Presence and rehabilitation: toward second-generation virtual reality applications in neuropsychology

Virtual Reality (VR) offers a blend of attractive attributes for rehabilitation. The most exploited is its ability to create a 3D simulation of reality that can be explored by patients under the supervision of a therapist. In fact, VR can be defined as an advanced communication interface based on interactive 3D visualization, able to collect and integrate different inputs and data sets in a single real-like experience. However, "treatment is not just fixing what is broken; it is nurturing what is best" (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi). For rehabilitators, this statement supports the growing interest in the influence of positive psychological state on objective health care outcomes. This paper introduces a bio-cultural theory of presence linking the state of optimal experience defined as "flow" to a virtual reality experience. This suggests the possibility of using VR for a new breed of rehabilitative applications focused on a strategy defined as transformation of flow. In this view, VR can be used to trigger a broad empowerment process within the flow experience induced by a high sense of presence. The link between its experiential and simulative capabilities may transform VR into the ultimate rehabilitative device. Nevertheless, further research is required to explore more in depth the link between cognitive processes, motor activities, presence and flow

The dancing queen:explanatory mechanisms of the 'feel-good effect' in dance

Dance is a social, creative form of human activity impacting on wellbeing through emotional involvement in active or passive participation at all levels of mastery. Dance as a physical activity can potentially improve health physiologically, psychologically, and socially. Despite a recent surge in dance-related research, the authors believe that this area of human behaviour is still relatively unexplored. Here, therefore, they examine possible mechanisms that may contribute to the ‘feel-good effect’ of dance participation by emphasizing its positive as well as its potentially detrimental effects, taking the physical activity literature as a starting point. They address biochemical, brain neurotransmitters, cognitive–neuroscientific, and psychological mechanisms that are thought to explain the impact of physical activity in wellbeing, and discuss functional and structural brain changes that are linked to participation in dance. They conclude by highlighting the need to increase research to better recognize the potential risks and benefits of dance in improving health and wellbeing

Creative Autonomy in a Simple Interactive Music System

Interactive music systems always exhibit an amount of autonomy in the creative process. The capacity to generate material that is primary, contextual and novel to the outcome is proposed here as the bare minimum for creative autonomy in these systems. Assumptions are evaluated using Video Interactive VST Orchestra, a system that generates music through sound processing in interplay with a user. The system accepts audio and video live inputs — a camera and a microphone that capture the interplay of a musician, typically. Mapping of the variance in the musician’s physical motion to the sound processing allows identifying salience in the interaction and the system as autonomous. A case study is presented to provide evidence of creative autonomy in this simple, yet highly effective system

The interactive documentary as a Living Documentary

Interactive documentaries are digital non-linear narratives that usenew media to relate and describe reality. Since this form of factual narrative has onlyestablished itself in the last ten years (we can track its emergence through the evolutionof Web 2.0), we can say that it is still in its infancy. As a result, a lack of terminology andunderstanding of the specificities of the form is flagrant. This article aims at positioninginteractive documentaries as a form of itself (and not as a continuation of lineardocumentaries). It also introduces the notion of “Living Documentary”, where interactivedocumentaries are seen as a “living forms”. Drawing on Maturana and Varela’s notion of“autopoiesis” and Deleuze’s assemblage theory the definition of “Living Documentary”wants to put the emphasis on the relational nature of interactive documentaries and ontheir capacity to engender change

Preschoolers and Pandas Making Friends: A Journey about Healing from Brain Injury

Preschoolers that have obtained Non-Accidental Injury (NAI) from familial child abuse are in need of having a unique place for neurorehabilitation in correlation with traditional therapies. My thesis project suggests adding an exhibit annex to an existing giant panda exhibit that will give preschoolers an opportunity to help develop new neuropathways when exposed to mediation and creative activities. Meditation and creative activities are being examined by neuroscientists as an aid in neuroplasticity after brain injury. This thesis reviews the neurotypical preschooler’s milestones and the playful means by which they are achieved. Conjoining the contemporary museums’ and zoological gardens’ outreach to the medical field and a need for a place where preschoolers can heal, giant pandas will make good friends

Exercising Autonomous Learning Approaches through Interactive Notebooks: A Qualitative Case Study

Grounded in the theoretical framework of interpretivism, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the experiences of a teacher from an inner city high school in South Texas when using interactive notebooks to inform students’ understanding of physics concepts. The participant for the study was purposefully selected with an intention to gain an in-depth understanding of the experiences. Data collection incorporated multiple methods such as interviews, participant observations, and document analysis. Descriptive, In-vivo, process, and Labovian six-part model of narrative coding were used to reduce and manage data. The codes were grouped into eight categories. Two major themes were identified from the data analysis: Interactive Notebook - A Testimony of Constructive Learning and Interactive Notebook- A Pioneering Approach to Instruction. The findings of this study intersect science education and qualitative inquiry and create space for openended, autonomous, constructivist learning of scientific principles. Additionally, the findings raise implications for transferable aspects of individualized learning processes for any areas of education where concepts are challenging for students to grasp

Developing Educators for The Digital Age: A Framework for Capturing Knowledge in Action

Evaluating skills and knowledge capture lies at the cutting edge of contemporary higher education where there is a drive towards increasing evaluation of classroom performance and use of digital technologies in pedagogy. Developing Educators for the Digital Age is a book that provides a narrative account of teacher development geared towards the further usage of technologies (including iPads, MOOCs and whiteboards) in the classroom presented via the histories and observation of a diverse group of teachers engaged in the multiple dimensions of their profession. Drawing on the insights of a variety of educational theories and approaches (including TPACK) it presents a practical framework for capturing knowledge in action of these English language teachers – in their own voices – indicating how such methods, processes and experiences shed light more widely on related contexts within HE and may be transferable to other situations. This book will be of interest to the growing body of scholars interested in TPACK theory, or communities of practice theory and more widely anyone concerned with how new pedagogical skills and knowledge with technology may be incorporated in better practice and concrete instances of teaching