Announcements

Christiana Varda, PhD student and Research Associate at the Media, Cognition and Learning Research Group, has been selected to participate at EARLI Joint SIG 8 & 16 Summer School 2022, where she will present her ongoing work focused on “Informal learning on social media: Understanding the role of emotions in supporting epistemic engagement during online information evaluation”.

The Summer school is offered as part of the European Association for Learning and Instruction Special Interest Groups for Emotion and Motivation (SIG 8) and Metacognition (SIG16) will take place in Dresden, Germany in August 2022.

We are happy to announce that the Media Cognition and Learning Research Group will be presenting two papers at the International Society of the Learning Sciences Conference (ISLS 2022), which will take place 6-10 June 2022, online. The theme of the conference was International Collaboration toward Educational Innovation for All: Overarching Research, Development, and Practices.

Christiana Varda and Dr Eleni A. Kyza’s paper “The Role of Epistemic Emotions During Engagement with Online Information Encounters” has been accepted to be presented for the International Conference of the Learning Sciences segment of the ISLS 2022 as a Full Paper Presentation.

Additionally, Dr Eleni A. Kyza and Christiana Varda will also be participating in a symposium presentation. Their contribution is titled “Data literacy and social design implications of algorithmic, socio-technical solutions to combating misinformation on social media” and it will be part of the symposium “Cultivating Critical, Justice-Oriented Data Literacies in a Post-Truth World”. The symposium was submitted to the International Conference of the Learning Sciences of ISLS 2022 and was organized by Dr Joe Polman (University of Colorado Boulder), Dr Iris Tabak (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) and Dr Trang C. Tran (University of Colorado Boulder).

New MCL publication: “Investigating the Processes of Teacher and Researcher Empowerment and Learning in Co-design Settings”.

MCL announces a new publication by Eleni A. Kyza and Andria Agesilaou, titled “Investigating the Processes of Teacher and Researcher Empowerment and Learning in Co-design Settings”. The paper is part of the special issue “Teacher-Researcher Collaborations as Contexts of Learning”, edited by Susan R. Goldman, Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver, and Eleni A. Kyza. The special issue is published in Cognition and Instruction’s first issue of 2022 (Volume 40, Issue 1).

New MCL publication: Whose data are they? Elementary school students’ conceptualization of data ownership and privacy of personal digital data

The work of MCL members, Andria Agesilaou Dr. Eleni Kyza, has been recently accepted for publication in the International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction.

The paper is titled “Whose data are they? Elementary school students’ conceptualization of data ownership and privacy of personal digital data”. In this work the authors discuss children’s awareness of their digital data, issues of online privacy and issues of data uses by others. They also examine how students comprehend data ownership of their digital data and how they decide to concede this ownership to others. Evidence of students’ conceptualization of data ownership is scarce in the literature. Τhe authors, through this work, provide some initial findings about data ownership, and discuss how the community can better understand children’s disclosure or privacy protection attitudes, by further unpacking this construct.

The paper is part of the Special Issue “Smart Toys, Smart Tangibles, Robots and other Smart Things for Children” which is edited by Cristina Sylla, Alejandro Catala, Arzu Güneysu Özgür, Katriina Heljakka.

The pre-proof of the paper can be accessed online here.

MCL researchers, Andria Agesilaou and Dr. Eleni A. Kyza will be participating in a symposium presentation at AERA 2022 (April 21 to 26). Their contribution is titled “Fostering awareness of big data through a quantified-self approach: Designing for critical data literacy” and it will be part of the symposium “Data Literacy in Context: Culturally Oriented and Place-Based Learning through Data”. The symposium was submitted to Division C – Learning and Instruction/Division C – Section 3a: Learning Environments and will take place on April 21.

Symposium abstract

This symposium responds to calls for increased focus on data literacy in education and specifically how context, culture, and place impact what and how people learn through data. The 11 studies aim to highlight: 1) Real-world issues that are investigated through data; 2) How place-based learning is enabled (e.g., what technologies and resources are used); 3) How identity, historical narratives, and local or cultural knowledge are engaged; and 4) Methods, analyses, and evaluation of learning and/or participation. This set of studies highlight the ubiquity of data literacy goals for a range of learners (e.g., youth to adults), a range of disciplinary applications (e.g., art to bioinformatics), and a range of contexts (e.g., rural to urban).

Chairs

Susan A. Yoon & Katherine M. Miller, University of Pennsylvania

Discussant

Andee Rubin, TERC

Contributions

1. Place-Based Air Quality Inquiry in U.S. Rural Contexts
   Joseph L. Polman, Trang Chau Tran, Daniel W. Knight,
   University of Colorado Boulder
2. Hyperlocal Expertise: Schoolyards as Rich and Complex Contexts for Developing Children’s Data Practices
   Kathryn Lanouette, College of William and Mary
   Victor R. Lee, Stanford University
3. Learning Bioinformatics Through a Justice-Centered Design: Developing Student Relationships With Data in Urban Communities
   Susan A. Yoon, Jooeun Shim, Katherine Miller, Amanda Cottone, Noora Fatima Noushad, Thomas Richman, Amin Marei, Blanca Himes, Ryan Urbanowicz, University of Pennsylvania
   Michael Gonzalez, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
4. Seeing ourselves in the data: Situating data literacy in theory building and action-taking by youth
   Bodong Chen, University of Minnesota
   Leanne Ma, Ben Peebles, University of Toronto
5. A framework for exploring self, community, histories, and futures through data
   Michelle Hoda Wilkerson, Meg Elena Escudé, Edward Rivero, Kris D. Gutiérrez, University of California, Berkeley
   David J. Stokes, Hollylynne Stohl Lee, North Carolina State University
   Emily V. Reigh, Stanford University
6. No learning lost here: Youth critical data practices in the COVID-19 multi-pandemic
   Angela Calabrese Barton, Day W. Greenberg, Chandler Turner, Devon Riter, Leslie R. Herrenkohl, Elizabeth A. Davis, Tammy Quinn Tasker
   University of Michigan
7. The role of data literacy in convergence and divergence of reasoning criteria between social groups
   Ilana Dubovi, Tel Aviv University
   Iris Tabak, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
8. Cultivating identities of care in the science classroom using complex systems data and modeling
   Veronica Cassone McGowan, University of Washington Bothell
   Philip L. Bell, University of Washington
9. Place-making practices with COVID-19 data
   Joshua L. Radinsky, University of Illinois-Chicago
   Iris Tabak, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
10. Postcards from the Bronx: Students redefine what a healthy place is through justice-oriented data art
    Anna Amato, Camillia Matuk, Kayla DesPortes, Marian Tes, Ralph Vacca, New York University
    Veena Vasudevan, University of Pittsburgh
    Megan Silander, Educational Development Center
    Peter J. Woods, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
11. Fostering Awareness of Big Data Through a Quantified-Self Approach: Designing for Critical Data Literacy
    Andria Agesilaou, Eleni A. Kyza, Cyprus University of Technology

The Media, Cognition and Learning (MCL) research group of the Department of Communication and Internet Studies at the Cyprus University of Technology announces a series of workshops focused on addressing misinformation through digital journalism.

JOUREDIS is a one-year program (2021-2022) and is funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF). The project is realized by the Media, Cognition and Learning Research Group at the Department of Communication and Internet Studies of the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), in collaboration with the non-profit organization Media What and the Cyprus International Institute for Environmental and Public Health also at CUT.

PROJECT AIMS

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a heightened demand for news articles that concern health, and has increased people’s daily contact with scientific issues. Even though there are more journalists reporting on public health issues today, the easy access to online information, regardless of credibility, has highlighted the dangers that lurk in relation to the spread of misinformation. JOUREDIS is a project that aims to support journalists’ efforts to resist misinformation through the use of digital journalism tools.

The series is aimed at journalists and journalism or communication studies students and will take place between February and May 2022. The first workshop will take place online, on 24 February 2022, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Participation is free of charge, after pre-registration. Seats are limited.

Participants will have the opportunity to take part in workshops that will provide them with skills needed to engage with mobile journalism, writing for social media, live blogging and fact-checking.

You can express your interest to participate in the workshops by completing this form.

The project will culminate with the creation of a series of learning modules which will be accompanied with short explainer videos.

For more information visit https://jouredis.cut.ac.cy

We are happy to announce that Andria Agesilaou and Dr Eleni Kyza’s submission “Empowering students to be data literate: The design and implementation of a learning environment to foster critical data literacy” has received the Best Design Paper Award at the 2021 Annual Meeting of the International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS 2021).

The theme of the Conference was “Reflecting the Past and Embracing the Future” and it took place virtually from June 7-11, 2021. The submission was presented as a full paper.

Download and read the submission in the ISLS 2021 conference proceedings here (p. 458-465).

With the culmination of our work for Co-Inform, the European-funded H2020 project that our Research Group has been involved in, we invite you to join two online events that will take place on 29 and 30 September 2021, online, and will present the work we have completed in the context of our three-year research project, as well as key findings and implications for policymaking and future research and on misinformation. 

You can register for a first-hand experience of the tools we have developed to support citizens, journalists and policymakers when faced with misinformation by completing this form. 

Following the demo, we also invite you to join the 55th ICA Conference themed: The New Normal: ” A radical leap to digital,one giant step for digital society” during which Co-Inform will share the project’s main insights from the tools’ evaluations and discuss future directions concerning misinformation research and policy implications for combating misinformation on social media. You can view the agenda here, and register for the event here. 

The Co-Inform project included top universities and SMEs from 7 European countries and reached its conclusion in July. The project aimed to co-create tools that would foster critical thinking and media and information literacy for a better-informed society. These tools stemmed from the needs and misinformation challenges of citizens, journalists and policymakers; they were iteratively designed and evaluated with policymakers, journalists, and citizens in three different EU countries (Austria,Greece, Sweden).

We are happy to announce that two of our papers at the Media Cognition and Learning Research Group have been accepted to the 19th Biennial European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI 2021).  

Dr Yiannis’ Georgiou and Dr Eleni A. Kyza’s paper “Scaffolding augmented reality learning: A systematic review of the literature” has been accepted to be presented at the EARLI 2021 conference, as a Full Paper Presentation.

Additionally, Christiana Varda and Dr Eleni A. Kyza’s  paper “Liking” social media posts with credibility labels: The role of epistemic aims and criteria” has been accepted as part of the symposium organized by Dr Friederike Hendriks (University of Münster, Germany), Dr Maria Zimmermann, (Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany), and Dr Elisabeth Mayweg-Paus (Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany). The symposium is titled “Is this credible information?” Investigations on the Evaluation of Scientific Online Information.

The theme of the Conference is “Education and Citizenship: Learning and Instruction and the Shaping of Futures” and it will take place virtually between August 23 to 27, 2021.

The MCL Research Group (Cyprus University of Technology) accepts applications for three posts at Doctoral level (PhD) that will begin September 2021.

The MCL Research Group (Cyprus University of Technology) accepts applications for three (3) posts at Doctoral level (PhD) that will begin September 2021.

Deadline is Thursday, 15th of April 2021. For applications, click here.

For more information, click here.

• One (1) post in the following topic: “Contemporary challenges and the empowerment of citizens through digital media”.

Description:This Ph.D. thesis will explore the context in which citizens (younger or older) can develop digital skills, knowledge, and attitudes that lead to empowerment, the adoption of democratic ideals and the development of digital citizenship.

Required Qualifications: To be considered, eligible candidates should have undergraduate and graduate degrees from accredited universities in a related subject. Candidates should be able to demonstrate strong methodological background and should be highly proficient in spoken and written English.  The applicants are requested to submit a) their CV, b) a short research proposal explaining their research interests and the motivation for the proposed research project, and c) two letters of recommendation, preferably from University professors (submitted independently and within the application deadline).

Funding: Depending on their field of expertise and qualifications, candidates may be offered teaching assistant positions in the department for lab-based courses. Moreover, funding may be available through on-going research projects.

Research Advisor: Eleni A. Kyza, Associate Professor

• One (1) post in the following topic: “Investigation of the aspects that promote collaboration and learning through the use of technology”

Description: This Ph.D. thesis will investigate technology-mediated collaboration and learning, using technologies such as mobile devices, the internet, augmented reality technologies, social media, etc. Emphasis will be placed on the investigation of the interaction between social, affective and cognitive dimensions of successful collaborations.

Required Qualifications: To be considered, eligible candidates should have undergraduate and graduate degrees from accredited universities in a related subject. Candidates should be able to demonstrate strong methodological background and should be highly proficient in spoken and written English.  The applicants are requested to submit a) their CV, b) a short research proposal explaining their research interests and the motivation for the proposed research project, and c) two letters of recommendation, preferably from University professors (submitted independently and within the application deadline).

Funding: Depending on their field of expertise and qualifications, candidates may be offered teaching assistant positions in the department for lab-based courses. Moreover, funding may be available through on-going research projects.

Research Advisor: Eleni A. Kyza, Associate Professor

• One (1) post in the following topic: “Development and empirical investigation of mobile and/or augmented reality apps”

Description: This Ph.D. thesis will lead to the development and empirical investigation of inquiry-based learning with mobile and/or augmented reality technologies.

Required Qualifications: To be considered, eligible candidates should have undergraduate and graduate degrees from accredited universities in a related subject. Candidates should be able to demonstrate strong methodological background and should be highly proficient in spoken and written English.  The applicants are requested to submit a) their CV, b) a short research proposal explaining their research interests and the motivation for the proposed research project, and c) two letters of recommendation, preferably from University professors (submitted independently and within the application deadline).

Funding: Depending on their field of expertise and qualifications, candidates may be offered teaching assistant positions in the department for lab-based courses. Moreover, funding may be available through on-going research projects.

Research Advisor: Eleni A. Kyza, Associate Professor