EdTech blog by Alexander Mikroyannidis

Motivating and Supporting Self-Regulated Learning: Pedagogical and Technological Perspectives

By Alexander Mikroyannidis5 October 20171 February 2018Technology-Enhanced Learning

Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) is a term that can be used to describe an individual’s ability to develop a skill set allowing him/her to learn in a number of different ways. According to the well-established literature in this field, SRL is an active and constructive process where learners set themselves goals that enable them to monitor, regulate and control their cognition, motivation and ensuing behaviour within the contextual features of their environment. Thus, SRL can be perceived to be, in rather more simplistic terms, as learning how to learn.

Since the 1980s, a number of researchers have proposed a variety of theoretical frameworks and models that outline SRL in terms of learning targets, guidance and potential planning mechanisms. More recently, the emergence of Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) environments, such as Personal Learning Environments (PLEs), offers opportunities to enhance the necessary SRL skills, especially metacognitive abilities. Additionally, the deployment of Learning Analytics tools in a variety of TEL environments can potentially motivate and support SRL via awareness and reflection upon an individual’s learning process. Open Educational Resources and the advancing Open Education movement also offer greater control to learners over acquiring the most suitable resources for their learning needs and goals.

This Special Issue will address the latest developments in the field of SRL, both from a technological as well as pedagogical perspective. Contributions are expected to address how SRL can be motivated and supported with the use technologies, such as TEL environments, PLEs and Learning Analytics, which are grounded on different pedagogical approaches. Experiences and best practices from the fields of formal, informal, non-formal education, as well as workplace learning, are particularly welcome.

Extended deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2018
Guest Editor: Dr. Alexander Mikroyannidis
Submission guidelines: http://mdpi.com/si/11575

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 online and distance education. He is the author of over 120 peer-reviewed publications that have received over 1,600 citations (20 h-index). He sits on the editorial boards of several globally renowned scientific journals, such as Open Learning, a leading international journal in the field of open, flexible and distance learning.

Teaching interests

Dr. Mikroyannidis has extensive experience in developing rich interactive learning materials for Open Educational Resources (OERs), Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), Badged Open Courses (BOCs), and 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 European project QualiChain. 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. As outlined in this journal article, 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. More recently, Dr. Mikroyannidis has been investigating the impact of Web 3.0 and Blockchain on open education, aiming to reduce barriers for the open upskilling and reskilling of job seekers. For more info, see this journal editorial co-authored with several other renowned experts in the field of open education.

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 SAGE-RAI, QualiChain, DEL4ALL, OpenLang Network, Open Networking Lab, Institute of Coding, SlideWiki, EDSA, HUB4NGI, FORGE, weSPOT, EUCLID, ROLE, OpenScout, CASPAR, and PARMENIDES.

In collaboration with the European partners of the Erasmus+ project OpenLang Network, Dr. Mikroyannidis has led the design, implementation and evaluation of the OpenLang Network platform. This platform provides an open and collaborative online learning environment that brings together language teachers and learners across Europe. This journal article presents the sustainable design of the platform and the tools that the platform is offering for practicing innovative learning methods, such as tandem language learning. The goal of this work is to foster the European multicultural and multilingual vision by building a sustainable online community around open educational resources and practices.