The Educational Software Development
Laboratory (ESDLab) has been established at the Department of
Mathematics at the University of Patras in 1992, aiming at the
promotion of research and development in the field of Educational
Software tools, methods and practices with the incorporation of new
technologies.
The main objectives of ESDLab evolve
around three axis:
- Basic Research and knowledge dissemination in disciplines and
interdisciplinary areas that relate to educational software.
- Targeted research and development of products in these areas.
- Promotion and contribution to the training of University
students.
To achieve these objectives, the ESDLab
participates in National and EU-funded Research and Development projects,
thus promoting applied research and development. In addition, exchange of
ideas is supported, by establishing or participating in international
scientific networks and student exchange programs.
Current research interests and
involvement of the ESDLab Staff and Co-operating Researchers include:
- Incorporation of Artificial Intelligence principles in
Tutoring Systems and Authoring Systems
- Development of Computer Assisted Instructional (CAI) systems
as well as Computer Based Training (CBT) systems for vocational
training
- Distance Learning
- Multimedia Systems and tools for educational and training
applications
- Development of
Presentation material
- Virtual Reality technology in the development of CAI, CBT and
ITS
- Agent Technology in the development of Intelligent Agents for
the Internet
- Formal methods and tools for interaction specification and
agent- based user interface development
- Artificial Neural Nets (ANNs) for student modelling in
Tutoring Systems
- Genetic algorithms
- Machine Learning and Data mining
To promote research and development in these
areas, the staff of ESDLab involves itself in National and International
projects, organises regular seminars on specific topics in these areas
and promotes co-operation with scientists in other Institutions at home
and abroad, having at the same time long established links with
industrial partners.
The staff of the ESDLab is highly qualified, with numerous publications, which resulted
from long-time involvement in the field. A satisfying level of latest
information technology is provided to researchers (such as multimedia
machines and peripherals in different platforms, authoring systems and
similar software, expert system shells. VR hardware devices, Software
tools etc.), and efforts are made to keep up with all the related technological
advances.
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