Aus Punkt 1.: "We state a growing importance in of implicit factors in user's decision making. The products they choose to use are no longer sufficient only addressing the basic functional requirements. Due to higher living standards, the users now ask for more than just the consideration of accessibility terms. "[…] People have gradually enhanced their survival mentality from the materialistic fulfilment into the emotional one. This phenomenon has transcended producers’ role in the market. They do not only manufacture products and provide goods, but they should also create a kind of product that can create atmosphere and stories, so that consumers can experience deeper satisfaction and emotions in their purchase behaviour." (Huang & Guan 2014) There is a stronger focus on emotional aspects affecting users' product selection as ever before. Physiological UCD, however, already is a challenging task itself, regarding all parties and factors influencing its decision making process, so the concentration on other, more subjective factors still remain widely unconsidered. Recent User Centred Design (UCD) approaches already take up this fact, but still this is at the very beginning regarding UCD implementation (Law et al. 2010). ..."

Aus Punkt 1.: "We state a growing importance in of implicit factors in user's decision making. The products they choose to use are no longer sufficient only addressing the basic functional requirements. Due to higher living standards, the users now ask for more than just the consideration of accessibility terms. "[…] People have gradually enhanced their survival mentality from the materialistic fulfilment into the emotional one. This phenomenon has transcended producers’ role in the market. They do not only manufacture products and provide goods, but they should also create a kind of product that can create atmosphere and stories, so that consumers can experience deeper satisfaction and emotions in their purchase behaviour." (Huang & Guan 2014) There is a stronger focus on emotional aspects affecting users' product selection as ever before. Physiological UCD, however, already is a challenging task itself, regarding all parties and factors influencing its decision making process, so the concentration on other, more subjective factors still remain widely unconsidered. Recent User Centred Design (UCD) approaches already take up this fact, but still this is at the very beginning regarding UCD implementation (Law et al. 2010). ..."

Digitalization crosses all areas of life (Hess et al. 2014). Recent progress in artificial intelligence (AI) opens new potentials for further developments and improvements, with virtual coaching being a prime example. Virtual coaches (VCs) aim to optimize the user’s life by transforming cognition, affection, and behavior towards a stated goal. Since they emerged from the health and sports domain, a typical example are VCs in the form of digital avatars, which instruct physical exercises, shape health-related knowledge and provide motivational support to achieve the user’s goals (e.g., weight loss) (Ding et al. 2010; Tropea et al. 2019). Nonetheless, the application areas of VCs are versatile and exploring the potential areas (e.g., healthcare, work, finance, leisure, and environment) constitutes an essential topic of future research and development. According to Gartner’s hype cycle for human capital management technology, VCs are still in their infancy but are considered innovation triggers for the following years (Gartner, Inc. 2021). Specifically, VCs can be a replacement or complement for traditional human-to-human coaching scenarios and promise broad access to personalized coaching services independent of place and time (Graßmann and Schermuly 2021). As a result, VCs may contribute to solving challenges posed by an aging society and skilled labor shortage (European Commission 2016; Edwards and Cheok 2018). Last but not least, the recent COVID-19 pandemic additionally showcased the need for VCs as an alternative to traditional face-to-face interventions. Against this background and driven by the potential and promises of VCs, research has recently engaged in developing and understanding VC applications (Tropea et al. 2019; Lete et al. 2020; Graßmann and Schermuly 2021). To introduce the concept in information systems (IS) research and provide a basis for researchers and practitioners alike, this catchword aims at providing a holistic view on VCs. The structure of this paper is as follows. Section 2 elaborates a definition, delimits VCs from related system classes, and proposes a research framework. Section 3 aggregates existing research into the framework and concludes with an outlook on future IS research perspectives.

We present a new course titled “Introduction to the Mathematical Sciences.” The course content is 1/3 algebra, 1/3 statistics, and 1/3 computer science and is taught in a laboratory environment on computers. The course pedagogy departs radically from traditional mathematics courses taught in the U.S. and makes extensive use of spreadsheet software to teach algebraic and statistical concepts. The course is currently offered in area high schools and two-year postsecondary institutions with financial support from a Blandin Foundation grant (referenced under BFG). We will present empirical evidence that indicates students in this course learn more algebra than students in a traditional semester-long algebra course. Additionally, we present empirical evidence that students learn statistical and computer science topics in addition to algebra. We will also present the model of developing this course which depended on increasing future student success in a variety of disciplines at the post-secondary level of study.

We present a new course titled “Introduction to the Mathematical Sciences.” The course content is 1/3 algebra, 1/3 statistics, and 1/3 computer science and is taught in a laboratory environment on computers. The course pedagogy departs radically from traditional mathematics courses taught in the U.S. and makes extensive use of spreadsheet software to teach algebraic and statistical concepts. The course is currently offered in area high schools and two-year postsecondary institutions with financial support from a Blandin Foundation grant (referenced under BFG). We will present empirical evidence that indicates students in this course learn more algebra than students in a traditional semester-long algebra course. Additionally, we present empirical evidence that students learn statistical and computer science topics in addition to algebra. We will also present the model of developing this course which depended on increasing future student success in a variety of disciplines at the post-secondary level of study.