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CA19122 European Network for Gender Balance in Informatics.1st Application Call for STSM Applications for Missions occurring until 1st May 2021 The main aim of CA19122 Action is to improve gender balance in Informatics at all levels, from undergraduate and graduate studies to participation and leadership in academia and industry, through the creation of a European network of colleagues working on the forefront of the efforts for gender balance in Informatics in their countries and research communities. Short-term scientific missions (STSM) are exchange visits between researchers involved in a COST Action, allowing scientists to visit an institution or laboratory in another COST Member state. In general, these scientific missions may last up to six months in another COST Member/Cooperating Member or Near-Neighbor Country joining the Action. Their aim is to foster collaboration in excellent research infrastructures and share new techniques that may not be available in a participant’s home institution or laboratory. DEADLINE …

We are grateful to put together our newsletter once again (2020 CIL Newsletter), which despite the difficulties due to the pandemic, it does not look any less rich than our previous newsletters. Rather, it demonstrates the hard work and the many achievements of the group! This year is signalled by two PhD graduations (Vaso Constantinou and Aekaterini Mavri), several publications, several new projects (some in collaboration with CYENS CoE) and our relocation to a new building at the Centre of the City of Limassol, closer to our Department, UG students and colleagues. At CIL, we are proud to engage in research that helps unpack the potential of emerging technologies to positively influence our society. During the pandemic, CIL research becomes even more relevant as we continue to research innovative learning environment for learners of all ages (K-20) in the “shifting to digital” era. We keep our positive energy and welcome 2021, looking forward to new opportunities and …

The Cyprus Interaction Lab (https://www.cyprusinteractionlab.com/) of the Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts, through the Social Computing Research Center (SCRC) (http://www.socialcomputing.eu) of the Cyprus University of Technology secured funding under the Erasmus+ program (Sector of School Education) with the project ASSESSMAKE21. The Cyprus Interaction Lab, led by Associate Professor Andri Ioannou, participates as a partner in the two-year project, which is coordinated by the Learnovate Center, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. The partners are: Learnovate Centre, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland (Co-ordinator), Edumotiva, Sparta, Greece (Dissemination lead)Cyprus Interaction Lab, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, CyprusKarlstad University, Karlstad, SwedenDublin Maker, Dublin City University, Ireland(Associate Partner) American College of Greece, Athens, Greece  The main goal of the ASSESSMAKE project is the evaluations of the 21st-century skills, especially in open learning environments where students create and propose solutions to problems while interacting with their peers and acting across the physical and digital worlds. Thus, the aim …

The European Commission is currently working to implement a comprehensive set of actions to tackle the spread and impact of online mis- and disinformation in Europe. These initiatives have particularly increased in the framework of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to massive disinformation campaigns. This raises the broader question of disinformation and misinformation in the field of science. Public understanding of scientific key issues is indeed often limited and misinformation or even deliberate disinformation about the latter increasingly proliferate. What leads the public to believe false information? In this framework, we are organising an online conference that will take place on the 14th of December 2020 from 10am to 4:30pm. This event will bring together media professionals, academics and representatives from the EU institutions and will include exchanges and discussions on how universities and media professionals can learn from each other to increase the quality of information. Furthermore, the popularisation of scientific …

There are a lot of amazing women working in the field of STEM. To acknowledge their career and achievements, FeSTEM is preparing an annual list of “FeSTEM Women: Next Door Mentors”. The call for nominations is now open. This is your chance to nominate someone you respect and admire! Do you know great women in STEM who should be included in our list? Is there someone with a fascinating career, which can inspire other female researchers? Let us know via https://forms.gle/1duAmtcGoSH8Lzvt6, tag us in your social media accounts and use hashtags #festemwomen, #nextdoormentor, #erasmus, #festemchallenge, #womeninstem, #festem. The following female researchers in STEM are eligible for nomination: Ph.D. student, postdoc, young professional, faculty member, entrepreneur. Feel free to submit as many names as you wish! (if you’d like to nominate multiple women, you will have to submit one form per nomination). Self-nominations are also welcomed! The deadline for submissions is January 31st, 2021. We will announce the …

On October 7th, the ERUM consortium met for the third time, but, due to the current public health crisis, the meeting was held on Zoom. It was chaired by Judith, Alessandra and Johanna from the University of Vienna.  During this productive day, the project partners discussed about already achieved milestones and about next important steps of the project. Internal management and dissemination strategies were addressed and the consortium discussed the progress of IO2 (guidelines for evidence-based communication), which is led by the University of Vienna and will be finalised by the end of 2020. Furthermore, Vytautas Magnus University presented the final draft of the survey to the partners and discussed a few points in order to finalise the survey which will be disseminated by the end of October. In preparation of the next IO the partner from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki informed the partners about the expected outputs and timeline …

From the 15-17 October 2020 the #ErasmusDays initiative will be taking place across Europe and beyond, to celebrate the Erasmus+ programme. Cyprus Interaction Lab actively participates in the #erasmusdays and provides a sneak preview of the work produced in our Erasmus project #festem and #openlang.  FeSTEM The  Festem Erasmus+ project (https://festemproject.eu/) is celebrating the Erasmus Days 15-17 October 2020 with a number of events co-organised by all the consortium members!! Join us for a Social Cafè on the topic “Technology for Everyone” with @festemeuproject on October 15th, 2020, at 15:50 CET. Find out more: https://www.facebook.com/cesie.ngo/posts/10164259327355557 Openlang The #OPENLangNETWORK Erasmus+ project (https://www.openlangnet.eu/) is celebrating the Erasmus Days 15-17 October 2020 with a number of events co-organised by all the consortium members!! University of Macedonia (GR) (Coordinator)Cyprus University of Technology (CY)Open University (UK)PIXEL (IT) Join our OPENLang Network WEBINAR on October 16th, 2020 at 13:00CET-14:00 CET. Register here: shorturl.at/cirC8 Join our OPENLang Network platform here: https://openlang-network.kmi.open.ac.uk/ Take our survey on “Mapping …

We are looking for a competent candidate to work on our newly funded project via CYENS and an amazing consortium of partners. Attractive salary based on skills and experience. Skills desired: Business/Innovation, Learning Innovation Hubs, Educational Technology & Design, Strong Digital Skills Details:3 years projects starting 01/01/2020 This Knowledge Alliance project builds on the idea that education is an unpredictable industry. If one is launching a startup in the Educational Technology (EdTech) niche, s/he needs to be prepared for the specific challenges that will face while attempting to enter into this market. At the same time the EdTech industry has exploded on a massive extent; the competition is huge and to stand out one must be unique in multiple ways. The ENTER project is at the forefront of this challenge, by improving the quality of entrepreneurship education around EdTech, bringing together academic and industrial partners with entrepreneurial experience and with expertise in …

As the maker movement is increasingly adopted into K‐12 schools and nonformal makerspaces, students have more opportunities to generate unique, personalized projects and artifacts, such as computer programs, robots, DIY electronics and to develop new competencies and skills. Digital making technologies if coupled with proper learning methodologies such as suggested by Constructivism (Piaget, 1974) and Constructionism (Papert & Harel, 1991) can provide learning experiences that promote young people’s creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and problem-solving skills, the essential skills necessary in the workplace of the 21st century (21st C Skills). However, assessment of these higher order skills is not easy, particularly within these open-ended environments where students create unique solution paths to problems, interact with peers, and act in both the physical and digital worlds. Currently, digital technologies offer novel methods and solutions to assess the 21st century skills and offer insights to learners’ efforts and achievements that become available for …

Jointly held under one management and one registration with HCI International 2021 http://2021.hci.international/lct Chairs Panayiotis Zaphiris (panayiotis.zaphiris@cut.ac.cy) Andri Ioannou (andri.i.ioannou@cut.ac.cy) 24-29 July 2021, Washington Hilton Hotel, Washington DC, USA The LCT conference, affiliated to HCI International conference, addresses theoretical foundations, design and implementation, as well as effectiveness and impact issues related to interactive technologies for learning and collaboration, including design methodologies, developments, and tools, theoretical models, instructional design, as well as technology adoption and use in formal and informal educational contexts. Submit your proposals! Please email andri@www.cyprusinteractionlab.com if you would like to organize a parallel session for LCT-HCII. HCII 2021: LCT Conference leaflet here

Στο πλαίσιο του προγράμματος ReCOVer20 το οποίο επιχορηγείται από τον Οργανισμό Νεολαίας Κύπρου, πραγματοποιήθηκε η δράση «Δημιουργία ταινιών μικρού μήκους (animation videos) με παιδιά δημοτικού για τον διαμοιρασμό θετικών εμπειριών που απορρέουν από την περίοδο της καραντίνας».  Συντονίστρια της δράσης ήταν η κ. Νικολέττα Παντέλα, ερευνήτρια στο Cyprus Interaction Lab. Η δράση περιλάμβανε τρία βιωματικά εργαστήρια με παιδιά δημοτικού 9-12 ετών. Το πρώτο βιωματικό εργαστήριο αποσκοπούσε στην έκφραση των αρχικών συναισθημάτων των παιδιών για την περίοδο της καραντίνας. Στο δεύτερο βιωματικό εργαστήριο τα παιδιά εισήχθησαν στο εκπαιδευτικό λογισμικό Powtoon Pro με στόχο την εξοικείωσή τους αναφορικά με τις διάφορες λειτουργίες του. Κατά τη διάρκεια του τρίτου και τελευταίου βιωματικού εργαστηρίου τα παιδιά κλήθηκαν να δημιουργήσουν ταινίες μικρού μήκους (animation video) σε ομάδες, αξιοποιώντας το εκπαιδευτικό λογισμικό Powtoon Pro, προβάλλοντας τις θετικές εμπειρίες, ενδεχομένως καινούριες γνώσεις που έμαθαν ή νέες δεξιότητες και αντιλήψεις που ανέπτυξαν κατά τη διάρκεια της καραντίνας. Στην …