Elissavet Georgiadou

This paper explores Gen Z’s understanding of science and pseudoscience, assessing, at the same time, their media literacy skills. Drawing on the relevant literature and elaborating on the findings from five focus groups studies in remote areas of Greece and Portugal, it sheds light on how young people perceive science. Through a synthesis of the insights garnered from the participants’ personal experiences, this study endeavors to offer valuable advice and recommendations for designing education material that is tailor-made to address the needs of generation Z. By adopting these suggestions, policymakers and educational experts can advance scientific literacy, cultivate critical thinking, and nurture an environment of evidence-based decision-making for young people.

This study examines the contemporary landscape of Greek typeface design, focusing on the pivotal role of Greek designers in shaping and advancing this typography element. Utilizing various qualitative research methods, including comprehensive interviews and thorough thematic analysis, this study extracts rich insights from 12 prominent Greek typeface designers. Through this rigorous examination, it elucidates the designers’ perspectives, methodologies, and the various challenges they encounter while creating Greek typefaces. The findings illuminate a profound and notable progression within Greek typography, largely propelled by the dedicated efforts of contemporary Greek designers who actively contribute to crafting high-quality typefaces garnering recognition on an international scale. This research significantly enhances our understanding of the evolution of Greek typography and its intricate position within the broader global typographic landscape. By delving into the unique methodologies and creative processes employed by these designers, this study offers a comprehensive and nuanced perspective on the current trends and potential future directions within Greek typeface design. Furthermore, it provides valuable insight into the cultural and historical influences that shape the designers’ work, enriching the broader context of their contributions to the field. Ultimately, this research intends to contribute to the advancement of Greek typography and highlight its enduring relevance and profound influence within the global typographic landscape.

In contemporary society, where visual content dominates various platforms and media, understanding how Generation Z interprets color is essential for designing effective communication strategies, as this demographic comprises a significant portion of consumers and users in the digital landscape. This research explores the perceptions of color characteristics among Generation Z individuals, focusing specifically on Greek higher education students. The primary aim is to investigate Generation Z’s perception and association of color concepts, especially within digital interfaces, while also discerning potential variations based on gender and platform (desktop vs. mobile). Employing an experimental approach, Generation Z students were tasked with associating concepts with digitally presented colors, enabling a systematic exploration of their color perception. Data collection involves meticulous observation and analysis of participants’ responses to uncover insights into their color preferences and concept associations. The findings reveal intriguing insights into Generation Z’s color preferences and concept associations, highlighting differences from previous generations. In addition, slight variations between genders and more significant differences between desktop and mobile interface data were observed, emphasizing the platform’s influence on color perception. Understanding this demographic’s distinct color preferences allows designers to tailor visual communication strategies effectively. Moreover, considering platform-specific design elements in digital interfaces is vital for optimizing user experience and engagement. This study advances understanding of Generation Z’s nuanced color perceptions, offering insights for designers seeking to resonate with Generation Z audiences in an ever-evolving digital landscape and providing valuable implications for graphic design pedagogy and practice.

As the media landscape continuously evolves in response to the increasing dominance of data, it is important to understand how future journalists perceive and respond to the emerging discipline of data journalism. This paper explores the impact of an introductory session on data journalism conducted with second-year journalism students at Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece. The study aims, through a focus group survey, to assess the students’ initial understanding and beliefs about data journalism and explores how an educational activity, structured as a one-time workshop utilizing a resource from the Al Jazeera Media Institute and data journalism project examples from the BBC, can elucidate the notion of data journalism and stimulate interest in the field. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on the integration of data journalism into journalism curricula and the training of the next generation of journalists. Therefore, the findings could provide valuable insights for educators in understanding journalism students’ perception of data journalism in order to develop effective curricula and teaching methods for data journalism.

In recent years, Open Educational Resources (OER) have gained significant reach globally as a means of facilitating free and open access to educational materials. However, most of the empirical research on the adoption of OER in higher education is conducted in the US, while Europe and other countries, including Greece, fall behind. To that end, this research focused on the awareness and use of OER by higher education students and educators within the Graphic Arts discipline in Greece, to provide evidence regarding the adoption of OER to university administrations and libraries and encouraging their use across campus. The findings suggest that awareness is low, especially among undergraduate students, despite the fact that educators are aware of OER and already share their work as such. This paradox is probably related to students’ vague knowledge of what OER are and how to use them for learning. Therefore, actions are required from educators, university administration and librarians to inform students of the benefits of OER adoption in the educational process as well as to communicate educators’ OER efforts to students. Moreover, participants identified as the biggest obstacle for adopting OER in Graphic Arts the lack of a portal that accommodates OER for this discipline, which lays the groundwork for further research.

Open Educational Resources (OERs) have become a very useful medium in the fields of education, research, and training in recent decades, supported by governments and highly respected universities and institutions worldwide. Today’s university students—in western societies mainly—have been born and raised in a digital world; consuming, providing, and sharing information over the internet 24/7. In that respect, it is interesting to examine whether OERs are a type/kind of information that they would like to “consume, provide, and share” throughout their studies in a formal university course. The paper focus on the attitude toward OERs of students enrolled in a film studies course, offered by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. The aim of the study is to provide film educators with evidence regarding their students’ attitudes toward OERs that can be useful in designing teaching strategies to enhance the learning process. Findings suggest that film students want to use OERs in their studies but many of them are not aware that these resources exist and that they are offered from highly recognized institutions and universities worldwide. Therefore, university teachers should assist students to develop familiarity with OERs of high quality and educational value as a useful aid to their studies.