Teaching Statement
As an educator working across Digital Humanities and Human-Computer Interaction, I embrace evidence-informed learning design principles to create enriched, student-centered learning environments. My approach is grounded in constructionist pedagogy: learners develop a deeper understanding when they create tangible artifacts for authentic audiences. Across these intersecting fields, my core philosophy remains constant: education is an empowering experience, fostering deep learning through active construction, collaboration, and reflection.
A Practical Application of My Teaching Methods
In my courses, learners engage in hands-on, artifact-oriented assignments that create authentic communicative situations and reach wider audiences. Rather than studying skills in isolation, students participate in the construction of collaborative multimedia artifacts. For instance, a reference resource in which each entry requires drawing on authentic sources and producing short demonstrations. This transforms skill acquisition from passive memorization into an active research and production process. I apply the same principles to advanced literacy development, where students work in teams to produce a culminating project that concretizes academic writing as a tangible, meaningful outcome. Such projects offer a productive journey through which students learn to collaboratively plan, set milestones, make mistakes, and reflect on what went wrong and why — a process that consistently yields deeper cognitive engagement with both the material and the thinking required to bring a real project to life.
The learning experience is structured around artifact-oriented tasks, peer-to-peer feedback, and the purposeful integration of digital tools drawn from educational technology and interaction design. Technology is integrated to serve the learning environment, not simply added on. In this setting, my role shifts from knowledge transmitter to collaborative team member, working alongside students who position themselves as researchers and professionals.
Evidence-Informed Practice
My teaching is continuously refined through my research. My involvement in a project examining the use of Augmented Reality (AR) in language learning revealed the potential of immersive technologies in supporting language teaching, an insight that sits at the intersection of applied linguistics and educational technology. I have since redesigned courses to integrate such tools in support of language production and argumentative discourse, treating technology not as decoration but as a pedagogical instrument shaped by evidence.
Looking Forward
My ongoing research and commitment to evidence-based practice mean my learning environments remain sites of innovation. I am currently investigating how AI tools can support, rather than replace, the constructionist practices I value, a question that draws equally on my work in digital humanities, educational technology, and language pedagogy. Early experimentation suggests that when students use AI as a collaborator, generating draft content they then critique and revise, they develop stronger evaluative and editorial skills. My ultimate goal is to continually provide all students with the tools and opportunities they need to become independent, lifelong learners prepared to navigate and shape an ever-changing world.
A Practical Application of My Teaching Methods
In my courses, learners engage in hands-on, artifact-oriented assignments that create authentic communicative situations and reach wider audiences. Rather than studying skills in isolation, students participate in the construction of collaborative multimedia artifacts. For instance, a reference resource in which each entry requires drawing on authentic sources and producing short demonstrations. This transforms skill acquisition from passive memorization into an active research and production process. I apply the same principles to advanced literacy development, where students work in teams to produce a culminating project that concretizes academic writing as a tangible, meaningful outcome. Such projects offer a productive journey through which students learn to collaboratively plan, set milestones, make mistakes, and reflect on what went wrong and why — a process that consistently yields deeper cognitive engagement with both the material and the thinking required to bring a real project to life.
The learning experience is structured around artifact-oriented tasks, peer-to-peer feedback, and the purposeful integration of digital tools drawn from educational technology and interaction design. Technology is integrated to serve the learning environment, not simply added on. In this setting, my role shifts from knowledge transmitter to collaborative team member, working alongside students who position themselves as researchers and professionals.
Evidence-Informed Practice
My teaching is continuously refined through my research. My involvement in a project examining the use of Augmented Reality (AR) in language learning revealed the potential of immersive technologies in supporting language teaching, an insight that sits at the intersection of applied linguistics and educational technology. I have since redesigned courses to integrate such tools in support of language production and argumentative discourse, treating technology not as decoration but as a pedagogical instrument shaped by evidence.
Looking Forward
My ongoing research and commitment to evidence-based practice mean my learning environments remain sites of innovation. I am currently investigating how AI tools can support, rather than replace, the constructionist practices I value, a question that draws equally on my work in digital humanities, educational technology, and language pedagogy. Early experimentation suggests that when students use AI as a collaborator, generating draft content they then critique and revise, they develop stronger evaluative and editorial skills. My ultimate goal is to continually provide all students with the tools and opportunities they need to become independent, lifelong learners prepared to navigate and shape an ever-changing world.
Current teaching at the Cyprus University of Technology
Graduate courses
Undergraduate courses:
- MA Design for Social Innovation
- DSI513 – Social Inclusion and Design (7.5 ECTS)
The purpose of this course is to introduce basic concepts related to social inclusion and provide practical application of this knowledge so that students develop the ability to create products and solutions that take social inclusion into account. Topics covered include: basic concepts of social inclusion and inclusive design, the value of inclusive design, user capabilities and product interaction, main phases of inclusive concept design, inclusive design practices and tools, auditing inclusive/exclusive design examples and documentation of social inclusion in design. Reference will be made to Sustainable Development Goals that relate with social inclusion -SDG 4, 8, 9, 11 and 16- and the implications of social exclusion, as well as how issues of social inclusion, and specifically issues of gender, affect communities and the society. The main task is the project work, which is carried out in small groups and will be connected to ongoing needs and challenges linked with SDGs.
- DSI513 – Social Inclusion and Design (7.5 ECTS)
- MA in Technology-Enhanced Language Learning
- LCE512-Second Language Instructional Technology (SLIT): The aim of this module is to set students on track to becoming autonomous lifelong learners in the field of second language instructional technology (SliT). To achieve this goal, students will be provided with a broad perspective of SLIT: where it has come from, where it is now, and its likely future directions. Students will get practical experience using multimedia-editing tools (text, audio, graphics, video) in the preparation of their assignments. Using Internet search engines, they will discover what the primary professional resources of the field are and how to access them. They will explore and evaluate different types of computer-assisted language learning activity types: tutorials, tools, simulations, games, and communication. In so doing, they will get hands-on experience using applications designed to foster specific language skill areas, cultural knowledge and communicative competence. As part of the collaborative assignments upon which the course is based, students will develop their practical competence in the use of social networking sites and computer-mediated-communication applications: discussion forums, chats, wikis, and blogs. They will likewise learn to use various computer-based tools as language teaching applications. At the end of the course, through the e-portfolio that they produce, students will possess an extensive summary of what they have learned and created in the course for their future reference in the MA in CALL programme and ongoing professional l development.
- LCE516-Emerging Technologies in Language Learning (ETLL): The aim of this module is to provide students with the background knowledge of various emerging technologies (such as mobile devices, robotics, virtual and augmented reality) required to allow them to independently pursue research in the field of CALL and undertake the application of these technologies in their own language teaching. In so doing, students discover where different emerging technologies have come from, where they are now, and their likely future directions. The module presupposes a broad knowledge of Computer-Assisted Language Learning, its historical development and applications. Working together in small groups, students exploit Internet resources (search engines, websites) and communication technologies (discussion forums, chats, wikis, blogs) and proceed to more emerging technologies such as mobile devices, robotics, virtual and augmented reality focusing mainly on their affordances and constraints. Pedagogically, emerging technologies are examined relative to the skill areas that have been targeted and the underlying methodological approaches that have been followed. Using their own devices (smartphones, tablet computers, digital cameras, audio recorders), students gain first-hand experience in creating and using different emerging technologies based upon learner-centered, constructivist, pedagogical principles. At the end of the module, through the e-portfolios that they produce, students will possess an extensive summary of what they have learned and created in the module for their future reference in the MA in CALL programme and ongoing professional development.
Undergraduate courses:
- LCE 660 Greek Language and Culture I-Three-hour weekly course, 4-ECTS credit. This course is specifically designed to meet the needs of Erasmus and foreign students who will complete part of their studies at Cyprus University of Technology. The course provides the basic communicative skills to students, enabling them to respond to basic daily needs both orally and in writing. At this level, the language and content is drawn from studentsʼ experiences. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to understand and use everyday expressions that meet immediate basic needs in social and academic environment. By the end of the course, students are expected to have covered most part of the A1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
- LCE 665 Intensive Greek Language and Culture Course - The course provides the basic communicative skills to students, enabling them to respond to basic daily needs both orally and in writing. At this level, the language and content is drawn from studentsʼ experiences. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to understand and use basic everyday expressions that meet immediate basic needs in social and academic environment. An extensive cultural programme also takes place, through which students have the opportunity to experience the culture of Cyprus (eg, visits to archaeological sites, museums, etc.). The course adopts student-centered teaching methods whereas the use of new technologies (Computer Assisted Language Learning) is an integral part of the learning process so that students can fully develop language competence and other skills. By the end of the course, students are expected to have covered most part of the A1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, with greatly enhanced the cultural aspect of the programme.
- LCE668 (Greek for Academic purposes for Communication and Internet Studies (CIS): The course is designed to meet the needs of the students in the CIS deparments in terms of academic writing. In this course students will have the opportunity to develop a wide range of skills: understand demanding, texts (such as academic papers) and produce well-structured texts that meet the requirements of the specific department.
- LCE670 (Greek for Academic Purposes / Dissertation Writing I): is a four-hour per week, 6-credit elective course (ECTS). The course is designed to meet the needs of fourth-and third-year students in order to familiarize themselves with the academic writing for the completion of their dissertation. The course intends to familiarise the students with relevant reading material. This will be used to acquaint the students with genre and writing styles specific to students’ specialization. In this course students will have the opportunity to develop a wide range of skills: understand demanding, texts, recognize implicit meanings and produce clear, well structured, detailed essays on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organizational patterns and cohesive devices. In addition, students will become familiar with the stages of scientific thinking (academic essay writing, references/ citations, etc.). By the end of this course students are expected to develop sufficient range of language control and to be able to write their dissertation with a degree of clarity, fluency and spontaneity.
- LCE 672 (Greek for Academic Purposes/Marketing): three-hour weekly course, five credits, compulsory. The course is specially designed for first-year students of the Department of Public Communication. The main purpose of the course is to develop students' ability to recognize and apply the principles of academic writing when producing written and oral texts on topics in their field of study at an academic level. Therefore, the objectives of the course are (a) familiarisation with the style, language, and structure of academic writing; (b) the acquisition of writing skills both in terms of the language and style of scientific writing adopting the guidelines of a specific bibliographic reference system, (c) the recognition of good practices in the reporting of a research assignment in the field of Public Communication, as well as other types of texts relevant to the scientific field and the students' future professional careers, (d) the production of well-structured written and oral reports of a small-scale research paper, demonstrating controlled use of organisational patterns, connectives, and cohesive mechanisms, (e) the use of technology-assisted tools for reference management and plagiarism detection. The course is based on student-centered teaching methods, as well as on students' autonomous learning. The use of new technologies (Computer Assisted Language Learning) is an integral part of the learning process, so that students can fully develop language and other skills.
