Eureka! Institutional Repository

ABSTRACT Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are introducing a new era in education provision, with modern methods and in all areas of people’s lives. Adult education, in combination with distance education, is rapidly growing in the context of lifelong learning, and as a result, universities are unable to cope with the continuously increasing needs. This new circumstance requires their modernization, along with the design and introduction of open, widely accessible teaching and communication systems. Blended learning education systems have been the most common form of distance learning in recent years, mainly because of the development of technology, in particular the development of free software, has broadened the use of synchronous training tools, enhancing interaction and collaboration among participants in the educational process, eliminating local and time constraints. Within this newly-developed environment, the Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki is implementing the postgraduate programme "Management and Organization of Educational Units", with a blended learning methodology, utilizing the Big Blue Button (BBB) teleconferencing system. The dissertation «The use of Big Blue Button (BBB) in education of postgraduate students in the postgraduate programme: Management and Organization of Educational Units at Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki» investigates the opinions of 55 postgraduate students, during the spring semester of 2016-2017, regarding the usability of this videoconference tool and their satisfaction with its use. Data processing has established their agreement, to a considerable extent, regarding the ease of learning and usage of BBB, as well as the derived satisfaction.