Dr. Christian Rapp

Work at ZHAW

Position

Head of Educational Technology, Lecturer, R&D, DIZH Fellow

Experience

• DIZH Fellow "Aligning the teaching of academic writing and academic work with the latest generations of mind-enhancing technologies: A Design-Based Research approach"
  ZHAW
  03 / 2024 - today
• DIZH Fellow "Digitalisation and academic writing – new practices and theory development"
  ZHAW
  01 / 2021 - 07 / 2022
• Aquisition and coordination of EU Interreg Project "Seamless Writing: Expanding Technologies to Support Thesis Writing (SWETLANA)"
  ZHAW
  01 / 2017 - 12 / 2020
• Visiting Fellow Dept. of Media Technology
  Visiting Fellow Dept. of Media Technology, Sweden
  06 / 2019 - 07 / 2019

Network

ORCID digital identifier

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-9494-0914

Projects

• Exploring the Triad of Academic Writing, Critical Thinking and AI Literacy: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Undergraduate Thesis Writing / Project leader / ongoing
• RESOLVE Swiss: a new treatment approach in patients with low back pain / Team member / ongoing
• Technological Support for Academic Work, Writing, and Thinking in the Age of AI: Conceptualization, Technology Integration, and Teaching / Project leader / ongoing
• Re-Imagining Intellectual Development: Thinking Skills for Human-AI Interaction / Project leader / completed
• Integrating Generative AI-based assessment with Thesis Writer / Team member / completed
• Aligning the teaching of academic writing and academic work with the latest generations of mind-enhancing technologies: A Design-Based Research approach / Project leader / completed
• Use of ChatGPT and Co. in teaching and research at the ZHAW / Project leader / completed
• Digital Writing Technologies in Higher Education: Theory, Research and Practice / Project leader / completed
• Digitalisation and academic writing – new practices and theory development / Project leader / completed
• Digital Literacy Skills in University Contexts / Team member / completed
• Digitalization of Academic Writing / Project leader / completed
• myScripting / Team member / completed
• Seamless Writing: Expanding Technologies to Support Thesis Writing / Co-project leader / completed
• Seamless Writing: Expanding Technologies to Support Thesis Writing / Project leader / completed
• Base Project Seamless Learning in Lake Constance Region / Project leader / completed
• Valorisation of Open Educational Resources developed during Scopes Institutional Partnership / Project leader / completed
• Implementing state-of-the-art didactics – methods and research tools in academic teaching / Project leader / completed
• Social Media for Education / Project leader / completed
• Thesis Writer: A Web-based Learning Environment to Support Dissertation Projects (BA, MA and Doctoral Theses) / Project leader / completed
• Social Media as a Catalyser for Cross National Learning / Project leader / completed
• IFA International Foresight Academy / Team member / completed
• Implementing state-of-the-art didactics / methods and research tools in academic teaching / Project leader / completed
• Rubberball – Enhancing Societal Resilience / Project leader / completed
• MINT Agenda (Swiss Academy for Engineering Sciences) / Project leader / completed
• Professional internet research for scientific information and knowledge management / Project leader / completed
• Teaching Social Policy / Project leader / completed

Publications

Articles in scientific journal, peer-reviewed

• Kruse, O. and Rapp, C. (2022) 'Digitalisierung des wissenschaftlichen Arbeitens : Bestandsaufnahme und Perspektiven', Die Hochschullehre, 8, pp. 522–538. doi: 10.3278/HSL2238W.
• Strobl, C. et al. (2019) 'Digital support for academic writing : a review of technologies and pedagogies', Computers & Education, 131, pp. 33–48. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2018.12.005.
• Dilger, B. et al. (2019) 'Seamless Learning als Ansatz zum Umgang mit flexiblem Lehren und Lernen : Erfahrungs-bericht aus dem Seamless Learning Lab', Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung, 14(3), pp. 361–376. doi: 10.3217/zfhe-14-03/21.
• Rapp, C. and Kauf, P. E. (2018) 'Scaling academic writing instruction : evaluation of a scaffolding tool (Thesis Writer)', International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education. doi: 10.1007/s40593-017-0162-z.
• Gülbahar, Y. et al. (2017) 'Enriching higher education with social media : development and evaluation of a social media toolkit', International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(1), pp. 23–39. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-3385.
• Kilis, S., Gülbahar, Y. and Rapp, C. (2016) 'Exploration of teaching preferences of instructors" use of social media', European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning, 19(1). doi: 10.1515/eurodl-2016-0001.
• Rapp, C., Gülbahar, Y. and Adnan, M. (2016) 'e-Tutor : a multilingual open educational resource for faculty development to teach online', International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 17(5), pp. 285–289. doi: 10.19173/irrodl.v17i5.2783.

Books, peer-reviewed

• Kruse, O. et al. (eds) (2023) Digital writing technologies in higher education : theory, research, and practice. Cham: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-36033-6.
• Dilger, B. et al. (eds) (2022) Seamless Learning : grenz- und kontextübergreifendes Lehren und Lernen in der Bodenseeregion. 1. Auflage. Wiesbaden: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-658-34698-0.
• Rapp, C. (2016) European foreign policy : a new framework for analysis. Doctoral dissertation. Bergische Universität Wuppertal. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-8791.
• Müller, R., Plieninger, J. and Rapp, C. (2013) Recherche 2.0 : Finden und Weiterverarbeiten in Studium und Beruf. Heidelberg: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-658-02250-1.

Book chapters, peer-reviewed

• Kruse, O., Rapp, C. and Benetos, K. (2023) 'Creativity software and idea mapping technology', in Kruse, O. et al. (eds) Digital writing technologies in higher education. Cham: Springer, pp. 63–79. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-36033-6_5.
• Rapp, C., Heilmann, T. and Kruse, O. (2023) 'Beyond MS Word : alternatives and developments', in Kruse, O. et al. (eds) Digital writing technologies in higher education. Cham: Springer, pp. 33–47. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-36033-6_3.
• Kruse, O., Chitez, M. and Rapp, C. (2023) 'Finding the right words : language technologies to support formulation', in Kruse, O. et al. (eds) Digital writing technologies in higher education. Cham: Springer, pp. 447–464. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-36033-6_28.
• Kruse, O. and Rapp, C. (2023) 'Word processing software : the rise of MS Word', in Kruse, O. et al. (eds) Digital writing technologies in higher education. Cham: Springer, pp. 15–32. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-36033-6_2.
• Castelló, M. et al. (2023) 'Synchronous and asynchronous collaborative writing', in Kruse, O. et al. (eds) Digital writing technologies in higher education. Cham: Springer, pp. 121–139. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-36033-6_8.
• Kruse, O. and Rapp, C. (2023) 'What writers do with language : inscription and formulation as core elements of the science of writing', in Rogers, P. M. et al. (eds) Writing as a human activity : implications and applications of the work of Charles Bazerman. Colorado: WAC Clearinghouse, pp. 367–392. doi: 10.37514/PER-B.2023.1800.2.15.
• Rapp, C., Kruse, O. and Ott, J. (2022) 'Thesis Writer : digitale Anleitung zum wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten, Schreiben und Denken', in Dilger, B. et al. (eds) Seamless Learning. Wiesbaden: Springer, pp. 147–175. doi: 10.1007/978-3-658-34698-0_7.
• Rapp, C. et al. (2022) 'Hinführung und Rahmenbedingungen für die Entwicklung eines toolbasierten Beratungsansatzes für Seamless Learning Konzeptionen', in Dilger, B. et al. (eds) Seamless Learning. Wiesbaden: Springer, pp. 1–34. doi: 10.1007/978-3-658-34698-0_1.
• Kruse, O. and Rapp, C. (2020) 'Digitale Schreibtechnologie : Entwicklungen, Anforderungen und Kompetenzen', in Huemer, B. et al. (eds) Schreibwissenschaft - eine neue Disziplin : diskursübergreifende Perspektiven. Wien: Böhlau Verlag, pp. 129–152.
• Dilger, B., Gommers, L. and Rapp, C. (2019) 'The learning problems behind the seams in seamless learning', in Looi, C.-K. et al. (eds) Seamless learning : perspectives, challenges and opportunities. Heidelberg: Springer, pp. 29–51. doi: 10.1007/978-981-13-3071-1_2.
• Kruse, O. and Rapp, C. (2019) 'Seamless writing : how the digitisation of writing transforms thinking, communication, and student learning', in Looi, C.-K. et al. (eds) Seamless learning : perspectives, challenges and opportunities. Singapore: Springer, pp. 191–208. doi: 10.1007/978-981-13-3071-1_10.
• Rapp, C. (2015) 'Nichtverbreitungs- und Abrüstungspolitik (NPP)', in Bergmann, J., Mickel, W., and Grupp, C. (eds) Handlexikon der Europäischen Union. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
• Aghashyan, R. et al. (2014) 'Creating effective surveys for obtaining feedback from stakeholders as a basis for continuous study program improvement', in Spulber, D. (ed.) e-Competence : learning environment. Rome: Eurilink University Press, pp. 5–16.
• Rapp, C. (2012) 'Nichtverbreitungs- und Abrüstungspolitik', in Bergmann, J., Mickel, W., and Grupp, C. (eds) Handlexikon der Europäischen Union. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
• Rapp, C. (2005) 'Europäisches Patentamt (EPA)', in Wolfgang, M. and Bergmann, J. (eds) Handlexikon der Europäischen Union. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
• Rapp, C. (2005) 'Fischereipolitik, Gemeinsame (GFP)', in Wolfgang, M. and Bergmann, J. (eds) Handlexikon der Europäischen Union. Baden: Nomos.

Written conference contributions, peer-reviewed

• Rapp, C., Whitehouse, M. and Messerknecht, E. (eds) (2023) Writing technology, thinking, and learning : book of abstracts of the 12th Conference of the European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing, 12th Conference of the European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing (EATAW), Winterthur, Switzerland, 5-7 June 2023. Winterthur: ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-2463.
• Rapp, C., Kruse, O. and Schlatter, U. (2020) 'The impact of writing technology on conceptual alignment in BA thesis supervision', in Müller Werder, C. and Erlemann, J. (eds) Seamless Learning : lebenslanges, durchgängiges Lernen ermöglichen. Waxmann, pp. 180–189. doi: 10.31244/9783830992448.
• Rapp, C. et al. (2020) 'Bringing together writing tool design, writing analytics and writing pedagogy', in Companion Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge (LAK20). SoLAR, pp. 713–716. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-20254.
• Rusman, E. et al. (2020) 'Workshop "Seamless learning ecosystem" : past, present and future relevance for research and practice in tailored lifelong learning', in Müller Werder, C. and Erlemann, J. (eds) Seamless Learning : lebenslanges, durchgängiges Lernen ermöglichen. Waxmann, pp. 221–223. doi: 10.31244/9783830992448.
• Rapp, C. and Kruse, O. (2020) 'Thesis writer 2.0 : a system supporting academic writing, its instruction and supervision', in Müller Werder, C. and Erlemann, J. (eds) Seamless Learning : lebenslanges, durchgängiges Lernen ermöglichen. Waxmann, pp. 235–240. doi: 10.31244/9783830992448.
• Müller Werder, C. et al. (2020) 'myScripting : Entwicklung eines digitalen Educational Design Assistenten', in Müller Werder, C. and Erlemann, J. (eds) Seamless Learning : lebenslanges, durchgängiges Lernen ermöglichen. Waxmann, pp. 177–181. doi: 10.31244/9783830992448.
• Shibani, A. et al. (2019) 'Advances in writing analytics : mapping the state of the field', in Companion Proceedings 9th International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge (LAK19). SoLAR, pp. 251–255. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-5531.
• Rapp, C. et al. (2017) 'Seamless learning in lake Constance region', in Igel, C., Ullrich, C., and Wessner, M. (eds) 15. e-Learning Fachtagung Informatik, Chemnitz, 5-8 September 2017. Bonn: Gesellschaft für Informatik, pp. 375–376. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-9742.
• Rapp, C. and Ott, J. (2017) 'Learning analytics in academic writing instruction : opportunities provided by thesis writer (TW)', in Igel, C., Ullrich, C., and Wessner, M. (eds) Die 15. e-Learning Fachtagung Informatik (DeLFI 2017), Chemnitz, Deutschland, 5.-8. September 2017. Bonn: Gesellschaft für Informatik, pp. 391–392.
• Rapp, C. and Kruse, O. (2016) 'Thesis writer (TW) : tapping scale effects in academic writing instruction', in L@S '16: Proceedings of the Third (2016) ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale. Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 325–326. doi: 10.1145/2876034.2893400.
• Chitez, M., Rapp, C. and Kruse, O. (2015) 'Corpus-supported academic writing : how can technology help?', in Helm, F. et al. (eds) Critical CALL : Proceedings of the 2015 EUROCALL Conference, Padova, Italy. Dublin: Research-publishing.net, pp. 125–132. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.1.4710.4489.
• Rapp, C., Gülbahar, Y. and Erlemann, J. (2015) 'A toolkit for supporting higher education instructors in enriching their teaching with social media', in Book of abstracts. Leuwen: European Association for Research in Learning and Instruction (EARLI).
• Rapp, C. et al. (2015) 'Thesis writer : a system for supporting academic writing', in Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference Companion on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing. New York: Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 57–60. doi: 10.1145/2685553.2702687.
• Gülbahar, Y., Rapp, C. and Erlemann, J. (2014) 'Social media toolkit : supporting instructors to create social and unbound learning spaces in higher education', in Rummler, K. (ed.) Lernräume gestalten : Bildungskontexte vielfältig denken. Münster: Waxmann, pp. 599–607. doi: 10.978.38309/31423.
• Rapp, C. et al. (2014) 'Implementing teaching innovations in eastern european universities : resources developed and experiences of two medium sized EU / Swiss national science foundation projects', in ICDE International Conference, Moscow, Russia, 25-26 September 2014. Moscow: ICDE International Council For Open And Distance Education.
• Arslan, O. et al. (2014) 'Development and pilot implementation of online teaching style survey (OTSS)', in Viteli, J. and Leikomaa, M. (eds) EdMedia 2014 : world conference on educational media & technology, June 23-26, Tampere, Finland. Waynesville: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, pp. 1530–1535. Available at: https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/147682/.
• Aghgashyan, R. et al. (2014) 'The role of stakeholders in the process of study program Improvement', in Proceedings of the international conference «education in the 21st century : problems and challenges», pp. 31–33.
• Gülbahar, Y. and Rapp, C. (2014) 'Development of a strategy for social media usage in higher education', in Teixeira, A. M., Mazar, I., and Szucs, A. (eds) European Distance and E-Learning Network Annual Conference (EDEN 2014) E-learning at Work and the Workplace : From Education to Employment and Meaningful Work with ICT. Curran Associates, pp. 346–355.
• Rapp, C., Gulbahar, Y. and Erlemann, J. (2014) 'Social media for education : a toolkit for supporting instructors in higher education enriching their teaching with social media', in Social Media & Society Conference, Toronto, Canada, 27-28 September 2014. Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University.
• Gülbahar, Y., Rapp, C. and Kilis, S. (2014) 'Validation of social media toolkit', in IICE-2014, Dublin, Ireland, 27-30 October 2014.
• Dienel, H. L. et al. (eds) (2010) Terrorism and the Internet : threats, target groups, deradicalisation strategies, New Channels - The Internet as a Tool for Terrorists, Berlin, Germany, 18-20 February 2008. Amsterdam: IOS Press.

Other publications

• Rapp, C. et al. (2025) Generative KI beim Verfassen von Abschlussarbeiten : Ergebnisse einer Studierenden- und Dozierendenumfrage im Juni/Juli 2024. Winterthur: ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-2549.
• Stehrenberger, A. et al. (2025) 'Effect of pain science education and graded sensorimotor retraining on disability in patients with chronic low back pain : a study protocol of a cluster-randomized clinical trial', in 19th International Forum for Back and Neck Pain Research in Primary Care (IBNP Forum), Davos, Switzerland, 24-27 June 2025.
• Anson, C. M. et al. (2025) 'Guest editorial : selected papers from the 12th Conference of the European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing', Journal of Academic Writing, 15(S2), pp. II–V. doi: 10.18552/joaw.v15iS2.1255.
• Cieliebak, M. et al. (2023) Generative KI beim Verfassen von Bachelorarbeiten : Ergebnisse einer Studierendenbefragung im Juli 2023. Winterthur: ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-2491.
• Kruse, O. and Rapp, C. (2021) 'Digital Writing Spaces : eine Verortung digitaler Schreibtechnologien in räumlichen und geografischen Metaphern', in Freise, F. et al. (eds) Writing Spaces : wissenschaftliches Schreiben zwischen und in den Disziplinen. Bielefeld: wbv, pp. 69–90. doi: 10.3278/6004793w.
• Kruse, O. and Rapp, C. (2018) 'Digitale Anleitung von Abschlussarbeiten mit Thesis Writer', Journal der Schreibberatung, 15, pp. 51–64.
• Rapp, C. and Sitnikova, A. (2015) 'Das Online-Toolkit "Social Media for education" zum Einsatz sozialer Medien in der Hochschullehre', E-teaching.org. Available at: https://www.e-teaching.org/praxis/erfahrungsberichte/onlinetoolkit-zum-einsatz-sozialer-medien-in-der-hochschullehre.
• Kilis, S., Rapp, C. and Gülbahar, Y. (2014) 'Eğitimde Sosyal Medya Kullanımına Yönelik Yükseköğretim Düzeyindeki Eğitmenlerin Algısı : Türkiye-Almanya Örneklemi', Journal of Instructional Technologies & Teacher Education, 3(3), pp. 20–28. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-3941.
• König, A. and Rapp, C. (2009) Ergebnisse der Konferenz 'Educational Trendspotting', 30.04.2009, Center for Education and New Learning der ZHAW, Winterthur. Winterthur: ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-3310.
• Fuhrmann, R. D. and Rapp, C. (2008) 'Total Verfahren!? : Bedarf und Ansatz einer prozeduralen Metaberatung', Profile - internationale Zeitschrift für Veränderung, Lernen, Dialog, 2008(15), pp. 105–113.
• Rapp, C. (2006) 'Methodenbeitrag zum Thema Politiker/in und Politikgestaltung', Außerschulische Bildung, 2.
• Müller, R., Schumann, W. and Rapp, C. (2002) Die EU verstehen : Institutionen, Entscheidungsabläufe und Politik nach Nizza. Stuttgart: Klett.
• Schumann, W. et al. (2002) Effiziente Internetnutzung und -recherche für Schule und Hochschule. Stuttgart: Agora.

Oral conference contributions and abstracts

• Kruse, O., Milićević, D. J. and Rapp, C. (2026) 'Writing, thinking, and AI : tracking epistemic development in undergraduate thesis writing', in The EATAW / International Writing Analytics Conference, Tartu, Estonia, 14-16 September 2026.
• Kruse, O. et al. (2026) 'Modelling writing processes in times of AI usage : a study of technology integration and writing support for students', in The EATAW / International Writing Analytics Conference, Tartu, Estonia, 14-16 September 2026.
• Baniceru, A. C. et al. (2026) 'TRAI – thesis writing in the age of AI : a trilingual investigation of critical thinking, epistemic awareness, and linguistic change', in The EATAW / International Writing Analytics Conference, Tartu, Estonia, 14-16 September 2026.
• Gautschi, C. et al. (2026) 'Retrieval-augmented generation for formative thesis writing assessment', in Book of Abstracts SIG Writing Conference 2026. Winterthur: ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, p. 54.
• Rapp, C. and Jakob Grob, K. (2024) 'Befragung zum Einsatz von KI bei Abschlussarbeiten : Studierenden (BA/MA)- und Dozierendenperspektive', in Lunch & Learn – Auswirkungen von KI auf das wissenschaftliche Arbeiten, online, 18. November 2024. Available at: https://zhaw.mediaspace.cast.switch.ch/media/t/0_pu5yjguk.
• Rapp, C. (2023) 'Forty years of digital writing : what has changed, where do we stand, what comes next?', in Writing Research Across Borders (WRAB VI), Trondheim, Norway, 18-22 February 2023.
• Rapp, C. and Kruse, O. (2021) 'Digital provisions for undergraduate proposal writing : securing conceptual alignment between writer and supervisor when using Thesis Writer', in 11th Conference of the European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing (EATAW), online, 7-8 July 2021.
• Gautschi, C., Kruse, O. and Rapp, C. (2021) 'Writing and thinking : what changes with digitalization?', in 11th Conference of the European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing (EATAW), online, 7-8 July 2021.
• Gautschi, C., Kruse, O. and Rapp, C. (2021) 'Exploring logging data for indicators of writing strategies and profiles', in The 2021 Writing Analytics Spring Virtual Symposium, 18-27 May 2021.
• French, A. et al. (2019) 'Digitalization of writing : do we really understand how much writing is changing? : and do we react properly to the challenges, digitization poses on teaching and research?', in 10th Conference of the European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing (EATAW), Göteborg, Sweden, 2-4 July 2019.
• Kruse, O. and Rapp, C. (2019) 'Schreiben in digitalen Räumen : Zukunft des Schreibens - oder bereits Gegenwart?', in Tagung "Writing Spaces - Wissenschaftliches Schreiben zwischen und in den Disziplinen', Hamburg, 8.-9. November 2019.
• Kruse, O. and Rapp, C. (2019) 'Digitization of writing technologies : a never ending story?', in National Forum for English Studies 2019, Malmö, Sweden, 10-12 April 2019.
• Kruse, O., Benetos, K. and Rapp, C. (2019) 'Thinking with the computer : how do new writing tools influence higher-order cognition?', in 10th Conference of the European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing (EATAW), Göteborg, Sweden, 2-4 July 2019.
• Strobl, C. et al. (2018) 'Online support for academic writing : a review of technologies with special attention to the needs of non-native writers', in Eurocall 2018, Jyväskylä, Finland, 22-25 August 2018.
• Kruse, O. et al. (2017) 'Electronic writing support in secondary and higher education : approaches, ideas, and examples', in 9th Conference of the European Association for Teaching Academic Writing (EATAW), London, United Kingdom, 19-21 June 2017.
• Kruse, O., Chitez, M. and Rapp, C. (2016) 'Thesis Writer : eine Web-basierte Lernumgebung zur Unterstützung von Schreibenden in Deutsch und Englisch (L1 und L2)', in 3. Symposium zur Unterstützung von L2-Schreibkompetenzen an deutschsprachigen Universitäten, München, Deutschland, 7. - 8. April 2016.
• Erlemann, J. et al. (2015) 'Thesis writer : supporting writing processes in real time using a web-based digital learning platform', in 16th Biennial EARLI Conference for Research on Learning and Instruction, Limassol, 25-29 August 2015. Available at: https://earli.org/assets/files/BOA-2015.pdf.
• Rapp, C. and Gülbahar, Y. (2014) 'Social media as a catalyser for cross national learning', in EDEN 2014 Annual Conference, Zagreb, Croatia, 10-13 June 2014.

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