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research-article

A blended learning course for playfully teaching programming concepts to school teachers

Authors:

Fotis Lazarinis,

Christoforos V. Karachristos,

Elias C. Stavropoulos,

Vassilios S. VerykiosAuthors Info & Claims

Education and Information Technologies, Volume 24, Issue 2

Pages 1237 - 1249

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-018-9823-2

Published: 01 March 2019 Publication History

Abstract

In this paper we report our experiences from a University outreach program with primary and secondary education teachers of various specialties. Our goal was to improve the coding abilities of teachers through Scratch activities. The participants can in turn teach their students, multiplying that way the benefitted population. To increase the participation and the completion percentage, the activities are designed as a course in Moodle realized in discrete runs with manageable groups, in a blended learning approach. The educational material was a combination of learning objects with specific objectives, video material and try-out activities. The course has been completed by 559 teachers from various Greek districts, mainly of regional areas, with a high completion rate of 65%. The participants found the experience highly satisfying, interesting and agreed that they had been supported effectively throughout the process. In the paper we describe the rational of our approach, the design and implementation phases of the project, the outcomes and the main findings of the evaluation of the user opinions.

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Cited By

Espinal AVieira CMagana A(2024)Professional Development in Computational Thinking: A Systematic Literature ReviewACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/364847724:2(1-24)Online publication date: 10-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3648477
Zitouniatis ALazarinis FKanellopoulos D(2023)Teaching computational thinking using scenario-based learning toolsEducation and Information Technologies10.1007/s10639-022-11366-028:4(4017-4040)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10639-022-11366-0
Sun JMa HZeng YHan DJin Y(2023)Promoting the AI teaching competency of K-12 computer science teachers: A TPACK-based professional development approachEducation and Information Technologies10.1007/s10639-022-11256-528:2(1509-1533)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10639-022-11256-5
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A blended learning course for playfully teaching programming concepts to school teachers

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Information & Contributors

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Published In

cover image Education and Information Technologies

Education and Information Technologies Volume 24, Issue 2

Mar 2019

921 pages

ISSN:1360-2357

Issue’s Table of Contents

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018.

Publisher

Kluwer Academic Publishers

United States

Publication History

Published: 01 March 2019

Accepted: 28 September 2018

Received: 19 June 2018

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Cited By

Espinal AVieira CMagana A(2024)Professional Development in Computational Thinking: A Systematic Literature ReviewACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/364847724:2(1-24)Online publication date: 10-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3648477
Zitouniatis ALazarinis FKanellopoulos D(2023)Teaching computational thinking using scenario-based learning toolsEducation and Information Technologies10.1007/s10639-022-11366-028:4(4017-4040)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10639-022-11366-0
Sun JMa HZeng YHan DJin Y(2023)Promoting the AI teaching competency of K-12 computer science teachers: A TPACK-based professional development approachEducation and Information Technologies10.1007/s10639-022-11256-528:2(1509-1533)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10639-022-11256-5
Czołombitko MGrześ TKopczyński MKużelewska ULupińska-Dubicka AMozyrska DPanasiuk J(2021)Development of Digital Competences of Elementary School Teachers with a Life-Long Learning ApproachComputer Information Systems and Industrial Management10.1007/978-3-030-84340-3_8(100-111)Online publication date: 24-Sep-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-030-84340-3_8
Monjelat NLantz-Andersson A(2019)Teachers’ narrative of learning to program in a professional development effort and the relation to the rhetoric of computational thinkingEducation and Information Technologies10.1007/s10639-019-10048-825:3(2175-2200)Online publication date: 6-Dec-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10639-019-10048-8

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