Roman Rietsche

Roman Rietsche

Research Professor for Information Systems and AI

Bern University of Applied Sciences

I am a Research Professor for Information Systems and AI at Bern University of Applied Sciences, specializing at the nexus of educational technology, psychology, and human-computer interaction.

My research follows three connected work streams: (1) developing effective information systems that embed artificial intelligence and large language models, (2) designing and measuring behavior change through digital interventions, and (3) evaluating the impact of digital technologies on organizations in the context of reskilling and upskilling.

One of my key achievement is the LOOM feedback system, which has enhanced the educational experience of over 2,000 students across the United States, Germany, and Switzerland.

I led the Swiss Circular Economy of Skills and Competences (SCESC) project (2022-2025), funded by a 6 million Swiss franc grant from Innosuisse. This project united a multidisciplinary team with researchers from EHB, EPFL, HSG-IWP, HSG-IWI, UZH and ZHAW and the implementation partner X28.

Collaborations with industry, particularly in digital re-skilling and up-skilling, include partnerships with Siemens AG, Volkswagen AG, and Stiftung Brändi.

Experience

 
 
 
 
 
Bern University of Applied Sciences
Professor
Bern University of Applied Sciences
October 2023 – Present

Research Interests:

  1. Developing effective information systems that embed artificial intelligence and large language models.
  2. Designing and measuring behavior change through digital interventions.
  3. Evaluating the impact of digital technologies on organizations in the context of reskilling and upskilling

Head of Research Lab for AI-based re- and upskilling (LAIRU) * Development of AI tools e.g.: for digital onboarding, personalized learning paths, automated situative judgement tests * Design of a holistic Human Centric Re- and Upskilling Framework for organizations * Consulting

 
 
 
 
 
University of St. Gallen
External Lecturer
University of St. Gallen
September 2020 – Present
Teaching courses in Master of Business Innovation, Master in Computer Science and Executive Education
 
 
 
 
 
Cambridge Assessment and Department of Computer Science and Technology - University of Cambridge
Research visit
Cambridge Assessment and Department of Computer Science and Technology - University of Cambridge
June 2019 – January 2020
 
 
 
 
 
Fox School of Business - Temple University
Research visit
Fox School of Business - Temple University
January 2019 – May 2019
 
 
 
 
 
Prof. Dr. Jan Marco Leimeister, Institute of Information Systems, University of St. Gallen
Research Group Leader, Postdoctoral Fellow and PhD
Prof. Dr. Jan Marco Leimeister, Institute of Information Systems, University of St. Gallen
June 2016 – September 2023
 
 
 
 
 
Leitwerk AG
Senior Systems Engineer
Leitwerk AG
December 2013 – May 2016
  • Security Consulting (Firewalls, security concepts)
  • Network Infrastructure Consulting (Routing, Switching, VPNs)
  • Founder of the Competence Center for IT Project Management

Projects

*
Reflective Writing for Personal Development: Leveraging AI for Scalable Learning
Developing an AI-powered conversational reflection guide and journey dashboard that scales personalized reflective writing feedback to thousands of learners, funded by Innosuisse with a consortium of seven Swiss institutions.
Reflective Writing for Personal Development: Leveraging AI for Scalable Learning
BeLEARN: Conversational AI-Driven Coach
Built and deployed a course-specific conversational AI tutor for university statistics, comparing Socratic and instructional tutoring strategies in a field experiment and deriving design guidelines for controllable LLM-based coaching systems.
Information Sharing in the Metaverse
Investigated how bystander presence and technological immersion (laptop vs. VR headset) affect self-disclosure in virtual environments, finding that VR nullifies the bystander effect on information sharing.
DigiBot
Developed and evaluated an AI chatbot that personalizes standardized digital competence assessments based on individual user profiles, revealing that adaptive question generation improves relevance for advanced users while beginners prefer standardized formats.
DigiBot
Brandi Digital Skills
Collaborated with Stiftung Brandi to develop digital skill profiles for the social sector, creating a Role-Skill-Matrix based on the DigiComp framework and designing targeted re- and upskilling programs from gap analysis to training recommendations.
Digital Coaching
Investigated how transparently sharing an AI coach’s intermediate reasoning, framed with epistemic humility, affects user trust, engagement, and coaching outcomes in educational settings.
Digital Coaching
Swiss Circular Economy of Skills and Competences (SCESC)
Led a CHF 6 million Innosuisse Flagship project (2022-2025) uniting five Swiss universities to build a continuing education platform based on circular economy principles, enabling algorithm-driven matching of individual skill gaps with training opportunities.
Swiss Circular Economy of Skills and Competences (SCESC)
Learning Objective and Outcome Manager (LOOM)
Developed and evaluated a human-AI collaboration system that uses adaptive text feature recommendations to improve the quality of peer feedback in large-scale university courses, tested with 490 students across three institutions.
Learning Objective and Outcome Manager (LOOM)

Recent Publications

Quickly discover relevant content by filtering publications.
(2025). Design Principles for XR Reflection Assistants. Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) 2025.

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(2025). Towards Design Principles of Lecturer Dashboards for Reflective Writing. Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) 2025.

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(2025). Die Vorteile des nutzerzentrierten Prompt Engineerings für Unternehmen. SocietyByte.

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(2025). DigiBot: Ein personalisiertes KI-Tool zur Selbsteinschätzung digitaler Kompetenzen. SocietyByte.

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Current Teaching

Digital Business Management (M.Sc. Digital Business Administration)
Digital Enterprise (B.Sc. Information Systems)
Engineering the Companies Digital Core (M.Sc. Computer Science)
AI for Business (M.Sc. Digital Business)
Business Innovation II (M.Sc. Business Innovation)
Prompt Engineering: Innovation through generative AI (M.Sc. Business Innovation)
Prompt Engineering (Executive Education)

Contact

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