The Informatics Systems & Applications Group (ISAG) is organized within the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, the largest University in the Balkans (approx 95000 students). ISAG is currently consisting of two researchers on computational intelligence and environmental informatics, four software developers, three PhD-MSc students working on areas of mathematical modeling and artificial intelligence for environmental modeling and forecasting, and collaborates with two experts in science education and psychology. The group is lead by Prof. Dr.-Eng. Kostas Karatzas, and was initially specialized in conducting environmental information analysis at a raw, processed, and e-service level, for citizens, authorities and industrial experts, yet subsequently expanded its activities to "content neutral" informatics applications and systems, supported by relevant R&D European Research projects. ISAG personnel have participated in more that 15 EU supported research projects and approx. 15 national research projects, having a vast experience in implementing F/OSS resources in project work towards operational systems. It is within this framework of R&D that ISAG undertook the following e-learning activities:

• Investigation, setup, parameterization and support of an asynchronous web-based system for the support of educational activities at the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, AUTh (supports approx 40 courses currently)
• Development of curriculum e-material for 4 courses at AUTh.
• Development of open source powered applications and tools for the support of collaborative work in elearning environments (interactive forms, wizards for engineering calculations

ISAG's experience in developing theoretical background empowering new and innovative ways to use technology in education comes from two projects:

• Participation at the design, development and testing of an advanced training system for emergency management in cases of technological accidents (A-TEAM project, 2000-2002).
• Partner at the UPDATE FP6-SSA project (co-ordinator University of Jyvaskyla) for understanding and providing a developmental approach to technology education with emphasis to women participation (2007-9)

ISAG aims, via its participation to JEM, to promote the following objectives

• Enrich the mathematical content of two 1st year courses on Informatics at the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering (calculus, linear algebra, vector algebra, differential equations).
• Provide high quality mathematical background for the course on Computational Environmental Physics (MSc level) and for the 5th year course on Environmental Informatics (advanced statistical methods and tools, artificial intelligence and data mining).
• Update teaching methods, material and techniques.