About

I am a senior lecturer in software engineering. I enjoy coding a lot and I am passionate about good coding practices such as clarity, brevity, efficiency and maintainability. I like casual coding for fun as it provides a creative and exploratory space where I can enjoy the process without external pressures. I also enjoy professional coding under pressure in the context of structured environments and business-critical projects. I think that both contexts offer valuable experiences and opportunities for growth in different ways.

I hold degrees in Economics, Business Administration, Computer Science and Education. I am a member of the British Computing Society, Higher Education Academy, Association of Enterprise Architects and the Economic Chamber of Greece. I am a certified TOGAF Enterprise Architect (Open Group) and IT project manager (BCS). In 2015 I was awarded the best doctoral research award by INSTICC (Institute of Information, Control and Communication Systems and Technologies).

My teaching covers a multitude of programming languages, database technologies and Internet technologies both at graduate and postgraduate level. I have worked with a wide range of academics to design, develop and update courses for HE.

My research centres on computer-supported education with particular focus on artificial intelligence. I use machine learning techniques to provide direct, relevant and personalised support to students and educators.

I have substantial experience in designing and implementing information systems for educational applications as well as industry. I also design and implement technologies that provide opportunities for semantic enhancement, integration and interoperability of heterogeneous components with learning platforms.

Teaching responsibilities

• Programming in C
• Computer Systems, Data Structures and Data Management in C
• Independent Studies

Research interests

In general, my interests revolve around the following areas:

Computer programming teaching and learning, intelligent tutoring systems, exploratory learning environments, authoring tools for highly interactive learning materials, automated support for learning environments, authorable learning analytics, integration and interoperability of learning components with learning platforms.

The orientation of my research and the resulting technologies is to create generic solutions like frameworks, techniques and tools that are domain and technology-independent so that they can be applicable to different domains of knowledge and implementable on any platform. Another objective is to lower the cognitive load of prospective users in order to make these technologies accessible to a wider audience. 

Membership of professional bodies

Memberships

• Association of Enterprise Architects (AEA), UK
• British Computing Society (BCS) - AMBCS, UK 
• Economic Chamber, GR

Professional Accreditations 

• The Open Group – TOGAF 9 Certificate (all levels),  115754 – UK
• British Computing Society, The Chartered Institute for IT – Foundation Certificate in Agile, 00326058 – UK
• Higher Education Academy (HEA) – Associate Fellow, PR062816 – UK
• National College for Teaching & Leadership – Qualified Teacher Status (all levels), 1659986 – UK

Collaborations

• Reviewer (Journal) - British Journal of Educational Technology
• Reviewer (Journal) - Systems, Adaptive Educational Technology Systems
• Reviewer (Journal) - Computers & Education
• Reviewer (Conference) - EC-TEL (European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning)
• Reviewer (Conference) - EDM (Educational Data Mining)
• Reviewer (Conference) - FLAIRS (Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society)
• Reviewer (Conference) - AIED (Artificial Intelligence in Education)

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Computer Science, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
• M.Sc. in Computing Science, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
• Master in Business Administration, Staffordshire University, Staffordshire, UK
• B.Sc. (Hons) in Education, Department of Primary School Education, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece
• B.Sc. (Hons) in Economics, Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece
• Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Supporting Learning in Higher Education, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK

International experience

• (2022 - to date) Researcher: As a visiting researcher at the UCL Knowledge Lab, UCL, University of London, I am currently contributing to the co-design and implementation of educational innovations with emerging technologies such as AI, VR, AR and 3D printing in the context of the EU funded project - 'TransEET'
• (2022 - to date) Researcher, Research software engineer: As a visiting researcher at the UCL Knowledge Lab, UCL, University of London, I am currently contributing to the architectural design and development of a digital learning ecosystem of heterogeneous and diverse learning environments as well authorable and intelligent data analytics components in the context of the EU funded project - 'Extendt2'
• (2014 - 2016) Researcher, Research software engineer: As a member of staff at the UCL Knowledge Lab, UCL, University of London, I developed an authorable and intelligent data analytics engine and a tool for authoring intelligent support in exploratory learning environments in the context of the EU funded project - 'MC2'
• (2014) Research software engineer: As a member of staff at the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, Birkbeck, University of London, I contributed to the architectural design and the development of various software components in the context of the EU-funded project - 'iTalk2Learn'
• (2009 - 2010) Research software engineer: As a member of the Laboratory of Spatial Analysis, GIS and Thematic Mapping of the University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece, I contributed to the development of a web-based GIS platform in the context of the EU & GR funded project - 'Integrated Geographical Information System for Environmental Management for the Prefecture of Thesprotia'
• (2008) Research software engineer: As a member of the South and East European Development Center at the Department of Planning and Regional Development of the University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece, I developed a web-based platform for the Intervention Matrix System in the context of the EU funded project 'Frontiers'
• (2001 - 2004) Chief Information Officer (CIO): As the CIO for the multinational group of industrial companies LIFE, I was responsible for the design, development and deployment of the IT infrastructure for the entire group, including eight factories in the Balkans. This involved the integration of physically remote computer systems and centralised IT administration as well as the deployment of an integrated Enterprise Resource Planning System for the entire group. Other projects involve virtual integration of services and information under a common web-based interface, integration of heterogeneous databases, design and implementation of data warehouses and deployment of computerised logistics systems

Recent publications

• Karkalas, S., Chalvatza, F., & Mavrikis, M. (2023). Online Polyglot Programming Education with LFT (Lingua Franca Transformer)
• Chalvatza, F., Karkalas, S., & Mavrikis, M. (2019). Communicating learning analytics: Stakeholder participation and early stage requirement analysis. In CSEDU 2019-proceedings of the 11th international conference on computer supported education (Vol. 2, pp. 339-346). SCITEPRESS–Science and Technology Publications
• Mavrikis, M., Karkalas, S., Cukurova, M., & Papapesiou, E. (2019). Participatory design to lower the threshold for intelligent support authoring. In Artificial Intelligence in Education: 20th International Conference, AIED 2019, Chicago, IL, USA, June 25-29, 2019, Proceedings, Part II 20 (pp. 185-189). Springer International Publishing
• Mavrikis, M., & Karkalas, S. (2017). Reflective analytics for interactive e-books. IxD&A, 33, 33-53
• Karkalas, S., Mavrikis, M., Xenos, M., & Kynigos, C. (2017). Feedback Authoring for Exploratory Activities: the case of a Logo-based 3D Microworld. In Computers Supported Education: 8th International Conference, CSEDU 2016, Rome, Italy, April 21-23, 2016, Revised Selected Papers 8 (pp. 259-278). Springer International Publishing
• Karkalas, S., Mavrikis, M., & Labs, O. (2016, April). Towards analytics for educational interactive e-books: the case of the reflective designer analytics platform (RDAP). In Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge (pp. 143-147)
• Gutierrez-Santos, S., Capuzzi, S., Kahn, K., Karkalas, S., & Poulovassilis, A. (2016, April). Scalable monitoring of student interaction indicators in exploratory learning environments. In Proceedings of the 25th International Conference Companion on World Wide Web (pp. 917-922)
• Karkalas, S., & Mavrikis, M. (2016). Feedback authoring for exploratory learning objects: AuthELO. In CSEDU 2016-Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (Vol. 1, pp. 144-153). Science and Technology Publications, Lda
• Karkalas, S., Mavrikis, M., & Charlton, P. (2015, November). The Web Integration & Interoperability Layer (WIIL). In Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management (pp. 139-146)
• Charlton, P., Karkalas, S., & Mavrikis, M. (2015, November). Designing a mediation vocabulary for authoring learning analytics. In Proceedings of the 7th International Joint Conference on Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management (Vol. 2, pp. 223-230). SciTePress
• Karkalas, S., & Gutierrez-Santos, S. (2015, May). Intelligent and Adaptive Student Support in FLIP-Early Computer Programming. In Doctoral Consortium on Computer Supported Education (Vol. 2). SCITEPRESS
• Karkalas, S., Bokhove, C., Charlton, P., & Mavrikis, M. (2015). Towards configurable learning analytics for constructionist mathematical e-books. Intelligent Support in Exploratory and Open-ended Learning Environments Learning Analytics for Project Based and Experiential Learning Scenarios, 17
• Karkalas, S., & Santos, S. G. (2014, October). Intelligent Student Support in the FLIP Learning System based on Student Initial Misconceptions and Student Modelling. In KEOD (pp. 353-360)
• Karkalas, S., & Gutiérrez-Santos, S. (2014, July). Enhance Teaching and Learning of Computer Programming in Exploratory Learning Environments Using Intelligent Support. In 2014 IEEE 14th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (pp. 765-767). IEEE
• Karkalas, S., & Gutierrez-Santos, S. (2014, July). Enhanced javascript learning using code quality tools and a rule-based system in the flip exploratory learning environment. In 2014 IEEE 14th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (pp. 84-88). IEEE
• Karkalas, S., & Gutierrez-Santos, S. (2014). Eclipse student (in) activity detection tool. In Open Learning and Teaching in Educational Communities: 9th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, EC-TEL 2014, Graz, Austria, September 16-19, 2014, Proceedings 9 (pp. 572-573). Springer International Publishing
• Karkalas, S., & Martin, N. (2000, October). Automatic semantic object discovery and mapping from non-normalised relational database systems. In International Conference on Advances in Information Systems (pp. 92-107). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg