METIS D3.4: Final workshops packages: workshops for different educational levels and education contexts

Several decades of research in technology-enhanced learning (TEL) have clearly demonstrated the potential of digital technology to transform education. Yet the impact of TEL research on daily teaching-learning practices is still far from fulfilling this potential. Arguably, this is a gap in the capacity for learning design: educators need the tools and competencies which would allow them to identify educational challenges, describe the context in which they arise, identify the opportunities afforded by technology, project the insights derived from research, and devise new learning experiences. To address this gap, educators need tools and practices. Tools that would support them through the cycle of learning design – from conception to deployment and evaluation of techno-educational innovations. Professional practices that use such tools to ensure the robustness and effectiveness of their innovations and make learning design a daily habit and part of their professional identity. The METIS project (http://metis-project.org/) aims to contribute to this aim, by providing educators with an Integrated Learning Design Environment (ILDE) (Hernández-Leo, Asensio-Pérez, Derntl, Prieto, & Chacón, 2014; Hernández-Leo et al., 2015) and a workshop package for training educators in using the ILDE to support effective learning design. Work Package 3, led by the OU (UK), is concerned with the design and development of the workshop package. This deliverable is the final version of the METIS workshop package. It includes • a meta-design for METIS workshops that provides a flexible reusable structure so that workshops can be customised to meet different needs , • a description of the rationale and pedagogical methodology on which the meta-design is based • guidance for instantiating the meta-design in different contexts and • example workshop packages based on the meta-design for three different educational sectors. This document provides educators with a basis for delivering workshops about using the ILDE to support effective learning design. To create and run a workshop suitable for your own context, please proceed in the following way. Firstly, consider the meta-design; then choose one of the example workshop packages closest to your context; finally, use the guidelines to adapt it for your needs

Emotional imagination of negative situations: Functional neuroimaging in anorexia and bulimia

AimThe present study aims to extend the knowledge of the neural correlates of emotion processing in first episode subjects affected by anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN). We applied an emotional distress paradigm targeting negative emotions thought to be relevant for interpersonal difficulties and therapeutic resistance mechanisms.MethodsThe current study applied to 44 female participants with newly diagnosed AN or BN and 20 matched controls a neuroimaging paradigm eliciting affective responses. The measurements also included an extensive assessment comprising clinical scales, neuropsychological tests, measures of emotion processing and empathy.ResultsAN and BN did not differ from controls in terms of emotional response, emotion matching, self-reported empathy and cognitive performance. However, eating disorder and psychopathological clinical scores, as well as alexithymia levels, were increased in AN and BN. On a neural level, no significant group differences emerged, even when focusing on a region of interest selected a priori: the amygdala. Some interesting findings put in relation the hippocampal activity with the level of Body Dissatisfaction of the participants, the relative importance of the key nodes for the common network in the decoding of different emotions (BN = right amygdala, AN = anterior cingulate area), and the qualitative profile of the deactivations.ConclusionsOur data do not support the hypothesis that participants with AN or BN display reduced emotional responsiveness. However, peculiar characteristics in emotion processing could be associated to the three different groups. Therefore, relational difficulties in eating disorders, as well as therapeutic resistance, could be not secondary to a simple difficulty in feeling and identifying basic negative emotions in AN and BN participants

The Human Affectome

Over the last decades, the interdisciplinary field of the affective sciences has seen proliferation rather than integration of theoretical perspectives. This is due to differences in metaphysical and mechanistic assumptions about human affective phenomena (what they are and how they work) which, shaped by academic motivations and values, have determined the affective constructs and operationalizations. An assumption on the purpose of affective phenomena can be used as a teleological principle to guide the construction of a common set of metaphysical and mechanistic assumptions—a framework for human affective research. In this capstone paper for the special issue “Towards an Integrated Understanding of the Human Affectome”, we gather the tiered purpose of human affective phenomena to synthesize assumptions that account for human affective phenomena collectively. This teleologically-grounded framework offers a principled agenda and launchpad for both organizing existing perspectives and generating new ones. Ultimately, we hope Human Affectome brings us a step closer to not only an integrated understanding of human affective phenomena, but an integrated field for affective research

Plantar povoações no território: (re)construindo a urbanização da capitania do Piauí, 1697-1761

The Piauí province´s urbanization has kept up with since late 17th century a complex process dealt among Portuguese Crown, the regal representatives, the network woven by the Casa da Torre and by the resident population in its countryside. What it was content of Rodelas countryside has begun to build with territorial identity since the foundation of first parish in 1697. Structuring itself discontinuously in time and space, the Piauí had reformed in 1758, year of creation of its autonomous government. And had became urban in 1761 when the king D. José I and marquis of Pombal had framed by the royal letter written in June 19 a territory formed by six towns and one city. Thus, this paper purposes to reconstructing the Piauí province according to agents involved in the urbanization processes. It proposes to deconstructing Crown´s polices by means towns strategically placed in territory aiming at control and "remedy" of routine injustices practiced in Piauí´s hinterlands. The method of presenting this reconstruction draws on interconnection between text (manuscript documents) and image (maps and photography) which in their discourses have represented a Piauí as space of experiences apprehended as much in official dimension as inhabitant´s everyday life.A urbanização da capitania do Piauí acompanhou, desde finais do século XVII, um complexo processo negociado entre a Coroa portuguesa, os representantes régios, a rede clientelar urdida pela Casa da Torre e a população residente em seus sertões. O que antes era conteúdo dos sertões de Rodelas passou a construir-se como identidade territorial a partir da fundação da primeira freguesia, em 1697, dedicada a Nossa Senhora da Vitória. Estruturando-se descontinuamente no tempo e no espaço, o Piauí reforma-se em 1758, ano da autonomização do seu governo. E fez-se urbano em 1761, quando D. José I e o marquês de Pombal equacionaram, por meio da carta régia de 19 de junho, um território formado por seis vilas e uma cidade. Nessa direção, o objetivo deste artigo consiste em reconstruir o processo de formação da capitania do Piauí segundo os agentes envolvidos na urbanização do território. Propõe-se descortinar as políticas da Coroa por meio da oficialização de povoações estrategicamente locadas no território visando o controle e o "remédio" das injustiças rotineiras do Piauí. O método de apresentar essa reconstrução vale-se da interconexão entre texto (documentação manuscrita) e imagem (mapas e fotografias), que em suas entrelinhas representam um Piauí como espaço de experiências sentidas tanto na dimensão oficial quanto no cotidiano dos seus moradores

The Development and Validation of the Empathy Components Questionnaire (ECQ)

Key research suggests that empathy is a multidimensional construct comprising of both cognitive and affective components. More recent theories and research suggest even further factors within these components of empathy, including the ability to empathize with others versus the drive towards empathizing with others. While numerous self-report measures have been developed to examine empathy, none of them currently index all of these wider components together. The aim of the present research was to develop and validate the Empathy Components Questionnaire (ECQ) to measure cognitive and affective components, as well as ability and drive components within each. Study one utilized items measuring cognitive and affective empathy taken from various established questionnaires to create an initial version of the ECQ. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to examine the underlying components of empathy within the ECQ in a sample of 101 typical adults. Results revealed a five-component model consisting of cognitive ability, cognitive drive, affective ability, affective drive, and a fifth factor assessing affective reactivity. This five-component structure was then validated and confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in an independent sample of 211 typical adults. Results also showed that females scored higher than males overall on the ECQ, and on specific components, which is consistent with previous findings of a female advantage on self-reported empathy. Findings also showed certain components predicted scores on an independent measure of social behavior, which provided good convergent validity of the ECQ. Together, these findings validate the newly developed ECQ as a multidimensional measure of empathy more in-line with current theories of empathy. The ECQ provides a useful new tool for quick and easy measurement of empathy and its components for research with both healthy and clinical populations

Who is to blame? Neural correlates of causal attribution in social situations

In everyday life causal attribution is important in order to structure the complex world, provide explanations for events and to understand why our environment interacts with us in a particular way. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 30 healthy subjects to separate the neural correlates of self vs. external responsibility for social events and explore the neural basis of self-serving attributions (internal attributions of positive events and external attributions of negative events). We presented short sentences describing positive and negative social events and asked participants to imagine the event, to decide the main cause and assign it to one of the categories (internal vs. external). FMRI data were analyzed using a 2 x 2 factorial design with the factors emotional valence and attribution. Internal compared to external attribution revealed activations along the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ). The reverse contrast showed a left lateralized network mainly involving the TPJ, the precuneus and the superior/medial frontal gyrus. These results confirmed the involvement of a fronto-temporoparietal network in differentiating self and external responsibility. Analysis of the self-serving bias yielded activation in the dorsal anterior cingulate and in the dorsal striatum, suggesting a rewarding value of these attributions

Social Cognition, the Male Brain and the Autism Spectrum

Behavioral studies have shown that, at a population level, women perform better on tests of social cognition and empathy than men. Furthermore Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), which are characterized by impairments in social functioning and empathy, occur more commonly in males than females. These findings have led to the hypothesis that differences in the functioning of the social brain between males and females contribute to the greater vulnerability of males to ASD and the suggestion that ASD may represent an extreme form of the male brain. Here we sought to investigate this hypothesis by determining: (i) whether males and females differ in social brain function, and (ii) whether any sex differences in social brain function are exaggerated in individuals with ASD. Using fMRI we show that males and females differ markedly in social brain function when making social decisions from faces (compared to simple sex judgements) especially when making decisions of an affective nature, with the greatest sex differences in social brain activation being in the inferior frontal cortex (IFC). We also demonstrate that this difference is exaggerated in individuals with ASD, who show an extreme male pattern of IFC function. These results show that males and females differ significantly in social brain function and support the view that sex differences in the social brain contribute to the greater vulnerability of males to ASDs.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Report of the results of an IMS learning design expert workshop.

An IMS Learning Design Expert Workshop was held at the University of Vienna on November 20 & 21, 2008. This report contains a description of the purpose of the workshop, its methodologies and results. Participating experts first brainstormed visions and problems of IMS Learning Design (IMS LD), and then developed potential solutions to some of the identified problems. Three groups formed to work on two of the identified problems in more depth: the usability and utility problem, and the life cycle of a unit of learning problem. The proposed solutions regarding the usability and utility problem were to investigate how teachers' and learners' representations of a learning design can be brought together, and to set up a research program to identify how teachers cognitively proceed when designing courses and to map this knowledge to IMS LD. In regard to the life cycle of a unit of learning problem, the group suggested a system that continually exchanges information between runtime and editing systems so that units of learning can be updated accordingly