The purpose of this study was the investigation of the added value of technology of Augmented Reality in education and, particularly, whether this contributes to both student performance improvement, as well as the appearance of the psychological condition of Flow, which, according to research, has had a positive effect on their performance when experienced during learning process. The research involved a total of 42 students in their second year of junior high school who were taught the module "representation of the information on computers" using two different technologies, those of Augmented Reality and the Web. Research data showed that both technologies contributed to student performance improvement and to the appearance of Flow to pupils, with apparently better results with the student group who utilized the technology of Augmented Reality, though.

Despite the formal, non-formal and informal training opportunities offered by MOOCs, they show low completion rates due to both personal factors of the participants and the instructional design of the courses. Empirical research has shown that good instructional design can help increase learners' motivation, helping them achieve high performance by completing the program. To determine to which extent the quality instructional material, which is the result of a good instructional design, contributes to their motivation and high rates of completion of the courses, we created an eight (8) week MOOC program on "Violence and bullying in schools", following the instructional design model "Systems Approach Model". The motivation of the learners from the instructional material was measured using the Instructional Material Motivation Survey (IMMS) tool and showed that all the learners were highly motivated both as a whole and in every factor of the ARCS model (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction) contributing to very high completion rates, as from the 1309 learners who started the program, 1050 completed it (80.2%). Considering the results of our research, we, finally, suggest some points that can be taken into account when designing similar programs.

MOOCs were created to change the way universities provide education. If to some extent they have succeeded, since they enable many people to attend them without prerequisites and conditions, it is observed that a very small percentage of those who participate finally manage to complete them. In the present study, which is part of the first researcher's doctoral research, we examine the extent to which helping learners apply the Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions (MCII) self-regulatory strategy in conjunction with a number of other self-regulatory processes in Zimmerman's model, contributed to the increase of self-regulation, performance and completion rates of those who participated in the first MOOC program of the University of the Aegean (Greece) on "Violence and bullying in schools". 1309 people started the program and completed it, 1050. The two research groups into which they were divided, showed statistically significant differences in their self-regulation, but not in the completion rates of the program (control group: 80.1%, experimental group: 80.3%) and their performance (90%-100% scale: control group: 62.5%, experimental group: 66.5%). Nevertheless, a very high percentage managed to complete it (80.2%), achieving at the same time very high performance. This result shows that self-regulation is not the only factor that contributes to the successful completion of programs and high performance. The instructional design of the program, its organization, and the quality of the instructional material play also an important role. These results can be useful in the design of future MOOCs programs.