EdTech blog by Alexander Mikroyannidis

Linked Data at the Open University and the ROLE project

By Alexander Mikroyannidis14 April 201124 May 2020Semantic Web, Technology-Enhanced Learning

The Open University and the Lucero project have recently launched data.open.ac.uk, an RDF repository of metadata from Open University datasets, such as podcasts, courses, and more. The metadata from these datasets are interlinked and accessible through SPARQL queries.

Needless to say, this initiative provides excellent opportunities for harvesting previously disconnected datasets and providing new services to Open University learners. So, I’ve reused some code kindly provided by Fouad Zablith, in order to produce a widget for the ROLE project. The widget has been built as a Moodle block for recommending learning material inside OpenLearn courses. The widget queries data.open.ac.uk and displays a list of Open University courses, iTunesU podcasts, as well as OpenLearn tags related to the course that the user is currently viewing. You can try it out by logging in as guest at PlaySpace.

Here is also the blog post from the Lucero project.

Professional biography

Dr. Alexander Mikroyannidis is a Senior Research Fellow (Associate Professor) in the Knowledge Media Institute of The Open University, UK. He holds a Ph.D. in Informatics from Manchester Business School, an M.Phil. in Computation from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), and a B.Eng. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Patras, Greece.

Research interests

The research expertise of Dr. Mikroyannidis is in the field of Technology-Enhanced Learning. He has been investigating the use of novel educational technologies for enhancing personalised learning, self-regulated learning, lifelong learning, as well as open education. He is currently working on the transformative applications of Generative AI and decentralisation blockchain technology in the context of distance and higher education. He is the author of over 120 publications that have received over 1,500 citations.

Teaching interests

Dr. Mikroyannidis has extensive experience in developing Open Educational Resources (OERs), Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), Badged Open Courses (BOCs), as well as rich interactive learning materials as eBooks. Some highlights from this work are the following:

Impact and engagement

The work of Dr. Mikroyannidis has led to strategic partnerships with key technological companies, most notably with Cisco and its global educational network, the Cisco Networking Academy, which has over 1 million students worldwide. Within this partnership, Dr. Mikroyannidis is in charge of the design, development and deployment of PT Anywhere, a novel educational tool for teaching computer networking skills by performing network simulations on any device. PT Anywhere has played a vital role in remote teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has been featured in the UK government’s Digital Skills Toolkit, which is offering essential digital skills to job seekers.

Dr. Mikroyannidis has recently led a successful pilot for facilitating lifelong learning using blockchain technologies, in the context of the QualiChain Horizon 2020 project. In particular, he has been in charge of deploying and evaluating decentralised education and employment qualifications with learners and educators within various lifelong learning contexts. The results of this pilot have provided valuable insights into the different aspects of lifelong learning that require support, as well as into the guidance and training needs of the education community related to the use of decentralisation technologies.

External collaborations

Dr. Mikroyannidis has been driving significant educational technology initiatives at an international level, by establishing a network of collaborators inside and outside the Open University and acquiring external funding, in order to implement and evaluate novel educational solutions in real-life settings and with real users. He has been awarded and worked on a wide range of European and nationally funded research projects, including QualiChain, DEL4ALL, OpenLang Network, Open Networking Lab, Institute of Coding, SlideWiki, EDSA, HUB4NGI, FORGE, weSPOT, EUCLID, ROLE, OpenScout, CASPAR, and PARMENIDES.