EdTech blog by Alexander Mikroyannidis

EdTech blog by Alexander Mikroyannidis

News

11 October 2021

New Badged Open Course: Decentralising Education Using Blockchain Technology

Alexander Mikroyannidis (The Open University, UK) has developed the new badged open course: Decentralising Education...

6 October 2021

Leveraging Blockchain for OpenSTEM Africa

A new project between the Open University and the BlueScreenIT company is leveraging Blockchain technology for...

29 September 2021

The 24th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning

The 24th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL2021) took place as a hybrid event...

13 September 2021

The ALT Annual Conference 2021: Shared Experience, Different Perspectives

The ALT Annual Conference took place online on September 7-9, 2021. The conference was organised...

2 July 2021

Invited talks at SLERD 2021 and EKDDA info day

Alexander Mikroyannidis (The Open University, UK) recently gave two invited talks at the SLERD 2021...

28 May 2021

Webinar: Facilitating lifelong learning through the use of blockchain technology

On 26 May 2021, Alexander Mikroyannidis (The Open University, UK) delivered the webinar Facilitating lifelong...

13 May 2021

Special Issue on Blockchain-Based Decentralised Solutions for Learner Empowerment, Education Reengineering and Public Sector Transformation

Alexander Mikroyannidis is the managing guest editor of a special issue on Blockchain-Based Decentralised Solutions...

26 April 2021

The OERxDomains conference: Open Education in a (post)pandemic world

The OERxDomains Conference took place online on April 21-22 as a special edition of the 12th annual...

11 December 2020

Developing accessible network simulation software for the visually impaired

The Association for Learning Technology (ALT) blog has initiated a COVID special collection, featuring the latest news about...

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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 130 peer-reviewed publications that have received over 1,800 citations (21 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.

As presented in this conference publication, the current research of Dr. Mikroyannidis is focused on harnessing Generative AI to support learner autonomy and personalisation in digital education. This research introduces a framework that integrates Generative AI tools to assist learners in setting goals, reflecting on progress, and adapting learning strategies in real time. This approach aims to transform AI from a passive content generator into an active partner in the learning process. Additionally, Dr. Mikroyannidis is investigating the potential of Generative AI to support curriculum development and improve the production of distance learning materials, as outlined in this conference publication.

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:

In recognition of this experience, Dr. Mikroyannidis has been appointed International Expert in Distance Learning by the Agency for the Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES), Portugal’s national authority for quality assurance in higher education. In this role, Dr. Mikroyannidis is contributing to the assessment of distance learning programmes across Portuguese universities, and advising A3ES on best practices in distance learning, including the use of emerging technologies such as AI and Blockchain.

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 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. The results of this pilot are presented in this journal article. Additionally, Dr. Mikroyannidis has been investigating the impact of Web 3.0 and Blockchain on the open upskilling and reskilling of job seekers, as outlined in 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.