Olga Fragou - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Olga Fragou

Advances in intelligent systems and computing, Mar 16, 2019

Sustaining competitiveness in global market is dependent on organizations’ capacity to innovate; ... more Sustaining competitiveness in global market is dependent on organizations’ capacity to innovate; revelation of tacit knowledge and its incorporation in organisations’ structures and processes, comprise an important factor in exploring and implementing innovation. Virtual communities of practice (CoPs) and virtual learning communities are becoming widespread within Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) thanks to technological developments which enable increased communication, interactivity among participants and incorporation of collaborative pedagogical models, specifically through information communications technologies (ICTs). This paper presents a design framework for building a Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP) incorporating company stakeholders, academics, researchers and school practitioners as prospect members of the community, who interact on the basis of knowledge sharing on IT technologies and engineering: the design characteristics, important concepts, structures and preliminary data are presented. Design research sets the methodological framework used, while, in the context of applying ethnographic practices, qualitative data have been collected to support the proposed design mechanism.

Journal of Universal Computer Science, Jan 12, 2019

Designs for Learning, Nov 25, 2019

International journal of technology in education and science, Sep 30, 2019

Ubiquitous computing, mobile computing and the Internet of Things (UMI) have been widely used in ... more Ubiquitous computing, mobile computing and the Internet of Things (UMI) have been widely used in several application areas. To date, methods and techniques for the application of these technologies in real life situations have continued to emerge; however, their use in education settings focusing on existing practices remain largely underexplored. A systematic mapping study (SMS) method was herein used to map initially identified 395 articles with the aims of systematically analyzing and presenting the evidence from the literature on the topic, and to identify important gaps as well as promising research directions. An appropriate methodological protocol has been adopted from the literature for the analysis, filtering, evaluation and report of the evidence. As a result, twenty-five studies have been selected and analyzed. The axes of analyzing systematically the literature were inspired by an existing UMI learning ecology. The analysis revealed important characteristics of existing UMI related educational practices in all levels of education, including contexts and actors involved, methods and digital tools used, affordances and learning approaches important for achieving effective learning in IoT, Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing domain.

The ubiquitous computing (UbiComp) is considered as an extension of the computational capabilitie... more The ubiquitous computing (UbiComp) is considered as an extension of the computational capabilities of the physical environment, allowing the computational structure to be present everywhere in the form of small, robust, networked processing devices distributed at all scales through everyday life and generally turned to distinctly common place ends. There are various research challenges regarding the design and use of instructional design tools in complex learning contexts such as Ubiquitous Computing, Mobile learning (m-learning) and Internet of Things (IoT), the technologies defined as UMI technologies. This paper presents the rationale, important issues and methodology constructed in the context of UbiComp so as to initially define an instructional design process for building a U-Learning Ecology for multidisciplinary education. We provide a consistent framework and structural view of integrating instructional design principles in UbiComp learning: we discuss our ideas on the design of a U-learning ecology by the gradual building of a robust design process and we provide an overview of our ongoing work on design/analysis tools supporting early stage prototyping for using UMI technologies.

2017 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON)

Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, 2018

Currently, there is a growing research interest on emerging technologies, such as, ubiquitous com... more Currently, there is a growing research interest on emerging technologies, such as, ubiquitous computing, mobile computing and the Internet of Things (IoT), collectively mentioned as UMI technologies. The proliferation of UMI technologies will not only change the way we live but can also offer new learning opportunities. At the same time, there is an increasing need for skills that are associated with the UMI domain in the labour market. The Umi-Sci-Ed is an EU project which explores ways to shed new light into this training aspect by introducing several model educational scenarios that incorporate UMI technologies, in order to cultivate relevant competences on high school students. This paper reports initial results achieved in this context. In particular, we give an overview of the key components of the UMI-Sci-Ed platform that aims to support the activities of Communities of Practice involved in STEM education. Students through a mentoring mechanism are provided with training material, IoT hardware kits and software tools to explore UMI technologies through hands-on activities. In this framework, example educational scenarios and the corresponding UMI applications developed are presented. The hypothesis is that the learning process can be empowered by using such UMI applications as students are provided with meaningful opportunities to participate in the learning process such as in terms of building applications that are relevant to the subject they like and having active interactions within student groups in a way that practical experiences can provide them a rich context to grasp scientific knowledge. Finally, the results of a preliminary evaluation of the proposed approach in the context of an educational workshop are discussed.

This paper describes a methodological framework for designing indi vidual language learning artef... more This paper describes a methodological framework for designing indi vidual language learning artefacts as reflective, learner constructed environments. Aim of the descriptive framework with a meta- design orientation has been to delineate the design spa ce, define the learning process, and identify a set of criteria for active ancient gree k language learning based on digital media use further supported by educational scenario’s fundame ntal pedagogical concepts. The design and use of a half-baked microworld under the sco pe of Reflection-inAction approach, revealed LL methodological issues and Greek University students’ use of reflective text processing techniques, conceptions of learning, reading and translation practices as design axes towards a reflective learning infrastruct ure in academic settings.

The Challenges of the Digital Transformation in Education, 2019

Journal of Visual Literacy, 2020

Today's society is highly visual, imposing the use of respective practices in Higher Education; u... more Today's society is highly visual, imposing the use of respective practices in Higher Education; under this scope the importance of images and multimedia alters the way 21st digital literacy is perceived. As technology advances, it is important for education professionals to learn how to read visuals through practicing and analyzing techniques, but also support learners to use visuals as tools for effective communication in educational contexts. Recently, infographic activities have been introduced to the learning process as a new method of communication, supporting students in content generation. This paper aims to report on experience of using an addressed, modular evaluation framework for assessing twenty four (24) infographics produced by students in the context of the Module 'Design and Development of Educational Material and Digital Media' of the 'Language for Refugees and Migrants' (LRM) Post Graduate Programme hosted and run by the Hellenic Open University, the most prominent Greek educational institution in adult and distance learning. The combined application and conversion of two already available rubrics, led to the initial formation of a modular evaluation framework; identification and use of key concepts and specific criteria has taken place in the context of practically experiencing its implementation for evaluating Higher Education students' infographics. The data revealed important information regarding the students' visual literacy skills as reflected in their infographic artefacts in respect of content generation, information and data visualization.

International Journal of Technology in Education and Science, 2019

Διεθνές Συνέδριο για την Ανοικτή & εξ Αποστάσεως Εκπαίδευση, 2020

Infographics as data visualization practices, illustrate information creating a visual narrative,... more Infographics as data visualization practices, illustrate information creating a visual narrative, challenging students to visually communicate ideas and develop respective digital skills. Visual communication literature acknowledges appearance and explanation as important attributes of information graphics; however little research has been conducted so as to determine how these properties function. This paper aims to address criteria for the efficacy of infographics: an evaluation rubric has been used to examine appearance and explanation based on aesthetic and content values. Twelve (12) timeline infographics have been collected from Higher Education students who produced their digital artifacts in the context of the Module 'Design and development of Educational Material and Digital Media' which is a Thematic Unit of Masters Program 'Language Education for Refugees and Migrants' of the Hellenic Open University (HOU). Analyzed data revealed characteristics of timeline infographics regarding functionality and esthetics.

Designs for Learning, 2019

2013 24th EAEEIE Annual Conference (EAEEIE 2013), 2013

ABSTRACT European Qualification Framework in Open and Distance Education highlights issues such a... more ABSTRACT European Qualification Framework in Open and Distance Education highlights issues such as content and existing concepts reusability, orchestrating tools for learning, adaptability and learner - centrics themes in curricula. This paper reports on preliminary findings and the process of the design and development of an e-learning activity, based on characteristics of the constructivist approach: Instructional Design tools have been applied in a Focus Group research context using Learning Activity Management System. The basic idea has been to engage Hellenic Open University tutoring staff in the design of distance learning activities by making use of Communities of Practice (CoPs) practices, using their educational experience as a springboard to implement effective learning activities mediated by LAMS and facilitated by an Instructional Designer. The designed activity was actually implemented in a distance education setting, on undergraduate students of HOU in a senior undergraduate course on Artificial Intelligence at the School of Science and Technology, during the first semester of 2012-3.

Communications in Computer and Information Science, 2019

Internet of Things and other state-of-the-art technologies like mobile and ubiquitous computing p... more Internet of Things and other state-of-the-art technologies like mobile and ubiquitous computing present ample opportunities for developing novel solutions almost in every domain of modern life. The research work presented here aims to leverage on the potential of such technologies in the direction of enhancing learning practices in secondary level education and promoting positive attitudes towards the corresponding scientific and engineering disciplines. The originality of the proposed approach lies on the provision of an educational platform, framed by contemporary pedagogical principles, and with an aim to stimulate collaboration between the relevant stakeholders in the form of operational communities of practice. Such communities are brought together on the basis of participating in on line activities, problem solving, exchanging reflections and experiences in the context of educational scenarios that incorporate modern technologies. The platform development is discussed in terms of the underlined conceptual models, the defined stakeholders' requirements, the online services developed, the software tools integrated and the data management supported. An example educational scenario, the corresponding IoT application developed and preliminary evaluation results of this approach are also reported.