Il questionario per i docenti: costruzione, implementazione, analisi. Progetto PRODID (Preparazione alla Professionalità Docente e Innovazione Didattica) - Rapporto dell'Unità di Ricerca n.3 - prima annualità [Technical Report Series, 1/2014]

The work aims to illustrate the design and the first results of a survey which involved 1849 university professors who were teaching courses at Bachelor's and Master's Degrees of University of Padova during the academic year 2012/13. The research is part of a project of improvement of the academic educational innovation and the quality of academic teaching. The data was directly obtained using a CAWI questionnaire which was distributed to the whole teaching staff, and it was linked to administrative data related to the educational offer and students’ evaluation of teaching in the same academic year. The results were summarized using some indicators which showed the diffusion of good practices of teaching, support needs, beliefs, interest and availability of the respondents. We identified sub-groups of potential participants for the qualitative phase of the research and subjects to involve in different and integrated activities directed to develop teachers’ professional competences

PRODID project

This dataset is obtained by merging three different datasets coming from the University of Padua (academic year: 2012-2013). The first one is the standard online survey carried out by the University to measure students' opinions on the didactic activities of bachelor degree courses. The second one is the administrative dataset that collects information on the teachers and the didactic activities. The third one is an innovative dataset, collected by means of a new online survey aiming at providing a picture of the teaching experiences developed in the university classrooms. Indeed, the University of Padua in 2013 promoted the PRODID (“Teacher professional development and academic educational innovation” – in italian “Preparazione alla professionalità docente e innovazione didattica”). The goal of this project is to highlight teachers' needs, beliefs and practices of teaching and learning

Cold acclimation induces changes in Arabidopsis tonoplast protein abundance and activity and alters phosphorylation of tonoplast monosaccharide transporters

Because they are immotile organisms, higher plants have developed efficient strategies for adaptation to temperature changes. During cold acclimation, plants accumulate specific types of solutes to enhance freezing tolerance. The vacuole is a major solute storage organelle, but until now the role of tonoplast proteins in cold acclimation has not been investigated. In a comparative tonoplast proteome analysis, we identified several membrane proteins with altered abundance upon cold acclimation. We found an increased protein abundance of the tonoplast pyrophosphatase and subunits of the vacuolar V-ATPase and a significantly increased V-ATPase activity. This was accompanied by increased vacuolar concentrations of dicarbonic acids and soluble sugars. Consistently, the abundance of the tonoplast dicarbonic acid transporter was also higher in cold-acclimatized plants. However, no change in the protein abundance of tonoplast monosaccharide transporters was detectable. However, a generally higher cold-induced phosphorylation of members of this sugar transporter sub-group was observed. Our results indicate that cold-induced solute accumulation in the vacuole is mediated by increased acidification of this organelle. Thus solute transport activity is either modulated by increased protein amounts or by modification of proteins via phosphorylation

La ricerca valutativa nel campo della didattica: una indagine tra i docenti dell\u2019Universit\ue0 di Padova. Evaluative research in education: a survey among professors of University of Padova

This work aims at illustrating to illustrate the design and the first results of a survey which involved 1849 university professors who were teaching courses at Bachelor's and Master's Degrees of University of Padova during the academic year 2012/13. The research is part of a project of improvement of the academic educational innovation and the quality of academic teaching. The kind of approach is an evaluative research which was conducted within the academic organization and carried out among peers, using a quali-quantitative mixed method. The data was directly obtained using a CAWI questionnaire which was distributed to the whole teaching staff, and it was linked to administrative data related to the educational offer and students\u2019 evaluation of teaching in the same academic year. After a preliminary analysis of the factors which affected the probability of answering to the questionnaire, the results were summarized using some indicators which showed the diffusion of good practices of teaching, support needs, beliefs, interest and availability of the respondents to discuss more extensively the questions of the survey. The results are presented considering as reference context of teaching action and learning activities the eight Schools into which the degree courses are organized. Lastly, we identified sub-groups of potential participants for the qualitative phase of the research: they were characterized by different levels of professional practice and interest in innovating university teaching and they will be the right subjects to involve in different and integrated activities directed to develop teachers\u2019 professional competences

Il questionario per i docenti: costruzione, implementazione, analisi. Progetto PRODID (Preparazione alla Professionalit\ue0 Docente e Innovazione Didattica) - Rapporto dell\u2019Unit\ue0 di Ricerca n.3

The work aims to illustrate the design and the first results of a survey which involved 1849 university professors who were teaching courses at Bachelor's and Master's Degrees of University of Padova during the academic year 2012/13. The research is part of a project of improvement of the academic educational innovation and the quality of academic teaching. The data was directly obtained using a CAWI questionnaire which was distributed to the whole teaching staff, and it was linked to administrative data related to the educational offer and students\u2019 evaluation of teaching in the same academic year. The results were summarized using some indicators which showed the diffusion of good practices of teaching, support needs, beliefs, interest and availability of the respondents. We identified sub-groups of potential participants for the qualitative phase of the research and subjects to involve in different and integrated activities directed to develop teachers\u2019 professional competences

Tools for teaching assessment at Padua University: role, development and validation. PRODID Project - Teacher professional development and academic educational innovation - Report of the Research Unit n.3. (Lo strumento dell'Università di Padova per la valutazione della Didattica: funzione, evoluzione e validazione. Progetto PRODID - Preparazione alla Professionalità Docente e Innovazione Didattica - Rapporto dell’Unità di Ricerca n.3)

The report presents aims, history, current contents and characteristics of statistical validity and reliability of the instrument used at Padua university in the survey about students opinion on didactics activities (first cycle, second-cycle, and single-cycle degree courses)

Le ricerca del progetto PRODID: primi risultati

Il lavoro presenta il disegno e i primi risultati di una indagine che ha coinvolto 1849 docenti universitari, impegnati a svolgere, come loro carico didattico istituzionale, attivit\ue0 di insegnamento nei corsi di laurea triennali e magistrali dell\u2019Ateneo di Padova nell\u2019a.a. 2012/13. L\u2019indagine si colloca nell\u2019ambito di un progetto di miglioramento dell\u2019azione didattica svolta dai docenti, e di generale promozione della qualit\ue0 dell\u2019insegnamento universitario