dr. M. Farrokhnia (Mohammadreza)

Assistant Professor
BMS-LDT-IST
Capitool 15 024
m.farrokhnia@utwente.nl
+31534896840
Business card

Mohammadreza (Reza) holds a Master’s degree in Physics Education and a PhD in Educational Technology. Before joining the University of Twente as an assistant professor of instructional technology, he spent over 15 years teaching physics in secondary education in Iran. His research focuses on the pedagogically informed integration of emerging technologies to enhance teaching and learning across educational levels. His areas of interest include computer-supported collaborative learning, adaptive learning environments, simulation-based learning, serious games, and, more recently, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). Through his research, he seeks to understand how these technologies can be meaningfully designed and integrated into educational practices to support effective, engaging, and evidence-informed learning experiences.

Expertise

  • Social Sciences

    • Education
    • Educational Environment
    • Learning Experiences
    • Electronic Learning
    • Higher Education
    • Systematic Review
    • Conceptual Understanding
    • Generative Artificial Intelligence

Organisations

Publications

Jump to: 2026 | 2025 | 2024

2026

From digital competence to collaborative knowledge construction: The role of social presence in online learning environments (2026)Journal of computer assisted learning, 42(6). Article e70348 (E-pub ahead of print/First online). Keshavarzi, F., Heidari, E., Rafatjoo, Z., Salimi, G. & Farrokhnia, M.https://doi.org/10.1002/jcal.70348Predictive Models for Performance in High-Stakes Medical Assessments: A Systematic Review within Health Professions Education (2026)International journal of health studies, 12(5), 29-49. Mastour, H., Dehghani, T., Jajroudi, M., Farrokhnia, M., Zarei, M. & Eslami, S.https://doi.org/10.22100/ijhs.v12i5.1446Beyond virtual presence: Exploring real-world disruptive presence in learning with immersive VR (2026)[Contribution to conference › Abstract] Earli SIG 6&7 Conference. de Vreugd, L., Zhu, C., Onvlee, D., Farrokhnia, M., Halfwerk, F. R., Groenier, M., Friso-van den Bos, I. & Pennings, H.Understanding How Immersive Virtual Reality Supports Learning and Transfer Across Educational Contexts (2026)[Contribution to conference › Abstract] 12th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network, iLRN 2026. Zhu, C., de Vreugd, L., Onvlee, D., Farrokhnia, M., Halfwerk, F. R., Groenier, M., Friso - van den Bos, I. & Pennings, H. J. M.https://doi.org/10.56198/ss84dg32Students, AI, and the Future of Higher Education: A Scoping Review of Perceptions and Concerns (2026)In Artificial Intelligence in Education: 27th International Conference, AIED 2026, Seoul, South Korea, June 27–July 3, 2026, Proceedings (pp. 363-377) (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Vol. 16586 LNCS (LNAI)). Springer (E-pub ahead of print/First online). Farrokhnia, M., Salimi, G. & Ahmadshahi, A.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-29773-0_28Concept map analysis of reading comprehension assessment: Tracing situation models in multiple-choice and constructed-response items (2026)Studies in educational evaluation, 89. Article 101599. Roelofs, E., Farrokhnia, M. & Haeri, M. A.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2026.101599Learning analytics dashboards for adaptive teaching: What teachers need to see? (2026)[Contribution to conference › Paper] 2026 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, AERA 2026. Qiao, J., Farrokhnia, M. & Eysink, T.https://doi.org/10.3102/2287494GenAI or teacher?: How literacy shapes feedback perception (2026)[Contribution to conference › Paper] 2026 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, AERA 2026. Fischer, L., Farrokhnia, M., Dasgupta, C. & Noroozi, O.https://doi.org/10.3102/2279049Unpacking GenAI literacy: The role of individual drivers and engagement levels (2026)[Contribution to conference › Paper] 2026 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, AERA 2026. Farrokhnia, M., Fischer, L., Salimi, G., Banihashem, S. K. & Noroozi, O.https://doi.org/10.3102/2278159Generative AI offers more, but students revise less: Comparing the effects of teacher and AI feedback on student essay revisions (2026)Universities and Knowledge Society Journal, 23(6). Article 6 (E-pub ahead of print/First online). Farrokhnia, M., Latifi, S., Papadopoulos, P. M., Hogenkamp, L., Gijlers, H., Khosravi, H. & Noroozi, O.https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-026-00579-9Fostering university students’ entrepreneurial opportunity identification capability: A systematic literature review (2026)Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy, 9(1), 45-91. Farrokhnia, M., Noroozi, O., Baggen, Y., Lans, T., Biemans, H. & Pittaway, L.https://doi.org/10.1177/25151274241309938Supporting convergent thinking in entrepreneurship education: the role of evaluation criteria and exemplars (2026)Journal of Further and Higher Education, 50(6), 1016-1036. Farrokhnia, M., Noroozi, O., Baggen, Y. & Biemans, H.https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2026.2644543

2025

Educators’ perceptions of generative AI: Investigating attitudes, barriers, and learning needs in higher education (2025)Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 62(5), 1598-1613. Soleimani, S., Farrokhnia, M., van Dijk, A. M. & Noroozi, O.https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2025.2530767Generative AI in higher education: Transformative tools for research, teaching, and assessment (2025)In Navigating Generative AI in Higher Education: Ethical, Theoretical and Practical Perspectives (pp. 33-53). Edward Elgar. Farrokhnia, M., Soleimani, S. & Noroozi, O.https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035337873.00007Community of inquiry: A bridge linking motivation and self-regulation to satisfaction with E-learning (2025)Internet and higher education, 65. Article 100992. Farrokhnia, M., Taghizade, A., Ahmadi, R., Papadopoulos, P. M. & Noroozi, O.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2025.100992Improving hybrid brainstorming outcomes with computer-supported scaffolds: Prompts and cognitive group awareness (2025)Computers & education, 227. Article 105229. Farrokhnia, M., Noroozi, O., Baggen, Y., Biemans, H. & Weinberger, A.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2024.105229Games in education: A systematic review of studies in international and Iranian contexts (2025)Educational technology research and development, 73, 663-690. Bakhtiari, R., Seraji, F., Farrokhnia, M., Habibzadeh, Z. & Noroozi, O.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-024-10426-1Guided Inquiry in a Physics Simulation: Profiles of Successful and Less Successful Students (2025)[Contribution to conference › Paper] 21st Biennial EARLI Conference 2025. Farrokhnia, M., Tütenkan, M. & Eysink, T. H. S.How Do Motivation and Self-Regulation Shape Learners’ Satisfaction with E-Learning? (2025)In Proceedings of the 19th International Conference of the Learning Sciences - ICLS 2025 (pp. 2085-2089). International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS). Farrokhnia, M., Taghizade, A., Ahmadi, R., Papadopoulos, P. M. & Noroozi, O.https://doi.org/10.22318/icls2025.136676

2024

Generative AI in Education: Pedagogical, Theoretical, and Methodological Perspectives (2024)International Journal of Technology in Education, 7(3), 373-385. Noroozi, O., Soleimani, S., Farrokhnia, M. & Banihashem, S. K.https://doi.org/10.46328/ijte.845

Research profiles

Current projects

Artificial inteligence as a Social Agent to Support Group Learning Processes

"AI as a Social Agent to Support Group Learning Processes" is an NRO-funded project under the call "𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 2024" that has received €750,000 to study how large language models (LLMs) can support the identification of metacognitive and emotional regulation needs and provide adaptive scaffolding to enhance these processes in student teams working on complex, collaborative learning tasks in engineering education.

The primary goal of this project is to design and develop an AI social agent called CLARA (Collaborative Learning Agent for Regulation with AI). As part of this funding, one PhD candidate and one postdoctoral researcher will be hired in 2025–2026, with a supervisory team from the University of Twente and Eindhoven University of Technology.

The Use of Virtual Reality in (bio)Medical Education

This is postdoctoral research as part of a larger project funded by the Nationaal Regieorgaan Onderwijsonderzoek (NRO) that focuses on the use of two VR applications in medical education: OK Ready!, which trains surgical and anesthesiology assistants in operating room preparation (Study 1), and VR Sterile, which trains biomedical students in sterile lab procedures (Study 2). A postdoc under my supervision will focus on Study 1, where you will investigate learning mechanisms such as presence and surface/structure (dis)similarity, using OK Ready! in a new context within both the Technical Medicine curriculum at the University of Twente and the UMC Utrecht curriculum. This project aims to apply and extend the Cognitive Affective Model of Immersive Learning (CAMIL) by empirically examining how immersive VR supports learning processes across educational contexts.

From Feedback to Revision: Investigating Students’ Feedback Sensemaking in Higher Education

This research focuses on how students understand and use written feedback when rewriting academic texts. Although lecturers invest significant time in providing feedback, students do not always know how to apply it effectively. The project investigates what happens after feedback is received: how students interpret comments, make choices during revision, and translate feedback into improvements. By gaining a better understanding of these processes, including the use of generative AI, the research aims to contribute to more effective feedback practices and better education in higher education.

Address

University of Twente

Capitool 15 (building no. 78), room 024
Capitool 15
7521 PL Enschede
Netherlands

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