Assistant Professor
mhatzigianni@uniwa.gr
2105387077
Agiou Spyridonos 28, Egaleo, Κ12.008 Ground floor
Maria’s expertise builds on a rich early childhood career with more than 13 years of teaching experience in the Early Childhood sector in Greece and Australia and more than 7 years as an academic. She is an assistant professor in the University of West Attica and also holds an honorary position with the University of Melbourne (Australia). Her research area focuses on the implementation of digital technologies in Early Childhood (birth to 8 years). She completed her PhD in the University of Melbourne with full scholarship, investigating the use on new technologies by young children and the impact on their self-esteem. She also completed a Masters degree in ‘ICT in education’ (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, National Scholarship) and a Bachelor’s of Early Childhood Education (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens). She has published widely as detailed in her CV and she is a member of various EC organisations. (ORCID: https://0000-0001-9378-2598 ).
Maria is interested in the association of new technologies with creativity, play, and social-emotional development. She works primarily with children, EC teachers, and parents. She also has extensive experience in the professional development of teachers in the use of new technologies and STEAM. She uses mixed methodologies and her theoretical framework is mostly influenced by critical and postmodern perspectives and ecological approaches. Her recent research projects include:
a) The investigation of parents’ and teachers’ beliefs around the use of touchscreen devices by very young children (birth to three)
b) Improving quality in EC education (Professor Linda Harrison)
c) Embedding STEAM in EC Education
c) Maker pedagogies, Makerspaces, Design Thinking, and 3D printing in the early years of school (Professor Matt Bower)
c) Virtual reality in teaching Early Childhood education subjects (Higher Education)
d) The implementation of Google suite in Higher education – the use of E-folios by Early Childhood preservice students.