Dr. Giasemi N. Vavoula

Lecturer in Applied Computing (Part-time, EECE)
Research Fellow (Part-time, MOBIlearn Project)

  

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Biography

I was born in Heraklion (Crete, Greece) where I lived, studied and worked until 1997, when I moved to the UK for postgraduate studies. I currently live in Birmingham, where I work at the Educational Technology ResearchMOBIlearn project Group at the School of EECE as a Research Fellow on the EU IST Project MOBILearn since January 2003. The project explores new ways to use mobile environments to meet the needs of learners, working by themselves and with others. My involvement is in the area of Pedagogical Methodologies and Paradigms, aiming to develop new models for learning, teaching and tutoring in a mobile environment, as well as for instructional design and content development.

 

Address:

Educational Technology Research Group,

School of Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering,

University of Birmingham,

Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK

 

E-mail: g.vavoula@bham.ac.uk

 

Tel.: +44 (0) 121 4142933

 

Fax: +44 (0) 121 4144291

 

Between January and December 2002, I worked as a Research Fellow on the "Children as Photographers - The Digital Study" project, investigating the design of new, digital imaging technologies for children. For the purposes of the project we developed the Future RoboCamTechnology Workshop method, a method that explores the interplay between future and present technologies and activities while involving the end users (in this case, the children) in the design process. The application of the method has led to the design of the RoboCam and the SpyCam, two prototype children's technologies (kindly put together by James Cross).
 

 

 I have recently submitted my PhD thesis, with supervisor Prof. Mike Sharples. The focus of my PhD research has been the design of technologies to support everyday, lifelong learning. As part of it, I KLeOShave designed and implemented KLeOS, a Knowledge and Learning Organisation System. More background information on my PhD work is available on-line. A description of KLeOS and some screenshots are available in the system manuals. The software itself, currently implemented in Java, will be made available as soon as time permits :)
  Between 1997-1998 I completed the MSc in Human-Centred Computer Systems at the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences, University of Sussex, UK. Digital Photography CourseMy interest in using technology to support educational processes had already grown at that time, so my dissertation project was about designing and evaluating a Web-based teaching aid for Digital Photography, of which a prototype of limited functionality is available on-line.
My first degree was in Computer Science and I qualified for that at the Computer Science Department of the University of Crete, Greece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research Interests

  • Lifelong learning organisers

  • Personal information management

  • Mobile learning

  • Design of learning technologies

  • Informal, lifelong learning

Publications

    Peer Reviewed Journals

  1. Taylor, J., Sharples, M., O’Malley, C., Vavoula, G., Waycott, J. (submitted). Towards a Task Model for Mobile Learning: a Dialectical Approach. Submitted to International Journal of Learning Technology.

    2. Invited Review Articles

  2. Lonsdale, P., Naismith, L., Vavoula, G., Sharples, M. (in press). Mobile Technologies and Learning. NESTA Futurelab Literature Review Series.

    3. Peer Reviewed Conference Proceedings

  3. Vavoula, G.N., Lefrere, P., O'Malley, C., Sharples, M. & Taylor, J. (2004). Producing guidelines for learning, teaching and tutoring in a mobile environment. In Roschelle, J., Chan, T., Kinshuk, Yand, S.J.H (eds), Proceedings of the 2nd IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education (WMTE). Los Alamitos, CA:Computer Society Press, pg.173-176. Preprint available as 261k pdf file.

  4. Chan, T., Sharples, M., Vavoula, G., & Lonsdale, P. (2004). Educational Metadata for Mobile Learning. In Roschelle, J., Chan, T., Kinshuk, Yand, S.J.H (eds), Proceedings of the 2nd IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education (WMTE). Los Alamitos, CA:Computer Society Press, pg.197-198. Preprint available as 261Kb pdf file.

  5. Baber, C., Sharples, M., Vavoula, G., Glew, P. (2004). A 'learning space' model to examine the suitability of different technologies for mobile learning. In Attewell, J., Savill-Smith, C. (eds), Learning with mobile devices: research and development, Mlearn03 Book of Papers, pp 21-25. Book available online as 4078KB pdf.

  6. Vavoula, G.N., and Sharples, M. (2003). Putting order to episodic and semantic learning memories: the case for KLeOS. Proceedings of HCI2003, Jun 22-27, Crete, Greece. Vol. 3, pp 894-898. Preprint available as 101KB pdf.

  7. Vavoula, G.N., Sharples, M., Cross, J., and Baber, C. (2003). SpyCam and RoboCam: An Application of the Future Technology Workshop Method to the Design of New Technology for Children. Proceedings of HCI2003, Jun 22-27, Crete, Greece. Vol. 1, pp 1071-1075. Preprint available as 99KB pdf.

  8. Vavoula, G.N., and Sharples, M. (2002). KLeOS: A personal, mobile, Knowledge and Learning Organisation System. In Milrad, M., Hoppe, U. Kinshuk (eds.) Proceedings of the IEEE International Workshop on Mobile and Wireless Technologies in Education (WMTE2002), Aug 29-30, Vaxjo, Sweden, pp 152-156. Preprint available as 284KB pdf.

  9. Vavoula, G.N., Sharples, M., and Rudman, P.D. (2002). Developing the 'Future Technology Workshop' method. In Bekker, M.M., Markopoulos, P., Kersten-Tsikalkina, M. (eds.) Proceedings of the International Workshop on Interaction Design and Children, Aug 28-29, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, pp 65-72. Preprint available as 31KB pdf.

  10. Vavoula, G.N., and Sharples, M. (2002). Requirements for the Design of Lifelong Learning Organisers. In Anastopoulou, S., Sharples, M., and Vavoula, G. (eds.), MLearn 2002: Proceedings of the European Workshop on Mobile and Contextual Learning, Jun 20-21, Birmingham, UK, pp 23-26. Preprint available as 21KB pdf.

  11. Vavoula, G.N., and Sharples, M. (2001). Studying the Learning Practice: Implications for the Design of a Lifelong Learning Support System. In Okamoto, T., Hartley, R., Kinshuk, and Klus J.P. (eds.), Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies 2001 (ICALT2001, Aug 6-8, Madison, USA), IEEE Computer Society, pp 79-80.
    Preprint available as 19Kb pdf.

  12. Vavoula, G.N., and Sharples, M. (2001). A phenomenological study of lifelong learning: implications for the design of a personal, lifelong learning resource. In Proceedings of Computers and Learning 2001 (CAL2001, Apr 2-4, Warwick, UK), Elsevier Science, pp 120-121.
    Preprint available as 17Kb pdf.

    13. Edited Proceedings

  13. Anastopoulou, S., Sharples, M., and Vavoula, G. (eds.), MLearn 2002: Proceedings of the European Workshop on Mobile and Contextual Learning, Jun 20-21, Birmingham, UK.

    Books of Abstracts

  14. Vavoula, G.N., O’Malley, C., Sharples, M., Taylor, J. (submitted). Pedagogical guidelines for mobile learning. Abstract submitted to CAL 05.

  15. Vavoula, G.N., Sharples, M., O'Malley, C., and Taylor, J. A study of mobile learning as part of everyday learning. MLearn 2004 Book of Abstracts, July 5-6, Rome, Italy.
    Preprint available as 11Kb pdf.

  16. Mwanza, D., Taylor, J., Sharp, H., and Vavoula, G. Methods for abstracting design requirements for a mobile e-Learning environment. CALRG 2003 Conference Abstracts, July 2-3, Milton Keynes, UK.

  17. Glew, P., Vavoula, G.N., Baber, C., and Sharples, M. A 'learning space' model to examine the suitability for learning of mobile technologies. MLearn 2003 Book of Abstracts, May 19-20, London, UK.

    18. Project Deliverables

  18. O’Malley, C., Vavoula, G., Glew, J.P., Taylor, J., Sharples, M., Lefrere, P. (2004). WP4 – Guidelines for learning/teaching/tutoring in a mobile environment. MOBIlearn deliverable.

Reports

  1. Lonsdale, P., and Vavoula, G. (2004). Research into current technology that could be applied to the design of learning spaces. Report prepared for JISC project "eSpaces: Study on how innovative technologies are influencing the design of physical learning spaces in the post-16 sector".

Theses

  1. Vavoula, G. (2004). KLeOS: A Knowledge and Learning Organisation System in Support of Lifelong Learning. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Birmingham, UK. Available as 1806KB zipped pdf.

  2. Vavoula, G. (1998). Designing and Evaluating Web-based Instruction – Case Study: a Teaching Aid for Digital Photography. Unpublished MSc thesis, School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences, University of Sussex, UK.
    On-line version available.

    Other

  3. Vavoula, G. (1999). Interacting to learn. Proceedings of the 3rd HCT Postgraduate Workshop, Sep 30 - Oct 1, Brighton, pp 77-79.
    On line at http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/lab/hct/hctw99/
    download/html/giasemi.html