Dimitrios Sideris | Hellenic Open University (original) (raw)
Uploads
Papers by Dimitrios Sideris
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) constitute the latest trend in education, providing new oppor... more Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) constitute the latest trend in education, providing new opportunities for open and distance education. MOOCs evolution is underway and they are considered as the mean to expand Higher Education Institutes’ (HEIs) technology enhanced learning, in order to develop online courses based on community interactions between students, professors and teaching assistants and to promote the reuse and remixing of educational resources. From 2008, when the first similar course emerged, until today MOOCs are the center of attention for the researchers who aim to identify new methods of learning. Once MOOCs illuminate a new educational path, depth investigations are needed, about how an open educational institution may determine which MOOC platform is appropriate for serving its learning strategy. The main objective of this paper is to describe a comparative evaluation methodology for MOOC platforms. Particularly, a detailed description of Hellenic Open Universit...
ICERI Proceedings, 2017
Open and Distance Learning (ODL) has revolutionized education all over the world, creating a stro... more Open and Distance Learning (ODL) has revolutionized education all over the world, creating a strong interest in investigating how to enrich distance educational processes, as well as the quality of the result. Alongside, Higher Educational Institutions (HEI), which provide distance education, bring new opportunities for innovation in education, increasing the use of the technological means. This intense use does not only aim to address the multiple challenges of the global continuous changes but to improve the quality of the programs and to shift the focus from traditional lecturing to more learnercentered approach. In this study we explore the innovation that the Hellenic Open University implemented in six new postgraduate programs, where the provided educational content was exclusively digital. The sample of this research consists of 1026 newcomer students of 88 different groups of the six new postgraduate programs, who completed the courses surveys. Following a qualitative model, the results of this study enable us to recognize the particularities and the improvements of digital material about organization and structure that should be carry out in order to meet the requirements of distance students.
ICERI2017 Proceedings, Nov 1, 2017
Motivation affects learning and plays an important role in the field of education. In addition, a... more Motivation affects learning and plays an important role in the field of education. In addition, adult's motivation for participating in lifelong learning is of immediate interest since it is regarded as a possible solution for the constantly rising unemployment. According to the bibliography students have extrinsic (praises, grades, social and financial rewards) and intrinsic (mastering, knowledge) motivation. It seems that learning most of the time is associated with intrinsic motivation. The Hellenic Open University recently begun to offer six new postgraduate programs introducing several innovations in order to change the landscape of distance education in Greece since it's the unique university that offers postgraduate studies with this method. Aiming to improve the educational procedure of the new programs an evaluation questionnaire with open-ended questions was given to the students. Among other things, students were asked to describe the motives that led them chose each program. In this paper we discuss students' intrinsic motivation and examine if it is differentiated according to various factors, such as students' age and gender. Our sample is 1026 students of the six postgraduate programs that answered the questionnaire. By the analysis made we attempt to identify the factors that affect adult students' intrinsic motivation in distance learning environments in order to improve teaching methodology and structure of existing and forthcoming programs.
ICERI Proceedings, 2017
As the sole University in Greece that provides exclusively distance education in both undergradua... more As the sole University in Greece that provides exclusively distance education in both undergraduate and postgraduate level, the Hellenic Open University (HOU) has set out a new strategy in the formation of its postgraduate programs, launching six new programs in the autumn of 2016, aiming to improve distance education in Greece. The main goal was to introduce a series of innovations in its curriculums, starting with these six programs, in order to improve the courses' quality and the students' distance learning experience. Towards this, an upgraded educational platform was used which consists a community of knowledge where students can interact and engage with the educational material. Based on this, in each of the six curriculums various digital and interactive educational activities were designed for the students, either close-ended or open-ended, which they can complete exclusively through the digital platform. The aim is to facilitate students to assimilate the educational material, develop their creative and critical thinking, exchange their views and experiences, in order to avoid the feeling of social isolation as usually observed in distance learning [1], and receive tutor's feedback about their responses helping them to engage deeper with the educational material [2]. In our research we explore students' views about their experience of dealing with these interactive educational activities and how the activities affected their engagement with the educational material. Therefore, a questionnaire was provided to the students of the six new programs where they could describe their experience and note their views about the improvements should be done. In this paper, the qualitative data of the participants' (N=1026) answers are presented, from the first semester of the six new programs. The results describe students' views as well as their suggestions for future improvements and highlight the positive effect that the interactive educational activities had to students' learning experience.
EDULEARN18 Proceedings, 2018
EDULEARN18 Proceedings, 2018
Students of open distance universities have different cognitive background when they start an und... more Students of open distance universities have different cognitive background when they start an undergraduate program. Moreover, they may have a long time away from any form of education and being in a need of recall past knowledge. Based on the above, the Hellenic Open University (HOU) designed and applied a pilot course for first-year students, enrolled in Computer Science undergraduate program, in an effort to empower their knowledge before starting the program. In order to support this effort, the HOU used MOOC technologies for provide a distance learning digital course which students can asynchronously attend on their own pace. The course was optional and the students were able to attend some or all the sections. This study outlines the phases of designing and developing the MOOC, describes the technical infrastructure used and presents the students' perception about the contribution of the course in their studies. The results show that a MOOC constitutes a useful tool, based on students' evaluation results, for preparing them to start their undergraduate program.
INTED2016 Proceedings, 2016
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) constitute the latest trend in education, providing new oppor... more Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) constitute the latest trend in education, providing new opportunities for open and distance education. MOOCs evolution is underway and they are considered as the mean to expand Higher Education Institutes’ (HEIs) technology enhanced learning, in order to develop online courses based on community interactions between students, professors and teaching assistants and to promote the reuse and remixing of educational resources. From 2008, when the first similar course emerged, until today MOOCs are the center of attention for the researchers who aim to identify new methods of learning. Once MOOCs illuminate a new educational path, depth investigations are needed, about how an open educational institution may determine which MOOC platform is appropriate for serving its learning strategy. The main objective of this paper is to describe a comparative evaluation methodology for MOOC platforms. Particularly, a detailed description of Hellenic Open Universit...
ICERI Proceedings, 2017
Open and Distance Learning (ODL) has revolutionized education all over the world, creating a stro... more Open and Distance Learning (ODL) has revolutionized education all over the world, creating a strong interest in investigating how to enrich distance educational processes, as well as the quality of the result. Alongside, Higher Educational Institutions (HEI), which provide distance education, bring new opportunities for innovation in education, increasing the use of the technological means. This intense use does not only aim to address the multiple challenges of the global continuous changes but to improve the quality of the programs and to shift the focus from traditional lecturing to more learnercentered approach. In this study we explore the innovation that the Hellenic Open University implemented in six new postgraduate programs, where the provided educational content was exclusively digital. The sample of this research consists of 1026 newcomer students of 88 different groups of the six new postgraduate programs, who completed the courses surveys. Following a qualitative model, the results of this study enable us to recognize the particularities and the improvements of digital material about organization and structure that should be carry out in order to meet the requirements of distance students.
ICERI2017 Proceedings, Nov 1, 2017
Motivation affects learning and plays an important role in the field of education. In addition, a... more Motivation affects learning and plays an important role in the field of education. In addition, adult's motivation for participating in lifelong learning is of immediate interest since it is regarded as a possible solution for the constantly rising unemployment. According to the bibliography students have extrinsic (praises, grades, social and financial rewards) and intrinsic (mastering, knowledge) motivation. It seems that learning most of the time is associated with intrinsic motivation. The Hellenic Open University recently begun to offer six new postgraduate programs introducing several innovations in order to change the landscape of distance education in Greece since it's the unique university that offers postgraduate studies with this method. Aiming to improve the educational procedure of the new programs an evaluation questionnaire with open-ended questions was given to the students. Among other things, students were asked to describe the motives that led them chose each program. In this paper we discuss students' intrinsic motivation and examine if it is differentiated according to various factors, such as students' age and gender. Our sample is 1026 students of the six postgraduate programs that answered the questionnaire. By the analysis made we attempt to identify the factors that affect adult students' intrinsic motivation in distance learning environments in order to improve teaching methodology and structure of existing and forthcoming programs.
ICERI Proceedings, 2017
As the sole University in Greece that provides exclusively distance education in both undergradua... more As the sole University in Greece that provides exclusively distance education in both undergraduate and postgraduate level, the Hellenic Open University (HOU) has set out a new strategy in the formation of its postgraduate programs, launching six new programs in the autumn of 2016, aiming to improve distance education in Greece. The main goal was to introduce a series of innovations in its curriculums, starting with these six programs, in order to improve the courses' quality and the students' distance learning experience. Towards this, an upgraded educational platform was used which consists a community of knowledge where students can interact and engage with the educational material. Based on this, in each of the six curriculums various digital and interactive educational activities were designed for the students, either close-ended or open-ended, which they can complete exclusively through the digital platform. The aim is to facilitate students to assimilate the educational material, develop their creative and critical thinking, exchange their views and experiences, in order to avoid the feeling of social isolation as usually observed in distance learning [1], and receive tutor's feedback about their responses helping them to engage deeper with the educational material [2]. In our research we explore students' views about their experience of dealing with these interactive educational activities and how the activities affected their engagement with the educational material. Therefore, a questionnaire was provided to the students of the six new programs where they could describe their experience and note their views about the improvements should be done. In this paper, the qualitative data of the participants' (N=1026) answers are presented, from the first semester of the six new programs. The results describe students' views as well as their suggestions for future improvements and highlight the positive effect that the interactive educational activities had to students' learning experience.
EDULEARN18 Proceedings, 2018
EDULEARN18 Proceedings, 2018
Students of open distance universities have different cognitive background when they start an und... more Students of open distance universities have different cognitive background when they start an undergraduate program. Moreover, they may have a long time away from any form of education and being in a need of recall past knowledge. Based on the above, the Hellenic Open University (HOU) designed and applied a pilot course for first-year students, enrolled in Computer Science undergraduate program, in an effort to empower their knowledge before starting the program. In order to support this effort, the HOU used MOOC technologies for provide a distance learning digital course which students can asynchronously attend on their own pace. The course was optional and the students were able to attend some or all the sections. This study outlines the phases of designing and developing the MOOC, describes the technical infrastructure used and presents the students' perception about the contribution of the course in their studies. The results show that a MOOC constitutes a useful tool, based on students' evaluation results, for preparing them to start their undergraduate program.
INTED2016 Proceedings, 2016