Reshaping the Museum of Zoology in Rome by Visual Storytelling and Interactive Iconography

This article summarizes the concept of a new immersive and interactive setting for the Zoology Museum in Rome, Italy. The concept, co-designed with all the museum’s curators, is aimed at enhancing the experiential involvement of the visitors by visual storytelling and interactive iconography. Thanks to immersive and interactive technologies designed by Centro Studi Logos, developed by Logosnet and known as e-REALâ and MirrorMeä, zoological findings and memoirs come to life and interact directly with the visitors in order to deepen their understanding, visualize stories and live experiences, and interact with the founder of the Museum (Mr. Arrigoni degli Oddi) who is now a virtualized avatar, or digital human, able to talk with the visitors. All the interactions are powered through simple hand gestures and, in a few cases, vocal inputs that transform into recognized commands from multimedia systems

Blue Ocean Shift: Evidence-Based Practice in the Professional Development of Teachers

With the implementation of Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in the United States, teachers have been given new responsibilities tied to supporting student scholastic and behavioral needs. The recent implementation of ESSA has left educators with minimal professional development support options to acquire skills to support students under this Act. To meet the diverse professional needs of teachers, it is necessary to look toward new cost-effective methods for professional development that stretch beyond in-person trainings, and that will prepare teachers to support the scholastic and behavioral needs of all learners. The authors propose incorporating the Blue Ocean Shift (BOS) strategy to identify alternative methods for teacher development. BOS comes from the business setting and is a strategy used in market development. The authors apply BOS to education through exposing its applicability as an assessment process. This assessment process can support the identification and development of online teaching tools for supporting multi-tiered systems of supports (MTSS) coaches in their training of teachers for school improvement efforts. The authors analyze the current professional development options provided to teachers and evaluate the use of BOS to determine innovative practices that MTSS coaches can implement to develop teacher skills and promote student learning

Educating Managers and Future Managers in Sustainability: Experiences from the Fishpond Experiment at the Berner Fachhochschule

The paper presents an implementation of the fishpond experiment as a means to help the development of a first-hand experience of the implications of individual and group behavior to the tragedy of commons. Apart from its value to teaching purposes, we see the value for exploring the potential of scaling up and transfer of its deployment to a broader audience not only in the educational curricula but also for professional development of future generations of environmentally conscious and responsible managers and corporate decision-makers

Innovation’s governance and investments for enhancing competitiveness of manufacturing SMEs

To become innovative and competitive manufacturing contractors, SMEs have to be capable to supply manufacturers with advanced equipment, components, and tools for improved manufacturing and engineering operations. Besides, despite their foremost numbers and importance in job creation, traditionally SMEs encounter difficulty in obtaining formal credit or equity. Maturities of commercial bank loans extended to SMEs are often limited to a period far too short to pay off any sizeable investment. Many European governments and international financial institutions have tried to address the problems of high transaction costs and risks by creating subsidized credit programmes and/or providing loan guarantees. Such projects have often fostered a culture of non-repayment or failed to reach the target group or achieve financial self-sustainability. Further, it tries to understand what are the main barriers for SMEs with respect to the realisation of their innovative potential and their capacity to improve internal processes by the adoption of innovative manufacturing techniques and a graduated organizational change. They are becoming particularly important for achieving greater productivity, lower operational costs, and higher revenues (usually characterized by reduced access to external finance, unavailability of wider distribution channels, low internationalization, etc.). The purpose of this article at last is to clarify how on-line training on automation and innovation fields can bring economic and organizational benefits. Innovative training contents can improve manufacturing knowledge of managers and employees, especially on industrial automation systems.To become innovative and competitive manufacturing contractors, SMEs have to be capable to supply manufacturers with advanced equipment, components, and tools for improved manufacturing and engineering operations. Besides, despite their foremost numbers and importance in job creation, traditionally SMEs encounter difficulty in obtaining formal credit or equity. Maturities of commercial bank loans extended to SMEs are often limited to a period far too short to pay off any sizeable investment. Many European governments and international financial institutions have tried to address the problems of high transaction costs and risks by creating subsidized credit programmes and/or providing loan guarantees. Such projects have often fostered a culture of non-repayment or failed to reach the target group or achieve financial self-sustainability. Further, it tries to understand what are the main barriers for SMEs with respect to the realisation of their innovative potential and their capacity to improve internal processes by the adoption of innovative manufacturing techniques and a graduated organizational change. They are becoming particularly important for achieving greater productivity, lower operational costs, and higher revenues (usually characterized by reduced access to external finance, unavailability of wider distribution channels, low internationalization, etc.). The purpose of this article at last is to clarify how on-line training on automation and innovation fields can bring economic and organizational benefits. Innovative training contents can improve manufacturing knowledge of managers and employees, especially on industrial automation systems.Articles published in or submitted to a Journal without IF refereed / of international relevanc

Avoiding a Data Science Winter by Keeping the Expectations Low

In this paper we present and discuss some aspects related to what we consider as some of the most important corporate challenges of Data Science, AI and Machine Learning regarding both human talents and business. We examine the case of a discussion that took place over Quora and in particular we focus on an answer we have selected as indicative of a potentially threatening situation for the sustainable development of the Data Science, AI and Machine Learning disciplines as well as the growth of the respective demand and supply sides and the corresponding ecosystem these form. We then make an attempt to examine the setting by means of analyzing the case, using as our guide the provided narrative

The Effectiveness of Multimedia and Virtual Environments in Light of the Conflict Strategy to Reduce Misconceptions in Mathematics among First-Year University Students

The roots of misconceptions in mathematics among first-year students at Hashemite University can be traced back to a flaw in the foundation of their previous mathematics knowledge acquired over the course of their academic years. This flaw presents a significant challenge for them during their studies. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of multimedia and virtual environments in reducing misconceptions in mathematics among first-year students at Hashemite University, based on the conflict strategy. The study sample consisted of a random cluster sample of 109 male and female students from Hashemite University. The researcher observed the students and recorded their test scores. The researcher conducted face-to-face interviews to collect data for the study and performed statistical analysis using the t-test. The results showed that the percentage of misconceptions in mathematics among firstyear students at the Hashemite University for types 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively, amounted to 23%, 8%, 13.8%, 14.7%, and 0%. And 13.8%. The study examined the effectiveness of multimedia and virtual environments in reducing misconceptions in mathematics among first-year students at Hashemite University, based on the conflict strategy

Cloud services within a ROLE-enabled Personal Learning Environment

The ROLE project (Responsive Open Learning Environments) is focused on the next generation of Personal Learning Environments (PLE). In this paper, we first describe the engineering process used to create either a new widget bundle, a group of applications or service widgets. The widgets integrated in a ROLE PLE consist of two cloud-based services, a social networking and a mind-mapping tool, where learners can perform and collaborate on learning activities. We also modified other widgets to create a complete learning experience. The whole platform is running on a cloudcomputing infrastructure and one of the services is using a cloud-based database. Additionally, we describe the initial experiences from using this cloud education environment in Galileo University, Guatemala, in a web-based course with students from three different Latin-American countries. We measured emotional aspects, motivation, usability and attitudes towards the environment. The results demonstrated the readiness of cloud-based education solutions, and how ROLE can bring together such an environment from a PLE perspective

Effectiveness of Distance Learning Computer Numerical Control Based on Virtual Laboratory Using a Metaverse Platform to Improve Students’ Cognitive Ability and Practice Skills

This study analyzes the effectiveness of virtual laboratory-based distance learning as a means of improving the learning outcomes of students’ cognitive abilities and practical skills in the Computer Numerical Control course. This study utilized a pre-experimental design with a onegroup pretest-posttest structure. The research subjects were 31 second-year vocational students from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Universitas Negeri Padang who had recently participated in four distance learning sessions. The research instruments included a pre-test, a post-test, and a student perception survey to assess the effectiveness of virtual laboratory treatment. The findings of this study demonstrate that the presence of a virtual laboratory enhances learning outcomes in terms of cognitive abilities. The pre-test value for cognitive abilities was 52.04, which increased to 82.36 in the post-test. Similarly, the pre-test value for practical skills was 56.98, which improved to 83.44 in the post-test. These improvements significantly contribute to the enhancement of learning outcomes, as indicated by an average N-gain value of 0.642 in the medium/effective category. We conclude that the use of virtual laboratory media through the Metaverse platform is effective for distance learning. This method reduces the initial requirement of 24 hours of face-to-face learning to just five hours of more effective self-study

Should Organisations Compete or Collaborate when Absorbing New External Knowledge?

Organisations possessing significant resources (Resource Based View) or knowledge, as their significant capability (Dynamic Capability View), are often unaware of their own ability to acquire new knowledge entering the enterprise (level of absorptive capacity); this unawareness can lead to reduced marketplace performance and incorrect decision making, which may result in the wastage of organisational resources, including employee knowledge. This study highlights the key differences in absorptive capacity which firms possess, in the context of resource based and dynamic capability views. Based on these differing perspectives, options are provided for companies who wish to compete or mate/merge with competitors in the market, while discussion is given on the considerations that organisations must take before adopting a suggested option

Analysis of Factors Affecting Vocational Students' Intentions to Use a Virtual Laboratory Based on the Technology Acceptance Model

This study discusses the analysis of various variables affecting vocational students' intention to use a Virtual Laboratory (VL) in remote learning. Based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), perceived ease of use (PEU), and perceived usefulness (PU) as exogenous variables. At the same time, attitudes towards VL (A) as an intervening variable. This research was conducted in the learning process of the Power Electronics Practicum for vocational education students. This study involved 105 vocational students from the Industrial Electrical Engineering Study Program, at Universitas Negeri Padang. Research data were analyzed using Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The study results showed that the exogenous variables (PEU, PU, & A) had a significant and positive effect (directly and indirectly through intervening variables) on vocational students' intentions to use the virtual laboratory to support the implementation of remote learning in the Power Electronics Practicum Course. These factors can be considered in determining the appropriate virtual laboratory application to be applied in the learning process