A proposal to act on Theory of Mind by applying robotics and virtual worlds with children with ASD

The article proposes an intervention framed under a single-subject research design where robotics and a 3D virtual environment are used jointly to improve the development of Theory of Mind in children with ASD. The project aims at verifying if the use of a humanoid robot, with high interactive abilities and responses, along with a virtual robot in a social virtual world can enable an improved comprehension of emotions and perspective taking. Specifically the planned activities are designed to gradually support the subjects with ASD in interactional settings in order to make them acquire the needed self-confidence to finally interact with a classmate in the virtual environment

A study of teacher/student relations in a formal face-to-face university context supported by online tools within an enactive approach

AbstractThe university didactics now requires a re-examination both in terms of objectives, and in terms of didactical formats. If the objective is to enable students to develop a professional habitus, the hypothesis is that the use of a situated approach and the presence of contexts of negotiation supported by new technologies can be effective. This paper analyses the relations that occurred within the “General Didactic” course at the Faculty of Education (University of Macerata) with more than 200 students and identifies the role of interactions in both an online environment and in the face-to-face class context in order to understand the evolution of the system according to an enactive approach

La ricerca scientifica al tempo dei social media

Il processo di pianificazione e sviluppo di una ricerca risente, oggi, dell\u2019impatto delle nuove dinamiche di comunicazione e dei diversi spazi di interazione online del web sociale. La costruzione, la condivisione e la promozione del prodotto della ricerca risultano modificati dal valore partecipativo della cultura 2.0. Al ricercatore di oggi sono richieste nuove attitudini. Il cosiddetto digital scholar \ue8 colui che padroneggia con consapevolezza ambienti non sempre progettati per essere fruiti dalla comunit\ue0 accademica. Inoltre orientarsi nel ricco panorama dei servizi 2.0 significa soprattutto comprendere le implicazioni di carattere metodologico ed etico insite nella esternalizzazione della propria attivit\ue0 e dei prodotti di ricerca a essa collegati

School, curriculum and technology: the what and how of their connections

Technology is, here, meant as an umbrella concept that finds its location in some dimensions of the school governance such as a practice of scrutiny and a means to develop teacher training, but mostly as part of students' background and expectations to be shared in a co-constructed curriculum. Technologies, nowadays, have been developing a new "world order" where education can cover some of the gaps students can hardly handle by just "living" the digital reality in which they are fully involved also thanks to a continuous online connection aided by the mobile devices. Being autonomous in managing online contacts and information doesn't mean being digitally confident citizens and educational institutions can help identifying personalized and self-regulated learning path where students' needs and potentialities can find in the collaborative construction of the curriculum a common ground which ensure equity of the educational offer and respect of diversity at the same time. Keywords : technology, school, curriculu

La ricerca scientifica al tempo dei social media

The book, after introducing the concept of "digital scholarship" and the interpretative nodes connected to it, retraces the issues related to the implications of the social media usage in the scientific production workflow. A conclusive reflection shifts the attention from technology as a support to the research to tecnology as an object of the research, by introducing digital ethnography and delimiting the ​​discussion area to a specific medium, the multi-user virtual worlds

htr2c gene variant and salivary cortisol levels after endurance physical activity a pilot study

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Robotics, 3D virtual worlds and social stories. A proposal for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Gli studi sulle applicazioni della robotica e dei mondi immersivi multi-utente con persone con disturbo dello spettro autistico evidenziano un interesse crescente per la definizione delle affordance che tali tecnologie rivestono negli interventi per il potenziamento della comprensione sociale. Il contributo, dopo una disamina di alcuni studi di settore e la discussione delle affordance delle tecnologie oggetto di interesse, presenter\ue0 una proposta di intervento sul riconoscimento di una specifica emozione. L\u2019ipotesi di percorso proposto \ue8 basata sulla costruzione di storie sociali in cui il concetto di mediazione sar\ue0 affrontato su livelli differenti, dalla predisposizione di setting fisici naturali alla costruzione di setting virtuali e dall\u2019interazione uomo-robot all\u2019interazione avatar-robot

The Work Agentic Capabilities (WAC) questionnaire: validation of a new measure

Agentic capabilities refer to the basic capabilities of mind that, according to social cognitive theory, allow people to proactively influence their functioning and external context. This study presents a new scale, namely the Work Agentic Capabilities (WAC) questionnaire, that consists of 28 items and measures forethought capability, self-regulation capability, self-reflection capability and vicarious capability in the organizational context. Accordingly, an exploratory (N = 290) and a confirmatory factor analysis (N = 300) demonstrated a four-factor structure. Agentic capabilities were positively correlated with psychological capital and its dimensions (i.e., self-efficacy, hope, optimism and resiliency), positive job attitudes (work engagement and job satisfaction), proactive organizational behaviours (job crafting and organizational citizenship behaviours), perceived job performance, and promotion prospects. Finally, we discuss meaningful differences in the mean values of agentic capabilities associated with sociodemographic and organizational variables. Results suggest that the WAC questionnaire can be reliably used to measure agentic capabilities.Las capacidades agénticas aluden a aquellas capacidades de la mente que según la teoría social cognitiva permiten a las personas influir de un modo proactivo en su funcionamiento y en el contexto externo. El presente estudio presenta una nueva escala, el cuestionario de Capacidades Agénticas en el Trabajo (WAC, por sus siglas en inglés), compuesto de 28 ítems que mide la capacidad de previsión, autorregulación, autorreflexión y vicaria en el contexto organizativo. Un estudio con análisis factorial exploratorio (N = 290) y confirmatorio (N = 300) descubrió una estructura de cuatro factores. Las capacidades agénticas correlacionaban positivamente con el capital psicológico y sus dimensiones (es decir, autoeficacia, esperanza, optimismo y resiliencia), las actitudes laborales positivas (engagement y satisfacción en el trabajo), la percepción del desempeño laboral y las perspectivas de promoción. Por último abordamos las diferencias significativas de los valores medios de las capacidades agénticas asociadas a las variables sociodemográficas y organizativas. Los resultados indican que el cuestionario WAC puede utilizarse de modo fiable para medir las capacidades agénticas