dr. J. ter Vrugte (Judith)

Assistant Professor
BMS-LDT-IST
Capitool 15 310
j.tervrugte@utwente.nl
+31534893617
Business card

Judith ter Vrugte studied pedagogical sciences at the Radboud University Nijmegen. Her master thesis concerned the prevalence of switch-costs with number operations. She graduated (cum laude) in 2010. After her graduation she acquired a job as a junior researcher at the Behavioral Science Institute (Nijmegen) and studied the relation between language and spatial skill development in toddlers. After 1.5 year she moved on to a PhD position at the University of Twente (Faculty of Behavioural Sciences) in the section Instructional Technology. Her dissertation focussed on instructional support for educational games (funded by FWO/NWO, project ‘Play your way into math’). In combination with her studies she joined the teaching team of the faculty of Behavioral Sciences and was actively involved in teaching and examination and the design and re-design of several bachelor and master courses in the Psychology and Educational Sciences and Technology programme. 

In 2016 she successfully defended her dissertation and continued her career as a postdoc and lecturer at the section of instructional technology (University of Twente) and became an active member and later chair of the Examination Board for the faculty of behavioural, management and social sciences (2016-2023). In 2023 she left her position as a chair of the Examination Board BS to fulfill a role as chair of the Programme Committee Psychology.

Her research line continued to focus: 1) game-based learning and gamification to aid knowledge and skill acquisition, 2) support that elicits student reflection and self-explanation in digital learning environments, 3) student facing and teacher facing learning analytics dashboards.

Expertise

  • Psychology

    • Proportional Reasoning
    • Groups
    • Acquisition

  • Social Sciences

    • Learning
    • Students
    • Educational Environment

  • Computer Science

    • game based learning
    • Education

Organisations

As a junior researcher (2010-2011) my research focussed on spatial cognition and spatial vocabulary development in young children (age 3) (2010-2011). After that my research attention shifted to the incorporation of technology in education with special attention for game-based learning and gamification. These studies formed the basis of my PhD (obtained in 2016). As a post-doc I've gained experience as project coordinated and PhD student supervisor while also extending my research line on student and teacher facing learning analytics dashboards. In 2020 I continued my academic career as an assistant professor. Current themes in my research are:

  • Game-based learning and gamification to aid knowledge and skill acquisition;
  • Design characteristics of support that elicits student reflection and self-explanation in digital learning environments,
  • Design characteristics of student facing and teacher facing learning analytics dashboards.  

Publications

2023

Gamified Expectation Management to Foster Collaborative Learning (2023)In Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Conference, CSCL: Building Knowledge and Sustaining our Community - 16th International Conference on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, CSCL 2023 - Proceedings (pp. 245-248) (Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Conference, CSCL; Vol. 2023-June). International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS). ter Vrugte, J., Lehner, T. M. & Zievinger, D. C.https://doi.org/10.22318/cscl2023.499956Simulations and games for learning (2023)In International Encyclopedia of Education: Fourth Edition (pp. 681-688). Elsevier. Hovardas, T., ter Vrugte, J., Zacharia, Z. C. & de Jong, T.https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818630-5.14074-6

2022

Supporting reflection to improve learning from self-generated concept maps (2022)Metacognition and learning, 17, 691-713. Eshuis, E. H., ter Vrugte, J. & de Jong, T.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-022-09299-7How Different Types of Teacher Dashboards Impact Teachers’ Problem Detection Accuracy (2022)In International Collaboration toward Educational Innovation for All: Overarching Research, Development, and Practices - 16th International Conference of the Learning Sciences, ICLS 2022 (pp. 1425-1428). International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS). Irmak, M. & ter Vrugte, J.Visualization and Reflection to Scaffold Time-Management in a Computer-Based Learning Environment (2022)In International Collaboration toward Educational Innovation for All: Overarching Research, Development, and Practices - 16th International Conference of the Learning Sciences, ICLS 2022 (pp. 1389-1392) (Proceedings of International Conference of the Learning Sciences, ICLS). International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS). ter Vrugte, J. & Eshuis, E. H.Expert examples and prompted reflection in learning with self-generated concept maps (2022)Journal of computer assisted learning, 38(2), 350-365. Eshuis, E. H., ter Vrugte, J., Anjewierden, A. & de Jong, T.https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12615

Research profiles

Current projects

21st Century Skills

The project TW1ST education, funded by NWO/NRO (409-15-209), focussed on 21st century skill acquisition of students in technical vocational education. The project aimed to develop and evaluate a set of dedicated digital tools and learning analytics techniques to support students in gaining 21st century skills and prepare teachers for an active role in guiding students to acquire these skills. The project was carried out in close collaboration with teachers from four vocational education institutions (ROC van Twente, Deltion college, Aventus, Graafschap college) and Saxion University of Applied Sciences for the development of material and teacher training workshops. The project resulted in a dissertation and many professional and scientific contributions. Duration: 2016-2021

Feedback mechanism in synchronous online learning environments: a case study in STEM courses of K-12 education.

In this project, funded with a CSC scholarship, the goal is to study the design of effective teacher dashboards and how this design impacts teachers' feedback practices to support student knowledge acquisition in synchronous online learning environments. Duration: 2022-ongoing

I-CREW: intelligent collaboration and reflection in educational work

This project was awarded the Brinksma Innovation Grant in 2020 and funded by the University of Twente. The project focussed on the design and evaluation of a tool that could be used to support the acquisition of collaboration skills. The project resulted in a conference publication (ISLS, 2023), two master theses (2021,2022), and a journal publication (in process). Duration: 2020-2021

Types of teacher dashboards and their impact on teachers’ noticing

This collaboration between visiting researcher Meltem Irmak and Judith ter Vrugte was funded by TUBITAK. The study focussed on the design characteristics of teacher dashboards and how this impacts teacher noticing. The project resulted in a conference contribution (ISLS 2022) and a journal article (in process). Duration: 2021-2022

The digital home literacy environment.

In this project, funded by 'Stichting Lezen', we aimed to untangle the relation between digital tool use and availability of digital tools in the home literacy environment and children’s (ages 5 to 6) early literacy skills. Duration: 2020-2021

Play your Way into Math

This project, funded by NWO/FWO (411-10-900) involved an international collaboration between the University of Utrecht, the KU Leuven, and the University of Twente. In this project, an educational math game was developed in collaboration with software-design company Ludo Motion. The impact of the game was investigated in a series of >10 studies carried out in the Netherlands and Belgium. These studies adopted a value-added approach in order to investigate the effectiveness of specific elements that could affect the effectiveness of game-based learning. This project resulted in two dissertations and many scientific contributions. Duration: 2011-2016

The digital picture book in the home literacy environment

This project was awarded the Tiele fellowship 2022 by the Tiele Stichting, It aimed to uncover the alignment in our current understanding of effective instructional e-books and what parents use. Among other things I focused on identifying and organizing initiatives of organizations geared towards the use of digital picture books in the home literacy environment. Duration: 2022-2023

Address

University of Twente

Capitool 15 (building no. 78), room 310
Capitool 15
7521 PL Enschede
Netherlands

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