Anastasios Theodoropoulos | University of the Peloponnese (original) (raw)

Papers by Anastasios Theodoropoulos

Research paper thumbnail of A Virtual Ship Evacuation Serious Game: Assessment of Data and Passenger Training

Springer International Publishing eBooks, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of Framework for the effective implementation of alternative teaching methods for informatics

Η δυναμική εξέλιξη του πεδίου της Πληροφορικής, εισάγει νέες εκπαιδευτικές και παιδαγωγικές προκλ... more Η δυναμική εξέλιξη του πεδίου της Πληροφορικής, εισάγει νέες εκπαιδευτικές και παιδαγωγικές προκλήσεις, συμπεριλαμβανομένου του σχεδιασμού και της μεθοδολογικής οργάνωσης της διδασκαλίας και της μάθησης. Πώς μπορούμε να διδάξουμε τους μαθητές μας καλύτερα σε ένα πεδίο όπως της Πληροφορικής, το οποίο αναπτύσσεται ταχύτατα και με ιδιαίτερες απαιτήσεις; Επιπλέον, πώς μπορούμε να τους δώσουμε κίνητρα επιτυγχάνοντας ταυτόχρονα καλύτερα μαθησιακά αποτελέσματα; Αυτά είναι τα δύο κύρια ερωτήματα που καλείται να απαντήσει η παρούσα διδακτορική διατριβή.Οι εκπαιδευτικοί και οι ερευνητές διαθέτουν πληθώρα μεθόδων διδασκαλίας που μπορούν να εφαρμοστούν και οι οποίες στοχεύουν στη μείωση της πολυπλοκότητας και στην υποστήριξη της εκπαίδευσης σε διαφορετικές καταστάσεις στην Εκπαίδευση της Πληροφορικής. Δυστυχώς, αυτές εστιάζουν σε διαφορετικά θέματα και επίπεδα της εκπαιδευτικής διαδικασίας και μεμονωμένα αδυνατούν να παράσχουν ολοκληρωμένες απαντήσεις στα βασικά ερευνητικά μας ερωτήματα. Μια συ...

Research paper thumbnail of Turtle Heroes: Designing a Serious Game for a VR Interactive Tunnel

Springer International Publishing eBooks, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of Participatory design and participatory debugging: Listening to students to improve computational thinking by creating games

International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction

Research paper thumbnail of VR Games in Cultural Heritage: A Systematic Review of the Emerging Fields of Virtual Reality and Culture Games

Applied Sciences

In recent years, the use of VR games in cultural heritage has been growing. VR Games have increas... more In recent years, the use of VR games in cultural heritage has been growing. VR Games have increasingly found their way into museums and exhibitions, highlighting the increasing cultural value associated with games and the institutionalization of game culture. In particular, serious VR games have a variety of benefits for educational purposes. There are several studies that deployed VR games to improve visitor experiences in several contexts. However, there are not sufficient studies in the field that examine the benefits and drawbacks of VR gaming. This lack of classification studies is regarded as an obstacle to developing more effective games and proposing guidance on the best way of using them in cultural heritage. This review aims to analyze how VR games are used in cultural heritage settings, to explore the evolution and opportunities of this emerging field, the challenges and tensions these innovations present, and to collectively advance this work to benefit visitor experiences.

Research paper thumbnail of Design and development of a game-engine-based simulator specialised on ships evacuation

International Journal of Human Factors Modelling and Simulation

Research paper thumbnail of The Little ones, the Big ones and the Code: Utilization of digital educational games in primary school pupils

This paper is a case study on the use of educational digital games to elementary pupils and deals... more This paper is a case study on the use of educational digital games to elementary pupils and deals with games that promote algorithmic thinking as well as the basic principles of programming. The study involved 94 young pupils who worked in pairs (Pair Programming) trying to solve puzzle games from code.org website during their visit to the University of Pelo-ponnese in the context of the European Code Week. Factors such as satisfaction, evaluation of perceived knowledge and willingness to use games in future in the learning process were examined. Furthermore it's discussed whether a short activity like this can result to long term motivation of pupils. The article concludes that: (a) the pupils enjoyed the games and wished to repeat corresponding activities. (b) They considered that by playing, they acquired basic skills and knowledge as far as programming principles were concerned. (c) They preferred Pair Programming and estimated that they could learn better by assisting one another. Finally, it seems that the few hours visit was not enough to motivate most pupils to carry on with the activities at home by themselves.

Research paper thumbnail of Game Design, Gender and Personalities in Programming Education

Frontiers in Computer Science, 2022

In a changing world programming learning is becoming more and more essential in education. And, t... more In a changing world programming learning is becoming more and more essential in education. And, there are many programming environments and teaching approaches that address the learning needs of students in CS education. A single programming tool or a method do not fit all students. Research has focused on gender differences and there is high interest in increasing female participation. Games and especially game-design tend to impact perceived usefulness of programming environments. Moreover, personality traits like cognitive style and emotional intelligence (EQ) seem to correlate with technology and achievement in programming. In this study, the effects of three different programming environments were investigated, in high school settings, by creating games and taking into account gender and personality characteristics. Three groups were formed, group A created games with Scratch, group B used App Inventor and made games for mobile devices, while group C created interactive stories...

Research paper thumbnail of The Personality of the Influencers, the Characteristics of Qualitative Discussions and Their Analysis for Recommendations to Cultural Institutions

Heritage, 2018

Social media usage is affecting peoples’ views through opinion sharing, a fact that has started t... more Social media usage is affecting peoples’ views through opinion sharing, a fact that has started to attract cultural institutions, as it is possible that this procedure can possibly be a part of a museum experience. As the main goal of a cultural institution is the maximization of senses stimulation, the device that is offered to the visitors’ hands everyday and every moment, becomes an important tool for the art spaces. In this notion we perform research on issues that can be of great importance for the museum’s online presence and attraction. We focus on establishing the personality of influencers related to culture, as well as the characteristics of qualitative discussions on the social media. Crosscult Project is an EU funded project, that aims to spur a change in the way European citizens appraise History, and sets that basis of our research as the experiments are conducted within its scope of. Through the experimental procedure, we collect information in order to define the cha...

Research paper thumbnail of Towards a Framework for Adaptive Gameplay in Serious Games that Teach Programming: Association Between Computational Thinking and Cognitive Style

Educating Engineers for Future Industrial Revolutions, 2021

Learning basic programming principles is the main process to acquire computational thinking skill... more Learning basic programming principles is the main process to acquire computational thinking skills, which comprise an essential capability for education worldwide. The game-based learning approach is a very promising learning strategy towards that direction. Digital games help learners become active and engaging in the acquisition of knowledge. Though, the learning process is not always clear through serious games that teach programming. Personality characteristics like cognitive style, seem to affect how efficiently and effectively learners perceive the knowledge. Cognitive style deals with the way learners perceive information and is a significant feature in improving programming learning. Thus, in order learners to achieve better performances through serious games that teach programming concepts, we need to investigate how cognitive style can be incorporated into the design of game-based learning environments. This article proposes a framework for adaptive gameplay that can support and encourage researchers and game designers to properly identify the concept of cognitive style when designing game-based learning environments for programming learning. The framework models an ontology that searches personality traits and enables personalised decision-making learning activities.

Research paper thumbnail of A Guide for the Development of Game-Based Evacuation Simulators

Educating Engineers for Future Industrial Revolutions, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of The Human Computer Interaction and Virtual Reality Lab (University of Peloponnese): Overview and Current Challenges

HCI-VR lab in Short. The Human-Computer Interaction and Virtual Reality Lab, at the Department of... more HCI-VR lab in Short. The Human-Computer Interaction and Virtual Reality Lab, at the Department of Informatics and Telecommunications of the University of Peloponnese, aims to conduct high quality research in areas related to the analysis, design, development, and evaluation of HCI and VR systems and applications, and in parallel to support the teaching requirements of the department in the respective field. Over the last years the HCI-VR lab particularly focuses on Cultural Heritage and develops technologies primarily for spaces of cultural heritage that cover the diverse needs of heterogeneous audiences providing holistic visitor experience. The HCI-VR lab is actively participating in National and European projects on Cultural Heritage, such as FP7 Experimedia (https://hci-vr.dit.uop.gr/experimedia), H2020 CrossCult (www.crosscult.eu) and multiple projects from the National Strategic Reference Framework.

Research paper thumbnail of Computing in the physical world engages students

Proceedings of the 13th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education, 2018

There is a growing interest in physical computing to be used in school contexts to teach Computer... more There is a growing interest in physical computing to be used in school contexts to teach Computer Science. This study aimed to assess whether students' attitudes towards Computer Science and their self-efficacy with programming changed after engaging with robotic activities. Findings show that after completing a 10-week period with the Arduino robotics environment, students' positive attitudes towards Computer Science increased along with feelings of coding self-efficacy. In other words, students report liking Computer Science more and report feeling that they are more able to learn programming. These findings imply that using physical computing activities within the right context could change student attitudes towards and self-efficacy in Computer Science.

Research paper thumbnail of Digital Game-Based Learning and Computational Thinking in P-12 Education

Research Anthology on Developments in Gamification and Game-Based Learning, 2022

The objective of this chapter is to explore the evolution and opportunities of the emerging field... more The objective of this chapter is to explore the evolution and opportunities of the emerging field of digital games for programming learning, the challenges and tensions that they present, and how educators may be able to collectively advance this work to benefit student learning. This work summarizes previous empirical evidence concerning the positive impacts and outcomes of digital games in computing education, or even impacts that do not let games to spread. Hence, a systematic literature review is carried out in this context to provide a comprehensive overview of works carried out towards incorporating digital games in order to acquire CT skills or learn basic programming concepts within P12 education. The chapter discusses on the range of indicators and measures used in the 44 selected studies, together with methodological limitations and recommendations for further work in this area.

Research paper thumbnail of ATMF: A Student-Centered Framework for the Effective Implementation of Alternative Teaching Methods for CSEd

The dynamic development of Informatics introduces new educational and pedagogical challenges, inc... more The dynamic development of Informatics introduces new educational and pedagogical challenges, including the instructional design of teaching and learning. How can we teach our students better in such a growing and demanding field? Moreover, how can we motivate them and together have better learning results? This paper aims to give answers to these questions, through a student-centered framework for effectively encompassing alternative teaching methods within CS. The proposed framework (ATMF) summarizes the benefits of alternative teaching methods in contrast with known issues of traditional teaching. In addition, ATMF is built upon empirical evidence and concludes that alternative practices, if used under the right conditions, can provide increased motivation for learning and better learning outcomes.

Research paper thumbnail of Augmented Reality and programming education: A systematic review

International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, 2021

Abstract In recent years, Augmented Reality (AR) usage in the learning process has been growing. ... more Abstract In recent years, Augmented Reality (AR) usage in the learning process has been growing. AR tools and environments lead to a variety of positive outcomes and impacts for educational purposes. Similarly, AR is changing the learning process in the Computer Science (CS) Education domain. There are numerous studies that adopt the immersive AR technology in order to improve Computational Thinking (CT) or programming skills, in several contexts. However, there are not sufficient studies that analyze the meaningful characteristics or the advantages and disadvantages of AR in the field. In order to better understand the impact of AR in programming education we performed a systematic literature review. This review analyzes 31 studies in the field. It explores the evolution of this developing technology, the challenges and issues that AR offers and discusses how this work can benefit student learning and further research.

Research paper thumbnail of Augmented Reality and programming education: A systematic review

International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, 2021

Abstract In recent years, Augmented Reality (AR) usage in the learning process has been growing. ... more Abstract In recent years, Augmented Reality (AR) usage in the learning process has been growing. AR tools and environments lead to a variety of positive outcomes and impacts for educational purposes. Similarly, AR is changing the learning process in the Computer Science (CS) Education domain. There are numerous studies that adopt the immersive AR technology in order to improve Computational Thinking (CT) or programming skills, in several contexts. However, there are not sufficient studies that analyze the meaningful characteristics or the advantages and disadvantages of AR in the field. In order to better understand the impact of AR in programming education we performed a systematic literature review. This review analyzes 31 studies in the field. It explores the evolution of this developing technology, the challenges and issues that AR offers and discusses how this work can benefit student learning and further research.

Research paper thumbnail of Educational Robotics in the service of CSE

Proceedings of the 11th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education, 2016

The present work is an observational study recording the participating teachers' attitudes fr... more The present work is an observational study recording the participating teachers' attitudes from the PanHellenic Educational Robotics (ER) competition. The study investigates the benefits of students' involvement with robotics about skills, motivation and learning. Additionally, it is researched weather ER should be introduced in the Greek compulsory curricula. A qualitative methodology was used and although the sample was relatively small (N=18), the results were quite homogeneous showing a very high level of engagement and motivation of teachers and students. The results show that there are numerous benefits for students: they seem to increase their collaboration, problem solving and creativity skills; understand STEM concepts about computer science and engineering and especially gaining programming knowledge. Moreover, most of the teachers consider that ER should be part of the compulsory curriculum.

Research paper thumbnail of Students teach students: Alternative teaching in Greek secondary education

Education and Information Technologies, 2014

The students of a Greek junior high school collaborated to prepare the teaching material of a the... more The students of a Greek junior high school collaborated to prepare the teaching material of a theoretical Computer Science (CS) course and then shared their understanding with other students. This study investigates two alternative teaching methods (collaborative learning and peer tutoring) and compares the learning results to the traditional learning context. A test was used to measure all participating students' learning results and a questionnaire was distributed to record participant student attitudes towards the alternative teaching conditions. The questionnaire was designed to evaluate each aspect in terms of perceived knowledge, experience, satisfaction, diversity, oddness and interest. The analysis explores potential differences of students' learning results between alternative and traditional teaching and also differences in the two aspects in relation to students' preferences. Results provide evidence that activelearning methods can promote positive attitudinal shifts and improve skills in creativity, teamwork, collaboration and communication. Students perceived higher levels of learning than with traditional teaching. Finally in terms of students' preferences, the majority wanted to have more courses taught with active-learning methods. Keywords Secondary education. Collaborative learning. Peer tutoring. Student collaboration. Peer assessment. Information and communication technologies "If we teach today's students as we taught yesterday's, we rob them of tomorrow."

Research paper thumbnail of How Do Different Cognitive Styles Affect Learning Programming? Insights from a Game-Based Approach in Greek Schools

ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 2017

Is there any relationship between students’ cognitive style and the ability to learn programming ... more Is there any relationship between students’ cognitive style and the ability to learn programming through serious games? The aim of this work is to assess the learning effectiveness and motivational appeal of digital games for learning basic programming concepts, involving secondary education students. For this purpose, the Code.org ® ’s activity named K-8 Intro to Computer Science was used. The study investigated students’ attitudes from gaming activities to reveal the quality of their learning experience. Next, students’ attitudes from games were correlated with their cognitive profile to reveal potential differences. Finally, students’ performance from the digital games was assessed to reveal game-based learning (GBL) effectiveness compared to their cognitive styles. In the study, 77 students of two Greek high schools participated in the context of the European Code Week. The results suggest that these specific games, or similar educational computer games, can be exploited as effe...

Research paper thumbnail of A Virtual Ship Evacuation Serious Game: Assessment of Data and Passenger Training

Springer International Publishing eBooks, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of Framework for the effective implementation of alternative teaching methods for informatics

Η δυναμική εξέλιξη του πεδίου της Πληροφορικής, εισάγει νέες εκπαιδευτικές και παιδαγωγικές προκλ... more Η δυναμική εξέλιξη του πεδίου της Πληροφορικής, εισάγει νέες εκπαιδευτικές και παιδαγωγικές προκλήσεις, συμπεριλαμβανομένου του σχεδιασμού και της μεθοδολογικής οργάνωσης της διδασκαλίας και της μάθησης. Πώς μπορούμε να διδάξουμε τους μαθητές μας καλύτερα σε ένα πεδίο όπως της Πληροφορικής, το οποίο αναπτύσσεται ταχύτατα και με ιδιαίτερες απαιτήσεις; Επιπλέον, πώς μπορούμε να τους δώσουμε κίνητρα επιτυγχάνοντας ταυτόχρονα καλύτερα μαθησιακά αποτελέσματα; Αυτά είναι τα δύο κύρια ερωτήματα που καλείται να απαντήσει η παρούσα διδακτορική διατριβή.Οι εκπαιδευτικοί και οι ερευνητές διαθέτουν πληθώρα μεθόδων διδασκαλίας που μπορούν να εφαρμοστούν και οι οποίες στοχεύουν στη μείωση της πολυπλοκότητας και στην υποστήριξη της εκπαίδευσης σε διαφορετικές καταστάσεις στην Εκπαίδευση της Πληροφορικής. Δυστυχώς, αυτές εστιάζουν σε διαφορετικά θέματα και επίπεδα της εκπαιδευτικής διαδικασίας και μεμονωμένα αδυνατούν να παράσχουν ολοκληρωμένες απαντήσεις στα βασικά ερευνητικά μας ερωτήματα. Μια συ...

Research paper thumbnail of Turtle Heroes: Designing a Serious Game for a VR Interactive Tunnel

Springer International Publishing eBooks, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of Participatory design and participatory debugging: Listening to students to improve computational thinking by creating games

International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction

Research paper thumbnail of VR Games in Cultural Heritage: A Systematic Review of the Emerging Fields of Virtual Reality and Culture Games

Applied Sciences

In recent years, the use of VR games in cultural heritage has been growing. VR Games have increas... more In recent years, the use of VR games in cultural heritage has been growing. VR Games have increasingly found their way into museums and exhibitions, highlighting the increasing cultural value associated with games and the institutionalization of game culture. In particular, serious VR games have a variety of benefits for educational purposes. There are several studies that deployed VR games to improve visitor experiences in several contexts. However, there are not sufficient studies in the field that examine the benefits and drawbacks of VR gaming. This lack of classification studies is regarded as an obstacle to developing more effective games and proposing guidance on the best way of using them in cultural heritage. This review aims to analyze how VR games are used in cultural heritage settings, to explore the evolution and opportunities of this emerging field, the challenges and tensions these innovations present, and to collectively advance this work to benefit visitor experiences.

Research paper thumbnail of Design and development of a game-engine-based simulator specialised on ships evacuation

International Journal of Human Factors Modelling and Simulation

Research paper thumbnail of The Little ones, the Big ones and the Code: Utilization of digital educational games in primary school pupils

This paper is a case study on the use of educational digital games to elementary pupils and deals... more This paper is a case study on the use of educational digital games to elementary pupils and deals with games that promote algorithmic thinking as well as the basic principles of programming. The study involved 94 young pupils who worked in pairs (Pair Programming) trying to solve puzzle games from code.org website during their visit to the University of Pelo-ponnese in the context of the European Code Week. Factors such as satisfaction, evaluation of perceived knowledge and willingness to use games in future in the learning process were examined. Furthermore it's discussed whether a short activity like this can result to long term motivation of pupils. The article concludes that: (a) the pupils enjoyed the games and wished to repeat corresponding activities. (b) They considered that by playing, they acquired basic skills and knowledge as far as programming principles were concerned. (c) They preferred Pair Programming and estimated that they could learn better by assisting one another. Finally, it seems that the few hours visit was not enough to motivate most pupils to carry on with the activities at home by themselves.

Research paper thumbnail of Game Design, Gender and Personalities in Programming Education

Frontiers in Computer Science, 2022

In a changing world programming learning is becoming more and more essential in education. And, t... more In a changing world programming learning is becoming more and more essential in education. And, there are many programming environments and teaching approaches that address the learning needs of students in CS education. A single programming tool or a method do not fit all students. Research has focused on gender differences and there is high interest in increasing female participation. Games and especially game-design tend to impact perceived usefulness of programming environments. Moreover, personality traits like cognitive style and emotional intelligence (EQ) seem to correlate with technology and achievement in programming. In this study, the effects of three different programming environments were investigated, in high school settings, by creating games and taking into account gender and personality characteristics. Three groups were formed, group A created games with Scratch, group B used App Inventor and made games for mobile devices, while group C created interactive stories...

Research paper thumbnail of The Personality of the Influencers, the Characteristics of Qualitative Discussions and Their Analysis for Recommendations to Cultural Institutions

Heritage, 2018

Social media usage is affecting peoples’ views through opinion sharing, a fact that has started t... more Social media usage is affecting peoples’ views through opinion sharing, a fact that has started to attract cultural institutions, as it is possible that this procedure can possibly be a part of a museum experience. As the main goal of a cultural institution is the maximization of senses stimulation, the device that is offered to the visitors’ hands everyday and every moment, becomes an important tool for the art spaces. In this notion we perform research on issues that can be of great importance for the museum’s online presence and attraction. We focus on establishing the personality of influencers related to culture, as well as the characteristics of qualitative discussions on the social media. Crosscult Project is an EU funded project, that aims to spur a change in the way European citizens appraise History, and sets that basis of our research as the experiments are conducted within its scope of. Through the experimental procedure, we collect information in order to define the cha...

Research paper thumbnail of Towards a Framework for Adaptive Gameplay in Serious Games that Teach Programming: Association Between Computational Thinking and Cognitive Style

Educating Engineers for Future Industrial Revolutions, 2021

Learning basic programming principles is the main process to acquire computational thinking skill... more Learning basic programming principles is the main process to acquire computational thinking skills, which comprise an essential capability for education worldwide. The game-based learning approach is a very promising learning strategy towards that direction. Digital games help learners become active and engaging in the acquisition of knowledge. Though, the learning process is not always clear through serious games that teach programming. Personality characteristics like cognitive style, seem to affect how efficiently and effectively learners perceive the knowledge. Cognitive style deals with the way learners perceive information and is a significant feature in improving programming learning. Thus, in order learners to achieve better performances through serious games that teach programming concepts, we need to investigate how cognitive style can be incorporated into the design of game-based learning environments. This article proposes a framework for adaptive gameplay that can support and encourage researchers and game designers to properly identify the concept of cognitive style when designing game-based learning environments for programming learning. The framework models an ontology that searches personality traits and enables personalised decision-making learning activities.

Research paper thumbnail of A Guide for the Development of Game-Based Evacuation Simulators

Educating Engineers for Future Industrial Revolutions, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of The Human Computer Interaction and Virtual Reality Lab (University of Peloponnese): Overview and Current Challenges

HCI-VR lab in Short. The Human-Computer Interaction and Virtual Reality Lab, at the Department of... more HCI-VR lab in Short. The Human-Computer Interaction and Virtual Reality Lab, at the Department of Informatics and Telecommunications of the University of Peloponnese, aims to conduct high quality research in areas related to the analysis, design, development, and evaluation of HCI and VR systems and applications, and in parallel to support the teaching requirements of the department in the respective field. Over the last years the HCI-VR lab particularly focuses on Cultural Heritage and develops technologies primarily for spaces of cultural heritage that cover the diverse needs of heterogeneous audiences providing holistic visitor experience. The HCI-VR lab is actively participating in National and European projects on Cultural Heritage, such as FP7 Experimedia (https://hci-vr.dit.uop.gr/experimedia), H2020 CrossCult (www.crosscult.eu) and multiple projects from the National Strategic Reference Framework.

Research paper thumbnail of Computing in the physical world engages students

Proceedings of the 13th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education, 2018

There is a growing interest in physical computing to be used in school contexts to teach Computer... more There is a growing interest in physical computing to be used in school contexts to teach Computer Science. This study aimed to assess whether students' attitudes towards Computer Science and their self-efficacy with programming changed after engaging with robotic activities. Findings show that after completing a 10-week period with the Arduino robotics environment, students' positive attitudes towards Computer Science increased along with feelings of coding self-efficacy. In other words, students report liking Computer Science more and report feeling that they are more able to learn programming. These findings imply that using physical computing activities within the right context could change student attitudes towards and self-efficacy in Computer Science.

Research paper thumbnail of Digital Game-Based Learning and Computational Thinking in P-12 Education

Research Anthology on Developments in Gamification and Game-Based Learning, 2022

The objective of this chapter is to explore the evolution and opportunities of the emerging field... more The objective of this chapter is to explore the evolution and opportunities of the emerging field of digital games for programming learning, the challenges and tensions that they present, and how educators may be able to collectively advance this work to benefit student learning. This work summarizes previous empirical evidence concerning the positive impacts and outcomes of digital games in computing education, or even impacts that do not let games to spread. Hence, a systematic literature review is carried out in this context to provide a comprehensive overview of works carried out towards incorporating digital games in order to acquire CT skills or learn basic programming concepts within P12 education. The chapter discusses on the range of indicators and measures used in the 44 selected studies, together with methodological limitations and recommendations for further work in this area.

Research paper thumbnail of ATMF: A Student-Centered Framework for the Effective Implementation of Alternative Teaching Methods for CSEd

The dynamic development of Informatics introduces new educational and pedagogical challenges, inc... more The dynamic development of Informatics introduces new educational and pedagogical challenges, including the instructional design of teaching and learning. How can we teach our students better in such a growing and demanding field? Moreover, how can we motivate them and together have better learning results? This paper aims to give answers to these questions, through a student-centered framework for effectively encompassing alternative teaching methods within CS. The proposed framework (ATMF) summarizes the benefits of alternative teaching methods in contrast with known issues of traditional teaching. In addition, ATMF is built upon empirical evidence and concludes that alternative practices, if used under the right conditions, can provide increased motivation for learning and better learning outcomes.

Research paper thumbnail of Augmented Reality and programming education: A systematic review

International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, 2021

Abstract In recent years, Augmented Reality (AR) usage in the learning process has been growing. ... more Abstract In recent years, Augmented Reality (AR) usage in the learning process has been growing. AR tools and environments lead to a variety of positive outcomes and impacts for educational purposes. Similarly, AR is changing the learning process in the Computer Science (CS) Education domain. There are numerous studies that adopt the immersive AR technology in order to improve Computational Thinking (CT) or programming skills, in several contexts. However, there are not sufficient studies that analyze the meaningful characteristics or the advantages and disadvantages of AR in the field. In order to better understand the impact of AR in programming education we performed a systematic literature review. This review analyzes 31 studies in the field. It explores the evolution of this developing technology, the challenges and issues that AR offers and discusses how this work can benefit student learning and further research.

Research paper thumbnail of Augmented Reality and programming education: A systematic review

International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, 2021

Abstract In recent years, Augmented Reality (AR) usage in the learning process has been growing. ... more Abstract In recent years, Augmented Reality (AR) usage in the learning process has been growing. AR tools and environments lead to a variety of positive outcomes and impacts for educational purposes. Similarly, AR is changing the learning process in the Computer Science (CS) Education domain. There are numerous studies that adopt the immersive AR technology in order to improve Computational Thinking (CT) or programming skills, in several contexts. However, there are not sufficient studies that analyze the meaningful characteristics or the advantages and disadvantages of AR in the field. In order to better understand the impact of AR in programming education we performed a systematic literature review. This review analyzes 31 studies in the field. It explores the evolution of this developing technology, the challenges and issues that AR offers and discusses how this work can benefit student learning and further research.

Research paper thumbnail of Educational Robotics in the service of CSE

Proceedings of the 11th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education, 2016

The present work is an observational study recording the participating teachers' attitudes fr... more The present work is an observational study recording the participating teachers' attitudes from the PanHellenic Educational Robotics (ER) competition. The study investigates the benefits of students' involvement with robotics about skills, motivation and learning. Additionally, it is researched weather ER should be introduced in the Greek compulsory curricula. A qualitative methodology was used and although the sample was relatively small (N=18), the results were quite homogeneous showing a very high level of engagement and motivation of teachers and students. The results show that there are numerous benefits for students: they seem to increase their collaboration, problem solving and creativity skills; understand STEM concepts about computer science and engineering and especially gaining programming knowledge. Moreover, most of the teachers consider that ER should be part of the compulsory curriculum.

Research paper thumbnail of Students teach students: Alternative teaching in Greek secondary education

Education and Information Technologies, 2014

The students of a Greek junior high school collaborated to prepare the teaching material of a the... more The students of a Greek junior high school collaborated to prepare the teaching material of a theoretical Computer Science (CS) course and then shared their understanding with other students. This study investigates two alternative teaching methods (collaborative learning and peer tutoring) and compares the learning results to the traditional learning context. A test was used to measure all participating students' learning results and a questionnaire was distributed to record participant student attitudes towards the alternative teaching conditions. The questionnaire was designed to evaluate each aspect in terms of perceived knowledge, experience, satisfaction, diversity, oddness and interest. The analysis explores potential differences of students' learning results between alternative and traditional teaching and also differences in the two aspects in relation to students' preferences. Results provide evidence that activelearning methods can promote positive attitudinal shifts and improve skills in creativity, teamwork, collaboration and communication. Students perceived higher levels of learning than with traditional teaching. Finally in terms of students' preferences, the majority wanted to have more courses taught with active-learning methods. Keywords Secondary education. Collaborative learning. Peer tutoring. Student collaboration. Peer assessment. Information and communication technologies "If we teach today's students as we taught yesterday's, we rob them of tomorrow."

Research paper thumbnail of How Do Different Cognitive Styles Affect Learning Programming? Insights from a Game-Based Approach in Greek Schools

ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 2017

Is there any relationship between students’ cognitive style and the ability to learn programming ... more Is there any relationship between students’ cognitive style and the ability to learn programming through serious games? The aim of this work is to assess the learning effectiveness and motivational appeal of digital games for learning basic programming concepts, involving secondary education students. For this purpose, the Code.org ® ’s activity named K-8 Intro to Computer Science was used. The study investigated students’ attitudes from gaming activities to reveal the quality of their learning experience. Next, students’ attitudes from games were correlated with their cognitive profile to reveal potential differences. Finally, students’ performance from the digital games was assessed to reveal game-based learning (GBL) effectiveness compared to their cognitive styles. In the study, 77 students of two Greek high schools participated in the context of the European Code Week. The results suggest that these specific games, or similar educational computer games, can be exploited as effe...