Professional competences of pre-service teachers: from the F2F to the online learning programme

The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant challenges for the global higher education community: it has required faculty and students to respond to an unprecedented challenge and to shift suddenly from traditional face-to-face curriculum to distance learning formats through virtual classrooms. Some learning programmes, such as the TFA, had a strong theoretical-practical characterisation and were therefore delimited by regulations requiring full in-presence (F2F) and compulsory attendance. Due to the pandemic, the one-year teaching-learning programme for support teachers (TFA) followed the same path and was redesigned by universities for distance education. The re-design at the University of Macerata was based on pedagogical assumptions: technology was intended as a support to achieve learning outcomes. Our study aims to investigate perceptions of the theoretical and practical skills acquired from the F2F and the online format, considering a group of students enrolled for different school orders who followed both the current online programme and the previous years\u2019 F2F programm

Hydrogen Production by Formic Acid Decomposition over Ca Promoted Ni/SiO2 Catalysts: Effect of the Calcium Content

Formic acid, a major product of biomass processing, is regarded as a potential liquid carrier for hydrogen storage and delivery. The catalytic dehydrogenation of FA to generate hydrogen using heterogeneous catalysts is of great interest. Ni based catalysts supported on silica were synthesized by incipient wet impregnation. The eect of doping with an alkaline earth metal (calcium) wasstudied, and the solids were tested in the formic acid decomposition reaction to produce hydrogen.The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and programmed temperature surface reaction (TPSR).The catalyst doped with 19.3 wt.% of Ca showed 100% conversion of formic acid at 160 C, with a 92% of selectivity to hydrogen. In addition, all the tested materials were promising for their application, since they showed catalytic behaviors (conversion and selectivity to hydrogen) comparable to thoseof noble metals reported in the literature.Fil: Faroldi, Betina María Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Investigaciones en Catálisis y Petroquímica "Ing. José Miguel Parera". Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Investigaciones en Catálisis y Petroquímica "Ing. José Miguel Parera"; ArgentinaFil: Paviotti, María Aneley. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Investigaciones en Catálisis y Petroquímica "Ing. José Miguel Parera". Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Investigaciones en Catálisis y Petroquímica "Ing. José Miguel Parera"; ArgentinaFil: Camino-Manjarrés, M.. Universidad de Salamanca; EspañaFil: González-Carrazán, S.. Universidad de Salamanca; EspañaFil: López-Olmos, C.. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Catálisis y Petroleoquímica; EspañaFil: Rodríguez-Ramos, I.. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Catálisis y Petroleoquímica; Españ

Improving girls’ perception of computer science as a viable career option through game playing and design: Lessons from a systematic literature review

The objective of exposing girls to Computer Science as a career option has led to research directed towards gaming activities for girls. These activities include both game play and game design. Research about gaming activities for increasing girls’ interest in computer science has gained much attention over the past few years and has resulted in a number of contributions. We follow up with an overview of the status of research through a Systematic Literature Review. We investigate the relation between the various game playing or designing activities and their impact on girls’ perception of Computer Science as a career choice. We further present the design consideration for the games and related activities to potentially improve the perception of girls towards a Computer Science career. The applied method is a Systematic Literature Review through which we investigate which contributions were made, which knowledge areas were most explored, and which research facets have been used. We identify 25 papers to distill a common understanding of the state-of-the-art. Specifically, we investigate the effects that the game play/design activities had on girls’ perception about Computer Science; and what are the key design factors to be kept in mind while designing a serious game to improve girls’ perception about Computer Science. The results of this systematic literature review show that game playing or designing could indeed improve how girls perceive having a career in CS. The key aspects that such activities require are personalizing, opportunity for collaboration and the presence of a female lead characterThis work has been done during the tenure of an ERCIM Alain Bensoussan fellowshi

Openpedagogypractices:acasestudyinundergraduateeducation

The study reports about an open education practice in undergraduate education, by analysing the openness of a course in which the teacher was not a ‘self-declared’ open educator. It explores data from involved educators, students and entrepreneurs, who participated in a project-based learning pathway carried out online. Data collection included observation of the process by an external researcher, final questionnaires and interviews to participants. Conclusions argue that open education practices (OEPs) can also be found in courses which have not been designed purposely as ‘open’, and that further work is needed to understand students’ perceptions in open practices

Openpedagogypractices:acasestudyinundergraduateeducation

The study reports about an open education practice in undergraduate education, by analysing the openness of a course in which the teacher was not a ‘self-declared’ open educator. It explores data from involved educators, students and entrepreneurs, who participated in a project-based learning pathway carried out online. Data collection included observation of the process by an external researcher, final questionnaires and interviews to participants. Conclusions argue that open education practices (OEPs) can also be found in courses which have not been designed purposely as ‘open’, and that further work is needed to understand students’ perceptions in open practices

Exploring the Role of the University in the Creation of Knowledge Networks in the Aso Valley, a Rural Area in Marche Region (Italy)

Rural areas are often disadvantaged by their peripheral position, depopu- lation and the scarcity of primary services, but they also have specific characteristics, especially in terms of cultural capital, that can make them attractive as tourism destinations. Sustainable tourism paths can be devel- oped through collaboration between various actors with complementary skills and areas of expertise, especially local cooperatives and associations. In this context, universities can have a crucial role in creating knowledge networks and enhancing “rural buzz” that is the flow of information and knowledge among the individuals, organizations, and businesses in a rural area through face-to-face interaction. This study focuses on an Ital- ian case study from the Marche Region: the collaboration between the University of Macerata (UNIMC) and a local association, Agritur-Aso, has been chosen as an example of a network for the co-valorization of regional cultural capital

Universities and wineries: Supporting sustainable development in disadvantaged rural areas

7nononeThis exploratory study focuses on the role of the university in supporting sustainable development in rural areas, focusing on small wine producers, particularly those located in remote and disadvantaged areas. Disadvantaged areas have distinctive features. Firstly, they are fragile areas from a sociodemographic point of view because of population ageing. Secondly, they are unstable from an environmental (physical, eco-systemic) point of view, as a consequence of insufficient maintenance of their seminatural capital. University–business cooperation with companies located in those areas thus needs to be designed by considering the specific characteristic of the place. Therefore, this exploratory study sought to understand how the university can work with small wineries and support them and their rural area to face inequalities and low growth, and foster social innovation. We present a case study based on field research in Italy. The results-based on the analysis of 26 semistructured interviews with small wine producers-are discussed by exploring the potential form of cooperation between rural stakeholders and universities, beyond the concept of knowledge transfer. Conclusions highlight the need for the university to act as a facilitator of dialogue at a territorial level, as a first step toward to formulation of shared sustainable goals.noneAleffi C.; Tomasi S.; Ferrara C.; Santini C.; Paviotti G.; Baldoni F.; Cavicchi A.Aleffi, C.; Tomasi, S.; Ferrara, C.; Santini, C.; Paviotti, G.; Baldoni, F.; Cavicchi, A