The Design of a Postgraduate Vocational Training Programme to Enhance Engineering Graduates’ Problem-solving Skills through PBL
The current rapid technological advancements and the dynamic workplace environments call for engineering graduates to be equipped with a combination of interdisciplinary skills. Among the core skills for the
engineering profession is problem-solving. Although industry professionals and academics consider problem solving an essential attribute of engineers in industry 4.0, research shows that several engineering graduates are not adequately equipped to apply the problem-solving approach in workplace environments. During the past years, the most common approach referred to in the literature for enhancing problem-solving skills in engineering education is Problem-Based Learning (PBL). While research reported that PBL could improve students’ skills in the early stage of higher education or within their degree programmes, most engineers generally accept that graduates will “really” learn how to be an engineer at the workplace. This work reports on the methodological process of designing and developing a postgraduate vocational training programme to enhance engineering graduates’ problem-solving skills through PBL.
Miliou, O., Ioannou, A., Georgiou, Y., Vyrides, I., Xekoukoulotakis, N., Willert, S., Andreou, A., Andreou, P., Komnitsas, K., Zaphiris, P., & Yiatros, S. (in press). The Design of a Postgraduate Vocational Training Programme to Enhance Engineering Graduates’ Problem-solving Skills through PBL. International Journal of Engineering Education..
Collaborative Knowledge Construction and Metacognition via Educational Robotics
The purpose of the study was to explore how Educational Robotics (ER) can support students’ metacognitive thinking as a key element for collaborative knowledge construction in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) settings. The work adopts a Design-based Research methodology, to address the development of metacognitive skills while documenting design principles for successful implementations. The findings provide an in-depth understanding of how ER can be used in real classroom settings for facilitating metacognitive thinking. Through the analysis of different curriculum structures, the study provides evidence that ER is a useful metacognitive medium whose learning benefits can be maximized through a structured curriculum design using pre-designed tasks, in combination with guided experimentation at the beginning of each session.
1. Socratous, C., & Ioannou, A. (2021). Structured or unstructured educational robotics curriculum? A study of debugging in block-based programming. Educational Technology Research and Development, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-021-10056-x
2. Socratous, C., Ioannou, A. Evaluating the Impact of the Curriculum Structure on Group Metacognition During Collaborative Problem-solving Using Educational Robotics. TechTrends (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-022-00738-5
A Cross-organizational social learning model
This work investigates the role of cross-organizational Communities of Practice (CoPs) on learning in Higher Education (HE) Design studies. It is motivated by the current gap between academia and industry, regarding the actual – versus the anticipated – knowledge, soft skills, and personae of graduates who transition into the digital creative industries today.
It proposes a robust academia-industry collaboration model that can enhance academic programs to bridge this gap. It demonstrates the effective convergence of creativity, collaboration, and authenticity in education through cross-organizational CoPs, by bringing together academic and industrial stakeholders in a technology-supported and curriculum-integrated practice.
This work empirically demonstrates and validates the critical interlocking of the technological, epistemic, and social designs that constitute an appropriate learning ecology for the complex practices of cross-organizational CoPs in HE Design studies and provides a set of actionable guidelines to assist researchers and practitioners who aim to enhance their own learning designs in the HE Design disciplines.
1. Mavri, A., Ioannou, A., & Loizides, F. (2021). Value creation and identity in cross-organizational communities of practice: A learner’s perspective. The Internet and Higher Education, 51, 100822. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2021.100822
2. Mavri, A., Ioannou, A., & Loizides, F. (2021). Cross-organizational communities of practice: enhancing creativity and epistemic cognition in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 49, 100792.. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2021.100792
Immersive VR for Learning Physics in the High Schools of Cyprus
Immersive VR simulations are argued to support students’ learning of complex scientific concepts due to the use of realistic graphics and interactions to represent scientific phenomena that students can hardly experience in everyday life. However, the integration of VR simulations in K-12 science classrooms introduces new challenges due to the lack of learning designs that can inform their effective deployment. In this work, we present a technology-integration scenario seeking to introduce an immersive VR simulation in Physics classrooms to support high-school students’ understanding of Special Theory of Relativity. We evaluate the learners’ experience, considering their perceptions of technology integration as well as their conceptual learning gains.
1. Tsivitanidou, O. E., Georgiou, Y., & Ioannou, A. (2021). A Learning experience in inquiry-based physics with immersive virtual reality: Student perceptions and an interaction effect between conceptual gains and attitudinal profiles. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 30(6), 841-861.
2. Georgiou, Y., Tsivitanidou, O., & Ioannou, A. (2021). Learning experience design with immersive virtual reality in physics education. Educational Technology Research and Development, 1-30.
Embodied Education: Technology-Enhanced 4E Learning in the Classroom
The concepts of embodiment and embodied learning are gaining traction in the field of Education, deeply rooted in theories of 4E (Embodied, Enactive, Extended, and Embedded) Cognition. New and affordable educational technologies (e.g., motion-based technologies, AR, VR) enable researchers and practitioners to include more gestures and body movements into their learning designs. Our recent work focuses on 4E learning, mediated by technology, in CSCL settings. The work provides insights on best practices for conducting embodied learning in the classroom and its positive impact on learning. It becomes apparent that the implementation of embodied learning in CSCL settings requires special attention to issues of classroom orchestration, referring to how teachers design technology-enhanced 4E learning classrooms and manage the learning activities and constraints in real-time.
1. Ioannou, A. (2019). Embodied Education: Technology-Enhanced 4E Learning in the Classroom. Special (invited) session at the 13th International Conference on Computer Supported Learning (CSCL 2019): What can 4E cognition tell us about CSCL successes and failures?
2. Georgiou, Y., & Ioannou, A. (2020). Developing, Enacting and Evaluating a Learning Experience Design for Technology-Enhanced Embodied Learning in Math Classrooms. TechTrends, 1-13.
Technology-enhanced Embodied Learning in Authentic Classroom Settings
Embodied learning activities supported by motion-based technologies are becoming popular in various contexts and settings. However, little is yet known about technology integration for embodied learning in groups in authentic classroom settings, as existing studies have been mostly conducted in laboratory settings. In this work, we examine students’ learning and perceptions of technology integration for group learning in a high-embodied Kinect-based condition, in comparison with a low-embodied, desktop-based condition, using the respective versions of the Alien Health game. Findings showed larger learning gains and more positive perceptions of technology integration for the students in the low-embodied condition. Factors related to classroom orchestration inform the findings of the study and guide future research in this area.
Ioannou, M., Georgiou, Y., Ioannou, A., Johnson-Glenberg, M. (2019). On the understanding of students’ learning and perceptions of technology integration in low- and high-embodied group learning. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning.
Embodied Learning in the Classroom
Investigating Technology-Enhanced Embodied Learning in real classroom settings: Students’ Performance and Learning Gains. A three-year empirical investigation of four consecutive phases in an authentic elementary classroom environment. Results reveal significant gains in students’ cognitive performance (i.e. short-memory skills), motor skills (i.e. psychomotor ability and psychomotor speed) and academic performance in language learning and vocabulary acquisition
Kosmas P., Ioannou A., & Retalis S. (2017). Using Embodied Learning Technology to Advance Motor Performance of Children with Special Educational Needs and Motor Impairments. In: Lavoué É., Drachsler H., Verbert K., Broisin J., Pérez- Sanagustín M. (eds) Data Driven Approaches in Digital Education. EC-TEL 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 10474. Springer, Cham
Learning via Motion-based Learning Games
Within the spirit of playful and gameful design for learning, our recent studies have been inspired by technological advancements, namely motion-based technologies (e.g., Xbox Kinect, or Leap Motion) and contemporary theory of Embodied Cognition. Embodied learning, under the lens of Embodied Cognition theory, emphasises on the inseparable link between brain, body and the world; it considers that the active human body can alter the function of the brain and therefore the cognitive process. That said, embodied learning environments compose an emergent category of digital environments, which integrate gestures or even full-body movement into the act of learning. Much of our recent work on playful and embodied learning is currently under review.
Kosmas, P., Ioannou, A. & Retalis, S. (2018). Moving Bodies to Moving Minds: A Study of the Use of Motion-Based Games in Special Education. Tech Trends, 62(6),pp 594–601. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-018-0294-5
Gameful Design for Learning
A model of gameful design for learning using interactive tabletops is the outcome of a series of studies concerned with playful collaboration and social outcomes, including social perspective taking, peacemaking, mediated by interactive tabletops. The model was enacted and evaluated in the context of socio-emotional education. Traditional lessons were enriched by collaborative work on interactive tabletops using gameful activities. We demonstrated the ways in which the students draw on recently-acquired knowledge, engage in dramatic play, share the digital space and collaborate intensively to achieve a new and refined understanding of concepts and behaviors linked to perspective-taking. We discussed how tabletops, in synergy with constructivist pedagogy and principles of gameful design, enable communication, collaboration, and perspective-taking.
Ioannou, A. (2018). A model of gameful design for learning using interactive tabletops: Enactment and evaluation in the socio-emotional education classroom. Educational Technology Research & Development: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-018-9610-1.
Embodied Play and Learning on Interactive Surfaces
The notion that engaging the body brings additional value in learning has lead researchers in evaluating technology-enhanced, whole-body learning experiences. Yet, we still need compelling evidence for the applicability of relevant tools and methods in school classrooms. We conducted a series of exploratory case studies with elementary-school students using interactive floors or walls in typical school settings. Results demonstrate that embodied learning methods are well received by both students and teachers, can be successfully used in formal educational settings, can promote children’s engagement, and can help researchers to advance their views of the mechanisms of cognitive processing; yet, cognitive phenomena require more careful investigation.
Ioannou, M., & Ioannou, A. (2018). Playing with fractions on an interactive floor: An exploratory case study in the math classroom. In J. Kay & R. Luckin (Eds.), Rethinking Learning in the Digital Age: Making the Learning Sciences Count, 13th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS) 2018 (Vol. 3, pp. 1635-1636). London, UK: ISLS.
Movement-based Learning using Kinect-based Games
From an embodied learning perspective, the active human body can alter the function of the brain and therefore, the cognitive process. In this work, children’s activity using motion-based technology is framed as an example of embodied learning. This work focuses on the use of a series of Kinect-based educational games by elementary students with special educational needs in mainstream schools. Results based on psychometric pre-post testing in conjunction with games-usage analytics, a student attitudinal scale, teachers’ reflection notes and teacher interviews, demonstrate the positive impact of the games on children’s short-term memory skills and emotional stage.
Kosmas, P., Ioannou, A., Retalis, S. (2018). Moving bodies to moving minds: A study of the use of motion-based games in special education. Techtrends: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-018-0294-5