Digital Resilience and Psychological Wellbeing of Italian Higher Education Students: An Exploratory Study

Covid-19 pandemic has increased the use of technology in the educational field. While previous literature has demonstrated the benefits of using technology in educational environments, the risks related to problematic digital behaviors have been less investigated. Digital resilience represents a protective factor for students’ learning outcomes and emotional wellbeing. The main aim of this study was to explore Italian university students’ digital resilience levels and their psychological wellbeing in terms of stress and psychological resilience. 94 students (F=57.4%) aged 19-57 (M=31.11, SD=9.04) completed an ad-hoc questionnaire on digital resilience which included the Perceived Stress Scale, the KOP-26, and the Brief Resilience Scale. Descriptive statistics, item analysis, and bivariate correlations were performed. Results showed that Italian students reported higher levels of stress (M=21.53, SD=6.92) than the Italian normative sample. In addition to this, they perceived good levels of both psychological and digital resilience: they reported being aware of potential strategies for preparing for and responding to cyber threats and how to face negative online experiences. These results could usefully inform interventions aimed at helping them to recognize and manage risks and threats when online

Ambienti di apprendimento transmediali inclusivi: gli effetti della DaD sugli studenti con DSA e BES

Il presente contributo mira a indagare le percezioni e gli effetti che la Didattica a Distanza ha prodotto sugli individui con Disturbi Specifici dell’Apprendimento (DSA) e Bisogni Educativi Speciali (BES). Durante l’ultimo anno, l’emergenza epidemiologica da COVID-19 ha promosso una rimodulazione repentina delle metodologie didattiche e degli ambienti di apprendimento verso l’ubiquitous learning. Tuttavia, già da diversi anni, si avvertiva l’impellente necessità di innovare il fare pedagogico attraverso l’applicazione di nuove tecnologie inclusive e l’accomodamento della didattica al funzionamento cerebrale del singolo alunno. A tal fine, si riflette sulla prevenzione delle difficoltà cognitive e si evidenziano le statistiche scolastiche, riferite all’a.s. 2019/2020, circa le misure compensative adottate per fronteggiare i DSA e BES

The neuropsychological effects of motor development mediated by technologies in disabled subjects

Background: the sector of motor development mediated by technologies in disabled subjects is growing. It is becoming popular as subject of interdisciplinary studies in engineering, neuroscientific, psychological and pedagogical fields. Nevertheless, only in the last few years scientific studies in motor development mediated by technologies in disabled subjects are analysing and studying the neuropsychological effects of such practices as well. Objective: the purpose of this work is the analysis of the scientific literature about the effects of the employment of technologies in motor abilitation/rehabilitation in disabled subjects. It will identify and track the research paths that scientific studies are following. The identification will be based on the scientific production of the last decade. The target includes adults and children. Material and methods: this work started researching combined words among the concepts of motor development, technology, disability and effects in electronic databases. In order to be considered valuable, the studies must have the purpose to measure the motivational, emotional and/or cognitive effects associated with motor development. Scientific papers which don’t focus mainly on psychological implication were excluded from this review. Results: this work observes that international scientific literature strongly focused on 4 macro-categories, related to the technology used: 1) assistive robots, 2) brain-computer interface (BCI); 3) augmented or virtual reality; (3) technology-aided support tools and interactive apps. These tools produce a recovery or improvement in different fields: motor, social, cognitive, emotional and motivational. Conclusions: the research about motor development mediated by technologies in disabled subjects has a wide reach in the recovery of neuromotor deficit and in the acquisition or improvement of neuropsychological competences. The effects can generate relapses not only in the field of neuro-motricity but also in educational and mental health field

Strumenti transmediali e ambienti di apprendimento nella formazione dei docenti di sostegno

The need to improve pedagogical methodologies is more and more urgent, considering that technology is constantly moving forward; this need become essential to face the epidemic emergency. The Covid-19 virus has highlighted potentialities and critical issues of transmedials tools. University of Foggia has been used the research-action for a long time in order to efficiently improve services and implement hybrid learning environments. The attention towards the students is very important, and it’s from their needs and reflections that the change arises. This paper focuses on the courses TFA Sostegno IV and V. We will analyze the practices of virtual simulation of group work, in order to identify the innovative didactital methodologies and future perspectives based on the perception of the students, detected from specific questionnaires built for them

APPLYING GAMIFICATION IN LEARNING PROCESSES: GOOD PRACTICES AND RECOMMENDATIONS ABOUT HOW SERIOUS GAMES CAN ENHANCE STUDENTS' LEARNING SKILLS

This paper is a quantitative literary review about serious games (SGs). It investigates two main questions: Are SGs used by teachers in planning their teaching and learning processes? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the implementation of SGs in an educational process and environment? We investigated about 200 papers from different countries and selected 96 of them after reading the abstracts. We didn’t choose a specific school grade or subject because the aim wasn’t a qualitative analysis about the specific outcomes that the implementation of SGs can provide to a single subject or scientific aspect. The main purpose of the paper is the evaluation of the usefulness and suitability of SGs in various educational environments. The most predictable positive features emerging from the review are the positive effects of SGs on students’ engagement in learning and learning outcomes and the positive feedbacks from teachers. The negative ones are the difficulty of using a SG outside of its unique educational environments, the resistance of some teachers, and the absence of SGs in less spoken languages. In the conclusions there is a reflection about the role Universities can have in the development of SGs and in creating a network among all the actors involved in this process

Evaluation of the quality of the educational software from the perspective of experiences of Italian and Polish pre-service teachers

The research involved evaluating the usability of modern educational software in two European countries (Italy, Poland). The research was conducted in the first quarter of 2022 by carrying out an online questionnaire using the LimeSurvey system. The online questionnaire was completed by 1209 prospective teachers. The software evaluation was limited to 22 types of teaching and learning support solutions, namely: Quizizz, Mentimeter, Wakelet, Padlet, Canva, Emaze, Answergarden, Jamboard, Coggle, Creately, Wordwall, LearningApps, Prezi, Kahoot, Plickers, Trimino, Dobble, Genial.ly, ClassDojo, Explain Everything, KhanAcademy, Easelly. The quantitative analysis of the collected data allowed us to draw the following conclusions: 1) In both countries, the most effective tools evaluated as: Canva, Quizizz, Prezi, Kahoot, Wordwall; 2) Canva software is the most well-known digital teaching tool in both countries; 3) There is a large variation in the evaluation of software in both countries; 4) In Poland and Italy pre-service teachers evaluate Canva, Answergarden, ClassDojo, KhanAcademy in a similar way; 5) The vast majority of respondents in both countries have no experience with educational software or rate the software low; 6) Among Italian respondents there is a constant tendency in the evaluation of educational software - a positive evaluation of one type of software is in a positive relation with the evaluation of another type of software; 7) Polish pre-service teachers are more diverse in their evaluation of software - a positive evaluation of one software does not necessarily condition a positive evaluation of another digital teaching resource