Rethinking digital higher education
At Reutlingen University, this vision is currently becoming a reality. Since the summer semester of 2026, “heyprof” – an experimental AI-based teaching and learning platform for higher education – has been in trial operation.
The prototype was developed by Prof. Dr Dirk Schieborn and Prof. Dr Volker Reichenberger. Both are professors of Artificial Intelligence, Mathematics and Computer Science at the NXT Sustainability and Technology Faculty. The platform is being further refined and expanded in cooperation with Reutlingen University.
AI tutor for personalised learning
The platform brings together all teaching and learning materials for a course in one central location:
- lecture notes
- PDFs and presentations
- handwritten and digital lecture notes
- exercises and practice exams
- interactive visualisations
- audio recordings of lectures
At the heart of heyprof is an intelligent AI tutor that can access this content and provide students with personalised learning support.
Personalised AI in higher education
The project focuses on the question of how modern AI technologies can usefully complement digital higher education.
The aim is to support students in a motivating and accessible learning environment that is tailored to their individual needs. For example, AI can explain content in a factual, creative, visual or informal way – depending on which learning style is most helpful at the time.
heyprof in action at Reutlingen University
Reutlingen University has been using heyprof in its teaching since the summer semester of 2026, thereby exploring new approaches to AI-supported knowledge transfer and personalised digital teaching. The platform demonstrates how artificial intelligence can support students throughout their studies and meaningfully enhance traditional teaching formats – in a practical, dialogue-oriented and personalised way.
“Our aim is to develop the best possible digital environment, guided by the motto ‘teach – study – grow – together’, which provides an attractive, state-of-the-art platform for teaching content to be presented by lecturers. At the same time, it should provide our students with a home where the learning content, a ‘digital twin of the professor’ and their fellow students are available at all times. And one that caters entirely to each student’s individual needs, thereby alleviating any fear of complex content.”
Prof. Dr. Dirk Schieborn and Prof. Dr. Volker Reichenberger
Founders of "heyprof" and professors at the NXT Faculty of Sustainability and Technology
