Information and communication technology in Cyprus primary schools : a study of the integration process, teachers' use, and the influential factors

Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and specifically computer technology, was abruptly introduced in Cyprus primary schools in the early 1990s without ensuring that the facilitating conditions for its unhindered infusion into education’s core processes of teaching and learning were in place. Nevertheless, the recently launched overall reform of the Cypriot educational system intensified and systematised the process of ICT integration in schools. In this context, the thesis researches the process of ICT integration in Cyprus primary education, taking into consideration teachers’ perceptions on a diversity of issues related to ICT implementation, the factors that seem to be influencing ICT use, as well as their professional development in ICT.The analysis of the collected data resulted in several findings, indicating that the process of ICT integration is unsatisfactory, since teachers’ ICT use is low and restricted only to a small number of resources. Simultaneously, the applications of ICT are mostly for tasks that are not directly connected to actual teaching and learning. Overall, the study shows that ICT did not manage to be smoothly interwoven into teachers’ everyday instructional practices, nor did it manage to be naturally incorporated into students’ learning environment as an integral part of their everyday learning experiences.Teachers indicate that the lack of time, their uncertainty of how to integrate ICT in their work, the unsuitable curriculum, the problematic access to equipment, the frequent technical problems, as well as the lack of immediate technical support, are some of the most significant factors affecting ICT use. Nevertheless, the study shows that there is a positive ground on which ICT can be successfully and meaningfully integrated in schools, like teachers’ positive ICT attitudes, their willingness and demand for quality ICT training, and the positive impact that ICT seems to have on some of teachers’ professional responsibilities. Additionally, the study indicates that teachers’ use of audiovisual resources, their ICT self-efficacy beliefs, their attitudes toward ICT, their pedagogical beliefs, as well as their views on the barriers and enablers to ICT use are significant predictors of teachers’ ICT use.Based on the study’s results, the thesis suggests that the ongoing reform of the educational system provides a great opportunity to set up the right conditions that will facilitate the sound integration of ICT in schools. This includes the reconsideration of ICT integration’s theoretical background and objectives, the release of time to teachers as a result of the new curriculum, the reconsideration of teachers’ professional development in ICT, as well as the establishment of an updated technical infrastructure and a solid technical support mechanism

Association, Reflection, Stimulation: Problem Exploration in Early Design through AI-Augmented Mind-Mapping

The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science. - Albert Einstein This dissertation aims at developing a computational framework to support the process of problem exploration in early design. To do so, we investigate digital mind-mapping as a tool for problem exploration and develop new algorithms and interaction workflows by leveraging large knowledge databases. The central premise of this work is that channeling the designer's thinking process through intelligent stimulation using such databases can augment designers' ability to reason about the problem at hand and creatively synthesize new ideas to address the problem. Design problems are typically ambiguous, ill-defined, unstructured, and open-ended. Therefore, learning about the problem and exploration of the problem domain is critical in early design to build a well-developed understanding of the context toward fruitful solution exploration in design. Despite the importance of problem understanding in design, little research has been devoted to investigating problem exploration activities in-depth and drawing a clear connection on the effects of such activities on the resulting design outcomes. Most current efforts focus exclusively on implementing methods for ideation, conceptualization, and concept evaluation wherein the solution space takes prominence. In this regard, this dissertation aims to complement this with a study of problem exploration techniques (mind-mapping and free writing) and evaluation in early design. We highlight the importance of problem-based exploration and learning, and share insights on how the structure and associative capability afforded by mind-maps affect ideation on the problem statement, product opportunity gap, and the needs around a given design context. It is common for designers to tend to commit to solutions too early and limit the potential of discovering creative and novel ideas in early design. This tendency is further pronounced with the advent of several digital design tools that are feature-rich and focus on design conceptualization and solution formulation, rather than design problem exploration. Additionally, much of the research in design theory and methodology has also mostly focused on conceptualization techniques such as C-Sketch and morphological matrix, that aim to support the formation of new solution concepts through modification and re-interpretation of rough initial ones. To complement these, in this dissertation, we emphasize the importance of problem exploration and brainstorming tasks towards design opportunity identification during early design. This is studied with the use of mind-maps, a technique that helps designers express their thoughts by making connections or associations between ideas around a given context. Further, we propose novel human-computer collaborative mind-mapping workflows for enhancing design experiences through novel textual, verbal and visual computer supports. Specifically, we designed and implemented two cognitive support mechanisms to help designers in inspecting design problems and generating ideas. Human-subject studies were conducted to examine how these systems perform and user perception. Based on the extensive investigation, this dissertation further shares insights on how to promote reflection in problem exploration by stimulating association across ideas, and develops design implications for intelligent AI-augmented workflows during early design exploratory tasks

Teaching tools and techniques for efficient teaching and learning of computer programming for beginners using JAVA

Despite the educational research that has been carried out considering demographic, cognitive and social factors to improve teaching programming in the last decades, finding an effective teaching method is still a debatable issue among Java programming tutors. There are a number of basic concepts to be understood in learning a programming language. The teaching styles to be used to teach different concepts could vary due to the complexity and nature of the concept. This study was aimed at identifying such concepts and the preferred teaching style for teaching such concepts in the Java language. The results of a survey of the students who recently completed introductory level Java programming language revealed such concepts, and also the most preferred teaching style for each concept.This study also investigated the preferred learning styles for learners with artistic abilities and logical abilities. In addition, there have been many research projects based on Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) to investigate better ways of handing germane, intrinsic, and extraneous memory loads on the working memory of learners. The mental modeling technique has been found to be associated with most of the fundamental principles of the Cognitive Load Theory (CLT). This research also included the findings of classroom experiments using activities based on mental modeling, such as analogies, worked examples, and scaffolding, and adhering to the principles of CLT. The context for this research involved teaching Java programming concepts at the introductory level using low cost teaching tools. The study reports on the effects of such activities in teaching Java programming principles