Meletiou-Mavrotheri, Maria

In this study, we aimed to determine Cypriot primary mathematics teachers’ perspectives and lived experiences during the transition to emergency remote teaching (ERT) in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. An in-depth online survey combining closed-ended and open-ended questions was administered to sixty-two (n = 62) educators teaching mathematics in public primary schools during the first lockdown in spring, 2020. The data from closed-ended questions were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, whereas, for the open-ended questions, a thematic analysis approach was employed. Our findings provide useful insights regarding teachers’ self-reported technology backgrounds and levels of instruction regarding the use of technology in mathematics prior to the pandemic, as well their level of preparedness for ERT and the main challenges they faced in implementing ERT of mathematics. Our findings also indicate teachers’ levels of satisfaction with their ERT practices and their beliefs concerning the extent of achievement of the curriculum learning objectives through ERT, and how these varied based on teachers’ self-reported levels of familiarity with technology, their self-reported levels of preparedness for teaching at a distance, and their engagement (or non-engagement) in synchronous instruction during ERT. Teachers’ suggestions, based on their experiences from the lockdown period, regarding how to transform mathematics teaching and learning in the post-COVID-19 era are also presented.

Background: The advent of new and emerging technologies and industries has highlighted the need to equip youth with a unique skillset necessary to cope with a rapidly changing and complex digital era and adapt to modern societies' demands. This need has led to the development of teaching approaches to equip students with creative and innovative skills to help prevent any future skills gap. This shift has fuelled the growth of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) Education worldwide. Objectives: Our goal was to engage in a systematic review of the literature to identify the application and prevalence of emerging technologies within the landscape of STEAM Education. Methods: We engaged in a systematic review of the literature. Following the application of exclusion criteria to 461 studies, 43 studies were extracted and analysed. Findings and Conclusions: Analysis of these studies provides evidence of the fast-growing use of innovative emerging technologies within the STEAM landscape across all levels of education, from early childhood to college-level settings. Our analysis reveals an emphasis on developing STEAM-related disciplinary knowledge and the desire to develop students' 21st-century skills with a notable lack of targeted emphasis on developing understandings in the arts disciplines. We identify the need for carefully designed intervention studies involving collaboration between multidisciplinary STEAM experts that use high-quality measures which support the development of inferences relating to learning outcomes arising from such interventions.

The current article provides an overview of a Teacher Professional Development (TPD) program that has been designed, pilot tested, and implemented to investigate the impact of augmented reality (AR) on: (a) Teachers’ level of technology (AR) acceptance, adoption of inquirybased instructional approaches, and confidence towards teaching twentieth-first century skills in STEM-related courses; and (b) students’ potential enhancement of specific twentieth-first century skills and motivation and interest during a STEM- (science, technology, engineering, mathematics)- related course supported with AR. This article focuses on the teachers’ points of view concerning the impact of their STEM-related interventions on their students’ motivation and learning, as well as the factors that influence the teachers’ technology acceptance. The TPD program has been implemented in Cyprus and Greece with twenty-five lower secondary school teachers (20 in Cyprus and 5 in Greece). The research methodology applied is Educational Design Research (EDR), including an initial phase of the TPD program and a second (improved) phase. The data collection tools consisted of questionnaires, interviews, and observation of classroom interventions. Initial findings and their implications for teaching and future research are discussed, indicating the potential benefits and challenges surrounding the integration of AR within the educational process.

Technological advances have provided the opportunity to create entirely new learning environments. A major technological breakthrough that has sparked innovation to most human activities and has a huge potential to radically transform education is cloud computing. This chapter reports on a Delphi study focused on the current and future impact of Cloud computing and its applications on education. It first provides a background to the study through an overview of the Delphi technique. Next, it describes how Delphi was applied in two-round investigation aimed at collecting and systematically classifying the views and knowledge of three groups of stakeholders (‘experts’) concerning the future of Cloud computing in education. The chapter then presents the major findings from the two rounds of the study. It ends with drawing of conclusions and recommendations regarding how to move ahead with the use of Cloud computing in education in European countries and beyond.

The COVID-19 pandemic shifted pathology education in medical schools worldwide towards online delivery. To achieve this goal, various innovative platforms were used by pathology educators and medical students, facilitating both synchronous and asynchronous learning. The aim of this study was to review the published evidence regarding remote pathology teaching at the medical school level during this period, present our own experience, and provide some perspectives regarding the best mode of pathology teaching post-pandemic. Among its advantages, virtual pathology education was considered among students and educators as convenient, flexible, and engaging, while learning outcomes were met and students’ academic performance was in general satisfactory. However, several challenges were faced. For instance, suboptimal internet connection compromised the flow of classes and was even associated with a lower academic performance. The lack of hands-on laboratory activities, such as operating the light microscope and tissue grossing, and the reduced student interactions among themselves and their instructors, were also pointed out as significant drawbacks of remote pathology education. Whereas online education has multiple advantages, experiencing the physical university environment, in-person interactions and teamwork, exposure to the “hidden curriculum”, and hands-on activities are vital for medical school education and future student development. In conclusion, the implementation of a blended approach in pathology education—where online and face-to-face sessions are jointly used to promote students’ engagement, interaction with their instructors and peers, and learning—could be the most optimal approach to pathology teaching in medical schools post-pandemic.

Background: The advent of new and emerging technologies and industries has highlighted the need to equip youth with a unique skillset necessary to cope with a rapidly changing and complex digital era and adapt to modern societies' demands. This need has led to the development of teaching approaches to equip students with creative and innovative skills to help prevent any future skills gap. This shift has fuelled the growth of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) Education worldwide. Objectives: Our goal was to engage in a systematic review of the literature to identify the application and prevalence of emerging technologies within the landscape of STEAM Education. Methods: We engaged in a systematic review of the literature. Following the application of exclusion criteria to 461 studies, 43 studies were extracted and analysed. Findings and Conclusions: Analysis of these studies provides evidence of the fast-growing use of innovative emerging technologies within the STEAM landscape across all levels of education, from early childhood to college-level settings. Our analysis reveals an emphasis on developing STEAM-related disciplinary knowledge and the desire to develop students' 21st-century skills with a notable lack of targeted emphasis on developing understandings in the arts disciplines. We identify the need for carefully designed intervention studies involving collaboration between multidisciplinary STEAM experts that use high-quality measures which support the development of inferences relating to learning outcomes arising from such interventions.

This article presents the results of a study, conducted within the scope of the EU-funded project RELOBIE: Reusable Learning Objects in Education, which investigated faculty perceptions and practices regarding the educational use of contemporary and emerging technologies. A cross-national, in-depth online survey of n = 171 faculty members in the four partner countries (Estonia, Cyprus, Norway, Portugal) took place. Seventy-six (n = 76; 44.4%) of these faculty members taught courses which were either offered at-distance (no face-to-face component), or involved a significant online component (blended courses). The study gained some useful insights into online instructors’ perceptions, motivations, and experiences regarding the instructional use of digital videos and other technologies (e.g. subject-specific software, collaboration tools, games, simulations, virtual labs). It also shed some light into both facilitating and inhibiting factors to the effective integration of learning and communication technologies into online courses’ design and delivery