The exploratory research here presented investigates the relationship between children and the mo... more The exploratory research here presented investigates the relationship between children and the mobile phone, the sense they attribute to its use and their perception of parental mediation related to this medium considered into the domestic context: family is the first place where meanings, norms and values on media use are supposed to be socialized and negotiated. According to studies on parental mediation, the research is aimed at understanding if children perceive an educational intervention by parents or, as it is a personal medium, parents don't interfere in children's relationship with the mobile phone. Through a closed format questionnaire, self completed by 272 students aged 9-11 years, the research surveys ownership, practical uses, meanings given to personal practices and perceptions about interventions of mediation by parents in relation to mobile phone. The data analyses show different levels of mobile phone usage, the functions most often experienced, the dimensions of meaning that accompany children's practices with the mobile phone and the perceptions of different forms of parental intervention, revealing a not clear correlation between children's practices and parents' educational perceived intervention. The results suggest the opportunity of further investigations to deepen the understanding of parental mediation and to check if the limited educational impact reported by children relates only to the use of this technology or if it deals with a more general problem of educational engagement by parents.
Questa ricerca si e' proposta di studiare le relazioni tra credenze, conoscenze e pratiche didatt... more Questa ricerca si e' proposta di studiare le relazioni tra credenze, conoscenze e pratiche didattiche, riferite all’educazione mediale, allo scopo di rilevare il grado di “congruenza” tra i tre domini, ipotizzando che la scarsa frequenza di attivita' mediali nelle nostre aule scolastiche possa essere dovuta ad inadeguate conoscenze da parte degli insegnanti. La ricerca ha coinvolto 613 insegnanti di scuola primaria del Veneto, frequentanti il Corso Abilitante Speciale nel biennio 2006-08, cui e’ stato somministrato un questionario finalizzato a rilevare le loro credenze e conoscenze sull’educazione mediale e le attivita' di educazione mediale effettivamente svolte in aula. Dall’analisi dei dati raccolti emergono concezioni generalmente positive sull’educazione mediale, mentre per quanto riguarda le conoscenze si evidenzia una distribuzione delle risposte che segue la curva gaussiana, ad indicare un fenomeno che non sembra essere stato oggetto di mirati interventi formativi. In merito alle pratiche disciplinari, i dati indicano una maggiore, sia pur non elevata, frequenza di attivita’ inerenti ai linguaggi visivi rispetto a quelli audiovisivi e multimediali. Per quanto riguarda la relazione tra conoscenze, credenze e pratiche, considerando sia il totale dei rispondenti, sia il solo gruppo di insegnanti impegnati nell’insegnamento di Arte e Immagine negli ultimi tre anni di servizio, non sono emerse, dall’analisi delle correlazioni tra i tre domini, covariazioni significative. Diversamente dalle attese, questo risultato, imputabile nel complesso all’eterogeneita’ dei partecipanti alla ricerca, si osserva anche all’interno del sottogruppo di insegnanti che hanno insegnato Arte e Immagine. Isolando pero' il gruppo di docenti che ha dimostrato le maggiori conoscenze di educazione mediale, il loro possesso sembra influire positivamente sulle pratiche disciplinari, in particolare sulla concreta proposta di attivita’ di lettura di testi mediali, mentre la scrittura rimane anche per loro un nodo dolente. E’ comunque da evidenziare che questo gruppo selezionato e’ molto esiguo rispetto non solo al complesso degli intervistati, ma anche all’interno del gruppo di insegnanti di Arte e Immagine. I risultati della ricerca, che rivelano concezioni dei docenti favorevoli all’educazione mediale e che sembrano avvalorare la tesi dell’incidenza delle conoscenze disciplinari nell’orientare le pratiche didattiche, mettendo in luce il problema della formazione dei docenti, suggeriscono l’opportunita’ di sviluppare indagini sistematiche con docenti di ruolo per verificare se la carenza formativa, che appare caratterizzare i partecipanti alla ricerca, sia una loro peculiarita' o non sia realmente diffusa nel corpo insegnante della Scuola primaria.
The aim of this paper is to outline an university structure that could be a reference point to bo... more The aim of this paper is to outline an university structure that could be a reference point to both the teacher education at any instructional level and the didactic research connected to it. In the meanwhile, this paper would stimulate a debate on issues that in our Country have been neglected so far: the higher education teacher training and the overall improvement of university didactics. For this purpose, we’ll first consider the teacher education issue according to the current European policies lead by the Lisbon Strategy. We’ll distinguish the school teacher education from the university teacher education and we’ll analyze some of the main documents developed by European organizations that give shared guidelines on the question. Then, because there are few documents produced for the higher education, we will consider some academic structures – Centre for Teaching and Learning e Subject Centre – that attend to teacher training and to didactic research organization and that are good examples of implementation of the recent European educational policy trends. Both analysis lines give suggestions in order to realize in our Country university structures - as Centre for Teaching and Learning or Subject Centre - that support new teacher education, didactics and didactic research, while facing problems connected with these aspects
Objective: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of a school-based nutri... more Objective: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of a school-based nutrition and media education intervention on the promotion of fruit and vegetable consumption to help prevent childhood obesity. Design: The 10-week-long intervention included sessions on nutrition education and media literacy. It also included a health communication media-based campaign workshop during which the children created posters, newsletters and video commercials related to fruits and vegetables targeted to their parents. For evaluation purposes, the study utilized a mixed-methods approach, including a quasi-experimental study (with one intervention group and one control group) and a focus group study. Setting: Four different elementary schools in Treviso (Veneto Region of Italy) agreed to participate in the research. Subjects: The target population for the study included 10-year-old Italian children and their parents. Results: Data indicate that this intervention was effective for children but not for parents. Evaluation results show that the intervention was effective in significantly increasing children's fruit and vegetable intake (P < 0·05) and all psychosocial determinants (P < 0·05). Conclusions: The study results confirm the efficacy of a school-based health and media education intervention to address the children's obesity issue and, in particular, to increase children's fruit and vegetable intake. The study also opens a new perspective on the theoretical constructs investigated, because the development of 'ability of expression' could be considered one of the most important factors to determine the efficacy of the intervention.
Dopo aver definito la prospettiva prescelta per affrontare la problematica della formazione tecno... more Dopo aver definito la prospettiva prescelta per affrontare la problematica della formazione tecnologica degli insegnanti, il saggio propone alcuni modelli che possono sia orientare le azioni rivolte alla sua risoluzione sia guidare la ricerca in materia. In particolare, il saggio esamina inizialmente la problematica da un punto di vista istituzionale, proponendo un modello, desunto dall’analisi comparativa di un significativo corpus di ricerche, che evidenzia le principali strategie adottate per perseguire l’integrazione delle tecnologie nei programmi educativi destinati ai futuri insegnanti e gli effetti dell’impiego delle strategie prescelte. Di fatto, qualsiasi progetto formativo non può prescindere dalla scelta di un framework teorico che definisca su cosa possa o debba vertere la formazione degli insegnanti e, tra quelli esistenti, il saggio privilegia un modello, il TPACK, centrato sulla conoscenza degli insegnanti – considerata quale risultato dell’integrazione di tre tipi di...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a school-based media education ... more The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a school-based media education curriculum on the promotion of fruit and vegetables consumption to prevent childhood obesity. The target population for the study was 10 years old Italian children (n=60) and their parents. The study utilized a mixed-method approach, with a quasi experimental design (with one intervention group and one control group). During pre-test and post-test and delayed post-test (after three months), psychosocial determinants (i.e. self efficacy, motivation, parental support ) and fruit and vegetable intake were measured. Upon completion of the intervention, focus groups were conducted with children in the intervention group. During the focus group, children were asked to express their health and media beliefs and knowledge, and nutritional behavior intentions, as well as their opinions/satisfaction with the intervention. The purpose of this presentation is to present the results from the focus gr...
The main purpose of this work is to contribute to defining a research approach that could favour ... more The main purpose of this work is to contribute to defining a research approach that could favour dialogue and cooperation among the principal actors in the media communication pact, in order to make cartoons quality products, and more and more suited for children’s growth. In particular, the research investigates the criteria for cartoons’ production and evaluation used by four categories of subjects: cartoon makers and media experts, as regards the production criteria, children of 5/6 and 10/11 years and their parents, as regards the evaluation criteria. Moreover, the research looks into the conceptions held by the same subjects in evaluating a cartoon’s quality. For these purposes a semi-structured interview was defined with slight differences in question formulations, depending on the subjects involved, and was administered to 60 subjects, 10 for each of the above-mentioned categories. The results show convergences but also differences among the four categories of subjects, revea...
This essay deals with the study of comics, and its aim is to encourage the interaction of two dif... more This essay deals with the study of comics, and its aim is to encourage the interaction of two different fields of study – the psychology of art and the humanities and social sciences – for further investigation into the topic. After a brief neo-Arnheimian analysis of the main features of comics, the essay addresses a specific aspect, namely closure. This process, which al- lows users to connect the panels by means of the gutters and to understand the whole text, is examined mainly in the light of semiotical, narratological and pedagogical theoretical approaches. The example of closure is particularly helpful to highlight a set of problems inherent in the separation between the two fields of study, identifiable - to put it briefly - in the difference between “perceiving and thinking”, but also to propose lines of re- search from which, thanks to the convergence of these two different fields, important results could emerge.
This article concerns a training intervention, based on the Technological, Pedagogical And Conten... more This article concerns a training intervention, based on the Technological, Pedagogical And Content Knowledge-TPACK framework developed by Koehler & Mishra (2005; Mishra & Koehler, 2006), and involving 110 lower secondary school teachers in the Italian Region of Veneto participating in the Cl@sses 2.0 Action. After a short introduction of Cl@sses 2.0 Action and TPACK framework, the article presents some results obtained through a questionnaire submitted to teachers, aimed at surveying their knowledge with respect to the areas of the TPACK framework. Finally, suggestions to guide teachers in implementing TPACK and developing flexible knowledge to integrate technologies into instructional practices are concisely presented.
This article briefly presents a training experience offered to primary and secondary school teach... more This article briefly presents a training experience offered to primary and secondary school teachers and their students, within the research field born from the convergence of media education and health education. The article aims at outlining this field, from which the transversal and flexible nature of media education and its theoretic and methodological potential to cross different study perspectives emerges.
This article presents an ‘open’ proposal aimed at outlining the strategies to incorporate technol... more This article presents an ‘open’ proposal aimed at outlining the strategies to incorporate technology into pre-service education, which we hope could be discussed and improved on, but most of all tested in the field. Moreover the goal of the proposal is to promote communication between national research, institutions and political entities, in order that they assume the joint responsibility to tackle the issue of technology and media integration in teacher training in a ‘rational’, systematic way.
The research presented in this article addresses the issue of teacher training in technology and ... more The research presented in this article addresses the issue of teacher training in technology and professional development, specifically in the scenario of an innovative project – Cl@sses 2.0 Action – promoted by the Italian Ministry of Education. Based on the TPACK theoretical model (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) and LAT-Learning Activity Types (Harris & Hofer, 2009), the research inquires into the level of TPACK development in a group of in-service teachers participating on a voluntary basis in order to find suitable ways to guide them in the integration of technology into their educational practices. The research involves , and the relations among these areas; 2) an application of such knowledge through the design of teaching units. In the former case, an adaptation of the questionnaire elaborated by Shmidt and Colleagues (2009) was administered to 11 class councils (110 lower secondary school teachers). In the latter case, following the approach of Hofer and Harris (2010) with some adaptations, a planning grid was proposed for the same subjects, but a feedback of only 2 full class councils (22 teachers) was received. The research findings show some weaknesses non only in teacher’s knowledge, as the literature highlights, but also in planning skills, mostly regarding teaching approaches, student activities and knowledge forms. The necessity to invest in teacher training as a whole – and not only in their technological competency – is suggested.
The present research is aimed at inquiring some features characterising the profile of 79 student... more The present research is aimed at inquiring some features characterising the profile of 79 student teachers at the end of their pre-service training. Technology proficiency, TPACK and beliefs on the value of technology in teaching and learning were explored through a self-administered questionnaire. Data show student teachers’ low proficiency with new or dedicated technology; some difficulties in integrating technology, pedagogy and disciplinary content, joined with the lack of modeling by Faculty and the student s’ limited amount of field practice; and the prevalence of a functionalist/instrumental view of technology, associated with a perceived benefits for teachers perspective and in contrast with a social/potentialistic view of technology. The results highlight the necessity to boost initial teacher training in the direction of specific/dedicated technology integration, the need to support Faculty in developing the integration of technology in practices, and the opportunity for researchers to adopt a more systematic approach to inquire other aspects, such as the role of leadership and curriculum on Faculty practices and student teachers’ education.
This study addresses the issue of technology integration in higher education, with the aim to exp... more This study addresses the issue of technology integration in higher education, with the aim to explore the level of integration of technology, pedagogy and content knowledge (TPACK) in university professors, and two specific factors affecting technology integration, namely: proficiency and beliefs on technology use. Forty-seven participants – professors teaching in Primary Teacher Education courses at three universities, in the north, centre and south of Italy – were involved. They were surveyed through a questionnaire on self-evaluation of proficiency in technology use for academic purposes, TPACK, and beliefs on benefits of technology use.The main results of the study reveal: professors’ high proficiency in commonly used technologies, but low proficiency in new or dedicated technologies; some weaknesses in knowledge domains involving technology; positive beliefs on benefits regarding technology use in academic teaching, regardless of the degree of proficiency declared. These findings suggest the need to train university professors, fostering proficiency, which is a prerequisite for technology integration, capitalizing on the positive beliefs on technology that affect integration process and giving them the opportunity to build their courses integrating technology, pedagogy and content. At the same time research results suggest a finer tuning of instruments to provide deeper insights into the problematic aspects that have emerged.
The exploratory study here presented investigates the relation between children and Internet cons... more The exploratory study here presented investigates the relation between children and Internet considered into the domestic context. Through a closed format questionnaire, self-completed by 272 Italian tweens aged 10 and 11 years, the research inquires practical uses of Internet, meanings given to personal practices and perceptions about parental mediation activities. The data analyses show different levels of Internet usage, the most often experienced functions, some prevailing dimensions of meaning related to use of Internet and perceptions of a partial parental mediation, and some differences between the two age groups regarding the dimensions of meaning and the perceptions of parental intervention.
The exploratory research here presented investigates the relationship between children and the mo... more The exploratory research here presented investigates the relationship between children and the mobile phone, the sense they attribute to its use and their perception of parental mediation related to this medium considered into the domestic context: family is the first place where meanings, norms and values on media use are supposed to be socialized and negotiated. According to studies on parental mediation, the research is aimed at understanding if children perceive an educational intervention by parents or, as it is a personal medium, parents don't interfere in children's relationship with the mobile phone. Through a closed format questionnaire, self completed by 272 students aged 9-11 years, the research surveys ownership, practical uses, meanings given to personal practices and perceptions about interventions of mediation by parents in relation to mobile phone. The data analyses show different levels of mobile phone usage, the functions most often experienced, the dimensions of meaning that accompany children's practices with the mobile phone and the perceptions of different forms of parental intervention, revealing a not clear correlation between children's practices and parents' educational perceived intervention. The results suggest the opportunity of further investigations to deepen the understanding of parental mediation and to check if the limited educational impact reported by children relates only to the use of this technology or if it deals with a more general problem of educational engagement by parents.
Questa ricerca si e' proposta di studiare le relazioni tra credenze, conoscenze e pratiche didatt... more Questa ricerca si e' proposta di studiare le relazioni tra credenze, conoscenze e pratiche didattiche, riferite all’educazione mediale, allo scopo di rilevare il grado di “congruenza” tra i tre domini, ipotizzando che la scarsa frequenza di attivita' mediali nelle nostre aule scolastiche possa essere dovuta ad inadeguate conoscenze da parte degli insegnanti. La ricerca ha coinvolto 613 insegnanti di scuola primaria del Veneto, frequentanti il Corso Abilitante Speciale nel biennio 2006-08, cui e’ stato somministrato un questionario finalizzato a rilevare le loro credenze e conoscenze sull’educazione mediale e le attivita' di educazione mediale effettivamente svolte in aula. Dall’analisi dei dati raccolti emergono concezioni generalmente positive sull’educazione mediale, mentre per quanto riguarda le conoscenze si evidenzia una distribuzione delle risposte che segue la curva gaussiana, ad indicare un fenomeno che non sembra essere stato oggetto di mirati interventi formativi. In merito alle pratiche disciplinari, i dati indicano una maggiore, sia pur non elevata, frequenza di attivita’ inerenti ai linguaggi visivi rispetto a quelli audiovisivi e multimediali. Per quanto riguarda la relazione tra conoscenze, credenze e pratiche, considerando sia il totale dei rispondenti, sia il solo gruppo di insegnanti impegnati nell’insegnamento di Arte e Immagine negli ultimi tre anni di servizio, non sono emerse, dall’analisi delle correlazioni tra i tre domini, covariazioni significative. Diversamente dalle attese, questo risultato, imputabile nel complesso all’eterogeneita’ dei partecipanti alla ricerca, si osserva anche all’interno del sottogruppo di insegnanti che hanno insegnato Arte e Immagine. Isolando pero' il gruppo di docenti che ha dimostrato le maggiori conoscenze di educazione mediale, il loro possesso sembra influire positivamente sulle pratiche disciplinari, in particolare sulla concreta proposta di attivita’ di lettura di testi mediali, mentre la scrittura rimane anche per loro un nodo dolente. E’ comunque da evidenziare che questo gruppo selezionato e’ molto esiguo rispetto non solo al complesso degli intervistati, ma anche all’interno del gruppo di insegnanti di Arte e Immagine. I risultati della ricerca, che rivelano concezioni dei docenti favorevoli all’educazione mediale e che sembrano avvalorare la tesi dell’incidenza delle conoscenze disciplinari nell’orientare le pratiche didattiche, mettendo in luce il problema della formazione dei docenti, suggeriscono l’opportunita’ di sviluppare indagini sistematiche con docenti di ruolo per verificare se la carenza formativa, che appare caratterizzare i partecipanti alla ricerca, sia una loro peculiarita' o non sia realmente diffusa nel corpo insegnante della Scuola primaria.
The aim of this paper is to outline an university structure that could be a reference point to bo... more The aim of this paper is to outline an university structure that could be a reference point to both the teacher education at any instructional level and the didactic research connected to it. In the meanwhile, this paper would stimulate a debate on issues that in our Country have been neglected so far: the higher education teacher training and the overall improvement of university didactics. For this purpose, we’ll first consider the teacher education issue according to the current European policies lead by the Lisbon Strategy. We’ll distinguish the school teacher education from the university teacher education and we’ll analyze some of the main documents developed by European organizations that give shared guidelines on the question. Then, because there are few documents produced for the higher education, we will consider some academic structures – Centre for Teaching and Learning e Subject Centre – that attend to teacher training and to didactic research organization and that are good examples of implementation of the recent European educational policy trends. Both analysis lines give suggestions in order to realize in our Country university structures - as Centre for Teaching and Learning or Subject Centre - that support new teacher education, didactics and didactic research, while facing problems connected with these aspects
Objective: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of a school-based nutri... more Objective: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of a school-based nutrition and media education intervention on the promotion of fruit and vegetable consumption to help prevent childhood obesity. Design: The 10-week-long intervention included sessions on nutrition education and media literacy. It also included a health communication media-based campaign workshop during which the children created posters, newsletters and video commercials related to fruits and vegetables targeted to their parents. For evaluation purposes, the study utilized a mixed-methods approach, including a quasi-experimental study (with one intervention group and one control group) and a focus group study. Setting: Four different elementary schools in Treviso (Veneto Region of Italy) agreed to participate in the research. Subjects: The target population for the study included 10-year-old Italian children and their parents. Results: Data indicate that this intervention was effective for children but not for parents. Evaluation results show that the intervention was effective in significantly increasing children's fruit and vegetable intake (P < 0·05) and all psychosocial determinants (P < 0·05). Conclusions: The study results confirm the efficacy of a school-based health and media education intervention to address the children's obesity issue and, in particular, to increase children's fruit and vegetable intake. The study also opens a new perspective on the theoretical constructs investigated, because the development of 'ability of expression' could be considered one of the most important factors to determine the efficacy of the intervention.
Dopo aver definito la prospettiva prescelta per affrontare la problematica della formazione tecno... more Dopo aver definito la prospettiva prescelta per affrontare la problematica della formazione tecnologica degli insegnanti, il saggio propone alcuni modelli che possono sia orientare le azioni rivolte alla sua risoluzione sia guidare la ricerca in materia. In particolare, il saggio esamina inizialmente la problematica da un punto di vista istituzionale, proponendo un modello, desunto dall’analisi comparativa di un significativo corpus di ricerche, che evidenzia le principali strategie adottate per perseguire l’integrazione delle tecnologie nei programmi educativi destinati ai futuri insegnanti e gli effetti dell’impiego delle strategie prescelte. Di fatto, qualsiasi progetto formativo non può prescindere dalla scelta di un framework teorico che definisca su cosa possa o debba vertere la formazione degli insegnanti e, tra quelli esistenti, il saggio privilegia un modello, il TPACK, centrato sulla conoscenza degli insegnanti – considerata quale risultato dell’integrazione di tre tipi di...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a school-based media education ... more The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a school-based media education curriculum on the promotion of fruit and vegetables consumption to prevent childhood obesity. The target population for the study was 10 years old Italian children (n=60) and their parents. The study utilized a mixed-method approach, with a quasi experimental design (with one intervention group and one control group). During pre-test and post-test and delayed post-test (after three months), psychosocial determinants (i.e. self efficacy, motivation, parental support ) and fruit and vegetable intake were measured. Upon completion of the intervention, focus groups were conducted with children in the intervention group. During the focus group, children were asked to express their health and media beliefs and knowledge, and nutritional behavior intentions, as well as their opinions/satisfaction with the intervention. The purpose of this presentation is to present the results from the focus gr...
The main purpose of this work is to contribute to defining a research approach that could favour ... more The main purpose of this work is to contribute to defining a research approach that could favour dialogue and cooperation among the principal actors in the media communication pact, in order to make cartoons quality products, and more and more suited for children’s growth. In particular, the research investigates the criteria for cartoons’ production and evaluation used by four categories of subjects: cartoon makers and media experts, as regards the production criteria, children of 5/6 and 10/11 years and their parents, as regards the evaluation criteria. Moreover, the research looks into the conceptions held by the same subjects in evaluating a cartoon’s quality. For these purposes a semi-structured interview was defined with slight differences in question formulations, depending on the subjects involved, and was administered to 60 subjects, 10 for each of the above-mentioned categories. The results show convergences but also differences among the four categories of subjects, revea...
This essay deals with the study of comics, and its aim is to encourage the interaction of two dif... more This essay deals with the study of comics, and its aim is to encourage the interaction of two different fields of study – the psychology of art and the humanities and social sciences – for further investigation into the topic. After a brief neo-Arnheimian analysis of the main features of comics, the essay addresses a specific aspect, namely closure. This process, which al- lows users to connect the panels by means of the gutters and to understand the whole text, is examined mainly in the light of semiotical, narratological and pedagogical theoretical approaches. The example of closure is particularly helpful to highlight a set of problems inherent in the separation between the two fields of study, identifiable - to put it briefly - in the difference between “perceiving and thinking”, but also to propose lines of re- search from which, thanks to the convergence of these two different fields, important results could emerge.
This article concerns a training intervention, based on the Technological, Pedagogical And Conten... more This article concerns a training intervention, based on the Technological, Pedagogical And Content Knowledge-TPACK framework developed by Koehler & Mishra (2005; Mishra & Koehler, 2006), and involving 110 lower secondary school teachers in the Italian Region of Veneto participating in the Cl@sses 2.0 Action. After a short introduction of Cl@sses 2.0 Action and TPACK framework, the article presents some results obtained through a questionnaire submitted to teachers, aimed at surveying their knowledge with respect to the areas of the TPACK framework. Finally, suggestions to guide teachers in implementing TPACK and developing flexible knowledge to integrate technologies into instructional practices are concisely presented.
This article briefly presents a training experience offered to primary and secondary school teach... more This article briefly presents a training experience offered to primary and secondary school teachers and their students, within the research field born from the convergence of media education and health education. The article aims at outlining this field, from which the transversal and flexible nature of media education and its theoretic and methodological potential to cross different study perspectives emerges.
This article presents an ‘open’ proposal aimed at outlining the strategies to incorporate technol... more This article presents an ‘open’ proposal aimed at outlining the strategies to incorporate technology into pre-service education, which we hope could be discussed and improved on, but most of all tested in the field. Moreover the goal of the proposal is to promote communication between national research, institutions and political entities, in order that they assume the joint responsibility to tackle the issue of technology and media integration in teacher training in a ‘rational’, systematic way.
The research presented in this article addresses the issue of teacher training in technology and ... more The research presented in this article addresses the issue of teacher training in technology and professional development, specifically in the scenario of an innovative project – Cl@sses 2.0 Action – promoted by the Italian Ministry of Education. Based on the TPACK theoretical model (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) and LAT-Learning Activity Types (Harris & Hofer, 2009), the research inquires into the level of TPACK development in a group of in-service teachers participating on a voluntary basis in order to find suitable ways to guide them in the integration of technology into their educational practices. The research involves , and the relations among these areas; 2) an application of such knowledge through the design of teaching units. In the former case, an adaptation of the questionnaire elaborated by Shmidt and Colleagues (2009) was administered to 11 class councils (110 lower secondary school teachers). In the latter case, following the approach of Hofer and Harris (2010) with some adaptations, a planning grid was proposed for the same subjects, but a feedback of only 2 full class councils (22 teachers) was received. The research findings show some weaknesses non only in teacher’s knowledge, as the literature highlights, but also in planning skills, mostly regarding teaching approaches, student activities and knowledge forms. The necessity to invest in teacher training as a whole – and not only in their technological competency – is suggested.
The present research is aimed at inquiring some features characterising the profile of 79 student... more The present research is aimed at inquiring some features characterising the profile of 79 student teachers at the end of their pre-service training. Technology proficiency, TPACK and beliefs on the value of technology in teaching and learning were explored through a self-administered questionnaire. Data show student teachers’ low proficiency with new or dedicated technology; some difficulties in integrating technology, pedagogy and disciplinary content, joined with the lack of modeling by Faculty and the student s’ limited amount of field practice; and the prevalence of a functionalist/instrumental view of technology, associated with a perceived benefits for teachers perspective and in contrast with a social/potentialistic view of technology. The results highlight the necessity to boost initial teacher training in the direction of specific/dedicated technology integration, the need to support Faculty in developing the integration of technology in practices, and the opportunity for researchers to adopt a more systematic approach to inquire other aspects, such as the role of leadership and curriculum on Faculty practices and student teachers’ education.
This study addresses the issue of technology integration in higher education, with the aim to exp... more This study addresses the issue of technology integration in higher education, with the aim to explore the level of integration of technology, pedagogy and content knowledge (TPACK) in university professors, and two specific factors affecting technology integration, namely: proficiency and beliefs on technology use. Forty-seven participants – professors teaching in Primary Teacher Education courses at three universities, in the north, centre and south of Italy – were involved. They were surveyed through a questionnaire on self-evaluation of proficiency in technology use for academic purposes, TPACK, and beliefs on benefits of technology use.The main results of the study reveal: professors’ high proficiency in commonly used technologies, but low proficiency in new or dedicated technologies; some weaknesses in knowledge domains involving technology; positive beliefs on benefits regarding technology use in academic teaching, regardless of the degree of proficiency declared. These findings suggest the need to train university professors, fostering proficiency, which is a prerequisite for technology integration, capitalizing on the positive beliefs on technology that affect integration process and giving them the opportunity to build their courses integrating technology, pedagogy and content. At the same time research results suggest a finer tuning of instruments to provide deeper insights into the problematic aspects that have emerged.
The exploratory study here presented investigates the relation between children and Internet cons... more The exploratory study here presented investigates the relation between children and Internet considered into the domestic context. Through a closed format questionnaire, self-completed by 272 Italian tweens aged 10 and 11 years, the research inquires practical uses of Internet, meanings given to personal practices and perceptions about parental mediation activities. The data analyses show different levels of Internet usage, the most often experienced functions, some prevailing dimensions of meaning related to use of Internet and perceptions of a partial parental mediation, and some differences between the two age groups regarding the dimensions of meaning and the perceptions of parental intervention.
Uploads
Papers by Laura Messina
For this purpose, we’ll first consider the teacher education issue according to the current European policies lead by the Lisbon Strategy. We’ll distinguish the school teacher education from the university teacher education and we’ll analyze some of the main documents developed by European organizations that give shared guidelines on the question.
Then, because there are few documents produced for the higher education, we will consider some academic structures – Centre for Teaching and Learning e Subject Centre – that attend to teacher training and to didactic research organization and that are good examples of implementation of the recent European educational policy trends.
Both analysis lines give suggestions in order to realize in our Country university structures - as Centre for Teaching and Learning or Subject Centre - that support new teacher education, didactics and didactic research, while facing problems connected with these aspects
For this purpose, we’ll first consider the teacher education issue according to the current European policies lead by the Lisbon Strategy. We’ll distinguish the school teacher education from the university teacher education and we’ll analyze some of the main documents developed by European organizations that give shared guidelines on the question.
Then, because there are few documents produced for the higher education, we will consider some academic structures – Centre for Teaching and Learning e Subject Centre – that attend to teacher training and to didactic research organization and that are good examples of implementation of the recent European educational policy trends.
Both analysis lines give suggestions in order to realize in our Country university structures - as Centre for Teaching and Learning or Subject Centre - that support new teacher education, didactics and didactic research, while facing problems connected with these aspects