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Dr Maria Aristeidou PhD, SFHEA, MSc, BA (Hons)

Senior Lecturer in Technology Enhanced Learning

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About

I am a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Technology Enhanced Learning at The Open University (OU) and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). My work focuses on designing and evaluating engaging learning technologies and on improving the learning experiences and outcomes of diverse student bodies. I have taught across postgraduate and undergraduate programmes, authored modules, and run research methods training at the OU and across universities. I am a mixed-methods researcher. My work sits across education, human-computer interaction, and citizen science.

I am an Associate Editor for the journal 'Citizen Science: Theory and Practice'. I co-chair IET's Digital Participation, Social Justice and Equitable Learning research programme. and chairing the European Citizen Science Association's Citizen Science and Universities working group. I co-edited the special issues Citizen Science in Higher Education and Engaging Young People in Authentic Research. I previously chaired the European Citizen Science Association's Citizen Science and Universities working group (2022-2026), and I remain an active member of the association.

I am the Academic Lead for the OU's Student Surveys Review (2026), which is redesigning the university's student feedback framework. I help shape the charter, run staff consultation workshops, and contribute to student consultations and the work on representativeness.

Teaching

As the Academic Conduct Lead for the Institute of Educational Technology (IET) curriculum, I help develop and apply the academic conduct policy across the university. My role focuses on promoting integrity in teaching, learning, and assessment through policy innovation and staff development.

I have contributed to postgraduate teaching and course development at the OU. I was part of the authoring teams for the MA in Online Teaching modules:

  • H880: Technology-enhanced learning: foundations and futures
  • HZFM889: Teacher Development: Addressing the Climate Emergency

Earlier, I served on module teams for:

  • E808: Children and young people’s worlds
  • E809: Frameworks for critical practice with children and young people
  • H800: Technology-enhanced learning: practices and debates
  • H819: The critical researcher: educational technology in practice

I have also tutored on EK313: Issues in research with children and young people, supporting students in developing critical and ethical approaches to research with young participants.

In addition to curriculum development, I design and deliver workshops for the Researcher Development Programme (RDP), including:

  • Using SPSS for Quantitative Data Analysis (Beginners)
  • Analysing your own data with SPSS (Advanced)
  • Questionnaires, Surveys and Methods to Analyse Data

These sessions reach research staff and academics across the university and build their methodological and analytical skills.

I also contribute to the external validation and evaluation of new and existing university programmes by assessing their e-learning parameters, working in collaboration with the Cyprus Agency of Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Higher Education (CYQAA), the national authority responsible for ensuring continuous quality improvement and accreditation of higher education in Cyprus, in line with European Standards.

Doctoral support

I currently supervise Ben Trupia-Melluish (1st-year EdD student) and Helen Darlaston (final-year EdD student), and I supervised Dr Sarah Alcock to completion. I was the external examiner for Dr Robert Sims' PhD thesis, Breaking Virtual Barriers: Investigating Virtual Reality for Enhanced Educational Engagement (University of Lancaster).

I co-authored the OpenLearn guide Writing your Research Proposal, a resource designed for prospective PhD and EdD students. From 2020 to 2023, I tutored the Professional Doctorate seminars Connecting Research and Practice (Year 3) and Getting Ready for Your Viva (Year 4).

Scholarship work

As a member of the Quality Enhancement and Innovation (QEI) team in IET, I work on pan-university and cross-faculty scholarship that helps the OU support students' learning experiences and outcomes.

I lead an inquiry into how the OU can deliver adaptive learning and reach equitable outcomes for all students. The work has two strands. The first is a desk review of adaptive learning at other higher education institutions, with a focus on distance learning universities. The second sets a baseline of current OU practice, working with staff across faculties, learning development services and disability support. The work connects existing OU tools — the Student Profile Tool, the Student-Facing Dashboard, and generative AI tools (AIDA for students, Scribe for staff) — to support adaptive and equitable distance learning while protecting academic freedom, equal access, collaborative learning and critical thinking. The desk review produced a meta-synthesis report, Understanding Adaptive Learning: Evidence from a Meta-Synthesis (2026). 

I also led a tutor consultation, commissioned by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Students, on how to support students' early learning journey, with a focus on students who struggle. And I led an exploration of how generative AI feedback might help students identified as at risk.

Earlier work covered students' views on online exams and different assessment formats; the motivations and experiences of younger undergraduates aged 18–19; the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on OU students' learning; the Virtual Microscope tool for students and tutors; and the benefits and challenges of producing OU postgraduate courses (H880, BXM840, BXM850, D890) on the FutureLearn platform.

Internally funded work

I currently lead Belong (Belonging through community heritage), an Open Societal Challenges project funded by the OU (2026–2027). Belong engages adults who are often left out of museums and research, inviting them to curate heritage with nQuire and help co-design the tools they use. The project runs across England and Wales, with Milton Keynes Museum, MK Living Archives, National Museum Wales, and OU Wales.

Before Belong, I led the impact evaluation for Pelagios local (2025-2026). This project helped the Campsbourne Estate community curate their own cultural heritage with digital mapping tools. We studied how digital tools build skills, social cohesion and agency in underrepresented communities. Pelagios local followed Pelagios: Linking online resources through the places they mention (2023-2024), an Open Societal Challenges project I co-investigated. That project gave a visual and spatial dimension to historical and cultural information. Both Pelagios projects are now complete.

I have also held internal funding as principal investigator for: OU students' views on the delivery, invigilation and quality assurance of online exams, with the OU's Assessment Programme (pan-university scholarship funding); the impact of Covid-19 on the research progress and wellbeing of PhD students worldwide, with the UCL School of Management (coronavirus research fund); and the impact of Covid-19 on the learning, assessment and social activities of OU undergraduates (coronavirus research fund).

Externally funded work

My externally funded work explores how digital technologies and open educational practices support learning and participation.

I currently lead the evaluation of the National Enrichment Programme, a pan-Wales initiative that employs open educational resources to enrich the studies of further education learners and help them develop transferable skills valued by employers and higher education providers. 

Alongside this national work, I have contributed to international research collaborations. I was the UK principal investigator for the Erasmus+ VISITOR project (2021-2023), which developed virtual museum visit tools for schools and professional development resources for teachers. I was also part of the Horizon Europe project Every1(2022-2026), which promotes widespread engagement in the energy transition across Europe.

My long-term commitment to advancing citizen science is reflected in several targeted research initiatives. I contributed to the LEARN CitSci project (2017–2022), funded by the National Science Foundation, Wellcome, and the ESRC. This international collaborative research aimed to enhance the design of online citizen science platforms such as Zooniverse and iNaturalist, with a focus on young volunteers' learning and motivation. I also led the Santander-funded CitSci Edu initiative (completed in 2021), on educators' experiences of engaging young people in citizen science learning. A COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) funding award in 2019 the CitSci Diaries project with the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education, where we developed a method for diary studies that capture citizen engagement.

Additionally, I played a key role in developing nQuire, a platform co-created with the BBC to support large-scale social and psychological research with public participation. This platform has been instrumental in enabling citizen science practitioners and researchers to engage diverse publics in research activities.

Qualifications:

  • Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).
  • Qualified Teacher (QTS) – National College for Teaching & Leadership
  • PhD in Educational Technology - Institute of Educational Technology (IET), The Open University, UK.
  • MSc in Technology Education & Digital Systems (track: e-Learning) - Department of Digital Systems, University of Piraeus, Greece.
  • BA (Hons) in Education Studies and Primary Education - Primary Education Department, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.

 

Biography

Dr Maria Aristeidou is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at The Open University (OU), UK, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). She is currently working with the Quality Enhancement and Innovation (QEI) group at the Institute of Educational Technology, and her interests lie in the boundary between education, human-computer interaction and citizen science. She has contributed to the MA in Online Teaching, the BA/MA in Childhood and Youth, and the evaluation of the OU FutureLearn courses. Her research focuses on designing and evaluating engaging learning technologies and the higher education experience. She is currently leading the National Enrichment Programme evaluation and contributing to the Horizon Europe Every1 project. She was the UK principal investigator for the Erasmus+ VISITOR project, which developed virtual visits to school museums. In the past, she received a scholarship award from Santander to explore the experience of educators who involved their classrooms in citizen science activities (CitSci Edu). She was also involved in the LEARN CitSci project (funded by the National Science Foundation, Wellcome Trust, and ESRC), researching young people’s participation and learning in online citizen science. Further to her research projects, Maria has scholarship funding to develop projects around the 'changing learner' portfolio to help the university take useful actions to support students' learning experiences and outcomes better. Maria is an active member of the Citizen Science Association, and the European Association of Technology-Enhanced Learning. She is an Associate Editor for the Citizen Science: Theory and Practice journal and chairing the European Citizen Science Association's 'Citizen Science and Universities' working group.


Publications

2025

Chandler, Kathy; Aristeidou, Maria; Ball, Simon; Charitonos, Koula; Kent, Carmel; Perryman, Leigh‐Anne and Rets, Irina. (). Collaboration and care in climate education: Brave responses to an uncertain future. The Curriculum Journal, 36 (2) pp. 294-308.
Herodotou, Christothea; Aristeidou, Maria; Scanlon, Eileen and Kelley, Simon. (). Virtual Microscopes and online learning: Exploring the perceptions of 12 teachers about pedagogy. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-learning, 40 pp. 4-28.
Middle, Sarah; Aristeidou, Maria; Barker, Elton; Pett, Daniel and Alcock, Sarah. (). Discovering Object Stories: Linking Unstructured Museum Data Through Semantic Annotation. Journal of Open Humanities Data, 11 pp. 1-13.
Lorke, Julia; Ramjan, Claire; Hetland, Laure; Aristeidou, Maria and Del Bianco, Veronica. (). [Editorial] Engaging young people in authentic research - Citizen & Community Science and its potential for primary, secondary and informal science education. International Journal of Science Education, Part B: Communication and Public Engagement, 15 (3) pp. 353-359.
Aristeidou, Maria; Cross, Simon; Rossade, Klaus-Dieter; Wood, Carlton; Rees, Terri and Paci, Patrizia. (). What Makes an Online Exam an Exam? Student Perspectives on Assessment Practices at a Major Online University in the Pre-Gen AI era. Electronic Journal of E-Learning, 23 (4) pp. 142-154.
(). Engaging young people in authentic research - Citizen & Community Science and its potential for primary, secondary and informal science education. .

2024

Aristeidou, Maria; Tessarolo, Felipe and Coughlan, Tim (). Student use of ChatGPT to prepare for assessments. PVC-S Challenge Study 4 Report. Institute of Educational Technology (IET), The Open University.
Aristeidou, M.; Middle, S.; Alcock, S.; Barker, E. and Pett, D.. (). Evaluating the usability and perceived usefulness of a semantic annotation tool for heritage knowledge exchange and citizen engagement. In: 17th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation, 11-13 Nov 2024, Seville, Spain.
Aristeidou, Maria; Paci, Patrizia; Harvey, Gareth; Davies, Lisa and Jones, Darren. (). Leveraging open educational resources for a more equitable learning landscape: student experiences with the national enrichment programme enhanced in Wales. In: ICERI2024 Proceedings, IATED, 465-474.
Vohland, Katrin; Dörler, Daniel; Heigl, Florian; Aristeidou, Maria; Butkevičienė, Eglė; Göbel, Claudia; Haklay, Muki; Höhener, Olivia; Kieslinger, Barbara; Klimczuk, Andrzej; Kragh, Gitte; Müller, Moritz; Ostermann, Frank; Piera, Jaume; Prūse, Baiba; Remmers, Gaston; Schade, Sven; Tönsmann, Susanne; Trojan, Jakub and Willis, Kathryn (). Change – The transformative power of citizen science: Proceedings of the ECSA2024 and Austrian Citizen Science Conference 2024: Change. Pensoft.
Kouvara, Theodora; Aristeidou, Maria; Herodotou, Christothea and Verykios, Vassilios (). Enhancing academic success: collaborative development of an adaptive intelligent tutoring system. In: Ubachs, George and Meuleman, Stefan eds. The Envisioning Report for Empowering Universities European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU), pp. 10-13.
Aristeidou, Maria and Tessarolo, Felipe (). Tutor Consultation: Exploring ways to improve engagement and retention during the early stages of students' learning journeys. Quality Enhancement and Innovation, The Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
Aristeidou, Maria; Cross, Simon; Rossade, Klaus-Dieter; Wood, Carlton; Rees, Terri and Paci, Patrizia. (). Online exams in higher education: Exploring distance learning students' acceptance and satisfaction. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 40 (1) pp. 342-359.
Herodotou, Christothea; Ismail, Nashwa; Lahnstein, A.I. Ana; Aristeidou, Maria; Young, Alison; Johnson, F. Rebecca; Higgins, M. Lila; Khanaposhtani, G. Maryam; Robinson, D. Lucy and Ballard, L. Heidi. (). Young people in iNaturalist: a blended learning framework for biodiversity monitoring. International Journal of Science Education, Part B: Communication and Public Engagement, 14 (2) pp. 129-156.
Alcock, Sarah; Rienties, Bart; Aristeidou, Maria and Kouadri Mostéfaoui, Soraya. (). How do visualizations and automated personalized feedback engage professional learners in a Learning Analytics Dashboard?. In: LAK '24: The 14th Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference, 18-22 Mar 2024, Kyoto, Japan.
Aristeidou, Maria; Herodotou, Christothea; Ballard, Heidi; Robinson, Lucy and Miller, Grant. (). Young volunteers on Zooniverse: exploring the relationship between participation and background characteristic. In: ECSA2024 and Austrian Citizen Science Conference 2024: Change, 04-06 Apr 2024, Vienna, Austria.

2023

Herodotou, Christothea; Aristeidou, Maria; Gaved, Mark; Cross, Simon; Tessarolo, Felipe and Brasher, Andrew (). PVC-S Challenge Response. Summary report. QEI. The Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University.
Aristeidou, Maria and Aristidou, Angela. (). Research disruption during PhD studies and its impact on mental health: Implications for research and university policy. PLoS ONE.
Aristeidou, Maria; Lorke, Julia and Ismail, Nashwa. (). Citizen Science: Schoolteachers’ Motivation, Experiences, and Recommendations. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 21 pp. 2067-2093.
Aristeidou, Maria; Cross, Simon; Rossade, Klaus-Dieter and Wood, Carlton. (). Students’ experiences of remote online exams at a distance learning university. In: EARLI 2023: The 20th Biennial EARLI Conference for Research on Learning and Instruction, 22-26 Aug 2023, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Aristeidou, Maria; Cross, Simon; Rossade, Klaus-Dieter; Wood, Carlton and Paci, Patrizia. (). Examining university student satisfaction and barriers to taking online remote exams. In: 9th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd’23), UPV Press, València, Spain, 1-8.
Aristeidou, Maria; Cross, Simon; Rossade, Klaus-Dieter and Wood, Carlton. (). Online remote exams in higher education: distance learning students' views. In: INTED 2023 Proceedings, 6-8 Mar 2023, Valencia, Spain.
Aristeidou, Maria; Orphanoudakis, Theofanis; Kouvara, Theodora; Karachristos, Christoforos and Spyropoulou, Natalia. (). Evaluating the usability and learning potential of a virtual museum tour application for schools. In: INTED 2023 Proceedings, 6-8 Mar 2023, Valencia, Spain.
Alcock, Sarah; Aristeidou, Maria; Rienties, Bart and Kouadri Mostéfaoui, Soraya. (). How do professional learners engage with learning analytics dashboards?. In: 13th Learning Analytics Knowledge Conference (LAK23), 13-17 Mar 2023, Hybrid, Arlington, Texas, United States.
Cross, Simon; Aristeidou, Maria; Rossade, Klaus-Dieter; Wood, Carlton and Brasher, Andrew. (). The impact of online exams on the quality of distance learners' exam and exam revision experience: Perspectives from The Open University UK. Online Learning, 27 (2) pp. 27-45.

2022

Herodotou, Christothea; Ismail, Nashwa; Aristeidou, Maria; Miller, Grant; I.Benavides Lahnstein, Ana; Ghadiri Khanaposhtani, Maryam; D.Robinson, Lucy and L. Ballard, Heidi. (). Online Community and Citizen Science supports environmental science learning by young people. Computers and Education.
Tessarolo, Felipe; Aristeidou, Maria and Coughlan, Emily. (). From face-to-face environments to distance learning universities: the transition period of first-year students. In: 8th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd’22), 14-17 Jun 2022, Valencia.
Aristeidou, Maria. (). Teachers’ initial views on Citizen Science in the classroom. In: C*Sci 22, 23-26 May 2022, Online.
Aristeidou, Maria; Kouvara, Theodora; Karachristos, Christoforos; Spyropoulou, Natalia; Benavides-Lahnstein, Ana; Vulicevic, Bojana; Lacapelle, Alexis; Orphanoudakis, Theofanis and Batsi, Zoe. (). Virtual Museum Tours for Schools: Teachers’ Experiences and Expectations. In: 2022 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), 28-21 Mar 2022, Tunis, Tunisia.
Benavides Lahnstein, A.; Ballard, H.; Ghadiri Khanaposhtani, M.; Lorke, J.; Herodotou, Christothea; Miller, A.; Pratt-Taweh, S.; Jennewein, J.; Aristeidou, Maria and Ismail, Nashwa. (). Youth environmental science learning and agency: A unifying lens across community and citizen science settings. In: NARST International Conference, 27-30 Mar 2022, Vancouver, BC (online).
Fominykh, Mikhail and Aristeidou, Maria (). Proceedings of the Doctoral Consortium of Sixteenth European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning co-located with the Sixteenth European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning (EC-TEL 2021). CEUR Workshop Proceedings.
Cross, Simon; Aristeidou, Maria; Rossade, Klaus-Dieter; Wood, Carlton and Brasher, Andrew. (). The impact of online exams on the quality of distance learners' exam and exam revision experience? perspectives from The Open University UK. In: Innovating Higher Education Conference 2022, 19-21 Oct 2022, Athens, Greece.

2021

Hitchcock, Colleen; Vance-Chalcraft, Heather and Aristeidou, Maria (). Citizen Science in Higher Education. .
Aristeidou, Maria. (). First-Year University Students in Distance Learning: Motivations and Early Experiences. In: Technology-Enhanced Learning for a Free, Safe, and Sustainable World: 16th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, EC-TEL 2021 Bolzano, Italy, September 20–24, 2021 Proceedings, Springer, Cham, 110-121.
Aristeidou, Maria and Cross, Simon. (). Disrupted distance learning: the impact of Covid-19 on study habits of distance learning university students. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-learning, 36 (3) pp. 263-282.
Aristeidou, Maria; Sharples, Mike and Scanlon, Eileen (). Technologies for citizen inquiry: participatory research in online communities. In: Burns, Danny; Howard, Joanna and Ospina, Sonia M. eds. The SAGE Handbook of Participatory Research and Inquiry London: SAGE Publications, pp. 496-512.
Robinson, L.D.; Miller, A.E.; Burton, V.J.; Herodotou, Christothea; Higgins, L.; Miller, G.R.M.; Young, A.N.; Ghadiri Khanaposhtani, M.; Benavides Lahnstein,, A.I.; Sanghera, H.K.; Johnson, R.F.; Aristeidou, Maria; Ballard, H.L.; Jennewein, J.; Lorke, J.; Pratt-Taweh, S.; Wardlaw, J.; Ismail, Nashwa; Pauly, G.B.; Papathoma, Tina and Swanson, R.D. (). Enhancing youth learning through Community and Citizen Science: a guide for practitioners. Natural History Museum, London.
Aristeidou, Maria and Cross, Simon. (). The impact of the Covid-19 disruption on distance learning higher education students and activities. In: Seventh International Conference on Higher Education Advances proceedings (HEAd'21), UPV Press, València, Spain, 695-702.
Aristeidou, Maria; Herodotou, Christothea; Ballard, Heidi L.; Higgins, Lila; Johnson, Rebecca F.; Miller, Annie E.; Young, Alison N. and Robinson, Lucy D.. (). How Do Young Community and Citizen Science Volunteers Support Scientific Research on Biodiversity? The Case of iNaturalist. Diversity.
Aristeidou, Maria. (). Transition and support experiences of first-year STEM students in distance learning universities. In: Horizons in STEM Higher Education Conference: Making Connections and Sharing Pedagogy, 29-30 Jun 2021, Virtual.
Aristeidou, Maria and Ismail, Nashwa. (). Experiences of teachers who have engaged their classrooms in citizen science activities. In: Citizen Science Association Conference, May 2021, Virtual.
Herodotou, Christothea; Ismail, Nashwa; Aristeidou, Maria; Miller, Grant; Robinson, Lucy and Ballard, Heidi. (). Making citizen science accessible and productive for young volunteers: Lessons learnt from a 3-year study of Zooniverse.. In: Citizen Science Association Conference, May 2021, Virtual.
Aristeidou, Maria; Herodotou, Christothea; Ballard, Heidi L.; Young, Alison N.; Miller, Annie E.; Higgins, Lila and Johnson, Rebecca F.. (). Exploring the participation of young citizen scientists in scientific research: The case of iNaturalist. PLoS ONE.
Aristeidou, Maria and Cross, Simon (). The impact of Covid-19 disruption on the learning activities of OU students (Final Report). The Open University.
Aristeidou, Maria; Cross, Simon and Rossade, Klaus-Dieter (). Online remote exams: Open University students’ views around the nuances and variants of online exams. The Open University.
Aristeidou, Maria; Ferguson, Rebecca; Perryman, Leigh-Anne and Tegama, Natalie. (). The Roles and Value of Citizen Science: Perceptions of Professional Educators Enrolled on a Postgraduate Course. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice.
Hitchcock, Colleen; Vance-Chalcraft, Heather and Aristeidou, Maria. (). Citizen Science in Higher Education. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice.

2020

Bruckermann, T; Lorke, J; Rafolt, S; Scheuch, M; Aristeidou, Maria; Ballard, H; Bardy-Durchhalter, M; Carli, E; Herodotou, Christothea; Kelemen-Finan, J; Robinson, L; Swanson, R; Winter, S and Kapelari, S. (). Learning Opportunities and Outcomes in Citizen Science: A Heuristic Model for Design and Evaluation. In: Electronic Proceedings of the ESERA 2019 Conference. The Beauty and Pleasure of Understanding: Engaging With Contemporary Challenges Through Science Education, University of Bologna, 889-898.
Pratt-Taweh, S.; Jennewein, J.N.; Miller, A.E.; Robinson, L.D.; Burton, V; Ballard, H.L.; Ghadiri Khanaposhtani, M.; Lorke, J.; Wardlaw, J; Higgins, L.M.; Young, A.N.; Johnson, R.F.; Herodotou, Christothea; Aristeidou, Maria; Miller, G.; Sanghera, H.; Benavides-Lahnstein, A.I. and Ismail, N.. (). Perspectives on a researcher-practitioner partnership: Our role as practitioner researchers studying youth learning through participation in NHM-led citizen science. In: European Citizen Science Association, 9-11 Sep 2020, Trieste, Italy.
Herodotou, Christothea; Papathoma, Tina; Aristeidou, Maria; Miller, Grant; Ghadiri, Maryam; Lorke, Julia and Ballard, Heidi. (). What do young volunteers learn from participation in online crowdsourced citizen science? Environmental science learning through Zooniverse. In: ECSA conference 2020, 7-10 Sep 2020, Trieste, Italy.
Herodotou, Christothea; Aristeidou, Maria; Miller, Grant; Ballard, Heidi and Robinson, Lucy. (). What Do We Know about Young Volunteers? An Exploratory Study of Participation in Zooniverse. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 5 (1) pp. 1-14.
Herodotou, Christothea; Muirhead, Dave K.; Aristeidou, Maria; Hole, Malcolm J.; Kelley, Simon; Scanlon, Eileen and Duffy, Marcus. (). Blended and online learning: A comparative study of virtual microscopy in Higher Education. Interactive Learning Environments, 28 (6) pp. 713-728.
Aristeidou, Maria and Herodotou, Christothea. (). Online Citizen Science: A Systematic Review of Effects on Learning and Scientific Literacy. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 5 (1) pp. 1-12.
Aristeidou, Maria; Scanlon, Eileen and Sharples, Mike. (). Learning outcomes in online citizen science communities designed for inquiry. International Journal of Science Education, Part B: Communication and Public Engagement, 10 (4) pp. 277-294.
Wardlaw, J.; Ballard, H.; Robinson, L.; Johnson, R.; Young, A.; Higgins, L.; Herodotou, Christothea; Lorke, J.; Ghadiri Khanaposhtani, M.; Miller, G.; Pratt-Taweh, S.; Jennewein, J.; Aristeidou, Maria; Burton, V; Papathoma, T. and Miller, G.. (). Partnering science education research and citizen science practice: lessons from using a design-based research approach in the informal learning setting of natural history museums. In: ECSA conference 2020, 7-10 Sep 2020, Trieste, Italy.

2019

Sharples, Mike; Aristeidou, Maria; Herodotou, Christothea; McLeod, Kevin and Scanlon, Eileen. (). Inquiry learning at scale: pedagogy-informed design of a platform for citizen inquiry. In: L@S 2019: Sixth ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale, 24-25 Jun 2019, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Ballard, Heidi; Herodotou, Christothea; Lorke, Julia; Aristeidou, Maria; Robinson, Lucy; Johnson, Rebecca; Young, Alison; Higgins, Lila; Jennewein, Jessie; Miller, Annie; Pratt-Taweh, Sasha; Sanghera, Harpreet; Miller, Grant and Pauly, Greg. (). Characterizing Youth Participation in Natural History Museum-led Citizen Science: Online and in the Field. In: Citizen Science Association, 13-17 Mar 2019, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Lorke, Julia; Ballard, Heidi L.; Aristeidou, Maria; Herodotou, Christothea; Ghadiri, Maryam; Swanson, Rebecca D. and Robinson, Lucy D.. (). “Don’t step on the volcanoes!” – Developing Environmental Science Agency through participation in Museum-Led Citizen Science Projects. In: The beauty and pleasure of understanding: engaging with contemporary challenges through science education (Proceeding of ESERA 2019), 26-30 Aug 2019, Bologna, Italy.

2018

Aristeidou, Maria and Herodotou, Christothea. (). Tomorrow’s World nQuire: young people’s requirements for engaging with inquiry-led, civic engagement technologies. In: Proceedings of 17th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning (mLearn 2018), LearnTechLib, 51-53.
Herodotou, Christothea; Aristeidou, Maria; Sharples, Mike and Scanlon, Eileen. (). Designing citizen science tools for learning: lessons learnt from the iterative development of nQuire. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning.
Herodotou, Christothea; Aristeidou, M.; Scanlon, E. and Kelley, S.. (). Best Practice in Teaching with the Virtual Microscope: A Comparative Study of Blended and Online Learning. In: 7th eSTEeM Annual Conference, 25-26 Apr 2018, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.

2017

Aristeidou, Maria; Scanlon, Eileen and Sharples, Mike. (). Design Guidelines for Sensor-based Mobile Learning Applications. In: mLearn 2017 Proceedings of the 16th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning, ACM, New York, NY, USA.
Aristeidou, Maria; Scanlon, Eileen and Sharples, Mike (). Design processes of a citizen inquiry community. In: Herodotou, Christothea; Sharples, Mike and Scanlon, Eileen eds. Citizen Inquiry: Synthesising Science and Inquiry Learning Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 210-229.
Aristeidou, Maria; Scanlon, Eileen and Sharples, Mike. (). Profiles of engagement in online communities of citizen science participation. Computers in Human Behavior, 74 pp. 246-256.
Sharples, Mike; Aristeidou, Maria; Villasclaras-Fernández, Eloy; Herodotou, Christothea and Scanlon, Eileen. (). The Sense-it App: A Smartphone Toolkit for Citizen Inquiry Learning. International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning, 9 (2) pp. 16-38.
Herodotou, Christothea; Aristeidou, Maria; Kelley, Simon and Scanlon, Eileen. (). Students' engagement with practical science online: Pedagogical implications of the use of virtual microscope in distance learning. In: EARLI 2017, 29 Aug - 2 Sep 2017.
Muirhead, David K.; Herodotou, Christothea; Aristeidou, Maria; Hole, M. J.; Kelley, Simon; Scanlon, Eileen and Duffy, M.. (). A Comparative Study of Blended and Online Learning using the Virtual Microscope for Earth Sciences. In: Horizons in STEM Higher Education Conference: Making Connections and Sharing Pedagogy, 29-30 Jun 2017, Heriot-Watt University, UK.
Aristeidou, Maria; Scanlon, Eileen and Sharples, Mike. (). Science learning in online communities of scientific investigations: evidence and suggestions. In: American Educational Research Association Annual Conference 2017, 27 Apr - 01 May 2017, San Antonio, Texas, USA.
Aristeidou, Maria. (). Science Learning Experiences in Citizen Inquiry Communities. In: CALRG Annual Conference 2017, 14-16 Jun 2017, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.

2016

Aristeidou, Maria (). Citizen Inquiry: Engaging Citizens in Online Communities of Scientific Inquiries. PhD thesis The Open University.
Aristeidou, Maria; Scanlon, Eileen and Sharples, Mike. (). Engaging citizens in online communities of scientific investigations. In: Citizen Science Innovation in Open Science, Society and Policy, First ECSA Conference 2016, 19-21 May 2016, Berlin, Germany.

2015

Aristeidou, Maria; Scanlon, Eileen and Sharples, Mike. (). Weather-it: evolution of an online community for citizen inquiry. In: Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Knowledge Technologies and Data-driven Business, i-Know 2015, ACM.
Sharples, Mike; Aristeidou, Maria; Villasclaras-Fernández, Eloy; Herodotou, Christothea and Scanlon, Eileen. (). Sense-it: A Smartphone Toolkit for Citizen Inquiry Learning. In: The Mobile Learning Voyage – From Small Ripples to Massive Open Waters, 366-377.
Aristeidou, Maria; Scanlon, Eileen and Sharples, Mike (). Weather-it missions: a social network analysis perspective of an online citizen inquiry community. In: Conole, G.; Klobučar, T.; Rensing, C.; Konert, J. and Lavoué, E. eds. Design for Teaching and Learning in a Networked World, Proceedings of 10th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, EC-TEL 2015, Toledo, Spain, September 15-18 Springer, pp. 3-16.

2014

Aristeidou, Maria; Scanlon, Eileen and Sharples, Mike. (). Inquiring Rock Hunters. In: Open Learning and Teaching in Educational Communities, Springer International Publishing, 546-547.

2013

Aristeidou, Maria; Scanlon, Eileen and Sharples, Mike. (). A design-based study of Citizen Inquiry for geology. In: EC-TEL 2013 Eighth European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, 17-21 Sep 2013, Paphos (Cyprus).

Media appearances

Rethinking assessment

Contribution with findings from OU students' experience with online exams

JISC | 20th May 2021

Children and teenagers can carry out valuable wildlife research – here’s how

The article focuses on findings from the LEARN CitSci project, which looked at how young people participate and learn in citizen science projects and from the CitSci Edu project, which explored the experiences of schoolteachers who engaged young people in citizen science

The Conversation | 6th March 2023

Exploring participation of young citizen scientists

OU Life | 28th January 2021

Men ‘worse at coping with disruption to research’ during pandemic

Covid-19 research in collaboration with UCL, highlighting the importance of funding extension and coping mechanisms in lowering the depression levels of PhD students

Times Higher Education | 10th December 2020

PhD students’ mental health is poor and the pandemic made it worse – but there are coping strategies that can help

Covid-19 research in collaboration with UCL, highlighting the importance of funding extension and coping mechanisms in lowering the depression levels of PhD students

The Conversation | 9th January 2024

Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on PhD students

Project funded by the Open University (OU) COVID-19 Rapid Response funding scheme is supporting research which considers the impact of COVID-19 on the wellbeing and progress of PhD students.

Open University Research | 1st October 2020

Awards

Coronavirus research fund:

I received £6400 from PVC-RES and £3000 from IET and the UCL School of management to study the impact of Covid-19 on the research progress and well-being on PhD students worldwide.

Coronavirus research fund:

I received £7700 from PVC-RES to study the impact of Covid-19 on the studies of OU students.

Early Career Research Travel Award

I received 1000€ from the European Science Education Research Association (ESERA) for a research visit at the Department of Education in University of Haifa, Israel.

Pan-university scholarship funding

I received £8,125.50 for the project 'Online exams: a cross-faculty approach' in collaboration with the Assessment Programme and the four faculties

Santander Research & Scholarship Award:

I received £5000 to study the experiences of educators who have engaged young people in citizen science activities.

Short Term Scientific Mission (STSM) grant:

I received 2500€ for travel expenses to visit/collaborate with IPN in Kiel (Germany) to study citizen diaries as a method to capture citizens' engagement in science projects.

Projects

Research programmes

Expertise

Affiliations

Professional memberships

  • Association of Learning Technologists
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy