expert knowledgeable in empirical research and data science. First, the students had 40 minutes to discuss and understand their chosen scenario. We provided handouts with a summary of the lecture and a form to summarize their ideas and decisions. Second, we discussed the groups' decisions in detail and what they could do differently. As some groups chose the same scenario, we had the opportunity to discuss what we could learn from each other's concepts.

In summary, we are very pleased with the interest shown by the students, who even asked for further information after the lecture and expressed interest in our Lecture & Exercise "Human-Centered Data Science" (part of the ENKIS project). The materials and handouts will be made available on our HCDS website in the next month.