Konstantinos Papangelis

My research focuses on, location-based games and social networks, the physical web, location-based and in-situ crowdsourcing, proximity technologies, extended reality, and multi-sensory entertainment technologies.

1. How Do You Teach Applied Critical Thinking in the Context of Disaster?

Essentially, we use a variation of Paul-Elder’s cyclical critical thinking model where the intellectual standards (accuracy, clarity, relevance etc.) are used in conjunction with intellectual standards (courage, empathy, integrity) which are applied to elements of reasoning. This not only help us view anew the phenomenon we explore but at the same time train the students how to apply and appreciate critical thinking.

2. Why Do You Think Applied Critical Thinking is Important in Your Domain?

Critical thinking is extremely important as it is a domain-general skill, is very important to the new knowledge economy, promotes creativity and creative solution and above all it is crucial for self-reflection.

3. Can You Share a Story Where Quality Applied Critical Thinking Was Key to Your Success?

We had to conduct an ethnographic study on disruptions in rural Scotland. We kept having issues interviewing individuals that traveled in a particular line. My colleagues have tried all kinds of methods (going down to the rural for a day trying to find folks, putting up fliers etc.). After seeing that these things didn't work, I reflected a bit on our methods and realized that they were not appropriate. So, I decided to move for 2 months in the area and ride the buses daily. I interviewed folks in a less structured manner as they were riding the bus. This worked great and we managed to get the data required to run our analysis.

4. How Do I Use Critical Thinking in Other Areas of Your Life Outside of RIT?

As above-mentioned critical thinking is a general skill which you can apply in all sorts of situation - e.g. to assess whether the news reports you read are real or not, or biased towards a particular group of people.

5. Any Last Critical Thoughts You Wish to Share About What We Are Experiencing Now or What You Have Learned in Past Work?

We have to be rational, gather information from multiple sources, don't take everything at face value, and above all every so often take a step back and look at the bigger picture as it is too easy to get lost in the details.