Validazione di un modello In Silico di progressione dell'osteoporosi per la predizione del rischio di frattura dell'anca

Questo lavoro di tesi contribuisce allo sviluppo di una metodologia in silico, che può essere utilizzata sia come strumento clinico per la predizione del rischio di frattura, sia come strumento per la valutazione dell’efficacia di trattamenti farmacologici. Lo scopo di questo lavoro è di validare un modello di progressione dell’osteoporosi utilizzando dati clinici prospettici. Per fare ciò, è stata utilizzata una procedura già precedentemente validata da Bhattacharya et al. su una coorte retrospettica di Sheffield, con validazione effettuata unicamente per l’ARF0. In questo lavoro di tesi è stata intergata una legge di invecchiamento dell’osso e predetto il carico di rottura del femore ed il rischio di frattura fino a cinque anni successivi all’esecuzione della CT (ARF5). I risultati ottenuti sono poi stati confrontati con i dati reali, ovvero con le reali fratture che sono avvenute o meno nei pazienti reali oggetto dello studio. La validazione su una coorte prospettica ha evidenziato una discriminazione tra fratturati e non fratturati migliore rispetto a quella trovata per la coorte retrospettica. Tuttavia, l’ARF5 e l’ARF0, sui trentaquattro soggetti considerati, hanno delle prestazioni confrontabili

Teaching to future e-learning experts through blended methods

Becoming a professional is a process of fusing theoretical and practical aspects (Hytönen et al., 2016). Although university is considered as an elective agency to support students’ transition to workplaces, when looking into the university curricula there is no great synergy between academia and work demands (Eteläpelto et al., 2014). We have tried to fill this gap by applying the design principles of the Trialogical Learning Approach – TLA (Paavola & Hakkarainen, 2005) in a master degree course in “Educational and E-learning Psychology” (University of Bari Aldo Moro) with the main aim to support transition between academic and professional communities. Thus, companies relevant in the field of E-learning are involved. A group of students is assigned to each company with the task to contribute to the development of an object the company is creating. In this task, several types of technologies are used: instant messaging, web-forum, Video-calls, project and knowledge management tools. Furthermore, students are required to learn how to design educational videos and learning objects by using software such as Articulate.pro and iMovie. Based on these premises, we have developed a model called Blended Collaborative and Constructive Participation (BCCP), meant specifically for university teaching. Our results showed that students appreciated the opportunity to work in groups and with companies, to use flexible technologies, and to become aware of the e-learning job market. The course had a positive effect on students’ self-efficacy and on building professional identity. This research could provide general insights for university courses aimed at supporting transition to workplace

Progettare un corso universitario per supportare la transizione identitaria tra università e mondo del lavoro.

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Triangulating identity, groups and objects. A university case.

University plays a key role in preparing students for professional life. As such, improving learning and teaching so that students are well positioned to take on professional roles is an important issue in higher education. According to the NMC Horizon Report, universities should be “incubators of high-quality products – actual inventions and developments that progress positive trends, as well as the most important product of all: graduates who not only fulfil evolving job market needs but redefine and improve the workforce they enter” (Becker et al., 2017 p. 6). In practice, however, students’ transition to the workplace is not always smooth (Eteläpelto, Vähäsantanen, Hökkä, & Paloniemi, 2014; Hytonen, Palonen, Lehtinen, & Hakkarainen, 2016). In response to this problem, some universities are developing programmes that interconnect with workplaces using technology (Trede et al., 2016). While the purposes and goals of tertiary education are many and varied, our interest is in innovative theoretical approaches that enhance connections between formal learning and workplace contexts, thereby supporting students to enter professional life

Triangulating identity, groups and objects: a university case

In this chapter, the authors illustrate how a purposely designed university course can triangulate identity, groups and objects. They describe the university course they have developed, supported by over a decade of research. The authors also illustrate how this innovative approach improves learning outcomes and supports tertiary students’ transition from formal learning to professional life. They draw on theory around the dialogical nature of identity and the concept of positioning embedded into Hermans’ theory. The authors consider their course a new and challenging experience able to trigger new I-positions at the borders between university and professional communities. They also consider two FG sessions involving 11 students: Five in the first (four females and one male) and six in the second (all females). Each FG session was comprised of two steps. First, a four-minute video-clip about the most salient moments of the course and second, a semi-structured discussion based on four questions

Role-taking as strategy for active participation in a blended learning course

The study here presented is included in a larger research, whose aim is to define specific pedagogical methods in order to manage effective blended learning courses. This paper mainly focuses on role-taking-based activities, considered from many researchers as useful to support active learning. Many roles can be designed and proposed within learning contexts supporting various skills and psycho-social process; in this paper two roles have been studied: the e-tutor, acting during forum-discussions, and the editor, in charge of supervising a collaborative writing task. A quantitative analysis was conducted to verify the impact of the two roles in terms of: a) participation of the course members to the online activities, b) their preference for one of the roles and c) their perception about the relevance of each role in acquiring academic skills. Forty-nine in-service teachers attending a blended course responded to a 9-items semi-structured questionnaire and their participation has been measured by counting their reading and writing activities. Main results show that no relevant difference in participation score was found between participants performing only the role of editor or that of e-tutor. However, the highest participation is obtained when participants had the possibility to play both roles. Participants prefer one or the other role on the base of specific motivations that we categorize by using theoretical metaphors, from a behavior-ist-based motivation to a socio-constructivist one. Such motivations are differently reported by higher or lower participants showing that the first ones report socio-constructivist argumentations, while the second ones declare a more behaviorist preference. Both roles were perceived as useful for fostering participation and improving communication and collaboration skills. Nevertheless, the role of the editor is perceived as more useful than the e-tutor role in promoting both online and offline participation and individual learning. These results are discussed by highlighting practical implications and suggesting that role-taking activities are as effective on learning as they are perceived familiar and relevant for participants. For this purpose, role-taking activities should be introduced by a specific training

Il Collaborative Knowledge Building Group: una comunità di ricerca italiana su ambienti di apprendimento e di lavoro supportati dal computer

Contributo per il numero monotematico a cura di M.B. Ligorio “Modelli formativi e tecnologie in rete

QUANDO L’E-LEARNING DIVENTA PROFESSIONALIZZANTE

Questo volume nasce a seguito di una sperimentazione avviata nell’anno accademico 2016-17 dal Dipartimento di Scienze della formazione, psicologia, comunicazione dell’Università di Bari. Il progetto, dal titolo “Didattica blended di base e professionalizzante (Dida.Pro)”, ha avuto come obiettivo quello di innovare la didattica universitaria. Sono stati coinvolti una decina di docenti e ciascuno ha messo in pratica l’innovazione in modo personalizzato. Molti hanno adottato l’uso dei webinar, ovvero un sistema di audio-video conferenza che consente una partecipazione attiva in remoto, sia degli studenti che dei docenti. Altri hanno elaborato delle modalità di intervento di esperti che non si limitavano a proporre testimonianze ma che fossero punti di partenza per interazioni costruttive e produttive tra studenti, modellizzate sulle pratiche professionali. I corsi sui cui tale innovazione è stata sperimentata coprono un ampio spettro: dalla didattica della L2 all’e-learning, dalla Psicologia sociale alla Storia delle dottrine politiche, dalla Psicologia della personalità all’orientamento al lavoro

Students’ experiences. In Report D. 7.5 of ITCOLE European project, contract IST-2000-26249

Report D. 7.5 of ITCOLE European project, contract IST-2000-2624