Marianthi Batsila

“Let’s Go… Kahooting” – Teachers’ Views on C.R.S. for Teaching Purposes

The present study constitutes the first part of a study about the use of the online game-based of Kahoot as a tool for teaching practices and ways to do this. This first part, described in this paper, focuses on investigating teachers’ views on the use of Kahoot. A number of 149 secondary education teachers participated for this reason in workshops where they were introduced to Kahoot and were asked to design their own tasks. Upon completion of the workshops a questionnaire was delivered to them to evaluate the tool and focus group discussions were conducted to detect their in-depth thoughts. The teachers’ opinions were positive as they considered Kahoot a motivating tool for teaching and assessment purposes which can make learning fun and a creative process. The teachers revealed their intention to use the tool in their future teaching practices with their classes to a great extent.

Enhancing and assisting laboratory teaching of electrical circuits using ICT: An evaluation of educational software

The present study aimed at the evaluation and comparison of two example of educational software by Vocational School students - namely of Edison 5 and of Crocodile Technology 3D 6.1.0. Both these software packages can be used not only for the teaching of Vocational School speciality third grade courses but also for the teaching of the physics courses at Junior and Senior High Schools, as well as for those of the first and second grades of Vocational Schools. For the purpose of this evaluation, 76 participants, from a Vocational School (aged 16 to 20 years old), were asked to use them for 8 hours and in parallel with ordinary lab work to design simple electric circuits, through both of the aforementioned software packages, and through these to study circuit laws, formulate conclusions, and finally select the software they considered the most appropriate for the teaching of electric circuits. Upon completion of their tasks, students went through a closed type questionnaire, resulting to a definite choice as the most preferable and most appropriate software package for the teaching of electric circuits. The results are discussed herein and some interesting conclusions are drawn.

Introducing “Kodu” to Implement Cross Curricular Based Scenarios in English for K-12 Learners

In the present study the programming language of Kodu was used as a tool to implement a cross-curricular series of lessons combining the subjects of English and Computer Science. The purpose was to see the extent to which Kodu can be used as a creative and effective tool to enhance learners´ English language skills. A number of 74 Junior High School learners participated in the research, with a control group of 35, and an experimental group of 39 learners. The latter were introduced to the tool and implemented programming tasks with Kodu. A pre and post-test was delivered to the learners to detect their level before and after the intervention and informal discussions were conducted with them. The results revealed that Kodu made the lessons for the experimental group more vivid, creating a lively atmosphere which kept them active in class enhancing their use of English which they employed to follow the instructions, work with one another and implement the tasks assigned to them.

The Magic Power of the … Magic PowerPoint to Foster Vocational Learners’ Participation and Speaking Skills in English! - A Comparative Study

This research is about a comparative study between four groups of learners regarding English. Specifically, it investigates the impact of power point on Vocational Secondary School learners’ communicative competence. Two schools with 68 students, forming two control and two experimental groups, randomly selected, participated in the research. Pre and post-tests were given to learners, notes were taken during the lessons and a focus group discussion was conducted with the learners. The results revealed the positive effect ppt. use had to learners who found it motivating and interesting as a tool, enhancing their participation and speaking skills in English.

“Classrooms Without Borders” – Instructive Scenarios Based on Mobile Learning to Support Differentiated Learning in Vocational School Settings

The present work focuses on a survey conducted with 157 Vocational school students and six teachers, all randomly selected. Interviews were conducted with the teachers the aim of which was to detect why teachers suggest mobile learning, how they exploit mobile devices for instructive purposes and their opinion on the effect mobile learning has on their learners’ participation and motivation. The questionnaire to the learners aimed to detect their opinion on mobile learning. The answers revealed that students consider it an easy, interesting, innovative and useful method which helps vocabulary and all four skills though to a lesser extent writing. The thematic analysis of the interviews revealed teachers use mobile devices to enhance learners’ level, minimize distances and cover for students’ absences. They suggest detailed instructive scenarios, for differentiated teaching the implementation of which they found motivating and useful for their learners, weak students and employed learners.