Anastasios Tsolakidis

A wireless distributed framework for supporting assistive learning environments

There is a lot of interest in developing environments utilizing various types of assistive technologies lately. Among else, people with specific difficulties may benefit from specially designed devices and software that aim in overcoming the disabilities of various groups. We describe a framework that aims in the provision of advanced services towards the facilitation of access to information for specific groups of people. Among else, our approach uses various tools and techniques. With wireless devices access to information is achieved independently of location, while with personalized services there is a capability to adjust the services and interfaces to various demands. Finally with a specific methodology that has been developed and tested as a result of international projects, the content and interfaces are adjusted to various needs of the participating user-groups.

Developing an Information System for Quality Assurance in Higher Education Using the Balanced Scorecard Technique - The Case Study of TEI-A

Higher education institutions need to have a clear mission and attainable objectives that can be interpreted and analysed by using terms of strategic planning. Our work is part of prototype system that supports academic evaluation and strategy management using the balanced scorecard methodology. This study aims to describe the design of a campus-wide management information system in the Technological Educational Institute of Athens which can be used to evaluate quality and institutional performance in higher education.

Using Visual Representation for Decision Support in Institutional Research Evaluation

Higher Education Institutes worldwide are facing an increased demand to strengthen their capacities for research and innovation. This study introduces an ontology-based software system architecture that supports research policy evaluation processes and decision-making strategies, using visual analytics. A knowledge modeling technique drawing on multi criteria analysis and data visualisation is proposed. In addition, the paper presents a prototype built on Protege, Pellet reasoner and Java Technologies, which is friendly to the user and capable of interactive synthesis of institutional decision support criteria. In this work we make a transition from knowledge to visual web-based decision support systems with different kinds of visualisations. The developed system enables research managers to evaluate key aspects of academic research activity in the context of specific policies and criteria, correlate strategic goals with research performance and make informed decisions on the establishment of research strategies.

Integration of institutional repositories and e-learning platforms for supporting disabled students in the higher education context

Purpose – Institutional repositories (IR) are usually used to archive and manage digital collections including research results, educational material, etc. Learning management systems (LMS) form a popular basis for e-learning and blended learning. This paper aims to study how to integrate IR and LMS to support accessibility of disabled students and students with learning difficulties (dyslexic students) in higher education. Customised ontologies focusing on disabled students can be used to facilitate indexing, and access of items in the repository. Design/methodology/approach – The authors propose a simple methodological approach to establish an integrating system for supporting accessibility. First, the authors review research works related to adaptive learning environments (ALEs) and blended learning, and discuss issues of the interoperability of IR and LMS. Then, based on the review, the authors discuss the use of an integrated ALE for supporting disabled students in the domain of higher technological ...

DSpace and customized controlled vocabularies

The open source platform of DSpace could be defined as a repository application used to provide access to digital resources. DSpace is installed and used by more than 1000 organizations worldwide. A predefined taxonomy of keyword, called the Controlled Vocabulary, can be used for describing and accessing the information items stored in the repository. In this paper, we describe how the users can create, and customize their own vocabularies. Various heterogeneous items, such as research papers, videos, articles and educational material of the repository, can be indexed in order to provide advanced search functionality using new controlled vocabularies.

Research Publication Recommendation System based on a Hybrid Approach

Recommendations systems have become an important tool for scientists because they simplify the process of discovering related work, without getting distracted by the enormous amount of research publications. Academic research on recommendations systems can be classified on two main categories: the content-based filtering approach, where the papers published by the authors are indexed and the TF-IDF algorithm is applied to calculate the weights for each one of the indexed terms and the collaboration filtering, in which authors are considered to prefer similar publications with authors with akin behavior. In the proposed method, we present a hybrid approach using both of the before mentioned approaches. We contribute to the collaborative filtering by implementing graph based analysis in order to define the importance of each indexed term.

Interactive Visualization in Knowledge Discovery for Academic Evaluation and Accreditation

Academic evaluation is a process that gains continuously attention. As a process it requires complex associations discovery and data processing that most of the times are performed by an ad-hoc, manual process by experts. The creation of a theoretical model and support by means of software is a challenging task. In this paper we present VIS-ACC (visualization --- accreditation) a methodology that focuses on the processing and extraction of semantic representations from accreditation data. We also present a tool that facilitates the visualization thus automating the evaluation process.

Retrieval and Dissemination of Information in Distributed and Wireless Environments

This paper investigates a framework for Secure Retrieval and Dissemination of Information (text and image) in Distributed and Wireless Environments (SECRET_DIDWE). Our research focuses on the evaluation and integration of Information Retrieval techniques. Text Retrieval and Content-Based Image Retrieval techniques are mainly studied for use in medical environment. The framework is based on a wireless architecture to enable authorized medical personnel to access medical records in a secure and transparent manner, utilizing an agent-based architecture. A policy-based architecture is part of the framework for utilizing wireless sensor devices, advanced network topologies and software agents to enable remote monitoring of patients and elderly people. These technologies can be used to achieve continuous monitoring of a patient’s condition. Medical information classification based on neural network techniques of SVM (Support Vector Machines) type for supporting diagnosis is also incorporated into the framework.

A Framework for Communities of Practice in Radiotherapy

This paper focuses on the Communities of Practice (CoPs) which is seen as a specific knowledge management strategy. We examine how and why CoPs are established in radiotherapy. Based on experience in the radiotherapy practice we discuss a conceptual framework for the assessment of CoPs in radiotherapy.

Information Technology Literacy for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in Higher Education

The demand for employment in specific computing fields is high, during the last years. However, the deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) persons are significantly underrepresented. In this paper, we study methods for increasing the participation of DHH students in computing fields, in order to provide them equal opportunities with normal students. We focus on the following two key research questions: What is an appropriate inclusive curriculum in Higher Education for supporting DHH students studying information technology? What kind of assistive technology resources (e.g., vocabularies in Sign Language) should be embedded in the curriculum, and how DHH students can be enabled to access and use such resources? A systematic review of the literature is conducted, and the design of an introductory academic course on information technology literacy for DHH students is examined.