Towards a Holistic Approach to Designing Theory-based Mobile Health Interventions

Increasing evidence has shown that theory-based health behavior change interventions are more effective than non-theory-based ones. However, only a few segments of relevant studies were theory-based, especially the studies conducted by non-psychology researchers. On the other hand, many mobile health interventions, even those based on the behavioral theories, may still fail in the absence of a user-centered design process. The gap between behavioral theories and user-centered design increases the difficulty of designing and implementing mobile health interventions. To bridge this gap, we propose a holistic approach to designing theory-based mobile health interventions built on the existing theories and frameworks of three categories: (1) behavioral theories (e.g., the Social Cognitive Theory, the Theory of Planned Behavior, and the Health Action Process Approach), (2) the technological models and frameworks (e.g., the Behavior Change Techniques, the Persuasive System Design and Behavior Change Support System, and the Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions), and (3) the user-centered systematic approaches (e.g., the CeHRes Roadmap, the Wendel's Approach, and the IDEAS Model). This holistic approach provides researchers a lens to see the whole picture for developing mobile health interventions

Social media in the english classroom: a study on the use of whatsapp messenger by english teaching training program students of Universidad Andrés Bello Casona de Las Condes campus

Tesis (Profesor de Inglés para la Enseñanza Básica y Media y al grado académico de Licenciado en Educación)The reason behind the use of WhatsApp Messenger (WM) by the English Teaching Training Program (ETTP) students and its possible effects on their engagement is a problem that has not been addressed in the Chilean context. The present study was designed to fill this gap. The purpose of this study was to examine the dynamics of the English class regarding the use of mobile devices. Moreover, this study aimed at examining the reasons behind the use of WM by ETTP students of UNAB Casona Las Condes Campus and its possible effects on their engagement in the English class. The method used in this investigation followed the characteristics of a sequential explanatory design. The results were obtained through two observations, a questionnaire, and a focus group. This research study concluded that the use of smartphones and specifically WM has grown exponentially as it is constantly affecting our daily routine and habits, and also what happens inside the classroom. The results revealed there were several themes attributed to disengagement that might trigger students to use WM in the English class, such as boredom, short attention span, and demotivation.Las razones de los estudiantes de Pedagogía en Inglés para usar WhatsApp Messenger (WM) y sus posibles efectos sobre el involucramiento que estos tienen en las clases de inglés es un problema que aún no ha sido tratado en el contexto chileno. El presente estudio fue diseñado para suplir esta falencia. El propósito de esta investigación fue examinar las dinámicas de la clase de inglés en relación con el uso de dispositivos móviles. Además, este estudio tenía el propósito de examinar las razones de los estudiantes de Pedagogía en Inglés de UNAB Campus Casona de Las Condes para usar WM y los posibles efectos que su involucramiento pudiera tener en la sala de inglés. El método usado en esta investigación siguió las características de un diseño secuencial explanatorio. Los resultados se obtuvieron a través de dos observaciones, un cuestionario y un grupo focal. Este estudio de investigación nos permitió concluir que el uso de smartphones y específicamente el uso de WM han crecido de forma exponencial de manera que este afecta constantemente nuestras rutinas diarias y hábitos. Los resultados revelaron que existen varios temas que se pueden atribuir al desenganche y que pueden causar que los estudiantes usen WM en la clase de inglés, como el aburrimiento, el corto periodo de concentración y la desmotivación

Roots Reloaded. Culture, Identity and Social Development in the Digital Age

This edited volume is designed to explore different perspectives of culture, identity and social development using the impact of the digital age as a common thread, aiming at interdisciplinary audiences. Cases of communities and individuals using new technology as a tool to preserve and explore their cultural heritage alongside new media as a source for social orientation ranging from language acquisition to health-related issues will be covered. Therefore, aspects such as Art and Cultural Studies, Media and Communication, Behavioral Science, Psychology, Philosophy and innovative approaches used by creative individuals are included. From the Aboriginal tribes of Australia, to the Maoris of New Zealand, to the mystical teachings of Sufi brotherhoods, the significance of the oral and written traditions and their current relation to online activities shall be discussed in the opening article. The book continues with a closer look at obesity awareness support groups and their impact on social media, Facebook usage in language learning context, smartphone addiction and internet dependency, as well as online media reporting of controversial ethical issues. The Digital progress has already left its dominating mark as the world entered the 21st century. Without a doubt, as technology continues its ascent, society will be faced with new and altering values in an effort to catch-up with this extraordinary Digitization, adapt satisfactorily in order to utilize these strong developments in everyday life

Context-awareness for mobile sensing: a survey and future directions

The evolution of smartphones together with increasing computational power have empowered developers to create innovative context-aware applications for recognizing user related social and cognitive activities in any situation and at any location. The existence and awareness of the context provides the capability of being conscious of physical environments or situations around mobile device users. This allows network services to respond proactively and intelligently based on such awareness. The key idea behind context-aware applications is to encourage users to collect, analyze and share local sensory knowledge in the purpose for a large scale community use by creating a smart network. The desired network is capable of making autonomous logical decisions to actuate environmental objects, and also assist individuals. However, many open challenges remain, which are mostly arisen due to the middleware services provided in mobile devices have limited resources in terms of power, memory and bandwidth. Thus, it becomes critically important to study how the drawbacks can be elaborated and resolved, and at the same time better understand the opportunities for the research community to contribute to the context-awareness. To this end, this paper surveys the literature over the period of 1991-2014 from the emerging concepts to applications of context-awareness in mobile platforms by providing up-to-date research and future research directions. Moreover, it points out the challenges faced in this regard and enlighten them by proposing possible solutions

Augmented reality concept to improve public awareness and safety at the beach

Rip currents pose a threat to the safety of bathers at most beaches around the world. Risk perception and swimming preference are critical factors for safety at beaches. In general, the inability to detect a rip current and a false sense of security may lead to situations where people are confronted with unforeseen dangers. The presented research intends to contribute to improving beach safety with situational-awareness data to keep bathers informed about undergoing dangers on a selected beach. As such, the need to create a beach-safety culture and a provocative social conscience in adopting safety behaviors at the beach, during leisure time, is a ground-breaking goal. The research presents a study regarding people understanding about rip currents and other (potential) beach dangerous situations and analyze their willingness to integrate a community of users and to collaboratively contribute to improving safety at the beach, in particular for social groups with children, older adults and citizens who would like to improve their beach-safety literacy. The proposed approach includes the specification of a platform to empower the user in becoming an active beach-safety agent. For this strategic objective, a service design approach was implemented to conceptualize a solution for collecting data about potential hazards, including information on the status of active rip currents. The innovation is settled over the combination of immersive technologies (e.g., Augmented Reality) with visual data analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI), in particular Deep Learning algorithms for image processing. Mobile Augmented Reality mixed with a gamification strategy are two other technologies considered in the architectural design of an interactive and gamified environment in promoting a beach-safety behavior. Such a mobile tool also addresses a strategy to create a social movement challenging citizens to integrate and benefit from the services and informational artifacts provided by the Beach Safety Community (BSC)

The Industry and Policy Context for Digital Games for Empowerment and Inclusion:Market Analysis, Future Prospects and Key Challenges in Videogames, Serious Games and Gamification

The effective use of digital games for empowerment and social inclusion (DGEI) of people and communities at risk of exclusion will be shaped by, and may influence the development of a range of sectors that supply products, services, technology and research. The principal industries that would appear to be implicated are the 'videogames' industry, and an emerging 'serious games' industry. The videogames industry is an ecosystem of developers, publishers and other service providers drawn from the interactive media, software and broader ICT industry that services the mainstream leisure market in games, The 'serious games' industry is a rather fragmented and growing network of firms, users, research and policy makers from a variety of sectors. This emerging industry is are trying to develop knowledge, products, services and a market for the use of digital games, and products inspired by digital games, for a range of non-leisure applications. This report provides a summary of the state of play of these industries, their trajectories and the challenges they face. It also analyses the contribution they could make to exploiting digital games for empowerment and social inclusion. Finally, it explores existing policy towards activities in these industries and markets, and draws conclusions as to the future policy relevance of engaging with them to support innovation and uptake of effective digital game-based approaches to empowerment and social inclusion.JRC.J.3-Information Societ

English communicative competence and predominant language for online use through smartphones in Croatia as compared to Slovenia

The study explores which languages are predominant in the online use among the targeted participant population in Croatia and Slovenia and examines the association between the partic-ipants’ smartphone online use of English and preferred subtitling mode with their perceived communicative competence in English. The findings indicate that in both nationality groups the use of English prevails in receptive language activities, in particular listening and audio-visual reception, while mother tongues are mainly used for productive and interactive activities. Participants who prefer English when engaging in online informal activities through their smartphones and who use English or no subtitles when watching video content also assess their competence in English to be on higher levels

Перспективний аналіз використання соціальних мереж як засобу навчання в навчальному середовищі

Didactic value of electronic social networks is determined by capabilities to provide group interaction. It is proved that ESN can act as means of collaborative training activities, means of social contacts deployment, extension of all participants’ social interaction in educational process. Attention is paid to emphasis change from network communication to productive discussion and from collaboration to cooperative learning methods for students. The problem of improving of information and communication competence of all learning process partners is described. Possible changes in teaching methodology, when new objects, electronic social networking services appear in the system of education, are examined.Дидактична цінність електронних соціальних мереж визначається через можливості забезпечення групової взаємодії. Доводиться, що ЕСМ можуть стати засобами спільної навчальної діяльності, а також засобами розгортання соціальних контактів та розширення соціальної взаємодії всіх учасників навчально-виховного процесу. Увагу приділено зміні акцентів з комунікації у мережі на організацію продуктивної дискусії, а також з колаборації на кооперативні методи навчання учнів. Розглядається проблема підвищення інформаційно-комунікаційної компетентності всіх учасників навчального процесу. Досліджено можливі зміни у методиці навчання, коли у системі засобів навчання з’являються нові об’єкти – сервіси електронних соціальних мереж