This page containsLTEE lab profile for the reviewers of the CO-COGNITION proposal for THALES program.

Introduction

The Laboratory of Learning Technology and Educational Engineering (LTEE), is a Research and Development laboratory at the School of Humanities, University of the Aegean , located in the island of Rhodes in Greece. The Laboratory of Learning Technology and Educational Engineering (LTEE lab) was founded in 2000 The Laboratory focuses on Learning Technology (development and exploitation of technological learning environment) and on Instructional Engineering (development, adaptating and evaluation of learning programmes).

LTEE laboratory supports academic research and teaching needs in the field of educational applications of Information and Communication Technologies as well as in Mathematics and Science Education. The scope of LTEE laboratory is a significant contribution on Learning Technology (design of technology-based learning environments) as well as on Educational Engineering (development, production and evaluation of educational activities and educational programs). The laboratory establishment was based on the consideration that: the scientific field of designing, developing and exploiting Learning Technology is an interdisciplinary field, in which the fields of Cognitive Psychology and Didactics of Disciplines play an essential role along with those of Artificial Intelligence, ICTs sciences and Human Computer Interaction. The field of Instructional Engineering offers the theoretical and methodological instruments that allow for thorough examination of the effects of the new learning environments in an educational system, while at the same time it provides information that could guide the process of determing/identifing applications that are suitable for different age-groups (from pre-school education, to university level education and vocation education).

The scientific orientation of LTEE Lab

Learning Technology constitutes a modern interdisciplinary field, which focuses on the research towards the directions of the development and exploitation of new learning environments that are based on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications.

According to Yves Chevallard who first coined the term (Ingenierie Didactique), Instructional Engineering comprises “the set of tasks aiming at the development and the realization of Educational Programmes”, that is the set of observation techniques, as well as of techniques for determining the educational variables and for decision making in real conditions/situations. Numerous studies are published every year in the aforementioned area, focusing mainly on the elaboration of theoretical design models, development and evaluation of educational conditions in the areas of Mathematics and Science Education.

The research on Didactics of Science pays special attention to the “the special characteristics/elements of the Learning Environment”, the “Situations” through which the functional value of knowledge is yielded, the “Didactic Contract” which determines the interactivity among teachers and pupils as well as the “cognitive difficulties” that pupils encounter. One of the distinct characteristics of Instructional Engineering when compared to other research areas is the epistemological dimension of its main problem analysis area that takes into consideration the special characteristics of the involved knowledge.

Despite the fact that research on both the areas of Technological Learning Εnvironments Development and of Instructional Engineering has been around for about 30 years, it had not shown a steady consistent development until the last decade.

The scientific area of the Design, the Development and the Educational Exploitation of Learning Technology is a field, in which the branches of Instructional and Cognitive Psychology play an essential role (along with those of Artificial Intelligence and Information Technologies and Communication systems).

Research areas

The laboratory develops projects in all education cycles which are related to the following research areas:

• Teaching Mathematics and Applications
• In service Teacher Training
• Evaluation (making instructional decisions)
• Design of Teaching Material
• Analysis of communication models in mathematics education
• Teaching Science and Applications
• Research in Constructing Representations of Science Concepts in Early Childhood
• Functional integration of representations in the Curricula of traditional and new, flexible educational programs
• Teacher Training of the whole education cycle and evaluation of educational programs
• Educational Applications of Information Technologies and Communication.

Research (basic and applied) is about a wide range of applications (modeling systems, simulation systems, virtual reality, hypermedia, multimedia, robotics, intelligent systems, communication systems with collaborative activities through the Internet) directed at a wide range of target populations, from students (primary school, middle school and high school) to undergraduates and adults.

Specifically, the research focuses on:

• Design of educational applications of information and communication technologies (research and methodology for standards specification, depending on the type, the target group and the involved discipline)
• Methodologies on Application Development (the different characteristics of applications require different methodological approaches)
• Evaluation of educational applications (including criteria, standards and research on usability in educational practice)
• Learning in new technological environments (Qualitative research on the impact of learning in communication interface (HCI), activities and the environment shaped by the educational use of Internet)
• Development of educational activities in new technological environments (open technological environments, collaborative activities via the Internet)
• Models of integration and utilization of new technologies in Education (studies of general educational policy, the influence of ICT in the curriculum, models of integration in specific disciplines)
• Training in use of ICT (models and specifications, studies)
• Curriculum development based on new learning environments
• Flexible and Distance Learning Education (Methodology of Education, Teaching methods and educational tools for adults – undergraduate and graduate studies)
• Communication models in education
• Educational Use of Media

Members of the laboratory

The laboratory has actually five main members (professors, assistant professors, lecturers in the University of the Aegean), five researchers, and ten PhD students; all of them are active in international projects, associations, committees, or conferences. Since 2001, LTEE lab has received 24 research grants from the EC, the Hellenic General Secretary of Research and Technology and the Hellenic Ministry of Education & the Ministry of Labour

Dr. Fragiskos Kalavassis is a mathematician with strong expertise in mathematics didactics at the Universities of Athens and Paris. He has been teaching at the University of the Aegean since 1989. He has published a number of about 100 scientific papers in Greek and International journals, he has edited 15 scientific books and directed international research programmes, and he is the Chief Editor of the international scientific journal “Journal for Mathematics in Education”. Since 2007, Fragiskos is the Dean of the School of Humanities at the University of the Aegean. – http://www.ltee.gr/kalavasis/

Dr. Angelique Dimitracopoulou is Professor, and Director of LTEE lab. She holds a degree in physics sciences and in sciences education as well as a PhD in information and communication technologies in education. She is the author of more than 130 scientific publications related to the design of technology-based learning environments, the implementation of ICT in genuine educational contexts, or teacher education via communities of learning. During the last years, she has been intensively working on collaborative learning environments as well as on computer based interaction analysis supporting learning activities participantsʼ self-regulation. Angelique is a member of numerous associations and scientific boards and she is highly experienced in national and EC-funded research projects. – http://www.ltee.gr/adimitr/
Information and references related to Computer-Based Interaction Analysis: http://ltee.org/adimitr/?page_id=64

Dr. Sonia Kafoussi is an Associate Professor at the University of the Aegean, in Didactics of Mathematics. She has published a number of about 70 scientific papers in Greek and International journals and Conferences and she has coordinated international research programmes. She is a member of the International Commission for the Study and Improvement of Mathematics Education (CIEAEM). – http://www.ltee.gr/kafousi

Dr. Chrysanthi Skoumpourdi is an Assistant Professor at the University of the Aegean, in Didactics of Mathematics. Her research interests are related with Didactics of Early Childhood Mathematics as well as with Designing Educational Material for Early Childhood Mathematics. On these fields she has published scientific papers in Greek and International Journals and in Conferences’ Proceedings. She is the writer of two books in collaboration. She has been a member of international research programmes. – http://www.ltee.gr/skoumpourdi

Dr. Georgios Fessakis holds a B.Sc. in Informatics, a M.Sc. in Advanced Informatics Systems from N. K. University of Athens and a PhD in Informatics Didactics form University of the Aegean. He has many years of extensive experience as a researcher and as computer science teacher in secondary public schools. Georgios is teaching ICT related courses at the University of the Aegean since 2004 and he was elected as Lecturer in 2007. His main research interests include ICT design and development for learning, ICT Didactics, Intelligent systems, CSCL etc. Detailed information at: http://ltee.org/gfesakis, and for the proposal: http://ltee.org/gfesakis/?page_id=117&lang=en-us

External Researchers for the Thales/CO-COGNITION proposal

In the context of SYN-GIGNOSKEIN proposal the members of the LTEE Group include the following external researchers and collaborators:

Dr. Katerina ZOUROU (Invited researcher), CV: http://dica-lab.org/people/professors/katerina-zourou/
Dr. Peter REIMANN, (Consultant), CV: CV_EN_CC_REIMANN_Peter.pdf (108)
Dr. Eric BRUILLARD, (Consultant), CV: CV_EN_CC_BRUILLARD_Eric.pdf (110)
Dr. Georgios HLAPANIS, CV: CV_EN_CC_HLAPANIS_Georgios.pdf (125)
Dr. Argiro PETROU-MPAKIRI, CV: CV_EN_CC_PETROU-MPAKIRI_Argiro.pdf (86)
Mr. Vasilis NEOFOTISTOS, CV:CV_EN_CC_NEOFOTISTOS_Vassilios.pdf (103)
Mr. Agelos PALAIODIMOS, CV: CV_EN_CC_PALAIODIMOS_Agelos.pdf (97)
Mrs. Natassa KAMENIDOU, CV: CV_EN_CC_KAMENIDOU_Natassa.pdf (94)

Selection of references related to the Thales/CO-COGNITION proposal

Bratitsis, T. (2010). Using Computer-based Interaction Analysis tools for evaluating blog participation in tertiary education: An exploratory proposal. International Conference on Information Communication Technologies in Education (ICICTE 2010), Corfu, Greece, 7-10 July 2010. Thales_CC_Paper_07.pdf (160)

Bratitsis T., Dimitracopoulou A. (2008). Interaction Analysis as a multi-support approach of social computing for learning, in the “Collaborative Era”: Lessons learned by using the DIAS system. In P. Diaz, Kinshuk, I. Aedo, E. Mora (eds) the 8th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2008), IEEE Computer Society, 536-538. Thales_CC_Paper_01.pdf (103)

Dimitracopoulou A. & Bruillard E. (2006). Interfaces de Forum enrichies par la visualization d’analyses automatiques des interactions et du contenu, (Guest Editors) E.Bruillard & M.Sidir. EducativesRevue STICEF (Sciences et Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication pour l’Education et la Formation). Vol. 13. (FR) http://sticef.univ-lemans.fr/classement/encours.htm, Thales_CC_Paper_02.pdf (95)

Dimitracopoulou A. (2008). Computer based Interaction Analysis Supporting Self-regulation: Achievements and Prospects of an Emerging Research Direction, In Kinshuk, M.Spector, D.Sampson, P. Isaias (Guest editors). Technology, Instruction, Cognition and Learning (TICL). (EN) Thales_CC_Paper_06.pdf (97)

Fessakis G., Dimitracopoulou A., Tatsis K., (2008). Supporting “Learning by Design” Activities Using Group Blogs, Journal of Educational Technology and Society. Vol 11, Issue 4., 2008. pp.199-212. Thales_CC_Paper_03.pdf (98)

Fessakis G., Petrou A. & Dimitracopoulou A. (2004). Collaboration Activity Function: An interaction analysis’ tool for Computer Supported Collaborative Learning activities. In Kinshuk et al (Eds) Proceedings of 4th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2004), August 30 – Sept 1, 2004, Joensuu, Finland, IEEE Computer Society Editions, pp. 196-201. Thales_CC_Paper_04.pdf (98)

Skoumpourdi, C. & Kalavassis, F. (2007). “Games as a Mathematical Activity: the coexistence of differing perceptions in the primary school community (teachers, students, parents)”. CIEAEM 59 ‘Mathematical Activity in Classroom Practice and as Research Object in Didactics: two Complementery Perspectives’, Budapest. Thales_CC_Paper_05.pdf (85)