REM vol.3, n.2 December 2011

vol. 3, no.

2

December 2011

SIX-MONTHLY JOURNAL

REM

Research on Education and Media

Erickson

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REM Research on Education and Media The magazine is published in English twice per year (hardcopy and on-line).

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Subscriptions ofice Tel. 0461 950690 Fax 0461 950698 info@erickson.it The Review is registred by the Court of Trento at number 1388, 19/06/2009 ISSN: 2037-0849 Editor in Chief Pier Cesare Rivoltella

Editor in Chief Pier Cesare Rivoltella Scientiic Committee Ignacio Aguaded Gómez (Universidad de Huelva) Andrew Burn (London University) Ulla Carlsson (Göteborg University) Maria D’Alessio (Sapienza Università di Roma) Thierry De Smedt (Université de Louvain) Luciano Galliani (Università di Padova) Walter Geerts (Univerisiteit Antwerpen) Pierpaolo Limone (Università di Foggia) Laura Messina (Università di Padova) Mario Morcellini (Sapienza Università di Roma) Nelson Pretto (Universidade da Bahia) Vitor Reia-Baptista (Universidade do Algarve) Mario Ricciardi (Politecnico di Torino) Pier Cesare Rivoltella (Università Cattolica di Milano) Luisa Santelli Beccegato (Università di Bari) Jeffrey T. Schnapp (Stanford University) Editor Antonella Nuzzaci

Referral process Each article is anonymously submitted to two anonymous referees. Only articles for which both referees will express a positive judgment will be accepted. The referees evaluations will be communicated to the authors, including guidelines for changes. In this case, the authors are required to change their submissions according to the referees guidelines.

Articles not modified in accordance with the referees guidelines will not be accepted.

Secretary Alessandra Carenzio, CREMIT, Largo Agostino Gemelli, 1 - 20123 Milano.

Tel.: (0039) 02-72343038 Fax: (0039) 02-72343040 E-mail: rem@educazionemediale.it Note to the Authors Submissions are to be sent, as MS Word files, to the email address of the Secretary: rem@educazionemediale.it Further information about submission and writing-up can be found at www. erickson.it/rem Editorial ofice Roberta Tanzi Layout Loretta Oberosler Graphic design Giordano Pacenza Licia Zuppardi Cover Davide Faggiano Print Legoprint – Lavis (TN)

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iNDEX

SpEcial iSSUE:

MEDIA AND EDUCATION: WHICH ASSESSMENT (AND EVALUATION)?

Evaluating (and assessing) to build a quality media education Antonella Nuzzaci

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Monographic section: Studies and research on evaluation Quality literacy. competencies for quality development in education and e-learning Ulf-Daniel Ehlers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

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Evaluation of internet use and personality characteristics Anna Maria Murdaca, Francesca Cuzzocrea, Francesco Conti and Rosalba Larcan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Utilizing peer interactions to promote learning through a web-based peer assessment system Lan Li, Allen L. Steckelberg and Sribhagyam Srinivasan . . . 239

Online learning environments between formal and informal contexts. a study to determine the learning level of learners using these environments Orlando De Pietro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Making, evaluating and enjoying cartoons.

Research into the quality of cartoon production involving children, parents, cartoon producers and media experts Laura Messina and Fabrizio Personeni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Specific section: On teacher education Digitality, media, education: Towards teaching processes Donatello Smeriglio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

The application of robotics in school and teacher education Emanuele Micheli and Valentina Pennazio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

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REM – Evaluating (and assessing) to build a quality media education The purpose of this issue of REM is to address the problem of evaluation in the field of media education, in terms of practice and research, looking at a number of different aspects ranging from quality to methodological issues.

We are aware that the media have a great impact on many aspects of life and today more than ever play a significant role in shaping and changing our society and our daily habits. They have become essential in the world we live in and have an undeniable influence on economic, cultural and political decision-making processes. They have been a milestone in social changes, on the one side determining new forms of communication and, on the other side, contributing a great deal to the construction of educational processes as a tool of social control and transformation.

The media reflect the cultural power relationships in our society (Kellner & Share, 2007). However, they regenerate, change and rebuild these relationships in new ways, as the media are collectively considered as one of the founding elements for economic, social, cultural and political change, offering a constant opportunity to spread information and learning, and ultimately making a great contribution to the building up of a knowledge society.

If it is true, as it is claimed by many, that education media contributes to the improvement of people’s quality of life and to the creation, support, consolidation and enhancement of children’s, teens’ and adults’ learning, we must not forget that tangible evidence of this can be collected

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only by evaluating and measuring media literacy as a set of skills connected to the acquisition, the interpretation, the processing and the production of media messages (Enochsson, 2005; Thoman, 2003; Covington, 2004).

Evaluating and measuring media literacy also represents a crucial challenge for improving the quality of the education provided in this field (Arke & Primack, 2009) and the relevant results can only be acquired with accurate assessment strategies.

This can be connected to the need to get rid of the obstacles that prevent digital resources from being accessible to everyone; this in turn leads to analysing resources, cost and accessibility issues in achieving quality and effectiveness in the new, technologically advanced learning environments.

On both a national and an international level, the current cultural and educational policies dealing with pedagogical and teaching technologies necessarily focus on access and equity problems, including system reforms (curricula), high-value education, an innovative use of technology, universal access and the social nature of learning through the media, while preserving the quality and core values of education and training.

What barriers need to be removed in order to make digital resources truly accepted and integrate them into the education and training system? How can they be removed?

What are the most urgent problems and educational issues that must be taken into consideration if we want to ensure a widespread access to the media? How can we keep ensuring the quality of education in the new technological media environments?

In this regard, we can only accept answers to these questions that are based on research findings and firm empirical evidence.

We know that this is impossible without reliable and valid measurement and evaluation systems. Having firm benchmarks to understand and assess the impact, effectiveness and value of certain technologies is virtually impossible without valid tools and procedures to get orientation among the huge variety of technologies at disposal.

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Just like active learning and effective use of media education cannot be measured with conventional evaluation tools, we need new devices and means to successfully assess media processes, contexts and products. As an example, great importance is being placed today on the analyses of students’ perceptions about active learning and effective use of the media within specific education paths (Serva & Fuller, 2004) or online courses, which is used along with other historically strong evaluative methods related to specific diagnostic and formative assessment functions.

Consider, for example, how new technologies are radically changing education: they’ve had an impact not only on teaching methods and educational activities, but also on the devices used for assessing learners, which help reshaping the methodological approaches to learning processes and teaching strategies. On the other hand, the current models and evaluation practices used in education are not always able to keep up with the changes occurring in the world of technologies and the way students learn.

It has become therefore very important for academics and professionals to understand the attitude of teachers, students, educators, etc. towards technology. Some evaluation scales have recently been developed to measure the attitude of secondary school students towards the use of media technology. However, few scales have been refined to assess the average media literacy of students in primary schools (Chang, Liu, Lee, Chen, Hu, & Lin, 2011). It is hence clear that there is still a lack of research that needs to be filled. The arrival of new media technology has the potential to radically change education. It has become important for academics and practitioners to understand the behavioural intentions of students towards media technology.

And this is also a clear indication that much has been designed to support the choice of appropriate media tools to provide “media literacy”, but little has been done to evaluate the effectiveness of what has been designed and to understand if the goals set have been achieved. Moreover, despite the clear European policies about media literacy and their call to make it a transversal component of education,

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in Italy there are still no adequate directives regarding media education in schools, which is an extremely serious matter, since technical and technological knowledge and skills, as well as critical awareness about their influence, must be taught to and mastered by students.

Despite educators and teachers keep doing what they can to respond to the more and more insistent necessities of young people with regard to media (Rivoltella, 2006) by adding technology to the teaching-learning process, they not always pick appropriate assessment methods to evaluate whether the learning is being successful. On top of that, teachers are often are “less skilled” at media technologies than their own students. All this has got to do with a media education that involves – achieving a certain standard of competence in both basic training and knowledge; – constant development of skills at school and refining the nature of their professional opinion; – a high standard of personal accomplishment, involvement and reflection as ways to become an effective teacher.

It is therefore true that understanding lists of skills related to media literacy, the general implications for evaluation, the criteria to differentiate between insufficient or acceptable sources, tools and rules of multimodal alphabetical forms implies a constant study of processes, environments, products and especially relevance of the methodologies and strategies adopted by the different stakeholders in the school community (students, teachers, managers) and elsewhere.

Therefore, media literacy is not possible without a good theoretical and practical evaluation base since, as Christ claims (1993, p. X) «assessment is an integral part of what we do as teachers, researchers, and administrators. It can be formal or informal, systematic or haphazard, harmful or rewarding. At its best, assessment can have in transforming effects on education». Some of the problems affecting the assessment of media education are mainly related to the appropriateness and implementation of – the aims and the goals of a “quality media education”; – processes and programs;

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– – – – – –

curricula, their progress, balance and consistency; approaches and models; skill types (basic, intermediate and advanced); methods, techniques, tools and devices; resources; evaluation methods and tools, e-evaluation, selfevaluation and meta-evaluation; – standards and certification.

But then what media literacy assessment can be implemented? By whom? And what should it assess?

The development of materials and tools? The evaluation of curricula? The training planning and strategies? The development of skills? At what level of the education system? And out of it? Learning or teaching centres?

Which ones of them (for example the e-learning technology centres located in universities)? Resources? Production?

Educational services to special parts of the population? The systems of media services? The evaluation of programs and courses? The staff for media specialists? The needs in the field of media? And the list could go on.

However, the evaluation literature in this field is still evolving in a complex frame of changes that affect the different “worlds of education”. Such literature has suggested, especially on the basis of existing approaches in defence of the media and of the current mindset within the area of education media, a set of indicators (Council of Europe, Indicators for media in a democracy, 2008) and evaluation research methods that help understand the effectiveness of the media in the different degrees of training (and beyond), its processes and results. Recent trends in the evaluation of the media in higher education, for example, suggest that it is necessary to clearly define terms and specific criteria to measure media literacy and accurately evaluate the results of student learning; hence, the issue of standards arises.

While this framework can be used to encourage strategic thinking about the ways that can lead to media literacy, guide the evaluation of specific interventions and demonstrate what its role in this promising field is, it is clear that this debate tends to reveal ideas and ways

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to approach and use the media at disposal in different cultures (dominant, popular, etc.) that would otherwise remain hidden. Just think of the growing discussion on the contribution that the use of the media in education would make to the development of critical ways of thinking with regard to information resources.

In order for the media to fulfil their educational function, it is however necessary to focus on the findings about the impact they have on individuals and communities and their learning, attitudes and knowledge, and not only on the prospects of desirability and expectations, since the major problems lie right on the capability of the research to record the media’s real potential for change not only in everyday life, but also and especially within training.

While it remains legitimate to claim that they have the power to transform society, there is a need to understand through appropriate testing their ability to have an impact on ways, attitudes, modes of “being and learning”, “being and teaching”, “being and living”; in other words, there is a need to obtain information about the effects the media have on the cultural profiles of children, teens and adults.

In this field, we only have a few critical reviews on the current state of the research, especially empirical research, and this makes it difficult to reconstruct an overall and coherent picture able to accurately measure the effects caused by the introduction of media tools and the impact they have on the quality (the contribution offered by UlfDaniel Ehlers) of the conceptual apparatus of learning and on the interpretative repertoires of individuals. Specifically, there is the need to conceptualise the results of experimental research more clearly and to increase the scope of analysis of studies dealing with the effects of media on knowledge, balancing skills and knowledge of different subjects with exposure to the media, as well as the forms and modes of communication associated with them.

In this sense, the problem of evaluation in media education generates significant questions regarding the research and poses important challenges as it represents a central element that can provide the professionals in the field with feedback on how to streamline and enhance their efforts, it can provide the investors with information as to where invest their money

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what and the researchers with strategies to transform the media into means for social and cultural promotion.

If it can be claimed that the modern world cannot do without a complex variety of media formats (Kellner & Share, 2007), as a result it must then be raised the issue of media influence on some changes that have occurred in society and in the education field (Galliani, 2006; Rivoltella, 2007) in terms of monopolisation, streamlining, consumption (Buckingham, 1990; Moores, 1993; Lodziak, 2002; Barber, 2007), and so on, as well as purposes, functions, content and direction of education as the introduction of new multimedia has become important for whoever (both academics and professionals) who want to try to understand the behavioural intentions of students, teachers and policy makers towards the new media. This raises the question of methodologies, techniques and evaluation tools to facilitate understanding of the above, as well as their proper validation.

Today the evaluation in the field of media education involves multidimensional and multistage factors and conditions relating to aspects of macro and micro educational systems that on different levels give substance to the constructs of education media, ranging from the evaluation of policies and procedures used to implement education programs to the media resources and services available to those who run media activities etc.

In this direction, this special issue of our magazine represents an attempt to introduce a form of reflection on the evaluation-oriented complex and dynamic nature of media education, paying particular attention to some of the various goals, types and models of assessment involved in this area and to shed some light on specific problems concerning categories of issues such as: – the conceptualisation and interpretive paradigms and models underlying the various forms of media education; – literacy and media education at all levels, in terms of interpretation skills, application and multimedia production, attitudes, perceptions and concepts regarding the media, learning with and through the media (the contribution of Laura Messina and Fabrizio Personeni deals with this issue);

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– teaching strategies, with reference to the goals (definition, consistency, quality and achievement), the responsibilities of use, contexts, relationships, methodologies, tools, techniques, types of media forms, teaching and learning processes, the access variables, and on-going processes, products, learning results, as well as forms of programming and planning, decision-making processes, etc., especially in the frame of the curricula, etc.; – professionalization of teachers with regard to the media, which needs to deal with different issues ranging to the definition of professional skills and teaching responsibilities to the quality of the teaching strategies, from media to social habits, from policies to practices, from theory to experience, from the individual dimension of the profession to a collective dimension, from the relationship between formal, informal and non-formal learning processes and so on; – the size of an applied research (the contribution of Emanuele Micheli and Valentina Pennazio deals with this issue); – the reflection on conceptual and operational possibilities of the latest ICT systems for education sciences (which will be discussed by Donatello Smeriglio); – the introduction of the new media in everyday and personal life (which will be discussed by Anna Maria Murdaca, Francesca Cuzzocrea, Francesco Conti, Rosalba Larcan); – education plans and projects (projects, programs and courses for media education); – mastery of languages, practices, modes and attitudes within the media by different population groups; – multifocal and multimodal approaches to multimedia codes and means; – multidisciplinary perspectives (Galliani, 2009, pp. 9-23); – the variety of objectives, tools, methodologies and techniques within the media; – the knowledge and skills (basic, transversal, etc.) acquired by different subjects educated to the media; – the training of professionals involved in media education; – the certification of skills for specialists and professionals in the field;

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– the connection and intersection between systems and formal, informal (which will be discussed in the contribution offered by Orlando De Pietro) and nonformal learning processes for children, young people and adults; – the organisational structures of the institutional systems within media education; – evaluation and self evaluation devices (which will be discussed in the contribution offered by Lan Li, Allen L. Steckelberg and Sribhagyam Srinivasan); – awareness, responsibility and ethics in the use of media for educational purposes.

The application of evaluation in these different areas certainly involves aspects, situations and conditions that vary according to the purposes and procedures connected; however, it shows that a strong, firm, accurate and fair evaluation is essential for the right decisions to be taken by professionals in the field, who are considered responsible for shaping a “media mediation” able to build a democratic society.

The goal of this issue of REM is clearly to present, in the monographic study and research section, some studies that show specific forms of assessment can on the different levels affect the planning, the development and the implementation of education strategies to help achieve a high-quality media education. A wide evaluation scope is addressed in this issue, ranging from the impact of technology on aspects of personality to the problem of informal-formal relationships, including: the rationale, criteria and development of skills and staff; the certification, skills, models, support staff and balances; resources, including their accessibility, selection and collection; services, including their planning, functional and spatial relations, design and furnishing: on a system level, a set of support programs including programs for components, services, staff, materials, equipment and a collection of professional reference.

REM has tried to understand what it is meant by evaluation in the field of education media, what is the state of the research on evaluation within media education, which

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emerging factors are at the base of the analysis of aspects related to evaluation devices and tools in this area, such as the resources, the consistency and contingencies, the rules and practices of evaluation in the field of media education.

In a broader perspective, media education not only includes the evaluation of “the media”, but first of all the evaluation of educational processes and events that occur “with and through” them; this in turn also involves positive and negative elements of such means of communication and learning, as well as a reflection on how we should use them.

This rises at least three fundamental questions for which we need answers: – how to access, experience and construct a multimedia experience; – how to build a set of skills in media education; – how media are perceived in the field of education; – how to use and implement multimedia processes and products; – how to manage the media and media facilities.

Rather than worrying about getting codes of ethics in the use of media and “guidelines for a good use” that may be valid today but not tomorrow, the research in this area should focus on media education as an opportunity to provide a logical and functional approach to the contemporary world, capable of leading to the construction of a “common social awareness” about the significant new forms of literacy that are gradually emerging and the media devices as tools that ensure the active participation of all individuals (such as viewers, readers and actors) in this process of cultural democratisation implying a transition from traditional forms of literacy to forms of “multi-literacy”. However, this does not seem possible without evaluation procedures and devices enabling us to collect evidence about their implementation and to avoid the limited effects of incomplete or inappropriate guidelines lists.

Without any claim to be exhaustive in addressing the complex world of evaluation within media education, this issue of REM has tried to focus on some of the emerging issues in the field that show how evaluation has become a challenge that needs to addressed immediately. This is also

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proved by the limited, fragmented, disorganised and partial critical reviews of the literature on the subject.

Bibliographic resources related to the objectives of evaluation should be reorganised, at least on an Italian level. Much of the movement involving researchers, teachers and specialists both nationally and internationally now offers a critical evaluation of the literature, which, although presenting important theoretical studies and applications, does not yet provide a clear picture of the real opportunities and challenges that can be faced by high-quality media education. We hope that this issue of REM can be a first attempt to address the need to build a research and a culture of evaluation within media education, where, in Euripides’s words, “what we expected never came to pass, what we did not expect the gods brought to bear”.

Antonella Nuzzaci References Arke, E.T., & Primack, B.A. (2009). Quantifying media literacy: Development, reliability, and validity of a new measure. Educational Media International, 46 (1), 53-56.

Barber, B. (2007). Consumed: How markets corrupt children, infantilize adults, and swallow citizens whole. New York: Norton.

Buckingham, D. (Ed.). (1990). Watching media learning: Making sense of media education. London: Falmer.

Chang, C.S., Liu, E.Z.F., Lee, C.Y., Chen, N.S., Hu, D.C., & Lin, C.H. (2011). Developing and validating a Media Literacy SelfEvaluation Scale (MLSS) for Elementary School Students. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology (TOJET), 10 (2), 63-71.

Christ, W.G. (Ed.). (1994). Assessing communication education: A handbook for media, speech, and theatre educators. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Covington, W.G. (2004). Creativity in teaching media literacy. International Journal of Instructional Media, 31 (2), 119-124.

Galliani, L. (2009). La ricerca sull’educazione mediale: contributi multidisciplinari e prospettive di sviluppo. REM. Ricerche su Educazione e Media, 1 (1), 9-23.

Fenton, N. (2008). Mediating hope: New media, politics and resistance. International Journal Of Cultural Studies, 11 (2), 230-248.

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Kellner, D., & Share, J. (2007). Critical media literacy, democracy, and the reconstruction of education. In D. Macedo & S.R. Steinberg (Eds.), Media literacy: A reader (pp. 3-23). New York: Peter Lang.

Lodziak, C. (2002) The myth of consumerism. London and Virginia: Pluto Press.

Rivoltella, P.C. (2006). Screen Generation. Gli adolescenti e le prospettive dell’educazione nell’età dei media digitali. Milano: Vita e Pensiero.

Moores, S. (1993). Interpreting audiences: The ethnography of media consumption. Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore: SAGE. Serva, M.A., & Fuller, M.A. (2004). Aligning what we do and what we measure in business schools: Incorporating active learning and effective media use in the assessment of instruction. Journal of Management Education, 28 (1), 19-38.

Thoman, E. (2003). Media literacy: A guided tour of the best resources for teaching. The Clearing House, 76 (6), 278-283.

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vol. 3, no. 2 December 2011

Monographic section: Studies and research on evaluation

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Quality literacy competencies for quality development in education and e-learning

Ulf-Daniel Ehlers

aBSTRacT

University of Duisburg-Essen, Universitaetsstr. 9, 45141 Essen, Germany.

E-mail: ehlers@icb.uni-essen.de

The article suggests that stakeholders involved in quality development need a specific competence in order to successfully improve learning processes, called quality literacy. Quality literacy, as a set of competencies which are needed for professional quality development, is introduced and described. This quality literacy emphasises the importance of professionalism as a necessary component for quality development, in addition to structural quality management models. It is argued that quality development is a co-production between learners and their learning environment. This means as a consequence that educational process can only be influenced and optimised in participation and not steered externally. Quality strategies can therefore not guarantee high quality of learning processes but should rather aim at professionalisation of the educational process and stakeholders. The article suggests therefore participation and negotiation between educational stakeholders (clients and providers) as a main condition for quality development. Additionally a quality model which conceptualises quality as a potential which can only be released through interaction is presented.

Keywords: quality literacy; participatory quality development; professionalisation; co-production; educational quality; e-learning.

Edizioni Erickson – Trento

REM – vol. 3, no. 2, December 2011 (195-218)

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Introduction Quality in e-learning has become a leitmotiv for educational policies, an imperative for practitioners and a huge demand for learners. Achieving high quality is a much debated and much-sought-after goal in all segments of education. It is, however, not so much characterised by its precise definition but rather by its positive connotation. The word merely signifies “composition” (latin: qualis = composition, characteristic) but is in everyday language used to distinguish a characteristic of an object as being of a higher calibre than that of another object. We can observe that the debate is not characterised by empirically accurate defined and operationalised ideas but is rather constituted of a dense bundle of a broad range of arguments, objectives, convictions and procedures.

The search for quality in e-learning and education is often addressed in the way of finding a suitable approach for controlling or steering the pedagogical process. Yet, this view is ignoring the fact that the relation between cause and effect in the field of pedagogical practice is rather open and insecure (sel Fink, 2003; Moslehian, 2003; Taylor, 2004). It is one of the few secured results of educational research so far that pedagogical practice is much more characterised by insecurities and situational interpretations than through systematic cause-effect relations (Oelkers 1982). Out of this reason Luhmann and Schorr (1982) attribute to pedagogy a “technological deficit”. In particular psychologically oriented e-learning research tried for some time to determine the exact cause-effect relation between e-media attributes (screen colours, length of “learning objects”, etc.) and learners’ learning progress in order to derive consequences for the design of learning environments (for an overview of these attempts see Ehlers 2004). However, such research designs proved to be too complex and we can conclude concludes that not the media characteristics alone but rather the underlying learning methodology and instructional arrangement facilitate the learning success (Russel, 1999). Today it is clear that knowledge, information and learning media do not have an inherent learning quality but rather carry a quality potential which has to be released in co-construction processes during the learning phase. It is highly influenced by the learners themselves (Friend-Pereira, Lutz & Heerens, 2002). In this article we therefore argue for a new understanding of quality development in education and e-learning.

Quality development should not rely solely on structural models and strategies but take into consideration the professionalisation of quality de196

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Quality literacy

velopment — especially in the light of its technological deficit. The main assumption of this article is, that there are certain competencies for professional quality development, and that these apply to both the learners/clients side and the teachers/providers side. Quality development in education is viewed as the result of quality competence of the involved stakeholders.

This competence is termed quality literacy. It is viewed as a critical factor for success of every quality development activity in education. The concept builds on earlier work (Ehlers, 2005) and develops a theoretical foundation on basis of educational theories and terminology for the concept of quality literacy. The scope, the validity of described concepts, and its reach have to be understood within this theoretical framework. Quality development is defined from an educational point of view as a co-production and a participative concept. Evidently, a theoretical contribution with this focus has restrictions in scope: economic and/ or technological models are not integrated into the argument.

Section two describes the context and conditions for the concept of quality literacy by using a categorisation of the term “quality” taken from the sector of service quality. It is argued that education has to be conceptualised in form of a pro-sumption rather than a production-consumption relationship, and takes place in participation. Building on this thought, the section introduces the notion of participative quality development as a pre-condition for educational quality development (Section 2.2). It is underlined that the ultimate goal of quality development processes has to be the incorporation of new or changed procedures, rules and values of the educational actors.

Section three introduces and elaborates the concept of quality literacy.

First we are giving the general background and scope of the concept as well as the methodology used to derive the concept from already existing theoretical works and conceptual backgrounds. Moreover we describe in detail a set of competencies which are necessary to perform improvement processes on basis of the outlined conditions for quality development in education. We emphasize that quality literacy is much related to the concept of total quality management. It is defined as the individual ability which is needed to develop and implement a culture of quality as an ongoing improvement process.

Section four relates quality literacy to a model of interactive and participative quality development. It is taken from the field of service quality and adapted to the field of educational quality development. The concept of quality literacy is described as the basic competence to perform the ne197

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cessary actions which are suggested and described for the provider and for the client side within the presented quality model.

The conclusion (section five) suggests that the result of an educational process can not directly be influenced and optimised like a production process. It is argued that quality strategies therefore can not mechanistically guarantee high quality of learning processes but should rather aim rather at a professionalisation of the pedagogical process — both on the clients’ and on the providers’ side. The quality literacy concept is a step in the direction of professionalizing quality development in this sense. Finally, some research issues are suggested which can be seen as desiderata in the frame of the formulated concept.

Although e-learning is the general context in which the concept of quality literacy has been developed, we do not distinguish between education and e-learning in this article — the term we use will be “education”. We believe that e-learning is an educational innovation and has a number of specific challenges to it (Seufert & Euler, 2002). When introduced to educational scenarios it often functions like a magnifying glass and reveals immediately deficits in pedagogical planning or teaching/ learning organisation. However, the concept is of generic nature and addresses quality development issues from their very core — and thus does not make a distinction between “e”-learning as the field of quality development and “non-e”-learning.

Although there are number of specific challenges which are different in e-learning as opposed to “non-e”-learning it is argued that the concept of quality literacy addresses issues which are the same in both fields. In this sense the concept is a generic concept and equally applicable to the field of e-learning vs. education as well as to the different educational sectors.

Quality in education In this section the main conditions for quality development in education are described. It is suggested that quality development is a constant negotiation process in which all stakeholders should participate in a common effort to define and implement quality in a continuous improved way. It is this specific characteristic of educational quality as a relation rather than a product, and connected to it, the ever present debate and fundamental question about the relation of “imparting” education vs. self-organisation of educational processes (Fink, 2003; Taylor, 2004). This specificity demands 198

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for a specific competence in a quality development process. In order to empower the individual actor in the educational process — be it a teacher or a learner — to orient every educational interaction towards improvement they have to be quality literate.

In this section two characteristics of educational quality development are described: the multidimensional nature of quality in education (section 2.1), and the need for rethinking quality as a participatory process which has to be facilitated as a co-production between educational stakeholders (section 2.2). Both aspects emphasize that continuous improvement processes in education are of an unforeseeable, and dynamic nature which demands for a certain ability of the involved actors to respond to these challenges. This ability is described as a competence rather than a reproducible knowledge (see section 3 for elaboration of this distinction).

Quality as a multidimensional concept Quality in education is a multidimensional concept (Donabedian, 1980; Ehlers, 2004). Therefore different approaches to define quality are available (Quartapelle & Larsen, 1996). Berkel (1998) suggests a three-dimensional scheme — originally for service quality — which has been adapted to the field of educational processes in the following description. It locates quality within three poles (p. 19): – objective vs. subjective: this dimension addresses the question who is defining quality criteria and values. If the quality value is defined only through the performance indicators of a product, Berkel (1987) terms it objective quality. The quality characteristics then have to be a part of the respective good — which is only partially true for the field of education.

For education the quality characteristics are usually defined through individual persons or committees in a subjective way. The definition of quality requirements through clients or learners is a subjective quality definition.

– inherent vs. instrumental: this dimension relates to the question where quality can be observed and when it becomes explicitly measurable. Inherent quality relates to quality which can be observed as lasting and inhering quality of a product. If quality reveals only through a service process and thus the participation of clients, we refer to it as instrumental quality. Often objects with inherent quality characteristics (eg. learning management systems, learning materials, etc.) are used in an instrumental way.

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– endogenous vs. exogenous: if organisational processes and structures are taken into account when evaluating and/or assuring educational quality we speak of endogenous quality. If the educational institution or organisation is not part of a quality evaluation, we can speak of exogenous quality.

The quality evaluation of education needs an active process. Endogenous and exogenous can be used to distinguish between quality assessments which are either directed to the surface structure (exogenous) or the deep process structure (endogenous) of an educational service.

According to Berkel’s (1998) distinction, the quality of education is subjective, instrumental and endogenous. It reveals that quality in education is a client oriented concept where the quality requirements are defined in participation between clients and providers. The quality of education is therefore constituted only through mutual interaction of learners with their learning environment (Brindley, Walti & Zwaki-Richter, 2004), and the evaluation of quality is influenced by organisational processes within which the educational process takes place (endogenous).

Participation and co-production as conditions for educational quality development Classical service theory is conceptualising the interactive relation between the actors of people oriented services with the categories “production” and “consumption” (Gross & Badura, 1977). It is argued that education is a symbolically mediated productive-active interaction and production process. This process involves learners together with other actors (other learners, teachers, etc.). It therefore has to be conceptualised in form of a pro-sumption rather than a production-consumption relationship (Martens & Prosser, 1998). The addressees of educational services are therefore conceptualised as active “co-producers” and not as passive receptors. According to Meyer and Mattmüller (1987) services are thus not defined by an absolute quality but rather by their quality potential, and can only release this potential through the active involvement of the client. Le Preau (2005) even stressed that quality can only be defined through taking into account the view of as many stakeholders as possible. He refers to the stakeholders of education as quality experts.

A parallel can be drawn here to newer approaches of change management in organisations. Doppler and Lauterburg (2005) describe the importance of flat hierarchies in organisations and the importance of individual em200

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powerment and competence development of the organisations’ actors for constant adaptation processes to a changing environment. Hiatt and Creasey (2003) and Champy (1995) emphasize in their approach especially the role of the individual actor for change processes in organisations. It has to be noted that in all these approaches the ability of individuals to competently engage into and self-organise change processes is emphasised as strong as structural management issues (Hall & Hord, 2001). Organisational change and learning thus relies on individual change (Boyce, 2003).

For the design of high quality learning environments this view bears some consequences: learning environments — a term which is used here in the broad sense, referring to the sum of all processes constituting the learning opportunity including all resources and persons which are part of it — have to be designed in a way that it is possible for learners to express their demands and preferences as part of the construction process. Only then learners can bring in their experience, backgrounds and demands, thus enabling providers to design learning environments in a way which allow an active learning, problem solving and competence development oriented towards the learners individual needs. The assurance of quality exclusively reached through predefined, static frameworks (eg. standard evaluation questionnaires) often does not sufficiently pay attention to this particular necessity of co-production in educational settings (Baijnath & Singh, 2001; Freesen, 2002). From this perspective, it is important that the development of quality strategies takes into account an active negotiation process as a specific condition of quality development and supports it proactively. Quality management concepts therefore have to include a negotiation component. This requires an extended understanding of process-oriented quality development models, and asks for competence development and staff professionalisation components within quality strategies.

From a socio-structural point of view we can moreover observe that clients’ identity structures change and standard biographies become more and more heterogeneous, and therefore loose their prognostic value for planning educational processes (Beck, 1986). Quality concepts which are still based on concepts of traditional biographies are loosing their analytic powers over educational processes. If the described necessity of individualisation of educational processes is taken seriously then it is difficult to formulate fixed and prescriptive quality standards for progressively heterogeneous situations. They have to be exchanged against flexible negotiation frameworks which allow taking into account the learners situation and perspective in 201

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a co-productive process (Pruitt & Carnevale, 1993). To use a participatory quality strategy means to support or hinder negotiation processes but not to substitute them through management processes any longer.

Quality literacy: competencies for quality development The concept of quality literacy is based on the assumption that quality in education is the result of competent behaviour of stakeholders involved in an attempt to develop quality. The scientific approach which is used to derive the concept of quality literacy builds on the concept of total quality management as described by Horine and Lindgren (1995) and applies the concept of media literacy as formulated by Baacke (1996) to the field of quality development. This application is done on the theoretical basis of the concept of action competence relating to elaborations of Weinert (1999) and van der Blij (2002) and also taking into account the connection between knowledge, skills and competence according to North (1998, 2005).

In this section we describe the theoretical background of the concept and the methodology which has been used to construct the concept of quality literacy. We define a set of skills which are necessary to perform quality development processes. The concept is embedded in the view that quality has to be defined in a participatory way (see section 2).

Theoretical background and approach of a new concept Quality literacy is a concept which is much related to the philosophy of total quality management. Within this approach, quality is seen as a continuous improvement process, involving all stakeholders in the process of a permanent assessment and quality improvement (Horine & Lindgren, 1995). For this aim one element is of key importance — the introduction and development of a quality culture into an organisation. This has two dimensions (Figure 1): first, a managerial dimension which is of rather technocratic nature and deals with implementing tools and instruments to measure, evaluate, enhance and assure quality. This is usually facilitated though a top-down process. Secondly, a dimension of quality commitment focuses on an individual level. It relates to the individual commitment to strive for quality, using tools and instruments for quality development but first and foremost it also focuses on changing attitudes, values and develo202

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ping new skills and competencies in order to make a permanent improvement of quality possible. Individual abilities, attitudes and values add up to a collective level which in turn leads to a quality competent organisation.

This dimension relates to a bottom-up process.

Figure 1

Quality culture (European Universities Association, 2006).

The ability which enables an individual to competently use, modify and further develop existing tools, instruments and strategies, or to introduce them or develop them new, in order to pursue a permanent quality orientation in an educational setting shall be called quality literacy. Quality literacy is not a free floating concept but can be rooted in and connected to many already long existing theories and approaches. We derive the term originally from the concept of media literacy as it was formulated by Baacke (1996). Baacke suggested conceptualising media literacy as an ability with four dimensions: media knowledge, media critics, media usage and media design (ibid.). As a concept, media literacy describes the abilities which individuals need to act competent in a world mediated through media. From a methodological point of view, we are transferring the four dimensions of media literacy and reformulate them for the specific application in the field of quality development. Quality literacy thus describes the abilities which individuals need to act competent in quality development processes. The use of a conceptual transfer methodology from one to another field demands for clear definition of the relating concepts and a comprehensive description of the fields it applies to.

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In an organisational context, quality literacy is a set of skills which enables individuals to take part in the development of a quality culture. For individual learners the same set of skills enables them to pursue permanent improvement processes of their own learning and development processes, using quality instruments and concepts. Quality literacy thus applies to both sides — actors on the side of providers of educational processes, like teachers, tutors media designers or administrative staff, and actors on the clients’ side of educational processes like learners. It is a set of generic skills which applies to both different contexts and has to be adapted to the specific situation.

The concept is comprehensively introduced in this article for the first time. It is based on the belief that quality improvement is the result of (quality) competent action of individuals. It is of complementary nature to external organisational quality strategies which are seen as an important but not sufficient component for achieving high quality in education. Quality literacy is manifesting itself in the ability of actors of an organisation or of an individual learner to use quality strategies and tools, and incorporate the changed and new beliefs and values they inherently carry into their everyday professional behaviour and procedures. Only then educational quality development will be successful.

A set of individual competencies necessary for this purpose can be described and are captured in the concept of quality literacy. Although the concept is fairly new it has counterparts in other areas which follow a similar pattern. For the field of organisational learning, for example, Peter Senge (1990) described a set of five competencies which he introduces as important for all forms of organisational learning. He stresses that not only external strategies, procedures and rules have to be implemented into organisation change processes but that the actors have to take on new ways of thinking and acting and thus have to become competent facilitators of change.

The concept is entitled quality “literacy” because it does not only relate to knowledge about quality but goes beyond this, towards the concept of competencies. It goes back to the theoretical approach of action competence which is defined as the ability of self organisation in a specific educational or professional context (Weinert, 1999). One important assumption in this model is that competencies can be learnt and developed through practical activity. The necessity of an active, self-organised learning process is stressed, and competencies can not be taught through a purely instructional 204

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approach. Van der Blij (2002) stresses the importance of knowledge, skills and attitudes for competencies: «Competence is defined as the ability to act within a given context in a responsible and adequate way, while integrating complex knowledge, skills and attitudes». Wildts (2006) adapts the concept of competence steps of North (1998; 2005) to show the link between knowledge, skills, competence and professionalism (Figure 2).

Figure 2

Steps to professional competence (adapted from Wildt, 2006).

Quality literacy in this sense is seen as a basic pre-requisite to act professionally in quality development contexts. In the first step information about quality and quality development or related fields are connected with each other to knowledge, and on the second step they are applied and result in abilities. This is the step where individuals make practical experiences with applying or using quality strategies, tools or instruments. These abilities are transformed in activity through motivation and will. Competence, however, demands for an additional evaluation about whether the performed activity is suitable in a given context. For this, an individual usually needs standards against which one can assess whether something is suitable in a specific context. For quality development these can be societal norms, legal rules, criteria which are agreed on in the specific organisational context, or set of standards for individual behaviour. Wildt (2006) extends North’s concept by including the step professionalism which relates to the responsibility towards clients and society. Quality literacy therefore is more than knowledge or abilities.

In general it has to be noted that quality literacy applies to all forms of knowledge, information and learning technology-related educational concepts, like e-learning and blended learning — as well as presence courses.

There are commonalities and differences between “traditional” educational scenarios and e-learning. Concerning quality development however we have to note that it is a process of negotiation with the goal of providing successful education in both educational fields. For e-learning we additionally 205

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have to deal with the specific field of technology. Of course additional areas of knowledge apply here — in principle, however, quality development requires the same competencies.

In conclusion we can state that the concept of quality literacy builds on existing concepts and aims at describing skills which enable individuals to perform quality development competently. Sometimes these situations are very complex, e.g. when it comes to restructuring whole organisational processes. Sometimes, though, there is only little complexity when only one specific quality instrument is applied to perform quality assurance, e.g. a questionnaire at the end of a program or course. Quality literacy, moreover, is a concept which can not exclusively be learnt by means of books or trainings but requires experience and practice. It is a concept which is subject to constant change, as the means and forms of technology enhanced education change as well.

The four dimensions of quality literacy Quality literacy (Figure 3) can be seen as a set of four central competencies which contribute to carrying out successful quality development in education. They do not constitute distinct factors of quality literacy, but rather differentiate the inner structure of the concept of quality literacy. A more precise description of the inner structure and coverage of the concept is presented: it elaborates the four dimensions the concept contains.

Dimension: quality knowledge This dimension addresses the “pure” knowledge about the possibilities of today’s quality development and up-to-date quality strategies in e-learning and education. The term quality strategies refers to all guidelines, structures, rules, tools, checklists or other measures which have the goal of enhancing the quality of an e-learning-scenario. There are two sub-dimensions to quality knowledge: an informational and an instrumental — they go back to Ryle’s (1949) classification of “knowing that” and “knowing how”. a) Informative: the informational dimension refers to information and knowledge about quality systems, tools and procedures. It is about having access to information resources, primary as well as secondary, and understanding the system of quality development. Typical examples of this are questions like: What is a quality approach? What is evaluation, quality management, quality assurance, quality development?

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b) Instrumental: the instrumental dimension refers to the knowledge of how to use and apply a certain specific tool, eg. an evaluation questionnaire, or how to use a list of criteria or guidelines for a specific context. It answers questions like: How can an evaluation questionnaire be applied in an educational context, eg. a classroom? How can a set of benchmarks be used to assess my system against another one? It does however not relate to the competence of implementing a quality system with a certain intention, eg. to reduce the drop-out rate of a course — this is covered through the dimension of quality experience.

Dimension: quality experience This dimension describes the ability of using quality strategies with a certain intention. It is based on the experiences which actors have with quality development, and with applying quality measures and strategies to educational scenarios. It can be differentiated from the instrumental knowledge dimension because it refers not only to the pure application of quality strategies or tools but also covers the feedback analysis and initiating improvement processes.

That means that in addition to the instrumental knowledge of quality strategies, this dimension also carries an intention and a goal with it. Quality experience refers to the ability of using (existing) quality strategies (eg. guidance and consulting concepts) to generate data about educational processes in order to improve them. It answers questions like: How can I use quality strategies in a certain way to improve the educational process?

Figure 3

Dimensions of quality literacy (QL).

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Dimension: quality innovation This dimension relates to the ability which goes beyond the simple use of existing instruments and strategies. It refers to the modification, creation and development of quality strategies and/or instruments for one’s own purpose. An innovative and creative aspect is important for this dimension: Adaptation and creativity are here understood as further development and reorganisation of existing quality strategies within a given context, innovation means here thinking up and developing new strategies for quality development. a) Adaptation: this sub-dimension refers to the ability to adapt an existing quality strategy or tool to one’s own context. It goes thus beyond the pure usage of an existing tool, needs deeper understanding of it, within the given methodological framework and demands for creativity. Typical questions are: How can a certain quality management concept be extended to a number of processes and categories in order to adapt it to the organisations specific needs? b) Creation/ Innovation: the creation/ innovation dimension describes the ability to think beyond existing strategies and going further than just modifying them, and describes the ability to invent a complete new quality system. Such self-developed systems are often used for organisation internal purposes when existing approaches do not cover the specific goals and requirements. An example would be the development of a new evaluation questionnaire for the assessment of a course when existing tools fail to analyse the desired aspects. Also it could be the development of a new method of consultation with learners before a course starts in order to pre-assess their needs and goals.

Dimension: quality analysis Quality analysis relates to the ability to analyse the processes of quality development critically in the light of one’s own experiences and to reflect upon one’s own situation and context. It enables actors to evaluate different objectives of quality development and negotiate between different perspectives of stakeholders. To “analyse critically” means the ability of differentiation and reflection of existing knowledge and experiences in the light of quality development challenges. For learners this would mean to be aware of the responsibility which they have for quality in education as a co-producer of learning success. For providers this means to enable flexible 208

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negotiation processes in the educational offerings, and to respect individual objectives and preferences as well as societal contexts and organisational structures in their definition of quality objectives for education. Two subdimensions can be differentiated: an analytic and a reflexive one. a) Analytic quality analysis: the analytic dimension covers the process of analytically examining the meaning and the debate of quality in education in general. It is the ability to move within the framework of the quality discourse, to contribute analysis, and to understand the different influences, starting from the market perspective, business models, taking into account technical aspects, and not forgetting the pedagogical aspects.

Analytic quality analysis answers to the question: What is the state of the art of the quality discussion and what are important developments in the debate? b) Reflexive quality analysis: the reflexive dimension is directed towards the analysis of one’s own situation. It is the ability to set quality goals for one’s own individual or organisational context, and to position oneself in the quality debate. The reflexive dimension emphasizes the ability to understand future challenges in educational quality development, rethinking one’s current quality situation, and developing a strategy to meet future challenges. A typical field of the reflexive quality analysis competence is the development of future goals, leitmotivs, and strategies either for oneself as the individual learner or for an organisation.

Table 1 summarises the different components of quality literacy and gives an overview of the questions which they relate to.

Participative model for quality development In the following section a quality model is presented which shows the interactive nature of quality development in education (Figure 4). It is a model of Meyer and Mattmüller (1987) which is taken from the field of service quality and adapted to the context of education. The above described characteristics of quality development and the suggested concept of quality literacy are connected to it. The model shows that quality is at first only a potential which has to be realised through mutual negotiation and stocktaking of providers and clients. It combines the quality process distinction from the work of Donabedian (1980) with concepts from Grönroos (1984), 209

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Quality literacy dimension

Questions/ Examples

Dimension 1: quality knowledge information

What is a quality approach? What is evaluation, quality management, quality assurance, quality development?

instrumental/ Qualification

How can an evaluation questionnaire be applied in an educational context, eg. a classroom? How can a benchmark be used to assess one system against another?

Dimension 2: quality experience

intentional Use

How can i use quality strategies in a certain way to improve the educational process?

Dimension 3: quality innovation

adaptation

How can a certain quality management concept be extended to a number of processes and categories in order to adapt it to the organisations’ specific needs?

creation/ innovation

create an evaluation questionnaire for the assessment of a course when existing tools fail to analyse the desired questions. create a new method to consult with learners before a course starts in order to assess their needs and goals.

Dimension 4: quality analysis

analytic quality analysis

What is the state of the art of the quality discussion and what are important developments in the debate?

Reflexive quality analysis

Development of future goals and strategies for either oneself as an individual learner or as an organisation.

Table 1

Overview of different components of quality literacy.

and divides quality into three processes: potential-, process-, and outcome quality. These are each differentiated for the provider and the client side.

In Figure 4 the model is extended by adding phase categories: a) needs analysis, b) realisation and c) incorporation. For each phase the concept of quality literacy applies in a different way.

Potential quality/Needs analysis phase In this phase the needs for quality, the situation and the context of the educational scenario are subject to examination. The potential quality of the provider is characterised by the capacity of its staff and the potential of its equipment, materials and infrastructure. The specification potential is the providers’ ability to react to the client’s individual needs and preferences 210

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in order to provide the educational environment accordingly. The contact potential is the ability to enter into a negotiation process with the client. It relates to expertise in the field of pedagogic-diagnostic abilities and also covers the means of communication and contact possibilities. The contact potential aims at building trust with the clients, and establishing the basis for negotiation of the educational provision. All in all the potential quality of the provider is about its capacity to interact with the clients and react to their needs.

The model also sees a potential quality on the side of the client: the term integration potential points to the ability of the client to assess their needs and to their self-reflection and analysis capacity. By that, the model allocates part of the responsibility for the quality of educational processes to the client. It gives importance to the fact that clients/ learners have to be aware of their own needs and preferences in order to enter into a high quality learning opportunity which is created in collaboration between themselves and the provider. A precise exploration of the integration potential by the

Figure 4

Participative model for quality development (adaptation of Meyer & Mattm端ller, 1987).

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provider can influence the educational provision enormously. The interaction potential furthermore describes the client’s abilities to contribute his part to a constructive negotiation process and to become part of a participative definition of educational quality. The client’s background, former experiences and abilities to express their needs are influential categories for this potential.

Stakeholders who are involved in these processes need the capacity to evaluate and define the needs of all stakeholders which are involved in the educational scenario and negotiate between themselves to achieve a high quality of the learning environment (quality analysis). Additionally knowledge about the possibilities of quality development and about quality strategies or good practice examples could be of help in the needs analysis phase.

The needs analysis phase leads to a decision for a quality strategy. For this, quality knowledge is needed. If none of the available strategies meet the identified requirements, a new quality strategy has to be developed. For this, two competencies are especially important: quality knowledge and quality analysis skills. When it comes to developing an individual strategy, the ability of quality innovation, i.e. creatively and innovatively developing a fitting quality strategy, gains importance.

Process quality/ Realisation and process adaptation phase In the realisation phase, a quality strategy which corresponds to the analysed needs is implemented into an organisation and continuously adapted to the specific organisation’s needs. The process quality is the result of interaction between the clients and the learning environment. The model (Figure 4) shows that all partial qualities have in common that they are divided into two parts. These relates back to the work of Grönroos (1984) who differentiates “what” the client and the provider co-constructs and “how” they do it. An interesting notion of Grönroos’ concepts is the emphasis that, apart form the purely functional process of providing a service, for all partial qualities the emotional, resp. human service quality is an influential factor. However, this is difficult to conceptualise into an operational model. Also Lethinen and Lethinen (1991) refer to theses qualities and name them “physical quality” and “interactive quality”.

In the realisation phase, quality instruments and tools can be used. The usage of models and instruments for quality development like checklists, process descriptions and/or evaluation questionnaires, requires a high 212

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amount of quality experiences. The adaptation of these instruments and models demands for the capacity of innovation and modification and is conceptualised in the dimension of Quality Innovation. Critical analysis and assessment form an integral part of this phase. Quality Analysis thus becomes important.

Outcome quality/ Incorporation and impact phase Quality development — in the final consequence — is always directed towards the modification of the behaviour of individual actors of an organisation, its tutors or teachers or the authors of courses, etc. The incorporation phase relates to the actual impact, resp. outcome of quality development.

In the quality model (Figure 4) the resulting quality, is representing the educational impact which is evoked through the process of co-construction of the educational opportunities. Meyer and MattmĂźller (1987) are subdividing this quality component into one part which is immediately recognisable and another part which is the long-term impact quality. For educational processes this division into two types of results is important because often the long-term results are more important than the short term effects (eg. the competencies which can be used when the employee is back to his/ her workplace).

This phase is especially looking into the actual effect quality strategies have. Incorporation means here that the new values, norms and concepts which are inherent in newly introduced quality concepts have to be incorporated by the actors who are using them. They have to have an effect on their everyday professional behaviour. As an example it is not only important that an evaluation questionnaire has been selected, distributed and the feedback analysed, it is as important that the results have an impact on the educational process. In the incorporation phase it is therefore examined whether the changed processes and new values which are suggested through a new quality strategy are incorporated into the activity patterns of the stakeholders. Critical analysis skills and evaluation experiences are necessary for this phase. Quality analysis therefore is crucial in this phase.

Table 2 gives an overview on the relevant questions which are addressed for each of the partial qualities.

The questions reveal that all partial qualities require differentiated competencies in order to be realised. The quality of all phases is then the result of quality competent behaviour. The presented quality model is of heuristic 213

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Specification potential

– Which learning opportunities and boundaries does the educational offer contain with regard to the individual situation and preference of the client? (is it possible to choose time, place, teachers, learning groups, learning environments?)

– How is the educational environment adapted to the individual characteristics and preferences of the client?

Contact potential

– Which possibilities to specify their learning needs exist for the clients? (e-communication means, office hours, educational counselling offers, etc.)

– How competent are the contact persons? (diagnostic abilities, flexibility, communicative competencies, etc.)

Integration potential

– What are the expectations and needs of the client?

– What is the client’s attitude and preference towards the educational experience?

– Which meaning has the educational experience for the client?

Interaction potential

– How good is the clients’ capacity to integrate/ to communicate his/her needs into the educational context? (communicative abilities, self reflection processes, self-diagnostic abilities, etc.)

– What is the clients’ situation and background?

– can the client enter into a beneficial educational process?

Process behaviour of provider

– How is the educational experience structured?

– How is the educational environment realised?

– Where are strengths and weaknesses in the educational provision?

Process behaviour of client

– How can the clients realise the provided educational opportunities for their benefit?

– Where are the client’s strengths and weaknesses in the educational process? (learning problems, misunderstandings, etc.)

Final process result

– Which procedures are used to determine the final process quality?

– How are these procedures applied?

Educational impact

– What is the educational impact for the client (eg. in the workplace)?

– is there a service of guidance/ tutoring even after the course has ended?

Potential quality of provider

Potential quality of client

Process quality

Final process result

Table 2

Description of partial qualities of the participatory model for quality development (adapted from Meyer & Mattmüller, 1987).

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value. It combines the different partial qualities with the phases of introducing a quality strategy and helps to different them from each other. The model — which is originally constructed for the field of service quality — has been adapted to the field of educational provision. This adaptation shows that it can combine the different concepts mentioned before: co-construction and participation as well as quality literacy within one model.

Conclusion Quality development in e-learning aims at improving educational processes. These are the result of a co-production between learners and their learning environments, and can in principle not be defined prescriptively. This means in final consequence that the result of an educational process can not directly be influenced and optimised like a production process (this relates to the technology deficit of education mentioned in the introduction). Quality strategies can therefore not guarantee high quality of learning processes but should rather aim at a professionalisation of the quality development process — both on the client’s and on the provider’s side.

The paper emphasises this aspect and identifies a set of competencies which are seen as relevant for such a professionalisation of quality development processes: 1. Quality knowledge: this dimension addresses the “pure” knowledge about the possibilities of today’s quality development and up-to-date quality strategies in e-learning and education.

2. Quality experience: this dimension describes the ability of using quality strategies with a certain intention, eg. to improve the drop-out rate of a university program. It is based on the experiences actors have with quality development and application of quality strategies to educational scenarios.

3. Quality innovation: this dimension relates to the ability of creation and development of quality strategies and/ or instruments for ones’ own purpose. It goes beyond the simple use of existing instruments and strategies.

4. Quality analysis: relates to the ability to analyse the processes of quality development critically in the light of ones own situation and to reflect upon ones’ own objectives and context.

The interactive nature of quality development is reflected in the presented quality model (see section 4) which subdivides quality into three 215

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partial qualities: The potential quality of the provider and the client has to be realised through interaction and negotiation. Potentials are then turned into (educational) processes. The process quality in turn leads to results and outcome quality which aims at having a long term impact. This threefold structure is directly connected to a typical quality development processes with a needs analysis, a realisation/ adaptation and an incorporation/ impact phase. Quality literacy is suggested as a set of abilities which give a specific support to all phases. In conclusion we would like to stress that quality development runs the risk of remaining a purely technocratic process when it is not linked to a process of professionalisation of the stakeholders.

The quality model relates to theoretical work which has been done in the field of service quality and combines it with concepts of negotiation, participation and co-production. However, a comprehensive empirical validation of the described concepts has so far not been undertaken. Therefore we suggest developing empirical research questions in the following fields: 1. Exploration of suitable negotiation and participation methods to involve clients and providers into the development of quality strategies. Who can be involved into negotiation processes? What can be objects of negotiation? What are quality standards in negotiation processes?

2. Exploration, validation and formulation of the concept of quality literacy within the framework of total quality management concepts. Quality literacy has to be subject of validation as a concept which enables stakeholders to formulate their own positions and select and apply suitable quality strategies against the background of their own individual and their organisations quality goals.

Quality literacy is a pre-requisite for quality development on both sides — the clients and the providers in an educational setting. The described competencies allow acting in a competent way in the field of quality development and to enter into a process of stimulating a quality culture with the aim of continuous improvement. The aim of enhancing the competence is a move towards a professionalisation of the quality debate.

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Evaluation of internet use and personality characteristics Anna Maria Murdaca, Francesca Cuzzocrea, Francesco Conti and Rosalba Larcan

aBSTRacT

Department of Education Sciences, University of Messina, Via Concezione 6/8 – 98123 Messina (Italy).

E-mail: amurdaca@unime.it

The general objective of this research was to analyse the relationship between Internet addiction, alexithymia coping strategies and assertive behaviour. 296 university students aged between 18-24 were divided into two groups based on the results obtained from the Internet Addiction Test. The first objective of this research was to compare the levels of alexithymia, the coping strategies normally used and the forms of interpersonal behaviour in subjects for whom Internet use does not seem to determine specific problems (IATtot scoring <40) and in whom these problems present some problems strictly connected to Internet use (IATtot scoring between 40 and 69). The aim was to verify whether the variables considered (alexithymia, coping and interpersonal behaviour) could be correlated differently in the two groups of subjects examined.

Despite the evident methodological limits, the present research has highlighted some rather interesting personal and behavioural aspects.

Same relevant differences were found in coping strategies and in identifying and describing feelings between groups. The correlations between problematic use of the Internet, alexithymia and an inadequate management of personal limits appear to be rather interesting.

Keywords: internet addiction; coping strategies; alexithymia; interpersonal behaviours.

Edizioni Erickson – Trento

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Introduction Internet addiction, like other behavioural dependences is a difficult concept to define. There are no univocal criteria to define such a problem. This is probably due to the fact that the clinical manifestations of such disturbances are being particularly heterogeneous and are intertwined with other forms of psychic suffering.

Young (1998) highlighted how his concept of Internet addiction was in reality a rather loose term, behind which exist numerous compulsive behavioural characteristics.

More recently Davis (2001) suggested using the term specific pathological Internet use, as opposed to generalized pathological Internet use to differentiate between pure and specific forms of addiction.

Addiction to the Internet has been included in a larger category: tech abuse (La Barbera, 2001) or technological addictions (Griffiths, 2000).

Technological addictions are defined as behavioural addictions which imply a man â&#x20AC;&#x201D; machine interaction and which present the same relevant aspects of addiction to substances (dominance of activity on thought and feelings, mood swings, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, conflicting relationships and failed efforts to break the behaviour) (Griffiths, 1995). Shapira, Goldsmith, Keck, Khosla and McElroy (2000) have defined Internet addiction by the concept of positive addiction (Glasser, 1976), or more precisely to those forms of behaviour which allow an individual to reach a state of transcendence, similar to a meditative trance in which the mind can freely fluctuate.

However, this suggestion has been criticised since it ignores some clinical aspects which characterises the condition of addiction and manifestations like tolerance and withdrawal (Griffiths, 1998).

The uncertainty of terminology and diagnosis so far described is reflected in epidemiological data: there is no univocity among the scientific results concerning the incidence and the spread of addiction to the Internet.

Assessment of the psychopathology caused by Internet use (Janiri, Caroppo, Pinto & Pozzi, 2006) within the population is strongly influenced by the methodology used to investigate the situation and by the instruments used (self-report questionnaires, clinical observation, diagnostic criteria). Shapira, Goldsmith, Keck, Khosla and McElroy (2000) preferred to place the emphasis on emotional aspects connected to the use of technology, recognising that an immoderate use of the Internet accompanies a significant state of worry and anxiety.

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For more than a decade studies on the risk associated with Internet abuse have followed in parallel with the spread of the Internet in a domestic environment. Due to the number of these contributions and their heterogenous methodology, some authors have written reviews of studies (Chou, Condron & Belland, 2005; Widyanto & Griffiths, 2006; Vijaya & Sanju, 2007; Cantelmi & Talli, 2007) and meta analysis (Douglas, Mulls, Niang et al., 2008; Byun, Ruffini, Mills et al., 2009). In each of these reviews, the authors have tried to classify the extensive research on Internet addiction through a series of categories or research problems.

In fact, Widyanto & Griffiths (2006) underline how a lot of research has studied in depth the link between other psychological variables. Numerous studies have analysed the association between Internet addiction and personality traits (Young, 1998; Xuanhui & Gonggu, 2001) among which self esteem (Armstrong, Phillips & Saling 2000; Widyanto & McMurran, 2004) and the research of strong feelings (Zuckerman, 1979; Lanvin, Marvin, McLarney et al., 1999). According to Wallace (1999) the locus of control is a further personality trait that can be correlated to web usage. Furthermore, Black, Belsare and Schlosser (1999) investigated clinical features, psychiatric comorbidity, and health-related quality of life in persons reporting compulsive computer use behavior.

The growing interest in psycho-pedagogical research (Grange & Onorati, 2006) and didactics (Baldassarre & Brescia, 1995) in relationship between the individual and technology has determined the main objective of the present research project which aims to analyse internet addiction in relation to a series of psychological concepts which are not often investigated in literature: in particular, alexithymia, coping strategies and assertive behaviour.

Such a choice is due to the necessity of observing this phenomenon through different perspectives to provide depth and complexity to the comprehension of this phenomenon.

The attitude of studies in this ambit tends to be polarized, ranging between an excessively negative view of an individual/Internet relationship and an optimistic and benevolent perspective concerning the use of the Internet. In considering this risk, the aim is to extend the analysis of the phenomenon to a normative Internet usage and non referable conduct to a psychopathological condition.

The general objective of this research was to analyse the relationship between Internet addiction, alexithymia coping strategies and assertive behaviour.

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Alexithymia refers to the difficulty of verbally expressing emotions, a limited imaginative activity and a dull communicative style (Sifneos, 1973).

Todarelli and Porcelli (2002) define the theoretic concept of alexithymia by several aspects: difficulty in identifying, describing and communicating emotions, difficulty in distinguishing between experienced emotions and physiological activation, a poor imaginative process, cognitive style directed by external reality, social conformist adaptation. A growing number of contributions have highlighted the role of alexithymic function in addiction (Taylor, Parker & Bagby, 1990; Ribakowsky, 1988; Haviland, Murray & Cummings, 1988) and the association between dissociative experience and forms of addiction (Zlotnick, Shea, Rosen et al., 1997). Alexithymic individuals tend to develop forms of addiction since they are deprived of an adequate capacity for insight and self awareness and specularly, the condition of addiction can influence a person in recognising emotions and can induce a particularly rigid way of functioning (Speranza, Corcos, Stéphan et al., 2004). De Bernadis, D’Albenzio, Gambi et al. (2009) refer that alexithymic individuals compared to non alexithymic individuals obtain a significantly higher score on the presence of obsessive — compulsive symptoms and the potential risk of developing an addiction to the Internet. The score obtained from alexithymic subjects in relation to levels of self esteem is significantly lower. Dissociative experiences, low self esteem, difficulty in identifying feelings and insufficient control of impulses are associated with higher levels of addiction. Despite intuitive “familiarity” among forms of addiction, Alexithymia and dissociation, there are few studies on specific associations between these variables and problematic use of the Internet.

To analyse the connection between addiction and coping strategies, the stress-coping model theory (Wills & Shiffman, 1985) is one of the most widespread models. One study based on such a model has shown that adolescents with problems who abuse substances, compared to those who don’t, tend to use strategies of avoidance more and use coping strategies in circumstances related to drug abuse less (Wagner, Myers & McIninch, 1999).

Studies which investigate the association between coping strategies and Internet use are certainly rarer. Seepersad (2004) refers to a significant association between offline avoidance strategies and the use of Internet ambiences as a distraction. Adolescents who consider communication as the main function of the Internet cope with solitude mainly through the expression of emotions. Baker and Moore (2008) have tried to evaluate the use of particular coping strategies in network users who start writing a blog. The results show 222

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significant differences in two ways of coping, compared to those who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t use a blog: interpersonal release (venting) and the self attribution of responsibility (self blame). A limit of this research is the use of one particularly brief instrument for evaluating styles of coping and also partly due to adequate psychometric characteristics. In one study on Internet addiction risk factors in Chinese teenagers (Lam, Peng & Mai Jing, 2009) the role of Internet use as a coping strategy in stressful events emerged quite clearly. In the same study it is suggested that one of the common factors among different forms of addiction could really be due to stress management. A recent investigation into videogame addiction (MĂźller, 2010) has drawn attention to a peculiar use of coping mechanisms and in particular, avoidance strategies in addicts.

Analysis of literature has furthermore confirmed the necessity of analysing the significant association between assertiveness, competence in relationships and forms of addiction. In fact, many research programmes (Ferraro, Caci, Conti et al., 2008; Milani, Osualdella & Di Blasio, 2009) have individualised a significant association between difficulty in the area of interpersonal relationships and the risk of developing Internet abuse. On the subject of Internet addiction, studies have tried to show that a controlled use of the Internet depends on a series of personal characteristics such as preference for solitary activities, poor establishment of relationships (Young, 2007; Chak & Leung, 2004) and the presence of depressed traits (Kraut, Kiesler, Boneva et al., 2002). Caplan (2007) has verified the association between loneliness and negative consequences in Internet use, a correlation provided by the preference of users for online interaction. Despite this, a large number of researchers implicitly tend to associate Internet abuse and difficulty in interpersonal relationships and there do not seem to be studies which specifically evaluate the nature of this difficulty and the eventual lack of assertiveness in subjects who develop a problematic use of the Internet.

Self efficiency and assertiveness are considered very important variables in the research into addiction since they delay difficulty in efficiently expressing thoughts, opinions and needs: such a barrier in self expression contributes to feeding the process of addiction.

Specific objectives and hypotheses of the research The first objective of this research was to compare the levels of alexithymia, the coping strategies normally used and the forms of interpersonal 223

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behaviour in subjects for whom Internet use does not seem to determine specific problems and in whom these problems present some problems strictly connected to Internet use.

The second objective of this research was to verify if the variables considered (alexithymia, coping and interpersonal behaviour) could be correlated differently in the two groups of subjects examined.

Participants 296 university students aged between 18-24 took place in the research (20.92 ± 1.41; Me = Mo = 21). The selection of the subjects was carried out in different degree courses from the universities of Messina and Palermo on the base of stratification sampling in courses in humanistic and scientific fields. The subjects who decided to participate were prevalently females (n = 246-83%), but males and females were equally distributed with regard to age (age of the males: 20.84 ± 1.42; Me = Mo = 21; age of the females: 20.93 ± 1.41; 20.93 ± 1.41; Me = Mo = 21).

Instruments and procedure Each subject was individually asked to complete a social- registry questionnaire which also asked for details regarding their use of the web and after three tests (IAT, TAS-20, COPE-NIV) following a Latin square design to check the effect of the order.

To determine the social-registry details of the subjects (age, genre, type of university education) and their habits regarding the use of the web (Internet environment mainly used, manner of use, whether heterogeneous, homogeneous, contextual, time spent online) an ad hoc questionnaire composed of seven questions was given to a limited number.

In order to analyzed Internet dependence and in order to differ low users to high users, it was asked to fill Internet Addiction Test (IAT) (Young, 1998) — composed by 20 item. The Italian version (Ferraro, Caci, D’Amico & Di Blasi, 2006) is a questionnaire on which respondents are asked to indicate the degree to which their Internet use affects their daily routine, social life, productivity, sleeping pattern and feelings. They must rate items on five-point Likert scale. The higher score (maximum 100) indicate the greater problems caused by Internet use. The minimum score is 20. Il test can evaluate the cutoff values useful to differ no problematic internet usage 224

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by people that are able to control over their usage (score of 20-39 points — users without problems related with internet) to problematic internet usage (score of 40-69 signifies frequent problems due to Internet usage) and to significantly problematic internet usage (users that show significant problems related with their Internet usage — score of 70-100).

In order to measure alexithymia, it was proposed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale – TAS-20 (Bagby, Parker & Taylor, 1994) using Italian version (Bressi, Taylor, Parker et al., 1996). This is a self-report scale comprised of 20 items.

Each item is rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The TAS-20 has 3 subscales: (1) Difficulty Identifying Feeling subscale is used to measure difficulty identifying emotions and to distinguish them from the somatic sensations that accompany emotional arousal (7 items); (2) Difficulty Describing Feelings subscale is used to measure difficulty describing emotions to other people (5 items); (3) Externally-Oriented Thinking subscale is used to measure the tendency of individuals to focus their attention externally (8 items). The total alexithymia score is the sum of responses to all 20 items, while the score for each subscale factor is the sum of the responses to that subscale. The TAS-20 uses cutoff scoring equal to or less than 51 means non-alexithymia, while equal to or greater than 61 represents a high risk of alexithymia. If scores are 52 to 60 alexithymia is possible.

The coping strategies were analysed by Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (COPE-NIVI) (Carver, Scheier & Weintraub, 1989) in the Italian version of Sica, Magni, Ghisi et al. (2008). It is a self report questionnaire, containing 60 questions, which determined the frequency of the user in difficult or stressful situations, the process of coping formulated within the item. Coping strategies, such as social support, avoidance strategies, positive attitude, and problem solving and turning to religion are analysed specifically.

Interpersonal problems were analysed through the Scale for Interpersonal Behaviour (SIB) (Arrindell & Van der Ende, 1985) in a reduced version (25 items) adapted to the Italian sampling (Arrindell, Nota, Sanavio et al., 2004). This is a multidimensional self-report measure of difficulty and distress in state assertiveness. In addition to an overall measure of assertion, the SIB contains four dimensions: (I) negative assertion (7 item); (II) expression of and dealing with personal limitations (6 item); (III) initiating assertiveness (6 item); and (IV) positive assertion (6 item).

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Results The analysis procedures of the data were dealt with by the help of statistic elaboration software (SPSS 15.0 version).

To verify the differential hypotheses, the subjects were divided into two groups based on the results obtained from the Internet Addiction Test: users with no problematic Internet usage were included in the first group (N = 176) with an IATtot scoring <40; those with problematic Internet usage were placed in the second group (IATtot scoring between 40 and 69).

In line with the aims of the research, the two groups differ in significant ways and the Mann Whitney test (U) confirmed a significantly higher average score that show problems connected to Internet use (cut-off â&#x2030;Ľ40) compared to the group of subjects that show a normal Internet use (cut-off <40) (U = 1286; Z = 12.87; p <.0001).

A non parametric statistic was chosen to analyse the data, in particular the Mann Whitney test (1947) to compare the two groups selected (with no problematic vs. problematic Internet usage), while the Wilcoxon Ranks Test (1945) was used for comparison within the two groups.

The Pearson Correlation Index was used to verify the relationship between the level of Alexithymia, interpersonal behaviour and ways of coping in the two groups (with no problems vs. problematic Internet usage).

Questionnaire on the habits regarding the use of the web Relative to the verification of the average time spent on the Internet in the subjects who took part in the research programme, it emerged that none of the participants use the Internet for more than five consecutive hours, while 21% of them use the Internet from 3-5 hours a day. The majority of the subjects interviewed stated that they spent from 1-3 hours each day on the Internet, while the number of subjects who said that they spent less than one hour online each day was equal to 27%.

Although the connection between frequency of use and the risk of Internet addiction was largely shown to exist, there does not seem to be a shared parameter of reference to estimate the amount of time that can considered being dysfunctional. Young (1998) defines those who spend an average of 5.6 hours a day on the Internet to be addicted while Chou & Hsiao (2000) identify the cut-off as 3.6.

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With regard to the period of the day, the examined subjects used the Internet, it emerged that 57% used it mainly in the evening and 32% in the afternoon. The number of individuals who use the Internet at night (6%) and in the morning (5%) was smaller.

Analysing instead the Internet environments mainly used, it seems that the majority of samples use the social network (55%). The number of people who use the Internet principally to divide audio and video files (19%) seemed significant. 14% of the subjects interviewed seem to prefer chatting and virtual worlds, while only 12% say they connect to the Internet exclusively to check their electronic post.

42% of the subjects confirmed a homogeneous use of the Internet, while 44% claim to use it for necessity arising at that moment. Only a few subjects (14%) say they use the Internet in a heterogeneous manner that is exploring different sites and functions.

Differences between groups – Alexithymia Analysis of the data carried out using the Mann-Whitney teat (U) highlighted significant differences between subjects with different capacities in managing their use of the Internet in levels of alexithymia (U = 6786.5; Z = -5.22; p <.0001). The average score and average rank relative and standard deviations to levels of Alexithymia are synthesised in Table 1.

Difficulty Identifying Feeling

Difficulty Describing Feelings

ExternallyOriented Thinking

TAS-20 – TOT

Mean Rank With no problematic M Internet usage SD

130.42

137.63

131.30

127.06

14.24

12.59

15.65

42.49

6.03

4.68

4.69

11.15

Mean Rank With problematic M Internet usage SD

175.02

164.45

173.73

179.95

16.97

14.08

18.36

49.40

5.73

4.82

5.32

11.52

Subjects

Table 1

Descriptive statistics – Alexithymia scores obtained by subjects with no problematic internet usage and with problematic internet usage.

Furthermore, significant differences in the three test subscales are pointed out (difficulty identifying and describing feeling and externally-oriented 227

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thinking). In particular, subjects with problematic internet usage seem to show greater difficulty in difficulty identifying feeling (U = 7377.5; Z = -4.409; p <.0001) and to describe them (U = 8646; Z = -2.653; p <.0001) and in Externally Oriented Thinking (U = 7532; Z = -4.196; p <.0001)compared to people of the same age with no problematic Internet usage. The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test highlighted a group of normal users with greater difficulty in describing feelings (Z = 3.97; p <.0001) and Externally Oriented Thinking (Z = 5.91; p <.0001). While in subjects with problematic internet usage, a greater difficulty in identifying other people’s feelings compared to the capacity of describing them (Z = 5.12; p <.0001) or Externally-oriented Thinking (Z = 2.91; p <.02) was pointed out.

Differences between groups – Coping strategies Table 2 shows the mean ranks, averages and standard deviations of the obtained scores of the two groups in the five subscale COPE-NIV test (social support, avoidance strategies, positive attitude, problem solving, turning to religion).

Social support

Avoidance strategies

Positive attitude

Problem solving

Turning to religion

Mean Rank

142.47

120.98

150.68

156.14

160.18

M

30.59

22.45

30.62

30.85

22.01

SD

7.63

4.33

4.80

5.17

4.80

Mean Rank

157.34

188.87

145.30

137.29

131.36

M

31.88

26.64

30.48

29.64

20.20

SD

8.24

5.49

5.22

5.86

5.00

Subjects With no problematic Internet usage With problematic Internet usage

Table 2

Descriptive statistics of obtained scores by the two groups in the five subscales of COPE-NIV test.

In particular, the non parametric Mann-Whitney test highlighted statistically significant differences between the two groups in their use of avoidance strategies (U = 5716; Z = -1.468; p <.01) and transcendent orientation (U = 8503.5; Z = -2.85; p <.01). Instead, there were no evident significant differences in the demand for social support (U = 9499.5; Z = -1.47; p = .14), in positive attitude (U = 10176; Z = -.53; p = .59) and in problem orientation (U = 9215; Z = -1.86; p = .06).

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The average scores in the scales of the COPE-NIV test obtained from the subjects in both groups are reported in Figure 1.

It can be observed that users with no problematic Internet usage use the research strategies of social support, positive attitude and orientation to the problem with similar frequency while they seem to use avoidance strategy and transcendent orientation with a significantly lower frequency. A similar tendency is highlighted in the group of abusers.

Differences between groups â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Interpersonal Behaviour Table 3 reports the mean (M), standard deviations (DS), and mean rank of the scores obtained from the two groups in different scales (negative assertion, expression of and dealing with personal limitations, initiating assertiveness and positive assertion of SIB â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Scale for Interpersonal Behaviour).

Figure 1

Mean of obtained scores by the two groups in the five subscales of COPE-NIV test.

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Negative assertion

Personal limitations

Initiating assertiveness

Positive assertion

SIB – Tot

Mean Rank

146.23

140.37

143.66

141.51

142.58

M

18.43

12.83

15.85

12.07

59.18

SD

5.64

4.26

4.86

4.52

15.36

Mean Rank

151.83

160.43

155.60

158.75

157.19

M

18.58

13.79

16.46

12.87

61.69

SD

5.19

4.31

4.99

4.47

15.09

Subjects With no problematic Internet usage With problematic Internet usage

Table 3

Descriptive statistics of obtained scores by the two groups in scale for Interpersonal Behaviour.

Analysis of the data did not highlight any statistically significant differences between the two groups in general assertiveness (U = 9517.5; Z = -1.44; p <.15), in initiative assertiveness (U = 9707.5; Z = -1.18; p = .24) and in positive assertiveness (U = 9330.5; Z = -1.71; p = .09). Furthermore no differences were pointed out in the manifestation of negative assertion (U = 10160.5; Z = -.55; p = .58). Instead, it seems that subjects with problematic internet usage have greater difficulty in expressing and managing their personal limits compared to people of the same age who use the Internet without showing any particular problems (U = 9128.5; Z = -1.98; p <.05).

As it is possible to observe in Figure 2, the main interpersonal behaviour in both groups is the manifestation of negative feelings, while a markedly inferior level appears in the expression of one’s personal limits and positive assertiveness.

Relationship between use/abuse of the Internet and alexithymia To evaluate the relationship between use/abuse of the Internet and alexithymia Pearson’s correlation was carried out between the scores obtained from the subjects of both groups examined in the Internet Addiction Test and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale. The obtained values and the relative indexes of significance are reported in Table 4.

As it is possible to note by comparing the total scores of both tests, the group of users without problems do not reveal a significant relationship between Internet abuse and alexithymia (r = .04; p = .62), while such a 230

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Figure 2

Mean of obtained scores by the two groups in the four subscales of SIB test.

Difficulty Identifying Feeling

Difficulty Describing Feelings

ExternallyOriented Thinking

TAS-20 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; TOT

With no problematic Internet usage

.008

-.096

.173

.037

.917

.206

.021

.625

With problematic Internet usage

.129

.256

.2

.263

.161

.005

.029

.004

Subjects

Table 4

Correlations between IAT and TAS20 scores.

relationship is highly significant in the group of abusers (r = .26; p = .004).

In particular, in examining also the single scale of the TAS test, a positive correlation is highlighted between IAT and Externally-Oriented Thinking scale (r = .17; p = .02).

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In the group with problematic Internet usage, the total score of the IAT is also significantly correlated with the difficulty in describing feelings (r = .256; p = .005).

Relationship between use/abuse of the Internet and interpersonal behaviour To evaluate the relationship between use/abuse of the Internet and interpersonal behaviour, Pearson’s correlation was carried out between the scores obtained from the Internet Addiction Test and the scale for Interpersonal behaviour from both groups examined. As it is possible to observe in Table 5, the statistical analysis carried out did not highlight any significant correlation in either group.

Negative assertion

Personal limitations

Initiating assertiveness

Positive assertion

SIB – Tot

With no problematic Internet usage

.046

-.021

.035

-.066

.003

.543

.784

.643

.382

.971

With problematic Internet usage

.138

.137

.077

.095

.140

.133

.135

.403

.302

.126

Social support

Avoidance strategies

Positive attitude

Problem solving

Turning to religion

.018

.2

-.016

-.135

-.008

.817

.008

.834

.073

.917

-.176

.212

.046

-.180

-.187

.054

.020

.617

.049

.041

Subjects

Subjects With no problematic Internet usage With problematic Internet usage

Table 5

Correlations between IAT and SIB scores and between IAT and COPE-NIV test.

Relationship between use/abuse of the Internet and coping strategies The obtained values and the relative indexes of significance of the obtained correlation between the obtained scores from the subjects of both groups in the Internet Addiction Test and coping are reported in Table 5.

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The tendency to put avoidance strategies into action seems to be an important factor compared to the total scores of the IAT. In subjects with no problematic Internet usage, it seems to be the only factor which can be significantly correlated (r = .2; p = .008), while in subjects with problematic Internet usage, the lack of problem solving strategies (r = -.18; p = .05) and the low tendency to adequate turning to religion strategies (r = .19; p = .04) also seems to increase problems linked with Internet usage. In this group a positive correlation between avoidances strategies (r = .21; p = .02) and a negative correlation between internet usage and negative assertion (r = -.18; p = .05).

Discussion and conclusion The aim of this study was to compare subjects who used the Internet normally and those with a dysfunctional Internet use in the levels of alexithymia, coping strategies used and interpersonal behaviour shown. These two groups are similar in many aspects, such as coping strategies and interpersonal behavior. More specifically, all subjects demand social support with the same frequency and they show the same positive attitude. In both groups the same frequency of negative feelings and manifestations was observed. However, the results underlined some important differences. In particular, subjects with problematic internet usage showed more difficulty in identifying and describing feelings compared to others. In addition, they used avoidance strategies more frequently and showed greater difficulty in expressing and managing their personal limits compared to those that use the Internet normally.

It may be that the difficulty in identifying and describing feelings and poor orientation towards others can represent a risk condition that can lead to a growing addiction to the Internet. It is true, in fact, that avoidance in real interpersonal situations, which by necessity demands a constant comparison with oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own personal limits and with the emotional world can represent an easy escape route from anxiety, thus social detachment and are therefore a strong indicator of risk addiction and social isolation.

The second hypothesis of this research was to verify if the variables considered (alexithymia, coping and interpersonal behaviour) could be correlated differently in the two groups of subjects examined. The results un233

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derlined a major risk of alexithymia for the group of internet abusers. More specifically, the correlations between alexithymia and a problematic use of the Internet and Internet abuse and an inadequate management of personal limits appear to be rather interesting. In subjects with problematic Internet usage, the lack of problem solving strategies seems to increase problems linked with Internet usage. However, these analyses have confirmed that the frequency of internet use is related with a more evident use of avoidance strategies in both groups.

Despite the evident methodological limits, the present research has highlighted some rather interesting personal and behavioural aspects. In fact, it has emerged that those who do not manage to exercise adequate control over their web use have greater recourse to avoidance strategies to cope with stressful events and are less orientated to a solution of the problem.

It is probable that in these subjects Internet use could be an expression of avoidance strategy or self sabotage, which by reducing anxiety negatively reinforces itself. Some parameters such as duration of the connection and the Internet environment mainly used can provide useful indications in the complex evaluation of a risk condition. The results suggest the need for a greater investigation and a more specific analysis on samples more representative than those used in the present research programme.

In conclusion, an ever more urgent need for a suitable education in the use of the media is highlighted (we would say an intermediated education) which by exercising critical capacity offers a crossroad between cognitive and affective aspects and technology related experience. The subject must be able to visualise the characteristics of his own “movements” on the web, understand the underlying needs in such choices and eventually recognise compulsive traits and avoidance behaviour. The need for technological education is therefore offered as an appropriate reflective capacity because the virtual world has invaded every corner of our lives in recent years besides having become an integral part of youth culture, which uses its connective powers as a platform for the acquisition of new cultural elements and for interpersonal, cognitive, emotive etc. exchange (from personal identity to virtual identity). It would deal with complementary techno-mediated relationships in traditional forms of communication, intimately connected to the objectives, personal and collective needs of each subject who uses the web but which would surely have an effect on psychic and relational life.

This is why we sometimes assist a type of “militant enthusiasm” for the web accompanied by a sort of “digital anomia” which leads to an uncontrolled 234

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use of the web by some youths who have difficulty in real life social ability and so use Internet connection as a substitute for social exchange. It is obvious that the web, with its wide spectrum of sensorial fluxes and unmediated stimulations, would exactly capture that youth who already has existential problems and lead him to abuse, addiction, expression of a type of avoidance behaviour and a refuge to avoid his own unease.

The results confirmed the importance of psycho-pedagogical and mediated didactic reference programmes (Rivoltella, 2006). It is important to underlie that the media education cannot be considered a solution for psychological problems, but it could be relevant in order to prevent them, increasing coping strategies and increasing interpersonal behaviour. The large use of internet and the risk correlated with a dysfunctional use (relationship between abusive Internet behaviour and a series of problems in managing relationships, coping with stressful events and identifying and describing oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s feelings) underline the relevance to realize specific media education in a large scale for all citizens in the knowledge society, which would help subjects to develop balanced forms of use and whose objectives aim to develop a critical attitude, social ability, social awareness, self awareness and self esteem.

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Utilizing peer interactions to promote learning through a web-based peer assessment system Lan Li*, Allen L. Steckelberg** and Sribhagyam Srinivasan***

aBSTRacT

* College of Education and Human Development, Bowling Green State University, 444 Education Building, Bowling Green, OH 43403 (USA). E-mail: lli@bgsu.edu ** College of Education and Human Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1400 Street Lincoln, NE (USA). E-mail: als@unl.edu *** Lamar State College-Orange, 410, Front St. Orange, TX (USA). E-mail: Sribhagyam@yahoo.com

Peer assessment is an instructional strategy in which students evaluate each other’s performance for the purpose of improving learning.

Despite its accepted use in higher education, researchers and educators have reported concerns such as students’ time on task, the impact of peer pressure on the accuracy of marking, and students’ lack of ability to make critical judgments about peers’ work. This study explored student perceptions of a web-based peer assessment system. Findings conclude that web-based peer assessment can be effective in minimizing peer pressure, reducing management workload, stimulating student interactions, and enhancing student understanding of marking criteria and critical assessment skills.

Keywords: peer assessment; student interactions; student performance.

Edizioni Erickson – Trento

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Introduction Learning and teaching are highly social activities. Interactions between students and teachers and between students and peers play a fundamental role in the learning process. Vygotsky (1978) looked at learning as an activity rooted in social interactions with others and the outside world. He asserted that when children interact with adults or more capable peers, higher mental functions are initiated. Cognitive development is «best fostered in a social environment where students are active participants and where they are helped to reflect on their learning» (Bruning, Schraw, Norby & Ronning, 2004, p. 203).

Promoting student autonomy and encouraging student interactions have been extended to the arena of assessment. Students’ behaviour and attitude toward learning are often shaped by the assessment system (Freeman, 1995). While, instructor-only assessment provides limited feedback and interactions with students, student participation in assessment is usually inadequate. Research has suggested that some power should be transferred to students in order to achieve higher student engagement and to better promote learning (Orsmond & Merry, 1996; Orsmond, Merry, & Reiling, 2002). In order to address this issue, some alternative assessment approaches such as peer assessment, self-assessment, and portfolio assessment have been promoted in recent years. The focus of this paper is to explore the use of peer assessment in higher education, and highlight and discuss a specific peer assessment approach.

Peer assessment is a process in which students evaluate the performance or achievement of peers (Topping, Smith, Swanson & Elliot, 2000). While peer assessment can be summative, peer marking is used to provide accountability and to check the level of learning by assigning a quantitative mark — it often focuses on formative goals. Formative peer assessment usually involves students in two roles: assessors and assessees. As assessors, students provide detailed and constructive feedback regarding the strength and weakness of their peers’ work. As assessees, students view peer feedback and improve their own work. Cheng and Warren (1999) defined this assessment method as a process of reflection on «what learning has taken place and how» (p. 301).

The potential benefits of peer assessment for cognitive development and the learning process have been highlighted in numerous studies. Pope 240

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(2001) suggested peer assessment stimulates student motivation and encourages deeper learning. Li and Steckelberg’s study (2005) on peer assessment indicated that the technology-mediated peer assessment provided a scaffolding guide that helped students gradually shift their roles from assessees to assessors. Some of the benefits reported in the study included diagnosing misconceptions and deepening learning. Topping (1998), after reviewing 109 articles focusing on peer assessment, confirmed that peer assessment can yield cognitive benefits for both assessors and assessees in multiple ways: constructive reflection, increased time on task, attention on crucial elements of quality work, and a greater sense of accountability and responsibility.

In spite of the benefits of peer assessment, research has also identified some weaknesses. They include peer pressure, time on task, and student ability to interpret marking criteria and to conduct critical assessment. A number of researchers have noted their concerns regarding peer pressure in peer assessment (e.g. Davies, 2002; Hanrahan & Isaacs, 2001; Topping et al., 2000). Peer pressure can cause feelings of uncertainty and insecurity for students as «marking could be easily affected by friendship, cheating, ego or low self-esteem» (Robinson, 1999, p. 96). When students are aware of the source of the work and/or assessment, potential biases like friendship, gender or race may have a greater influence on their marking and feedback.

Issues of time on task in peer assessment are twofold. One is from the instructor’s perspective. Management of peer feedback documentation requires substantial time (Davies, 2002), especially when confidentiality of assessors and assessees is required in the process. For example, in one of their peer assessment studies, Hanrahan and Isaacs (2001) reported utilizing more than 40 person hours for documentation work in an anonymous distribution system with 244 students. The other aspect of time engagement is drawn from the student perspective. A well-implemented peer assessment is not an easy process. It requires long-term student commitment involving work from defining marking criteria to practicing assessment skills, from constructing projects to submitting them, and from assessing peers to viewing peer comments. In addition, in traditional paper-based peer assessments, submission of and access to feedback are difficult to complete in a timely manner; delays create a challenge to student focus and their ability to follow through on the process.

In addition to peer pressure and time issues, two other common barriers in peer assessment include students’ difficulties in understanding marking 241

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criteria and their lack of critical assessment skills. Peer assessment works best when marking criteria are clearly understood by students: «Common to most successful self and peer assessment schemes is the act of making explicit the assessment criteria» (Falchikov, 1995, p. 175). Understanding the criteria of a particular project and analyzing a peer’s work can lead to an improved awareness of one’s own performance (Freeman, 1995). However, terms and phrases in marking criteria may not convey the same meaning for students and instructors. Students especially lack skills interpreting criteria requiring higher order thinking skills (Orsmond, Merry & Reiling, 2000).

Dochy, Segers and Sluijsmans (1999) stressed the importance of training in «obtaining an optimal impact» (p. 346) on the student learning process. This process can be especially important for students new to peer assessment.

Challenges in peer assessment may explain contradictory results in previous peer assessment research. In the current study, an attempt was made to address the weaknesses in peer assessment by utilizing a web-based assessment system. In this system, students rated and commented upon peers’ projects. Anonymity was assured to reduce peer pressure. Since data were managed by computers, no manual work was needed to maintain the circulation link such as handing out student projects, collecting peer feedback, and distributing feedback to authors of projects. The administrative workload was minimal and student interactions were encouraged. In addition, face-to-face training was provided to deepen student understanding of marking criteria and strengthen their critical assessment skills. This paper further explores student perceptions of this peer assessment model and how it contributes to a student’s learning process. In this study, peer rating and feedback were utilized only as formative feedback for the purpose of promoting learning, not as a substitute for instructor grading. Students were aware that scores provided by student assessors were only used as an initial guide for project improvement. Instead, the quality of their peer assessment (whether students were able to identify critical problems in assessed projects and provide constructive feedback) was evaluated and it contributed to their final grades.

Web-based peer assessment site Subjects in this study were undergraduate teacher education students who participated in a web-based peer assessment process as part of an introductory educational technology course. This website consisted of two interfaces: a student interface and an instructor interface. Peer assessment 242

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was conducted through the student interface. After logging in to an account, students were able to submit their projects through the website. Serverbased scripts randomly assigned projects to students for review. Each student played two roles — assessor and assessee. As an assessor, each student viewed two projects and provided feedback to their peers. As an assessee, each student accessed the feedback to his/her own work and was then able to make improvements. The website presented the student work so that peer reviewers were not aware of the identity of the creator. Likewise, ratings and review comments were presented to the creator without identifying the reviewers. Instructors were able to monitor the entire process and were able to track the identities of both creators and reviewers.

The instructor interface served two purposes. First, this interface enabled the instructor to perform administrative tasks to maintain the student database. The instructor had privileges to create, delete, and modify student account information. Second, the instructor was able to track the peer assessment process. The instructor had access to student projects, feedback provided by each student, as well as the peer feedback for each student’s project. The quality of student feedback was monitored as a part of the process. First, the instructor evaluated the assessed projects based on the marking criteria. Second, feedback from student assessors was evaluated to judge whether student assessors could identify critical problems of the assessed projects and provide constructive feedback. Quality of student feedback made up 10% of students’ final project grades. Students understood that both the quality of their projects and the quality of their comments mattered (not the rating) in obtaining a final project score.

Methodology Subjects Thirty-eight undergraduate teacher education students participated in this study. All the participants were recruited from a required entry-level educational technology application course at a Midwestern US university.

Students ranged from freshman to senior standing with various backgrounds and content area emphasis. The project that formed the basis for the peer assessment was a class assignment undertaken by all students as a regular part of the course.

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Project In this study, students were asked to develop a WebQuest proposal. A WebQuest is «an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web» (WebQuest Overview, n.d.). This instructional strategy, developed by Bernie Dodge and Tom March in early 1995, is designed to involve users in a higher-order learning process, such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The critical features of a WebQuest project are often overlooked because students have a superficial understanding of the activity. Students may tend to focus on simply retelling information found on the web. For example, March (2003) suggests, instead of asking students to make PowerPoint slides on facts such as natural resources, social policy, business, climate and history of US States, a WebQuest might ask students to study US States and predict which state that they have studied is most likely to be successful in the twenty-first century. With this revised approach, students need to first acquire factual information of US States from the Internet, and then define what “being successful” means to them. They would then decide which state is going to be the most successful through reasoned analysis followed by a justification of their decision. Higher order skills of analysis, synthesis and evaluation are required in the WebQuest process.

In order to help students build a quality WebQuest that promotes learners’ higher-order thinking skills instead of just simple comprehension of factual information from the Internet, this peer assessment project asked students to develop a proposal, in which basic elements of a quality WebQuest were addressed.

Procedure Students followed a five-step procedure in this peer assessment process (Figure 1).

Step 1 – Discussing marking criteria After thoroughly studying the structure and basic elements of WebQuest, students were presented with the marking criteria provided by the instructor.

The marking criteria, replicated from a rubric published in the San Diego 244

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State University WebQuest site (a rubric for evaluating WebQuest, n.d.), included eight statements. Students were asked to rate the performance of their peers on a five-point scale for each of the eight dimensions. Detailed discussions of each category were provided in class. Afterwards, students assessed a sample project and provided their feedback. Students compared their assessments and feedback with an exemplar provided by the instructor. Comparison allowed students to identify discrepancies and refine their understanding of the criteria.

Figure 1

Peer assessment procedure.

Step 2 – Submitting projects After students completed their projects, they logged onto the website and uploaded their projects. Projects were stored in the peer assessment site and randomly assigned to students for review. The random allocation was automatically made by the peer assessment site as scripts were built in when the site was designed.

Step 3 – Assessing peers’ projects and providing feedback Each student was assigned to two projects. Students were asked to rate and provide constructive comments/suggestions on their peers’ work through a web form. Once the feedback was submitted, students could access the feedback for their project. Scores from student assessors were only provided to give assessees information on how their peers rated their projects.

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Step 4 – Viewing and rating peer feedback After reviewing the peer feedback, each student was asked to rate and justify the helpfulness of that feedback as it related to the improvement of their projects.

Step 5 – Improving project Each student was asked to use the summary feedback to improve his or her project. Students were advised that the quality of peer feedback they received might vary and they did not have to make all revisions suggested by their peers. If students had different thoughts or if they disagreed with their peers’ comments at certain points, they were directed back to study the structure and content of WebQuests, and the rubric before they made any revisions. This step engaged students in critically looking at the elements of a WebQuest and facilitated students in diagnosing misconceived concepts.

Post-assessment questionnaire After students submitted their final projects, they responded to a postassessment questionnaire, which solicited students’ general conceptions of peer assessment. The first part of the questionnaire (see Table 1) included four 5-point Likert scale items (ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree) adapted from a previous study (Lin, Liu & Yuan, 2002).

The second part of the questionnaire invited students to respond to three open-ended questions concerning their best and least liked features in the computer-assisted approach, and how this particular assessment approach facilitated their learning process.

Results Statistical data such as means and standard deviations of students’ rating in the four 5-point Likert scale items were calculated (Table 1).

Students’ responses to these four 5-point Likert scale items suggest that students generally held a fairly positive attitude toward this peer assessment approach, as mean scores of these items ranged from 3.5 to 4 (3 representing “neutral” and 4 representing “agree”). There was considerable variability 246

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Item No

Items

SD

Mean

1

peer assessment is a worthwhile activity

0.74

3.79

2

i benefited from peers’ comments

0.77

3.68

3

i have benefited from marking peers’ work

0.81

4.00

4

My project improved because of the peer review

1.04

3.82

Table 1

Statistical description of student perceptions toward peer assessment (1 representing “strongly disagree”, 3 representing “neutral” and 5 representing “strongly agree”).

in student responses to the items, particularly on item four, which asked whether their project was improved because of the peer review.

Students’ responses to the open-ended questions (What are your bestliked features in this computer-assisted peer assessment process? What are your least liked features in this computer-assisted peer assessment process? And how do you think this computer-assisted peer assessment model facilitated your learning process?) were coded and analyzed for themes (Table 2). Two independent coders analyzed the qualitative data.

Two stages of coding were employed. In the first stage, labels were added to sort and assign meaning to text. In the second stage, labels were reorganized. Similar labels were combined together to form bigger categories, and larger groups of related labels were reviewed to see whether they should be divided into smaller groups. Repeating ideas and themes were identified during this process.

The formula to test coding reliability suggested by Miles and Huberman (1994) was utilized to ensure that the coding was clear, valid and reliable: reliability = number of agreement/(number of agreement + number of disagreement). A score of 91 percent of agreement was achieved from two coders for coding reliability of all data. All disagreements were resolved.

Three themes were identified for the best-liked features in this web-based peer assessment system: anonymity, opportunity to view peers’ project and peer feedback, and fast and easy to use.

Two themes emerged from students’ comments for the least liked features of this peer assessment system: quality and amount of feedback and overly critical peer feedback (see Table 3).

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Theme

Example quotes from students’ responses

anonymity

Students indicated that anonymity reduced peer pressure «i liked that it was confidential so people could be more open» «it was anonymous and therefore i feel the feedback was probably more honest. i took it more seriously than other assessment methods» «The evaluations were private, so the person assessing the material is less likely to hesitate on more in-depth and better criticism» «it is anonymous. Nobody knows whom they are grading»

Opportunity to view peers’ projects and peer feedback

Students suggested that accessing peer projects and comments opened student eyes to other perspectives

Fast and easy to use

Some students recognized that this Web-based system was fast and easy to use, compared to paper-and-pencil systems

«it was informative and gave good insight on projects you can do in the future» «it gave me more perspectives» «What i thought was a good topic, others didn’t think so, it helped me reshape my WebQuest» «peers told us what to fix and improve. They saw things i didn’t» «i like how it helps you with finding errors to fix and lets you hear others’ views» «let me see what others think about my work» «it helped me look at my project in different perspectives» «We were able to receive feedback from students our age»

«i liked that it was a quick and organized way of submitting our projects and getting feedback» «it was easy to use & fast» «it made it much easier than other peer assessment techniques i’ve used in the past»

Table 2

Themes and supporting quotes from the post assessment survey for students’ best-liked features in the web-based peer assessment model.

In the open-ended question on how students perceive that this peer assessment model facilitated their learning process, the acknowledged themes included: motivation, subject area understanding level, stimulation, and different perspectives (see Table 4).

Discussion This study explored student perceptions of how a web-based peer assessment system facilitated their learning process, and identified student best- and least-liked features. The web-based peer assessment system ad248

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Theme

Example quotes from students’ responses

Quality and amount of feedback

Some students complained about the quality and amount of peer feedback and called for more constructive and detailed comments Some students indicated that they preferred instructor feedback instead «One of my assessments didn’t say anything other than good job» «Not all feedback was helpful» «Some feedback didn’t help me because it gave me no information (specific)» «people didn’t explain why they gave me the score they did» «Why did we need feedback from peers?»

Overly critical peer feedback

While anonymity protected students’ identities and reduced peer pressure, a few students suggested that it also caused overly critical comments «it was nice that we were not inhibited because we didn’t know whose projects we were grading. But one of my reviewers was overly critical» «We didn’t have to face each other… some comments for my project were a little harsh. i think he/she was just picky»

Table 3

Themes and supporting quotes from the post assessment survey for student least-liked features in the web-based peer assessment model.

dressed common concerns in peer assessment, such as: peer pressure, time issues (management workload and student focus), and training students in interpreting marking criteria and gaining critical assessment skills. Findings of this study suggested that students were generally positive about peer assessment when a) peer pressure were controlled, b) feedback was accessed in a timely manner and, c) training to help them understand what was required for a quality WebQuest was provided.

Students in general recognized the value of peer assessment. Most students felt that they benefited from reviewing their peers’ work (M = 4.00; SD = .81). However, 21% of students (eight of thirty-eight) expressed their dissatisfaction with the quality and amount of peer feedback in the least-liked feature question. These students urged for more detailed and constructive feedback. We evaluated both projects and peer feedback for those students in order to gain a better understanding. Surprisingly, we discovered that five out of these eight students did excellent work on their projects. These students’ initial high performance may explain why they didn’t receive much feedback beyond the statement “good job”. This result may mean that the feedback portion of peer assessment may contribute less to students who initially perform well on the task. This result may also explain the variability in responses to items 1-4 that addressed the perceived 249

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Theme Motivation

Example quotes from students’ responses Some students felt that they were more motivated to construct quality projects because of peer assessment «it makes people work hard to do their best in the class» «i think it gives students more motivation to work hard. in fear of peer rejection»

purposeful thinking

Students also deemed that peer assessment encouraged them to be more engaged with materials. Students spent more time focusing on the critical aspects of WebQuest «Too often we don’t have enough critical thinking in high schools especially» «We got into the ‘fill in the blank’ mode. This project is great for forcing students to expand what they know and adapt it to their lives, experiences and opinions» «i enjoyed reading others work and felt i got more out of this process by critiquing other ideas than having peers give feedback on my project»

Subject area understanding level

The benefits of deeply studying marking criteria were also identified by students

Stimulation

Students commented that they were more engaged and their interactions were stimulated when learning from computers instead of paper and pencil

«i thought that it really helped because we all know what each part was supposed to consist of…»

«To be frank, i didn’t really understand this project before peer assessment. Viewing peers’ projects and suggestions certainly helped me»

«learning on the computer is better than from a book» «it is fun to learn this way rather than reading it out of a book» «it is also easier to navigate on computers rather than regular paper assessments» Different perspectives

Students agreed that peer assessment provided their different perspectives on subject matter «This assessment opened my head to new ideas, feelings, and understandings» «it helps me to see examples of projects» «By looking at what others did i was able to fix the problems on my own project» «Hearing the thoughts of others also makes you think about the variety of ideas out there» «The assessment approach is good in a way because you are looking at others’ work and thinking about how they can fix their work and improve your own»

Table 4

Themes and supporting quotes from the post assessment survey on how web-based peer assessment model facilitated learning process.

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benefit of the peer assessment activity (Table 1). This possible explanation was echoed in one of student comments: «Sometimes peer assessment isn’t helpful if you already did a good job». Future studies should investigate the differential impact of peer assessment on students at different initial performance levels.

Positive comments regarding anonymity in the post-assessment questionnaire suggest that peer pressure was better controlled with this webbased approach. In fact, peer pressure was reduced to a level that students even felt the feedback was “overly critical”. In order to better understand this finding, we reviewed those comments and regarded most as insightful and constructive although we agreed that some comments could have been handled more tactfully. For example, one assessor commented on his peer’s WebQuest: «I don’t think you really understand what WebQuest is… I wouldn’t call your project a “WEB” Quest as there were no web links provided». While we seconded the assessor’s opinion, we could understand how the assessee might be disturbed by these blunt comments from his/her peer. Preparation on how to provide constructive feedback in a more supportive way may be needed in future peer assessment studies to avoid student frustration.

In this peer assessment activity, students’ projects and feedback were managed by the scripting underlying the Website. Unlike paper-based peer assessment administration, students in this study could access feedback as soon as it was submitted. We speculate that immediate feedback makes it easier for students to focus on the assignment and follow through on using the feedback. Students appreciated the «quick and organized way of submitting our projects and getting feedback». One of the drawbacks of peer assessment noted in the literature was the excessive amount of time required to manage the process. The use of a web-based approach allowed this portion of the task to be automated and streamlined.

Training of students in how to peer evaluate proved to be effective. Most students agreed that peers were able to identify weaknesses in their projects and that peer comments helped them to find and fix the problems. However, several students still expressed their doubts of the ability of peers to provide critical assessment and stated they preferred teacher feedback. This issue of students preferring teacher assessment to peer assessment was also reported by other studies. For example, in Orsmond and Merry’s study (1996), students were sceptical about the meaningfulness of peer comments. Some 251

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students believe that teachers should be the only judges of their performance and teachers are the only ones who should award grades; what matters is how teachers (not peer students) think about their projects. However, we believe students need to understand that the benefits of peer assessment are not limited to receiving peer comments. As suggested by Orsmond et al. (2000), peer assessment is a process «to have meaningful dialogue with the student» and «to think about the process of carrying out the assignment rather than just the product» (p. 24).

Various aspects of this approach may contribute to student learning. For example, students were trained to understand what was required and how they should assess their peers’ work in this study, which may lead to an improved awareness of one’s own performance (Freeman, 1995; Mehrens, Popham & Ryan, 1998). Moreover, viewing peer work tends to help students to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their own work. Peer comments and suggestions may assist students in identifying misconceived knowledge and re-evaluating their projects; these aspects include a series of cognitive restructuring processes such as «simplification, clarification, summarizing, and reorganization» (Topping & Ehly, 1998, p. 258). Informing students of the educational purpose of peer assessment may help them to not only focus on comparing the quality of peer and teacher comments but open their minds to other aspects of this learning process. Furthermore, with this group of student teachers, peer assessment is a formative evaluation method to use with their own students.

In this study, participant responses to survey items and open-ended questions tended to suggest that students generally recognized the merits of peer assessment in learning and agreed that they were motivated for better personal performance by examining peers’ work more closely. Students commented that peer assessment facilitated their critical thinking skills.

We interpret this to mean that students were more purposeful in how they completed the WebQuest project. The peer assessment process promoted a more careful and systematic review of the project and supported greater understanding of more complex aspects of the assignment. Students reported that the peer assessment process not only deepened their understanding of the subject matter but also provided opportunities for viewing different perspectives, thoughts and ideas. In addition, students acknowledged that this web-based system stimulated their interactions with other students and facilitated learning.

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One of the limitations of this study was the relatively small number of participants (n = 38). Future studies involving larger numbers of students are warranted. In addition, participants were undergraduate students enrolled in a face-to-face technology application course. It would be interesting to see whether findings would be similar if different groups of students and instructional settings were employed, for example, graduate students enrolled in online classes. Moreover, participants in this study were experienced with this specific technology-assisted peer assessment system. As suggested by the literature (Topping, 1998), peer assessment models may vary dramatically. Peer assessment can be formative or summative, webbased or paper-based. It can also be one way (students only play the role of assessors or assessees) or two ways (students act in both roles — assessors and assessees). Peer-assessed products may also differ in type, from posters to written essays, from medical practices to oral presentations. Since this study does not account for all peer assessment practices, further studies with other peer assessment models must be considered. It is not currently known whether this web-based peer assessment process will promote the learning of assessment skills or improve the quality of students’ projects. Therefore, while this study mainly focused on exploring students’ perceptions, future studies providing empirical data are needed to examine the influence of this technology-facilitated peer assessment module on students’ performance.

Conclusion In conclusion, this exploratory study of students’ perceptions revealed that students were generally positive toward this technology-facilitated peer assessment module. Some students agreed that this anonymous system protected their identities, which made it easier for them to provide honest and sincere comments. Students also acknowledged that this web-based model was fast and easy to use, as compared to paper-based systems. In addition, students recognized the positive influence of training on assessment as they commented that they benefited from learning how to conduct critical assessment, reading peer feedback, and viewing peer projects. Findings of this study suggested a technology-facilitated peer-assessment model may be effective in addressing three common issues in peer assessment: peer pressure, time of engagement, and students’ capacity for critical assessment.

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References A rubric for evaluating WebQuest (n.d.). (http://webquest.sdsu.edu/webquestrubric.html).

Bruning, R.H., Schraw, G.J., Norby, M.N., & Ronning, R.R. (2004). Cognitive psychology and instruction (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Cheng, W., & Warren, M. (1997). Having second thoughts: Student perceptions before and after a peer assessment exercise. Studies in Higher Education, 22, 233-239.

Cheng, W., & Warren, M. (1999). Peer and teacher assessment of the oral and written tasks of a group project. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 24 (3), 301-314.

Davies, P. (2002). Using student reflective self-assessment for awarding degree classifications. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 39 (4), 307-319.

Dochy F., Segers, M., & Sluijsmans, D. (1999). The use of self-, peer and co-assessment in higher education: A review. Studies in Higher Education, 24 (3), 331-350.

Falchikov, N. (1995). Peer feedback marking: Developing peer assessment. Innovations in Education and Training International, 32 (2), 175-187.

Freeman, M. (1995). Peer assessment by groups of group work. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 20 (3), 289-300.

Hanrahan, S.J., & Isaacs, G. (2001). Assessing self- and peer-assessment: The studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; views. Higher Education Research & Development, 20 (1), 53-70.

Li, L., & Steckelberg, A.L. (2004, October). Using peer feedback to enhance student meaningful learning. Paper presented at the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, Chicago, IL. Li, L., & Steckelberg, A.L. (2005, October). Impact of technology-mediated peer assessment on student project quality. Paper presented at the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, Orlando, FL. Lin, S.S.J., Liu, E.Z.F., & Yuan, S.M. (2002). Student attitudes toward networked peer assessment: Case studies of undergraduate students and senior high school students. International Journal of Instructional Media, 29 (2), 241-254.

March, T. (2003). The learning power of WebQuests. Educational Leadership. 61 (4), 42-47.

Mehrens, W.A., Popham, W.J., & Ryan, J.M. (1998). How to prepare students for performance assessments. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 17 (1), 18-22.

Miles, M.B., & Huberman, A.M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Orsmond, P., & Merry, S. (1996). The importance of marking criteria in the use of peer assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 21 (3), 239-250.

Orsmond, P., Merry, S., & Reiling, K. (2000). The use of student derived marking criteria in peer and self assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 25 (1), 23-28.

Orsmond, P., Merry, S., & Reiling, K. (2002). The use of exemplars and formative feedback when using student derived marking criteria in peer and self-assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 27 (4), 309-323.

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Robinson, J. (1999). Computer-assisted peer review. In S. Brown, J. Bull & P. Race (Eds), Computer-assisted assessment in higher education (pp. 95-102). London: Kogan Page.

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Topping, K. (1998). Peer assessment between students in colleges and universities. Review of Educational Research, 68 (3), 249-276.

Topping, K., & Ehly, S. (1998). Peer assisted learning, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

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WebQuest Overview (n.d.). (http://webquest.org/ index.php). Â

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Online learning environments between formal and informal contexts a study to determine the learning level of learners using these environments Orlando De Pietro

aBSTRacT

Department of Education Science, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy.

E-mail: depietro@unical.it

In the last few years, thanks to the advent of Web 2.0 and the increased attention being given to the potentials of spontaneous and informal practices, the need to renew the way of training arose. In particular, it was necessary, to create more open and flexible online learning environments.

This paper are presented the results of a research/experimentation carried out in order to check whether it is possible, by using an online learning environment 2.0, to improve the study and comprehension skills of the learners and if, at the same time, the development of the metacognitive dimension of the person who interacts with this environment is facilitated. The aim of the experiment, carried out in a university context, was to compare and evaluate the level of learning achieved by the students who have attended the lessons with those who, instead, have benefited from the lessons using 2.0 technological environments. More specifically, we used the online learning environment called MyLe@rn, designed and built with web 2.0 technology and were able to integrate the formal and informal dimension of learning according to the socio-constructivist model. In the paper, before illustrating the research/experimentation, the environment MyLe@rn will be briefly described.

Keywords: learning environment; informal learning; e-learning 2.0; training; web 2.0.

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Introduction Contemporary society, called Information and Knowledge Society, has constantly undergone profound innovations and continuous transformations that have led to a change in the acquisition methods and in the transmission of knowledge, thus constituting a new way to do training. Phenomena such as rapid obsolescence of knowledge and skills, large amounts of available information sources, continuous technological and scientific development of modern society entail important consequences in many sectors of modern society, and thus bringing out the need to review and search to restructure and redesign new teaching-learning pathways. In this scenario, the subject never ceases to learn and his training process continues for life-long (lifelong learning), and in any geographical area, which increasingly becomes a global one (lifewide learning). In addition to the istituzionalized educational contexts, new informal learning environments are developed. These new environments require new training models and increasingly consider non-material times and places. The subject-person becomes the protagonist of his/her own growth process and permanent training, takes an active role in his/her choices to manage his/her professionalism in order, to enhance his/her skills and get hold of new knowledge to meet the new challenges of globalization (Cambi, 2004). Therefore, each subject becomes aware of the need to engage in the reorganization of knowledge already held in order to produce new one so as to develop his/her own identity and live together with the changes and transformations, developing, therefore, both a cognitive and metacognitive dimension.

The concept of training has undergone a gradual evolution and, in the current knowledge society, it no longer coincides with a given set of contents. However, refers to a qualitative dimension of knowledge and to the ability to combine in a creative way the alphabets of culture in order to orient themselves autonomously in the multiplicity and diversity of knowledge, technologies and contexts. All this marks the transition from the manual worker to the worker of knowledge who has to be able to use his/her knowledge acquired in everyday life and to acquire new knowledge relating them to the constant changes (Piu, 2007). Therefore, the aim of the training depends not only on quantity of the knowledge but also on the depth and quality (Bruner, 1996) that refer to how one thinks, learns, and elaborates and generate new knowledge. In this perspective, Information and Com258

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munication Technology (ICT) can represent a valuable support to foster lifelong learning and, above all, to make innovations in the training system.

New approaches in the use of the Network from the perspective of Web 2.0, the availability of easy-to-use tools and social software, the perception of the importance of informal learning lead to new ways of teaching-learning oriented to e-learning 2.0 and to processes of creation and use of knowledge shared. According to this approach, technologies are increasingly taking the role of ÂŤEducational Communication TechnologiesÂť (Galliani, 2000; De Pietro, 2008) and are increasingly used to create environments in which each learner, as well as benefiting from the traditional educational contents, has at his/her disposal a personal space in which he/she can publish and share thoughts, ideas, documents and resources with others according to the tools and typical methods of the environments 2.0, oriented to negotiation and sharing of knowledge.

Starting from these premises, this paper presents the results of a research/ experimentation designed to check whether it is possible are presented, by using an online learning environment 2.0, to improve study and comprehension skills of the learners and if, at the same time, the development of the metacognitive dimension of the person who interacts with this environment is facilitated. In particular, the aim of the experiment, carried out within a university context, was to compare and evaluate the level of learning achieved by the students who have attended the lessons with those who, instead, have benefited from the lessons using technological environments 2.0. More specifically, for this experiment, we used the online learning environment called MyLe@rn, designed and built on purpose with web 2.0 technology and with the intent to integrate the formal and informal dimension of learning according to the socio-constructivist model. Before illustrating the results of the research/experimentation and after an introductory paragraph on the concept of e-Learning 2.0, the interface and its main features in the environment MyLe@rn will be briefly described.

e-learning 2.0: New learning methods between formal and informal In recent years, the changes that have affected the web and modified the design and methods of use, summarized by the term Web 2.0, found 259

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high interest within the scientific community and in many authors who are involved in training and technologies. On the one hand, a reflection started on the validity of design methods and models on which e-learning was based to its current state and on the other hand, a debate on the need for renewal in doing training today. New ways of teaching-learning are introduced. They propose innovative online learning environments focused on the person and linked to the concept of Personal Learning Environment (PLE) (Tosh & Werdmuller, 2004; Wilson, 2005; Attwell, 2007) and determine a second generation e-learning, in which great importance and consideration were given to aspects of spontaneous and informal learning. The term Web 2.0 (O’Reilly, 2005) does not identify technological innovations as compared to the past, but a new way of understanding the use of the Net, which is a new philosophy oriented to major dynamics and interaction between the users, enabled by services and “social” tools (social software). The dialogical and participatory nature of Web 2.0 fits well with how to relate with each others, developed by the Net generation of users (Tapscott, 2011) belonging to the so-called Screen Generation (Rivoltella, 2006) and called Digital Natives (Prensky, 2001; Ferri, 2011) or even with the expression Homo Zappiens (Veen & Vrakking, 2010), just to indicate the great familiarity with the use of the Web and the emerging communication styles enabled by the digital technologies. The change in the learning methods acquired by the digital natives, strongly oriented to sharing and collaboration by the use of “standard 2.0” tools led to the need to review the learning processes in the network and to the introduction of the concept of e-learning 2.0 (Downes, 2005).

E-learning 2.0 aims at recovering the potential in spontaneous and informal methods and to learn in everyday situations (Bonaiuti, 2006), overcoming the traditional ways of understanding the training based on a transmission model of knowledge from the teacher to the learner (Kozlowski, 2007), to switch to a learner-centred approach, focusing on the learners and their real training needs. This new concept of e-learning gives increased weight to informal learning, defined as «the unofficial, unscheduled, impromptu way most people learn to do their jobs» (Cross, 2006). In view of the fact that informal learning is the first form of learning and the foundation of childhood development, this learning dimension can be interwoven with the formal learning without this leading to a dismantling of formal models hitherto used. With the advent of e-learning 2.0, it becomes easier to combine logical transmission used in traditional learning practices with the 260

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experiences and processes that the Web, understood as an anthropological inter and intrapersonal area (Petrelli, 2007), offers the individuals through the discovery, exploration, intuition, chance, promoting the generation of unintended and unexpected learning. Web 2.0 applications offer new opportunities to make the Network become a formal and informal meeting place, so that some authors state that knowledge and information reside in networks which become a new model of learning (Siemens, 2004), more flexible, dialogical and collective. These technologies have offered and continue to offer important insights on whether to revise the traditional learning environments in network designing new and interesting development perspectives that see the learning subject as a central element in the processes of teaching-learning (Trentin, 2008). In this scenario is precisely contextualized MyLe@rn,1 an innovative learning environment in optics e-Learning 2.0, designed and built at the GRIAD.2

MyLe@rn: Interface, tools and features The learning environment MyLe@rn was designed taking into account on the one hand, the philosophy of social software and on the other hand, pedagogical strategies that must safeguard the «security of information» (Sigala, 2007). It presents the tools and resources typical of 2.0 environments, and allows the learner to use a series of features for sharing and opening towards the outside, but, at the same time, it takes into account aspects and dimensions that go towards the personalization of learning since it offers the learner the possibility to “choose”, a key element to the concept of personalization (Piu, 2009; Baldacci 2005). Therefore, the intention was to create a flexible learning environment, in which the structured and organized elements, represented by the traditional teaching materials made available by the teacher combine with tools and features of social nature in order to facilitate the processes of construction and sharing of knowledge and promote informal behaviours and learning. Each subject in the environment, in fact, is bound to enter a personal profile in which thoughts, moods, links, and information resources. The objective is to develop the 1

2

The prototype Myle@rn, Youle@rn called, was presented at the international conference E-learn 2011, by aacE, to be held in October 17-21, 2011, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

GRiaD (Research Group for information Technology applied to Education), Scientific responsible: prof. carmelo piu and Orlando De pietro, Department of Educational Science, University of calabria.

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dimensions of confrontation and dialectic among all actors involved in the processes of teaching-learning, thus contributing to the construction of more horizontal relations and the abandonment of the hierarchical-commanding model characteristic of the first generation of e-learning. Each learner can access inside MyLe@rn after entering the login credentials (username and password) in the fields present in the Home Page.

Following the authentication phase in the system, one can enter the restricted section, see Figure 1, from which the learner can manage their own “profile”, central and strategic elements for applications of type 2.0 and access to communication tools: chat, forum and internal messaging.

On the right side of the interface learners who were connected within the last five minutes are reported, while in the central part of this section, the learning objects associated to a specific Learning Unit (LU) are presented.

A Learning Unit is an educational segment or significant part of a structured discipline in “paragraphs”, each of which provided by means of the multimedia presentation tools (Maragliano, 2004): abstract, text, concept mapping, video lesson, slides. For instance, in the figure the Learning Unit “I modelli didattici dell’apprendimento” (The educational models of learning) is shown. Of course, others LU can be inserted from the teaching team and the learners can also select the one they need in a repository of Learning Unit. When invoked a LU, the messages published in the personal profiles are displayed in chronological order, from the most recent to the oldest one.

On the right side of the page are arranged a series of “functional boxes” whose goal is to develop more interaction and sharing among the subjects.

The first one, called Question Learn, allows the sending of a question directly to one of the teachers. Through the box, one can select the name of the addressee teacher (Question to:), indicate the title of the question and type its text. The teacher will be automatically notified by e-mail and the query will be published in the “Question Learn area”, visible to every learner.

This last aspect is exactly the central element of this “functional box”, since the question asked by the learner is to be shared between all the subjects and can be a starting point for the activation of subsequent discussions and exchanges. In addition, under the box that has just been described, the last three questions are shown, indicating the author and addressee, while a link allows to view, in a subsequent page, all the existing questions with the state of their discussion. Another “functional box” is represented by the last posts published in the forums and in the form of links.

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Figure 1

Inside MyLe@rn after login.

What makes MyLe@rn a highly social environment is the presence of a personal profile assigned to each learner (Figure 2). The profile is a personalized page, an autonomous operating space, where each participant through a special mask can publish textual messages, documents, images, and links to resources present on the Web alone or combined with each other. Each post is also published in the MyLe@rn common page, in order to make it visible to all the other members of the community.

In publishing their own posts each community member has the possibility to label them, together with one or more keywords (tags) typed into an appropriate text box present in the profileâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Homepage (Add tag to the 263

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Figure 2

The user profile page of MyLe@rn.

post). The set of keywords associated with the post of all the users generates a tag cloud that appears in the profile of each participant. It offers a visual representation of keywords used in MyLe@rn and appears as a true visual search engine. Inside the cloud, the typeface size in which each tag, is shown is proportional to the number of posts covered by it, immediately providing a visualisation of the most discussed topics. Clicking on a tag all the corresponding operationsare displayed, allowing the learners to be able to deepen their knowledge on that specific topic and find out additional concepts or contents. All this leads to a process of bottom-up cataloguing, and even better to create a folksonomy (Vander Wall, 2007) able to increase interaction among the learners. Another feature oriented to the social aspects within MyLer@rn is the ability to comment on other users’ posts and mark them as important. Below each post, in fact, there are a box to type the text for comment and the link “Mark as Important” which allows the expression of approval and appreciation about the published Post, facilitating at the same time, the activation of a social recommendation system based on trust and cooperation among the environment members. Each learner also has 264

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at a personal space in which he/she can add files of various kinds, thereby creating a document repository sharable with the entire community. When uploading a document, it is possible to decide whether to make it public, and therefore visible to all, or private and so, at restricted access. These settings can always be changed after any uploading operation, acceding to the repository options.

Aims, steps, development and results of the research/experimentation The aim of this research/experiment was to check if there was an improvement in the learning of the students who use online learning environments 2.0 and if, at the same time, it facilitated the development of the metacognitive dimension of the student who interacts in it3.

For this experiment, students were involved in the course of “e-Learning” and in the course of “Progettazione e valutazione delle Tecnologie educative” (Planning and Evaluation of Educational Technologies), held during the academic year 2010/2011 in the Master’s Degree in Media Education of the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, University of Calabria. These were divided so that a group followed the lesson, object of the experimentation, with compulsory attendance and another group followed the same lesson online, which was through the environment MyLe@rn. Then, we proceeded to compare the level of learning achieved by the students of two different groups; the processing and analysis of the results obtained are illustrated in the next paragraphs.

In addition, the experiment also served to verify the strengths and weaknesses of this environment and to identify future possible improvements.

The experiment was focused, as mentioned before, on the Learning Unit “The educational models of learning”, one of the topics of the educational program of these two courses.

Step 1 – Selection of the sample The sample of the experiment is represented by 88 students, of which 37 were from the course of “e-Learning” and 51 from the course of “Design and Evaluation of Educational Technologies”.

3

This second part is not object of analysis and discussion of this paper, but it is mentioned here because it is believed that even in the network (online), a well-structured educational intervention can effectively contribute to the maturation of the metacognitive skills of the student and promote progressive achievement of a thoughtful and independent way of thinking. considering this, we propose to deepen this topic in a future research.

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The students were divided into two groups: a first group (Group A), composed of 42 students, studied the Learning Unit completely online using MyLe@rn and its interaction tools, while the second group (Group B) , composed of 46 students, studied the Learning Unit according to traditional lecture with compulsory attendance, only provided with paper supports (books, handouts).

To ensure a homogeneous distribution of the students in the two groups, in terms of study knowledge and computer skills possessed, they were given a assessment test on the topics of the program carried out so far. The program included initially a lesson on basic concepts of ICT. Based on the results obtained, both the students who have attained sufficiency to the proposed test and the students below this threshold were equally assigned in groups, also, in both groups were equally distributed students with good ICT skills and students with limited ICT skills.

Step 2 – The study on and off line During this step, which lasted a week, the students were given the lesson or the learning unit, to be studied. Students in Group A used MyLe@ rn environment in order to receive and study the educational contents, and interacted with each other both through the management of their personal profile, and through other tools and communication spaces proposed: working groups, forums, chat, Question Learn, internal messaging. The study phase, for these students, also included two days of “exploration” to enable them to carry out free surfing within MyLe@rn, in order to observe its features, tools and to become familiar with the Web interface. The students in Group B, however, received the educational contents related to the lesson using the traditional media: handouts, textbooks.

Step 3 – Evaluation of learning achievements At the end of the study phase, students of the two groups were administered an assessment test to define the results achieved. The test was structured in ten multiple-choice questions, points 0/1, regarding the contents of the Learning unit proposed. The results are discussed in the next paragraph.

Step 4 – Evaluation of the environment usability At the end of the experiment, the members of Group A were administered a questionnaire online to determine the appreciation of the environment 266

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MyLe@rn and its main features. The aim was to gather opinions, critics and suggestions from the students to indicate any improvements to the designers and future developments to the environment.

Data analysis and results of the experiment Evaluation of the learning part The responses to the proposed questionnaire at the end of the study phase on and off line, were developed using statistical analysis and the results of the two groups were compared to determine the level of learning achieved by the students in both methods of study: attending and online.

For the analysis of the results, three different indicators were identified: 1. threshold of sufficiency, i.e. students who exactly answered 6 questions out of 10 (60%), 2. threshold of maximum, i.e. students who correctly answered all the questions of the test (100%), 3. threshold of sufficiency with detail of the score obtained.

With reference to the first indicator, as indicates the graph below, in Group A, 80% of the students passed the threshold of sufficiency, by correctly answering at least 60% of the questions, while in Group B only 45% of the students reached this threshold (Figure 3).

Concerning the second indicator, it has been found that 47,62% of the students in Group A responded without committing any error, while only 23,91% of the students in Group B responded correctly to all the questions (Figure 4).

Figure 3

Percentage of students having reached the threshold of sufficiency: comparison Group A and Group B.

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Figure 4

Percentage of students having exactly answered all the questions of the test.

Figure 5

Total of the exact answers: groups divisions.

With the third indicator, which examined only the students who passed the assessment test, that is those who had at least six correct answers, it was observed, as shown in the pie chart below, that 64,52% of these belong to Group A, while the remaining 35,48% belongs to the Group that studied the Learning Unit with traditional method (Figure 5).

Again referring to the third indicator, the results obtained by the two groups were compared according to the distribution of the different groups of scores. As it can be seen from the graph below, the scores achieved in Group A are more concentrated in the range between 8 and 10, in fact most of these students, corresponding to 73,81%, scored between these two values, while the remaining 7,14% achieved lower results and only 19,05% did 268

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Figure 6

Comparison per groups of scores between the two groups.

not pass the test. In Group B, by contrast, less than half of the subjects who passed the assessment, i.e. 41,30%, lies in the range between eight and ten correct answers, the remaining 8,70% is distributed between lower values, six and seven correct answers, while as much as 54,35% did not passed the test (Figure 6).

Inferences From the analysis of the results presented here so far, it can be seen how, in terms of learning, the subjects who used MyLe@rn achieved appreciable results in a greater extent than those who have used only traditional tools and media (lecture in presence, books, handouts, etc.). The results confirm, as expected, how much new technologies such as 2.0, focused on sharing and active participation among community members, can be relevant in learning processes. The experimented environment and the tools made available during the study phase have confirmed to be valid means in order to offer high opportunities of reflection and socio-cultural interaction, and to be necessary in all learning processes typical of Web 2.0 and of e-learning 2.0 in particular.

Other considerations It should also be noted, as shown by the data stored in the database MyLe@rn, that during the study period, high levels of interaction and participation were noticed among students. The posts published in the personal 269

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profiles or working groups were over four hundred, which, in turn, have produced interest and generated more than two hundred and fifty comments.

Among the over four hundred posts published, thirty-six, or 9% of the total, have been reported and marked as important by at least one participant.

However, twelve working groups were created spontaneously by the participants4 to be able to interact, discuss and exchange knowledge on topics related to the Learning Unit. Over eighty documents were included in the personal repository in order to share with the rest of the community resource materials useful for the deepening, while about two hundred unique tags were used by participants to categorize the published posts.

As shown in the Figure 7, among the most used tags, there are the terms constructivism, learning communities, training, personalization and educational technologies, which together represent 25% of the total instances.

Figure 7

Main tags used.

Evaluation of satisfaction At the end of the experiment, a satisfaction questionnaire was administered online concerning the learning environment and its main features in order to understand the utility perceived by the students and get useful feedback for future developments. Overall, MyLe@rn together with its util4

a student can be part of multiple groups.

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ity, on a scale from mediocre to excellent, was considered good by 55% of the sample, while 40% considered it an excellent learning environment.

From this, it denotes a perception and a positive view of the participants in the experiment as regards the environment.

Concerning the present tools, 95% of the participants considered the presence of the Question Learn tool useful. Of these, 75% said they felt it useful for clarifying doubts about the educational contents, while the remaining 25% considered it useful for asking for general information. In addition, the 90% evaluated the response sharing of the teacher among all the community participants in a positive way.

Regarding the use of tags for the cataloging of post, 45% of the sample considered it beneficial to point out meaningful contents to the other learners, 30% to conduct research on issues already known and deepening, 25% considered it useful for discovering new contents classified by other community members. 85% of the sample has moreover considered the presence of the repository in the personal profile page useful; of these 85%, 39% rated it good for learning new contents by accessing through the repository of other learners, other 39% deemed it suitable to enter resources as deepening the studied contents, while the remaining 22% considered it useful for creating an area of personal notes. 95% said they considered the presence of working groups useful.

The Figure 8 shows how the â&#x20AC;&#x153;working groupsâ&#x20AC;? represent the utility of MyLe@rn that most of the sample, 47,40%, would like to find in such

Figure 8

Which function of YouLe@rn is necessary in an e-learning platform?

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a learning environment, followed by the “Question Learn” (21,10%), the “repository” (15,80%) and “personal profile” with the tag cloud (15,80%).

Since the creation of working groups within MyLe@rn and the choice of the topic for discussion have been left to the free initiative of the experiment participants, it is clear from the above analysis that the results appear to be in line with the trends of Web 2.0 and with the need to give greater freedom of action to the subjects who learn online in lifelong learning perspective.

In the satisfaction questionnaire about the environment, moreover, learners were asked to express their opinion about the experience they had and to report positive and negative aspects and make possible suggestions for bringing improvements to the environment MyLe@rn. From the responses received, a high level of interest and enthusiasm was perceived about the experience, with a profound appreciation for the opportunity to have an individual space as shown by this student’s response: «I think it was a very constructive experience! I really enjoyed the opportunity to have my own personal profile and the comparison with other students gave me more stimuli». Another participant points out in his/her response to the strong propensity of MyLe@rn concerning the exchange and sharing, «A very significant experience… everyone has enriched their knowledge by sharing resources, ideas and thoughts. This experience is the most obvious example of how technologies can be a learning community open to the exchange and sharing of knowledge». The greater autonomy and the ability to learn new concepts is the basis of this response «MyLe@rn, for me, was a way to express my thoughts on topics relevant to the course, and also a way to meet new goals and definitions, educational models of learning». As for future improvements, it was suggested to allow the learner feedback cancellation in case of error, as well as for personal posts, and reduce the number of posts listed in the internal home page, offering only the most recent ones and providing a link to scroll the page in case one even wants to see the older works.

Conclusions Innovations and changes taking place in the e-learning sector require the activation of more learner-centred learning processes and the adoption of dynamic environments, able to be completed with the tools from out272

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side in order to promote more and more knowledge building and sharing.

The greater autonomy given to the learners through the management of their personal profile, that an online learning environment provides and makes available to the user, become an effective tool for reflection and self-evaluation in which resources and observations related to the training path alternate with periods of informal learning and personal considerations. Morover, it helps to create a climate characterized by spontaneity in which they can compare, exchange views and facilitate the construction of shared knowledge. These environments, as well as MyLe@rn presented here, have as their objective to encourage the main pedagogical categories, such as reflexivity, criticality and dialogicity, while focusing attention to the subject-person at the centre of teaching-learning processes. Therefore, MyLe@rn meets the requirements of change that e-learning 2.0 poses to the world of online education, reducing barriers existing between everything that happens in a learning environment and the open space of the Web, in which tools and applications based on people support mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation, promoting the development of the individual and the continuous production of knowledge. This is what we wanted to prove with this research/experimentation. In fact, the results presented here have highlighted the high degree of learning achieved by those who have used the technological platform. Even though our study was carried out on a small number of students and on a single topic of the course program, we think we achieved the goal that we imposed ourselves from the beginning.

In fact, from the analysis of the results presented, it can be seen how, in terms of learning, the subjects who used the technological environment achieved appreciable results to a greater extent than those who only used traditional tools and media. However, our intention is to repeat the experiment on more courses and the entire program of study, in order to confirm the results obtained today.

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Baldacci, M. (2005). Personalizzazione o individualizzazione? Trento: Erickson.

Bonaiuti, G. (2006). E-learning 2.0. Il futuro dellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;apprendimento in rete tra formale e informale. Trento: Erickson.

Cambi, F. (2004). Saperi e competenze. Bari: Laterza.

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Cross, J. (2006). Informal learning, rediscovering the natural pathways that inspire innovation and performance. San Francisco: Pfeiffer-John Wiley & Sons.

De Pietro, O. (2008). Tecnologie della comunicazione educative. IMCT-Educational. Roma: Monolite.

Downes, S. (2005). E-learning 2.0, ACM eLearn Magazine, 17 October. (http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=articles&article=29-1).

Ferri, P. (2011). Nativi digitali. Milano: Mondadori.

Galliani, L. (Ed.) (2000). Le tecnologie educative. Lecce: Pensa Multimedia.

Kozlowski, T. (2007), E-learning 1.0 and E-learning 2.0 – Two sides of the coin, and how they can blend together, International E-learning Conference at the Rajabhat Suan Dusit University.

Maragliano, R. (2004). Manuale di didattica multimediale. Roma: Laterza.

O’Reilly, T. (2005). What Is Web 2.0 - Design patterns and business models for the next generation of software. (http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/ news/2005/09/30/ what-is-web-20.html).

Petrelli, F. (2007). L’e-learning 2.0: una nuova frontiera della didattica? Rivista Scuola IAD Ricerca & Tecnologia, 3 (2), 2007, 62-76.

Piu, C. (2007). Riflessioni di natura didattica. Roma: Monolite.

Piu, C. (Ed.) (2009). Individualizzazione, personalizzazione e management didattico nella formazione online. Roma: Monolite.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, MCB University Press, 9 (5), 1-2.

Rivoltella, P.C. (2006). Screen generation. Gli adolescenti e le prospettive dell’educazione nell’età dei media digitali. Milano: Vita e Pensiero.

Sigala, M. (2007). Integrating Web 2.0 in e-learning environments: A socio-technical approach. Integrating Journal of Knowledge and Learning, 3 (6), 628-648.

Tapscott, D. (2011). Net generation. Come la generazione digitale sta cambiando il mondo.

Milano: FrancoAngeli.

Tosh, D., & Werdmuller, B. (2004). Creation of a learning landscape: Weblogging and social networking in the context of e-portfolios. (http://eradc.org/papers/Learning_landscape. pdf).

Trentin, G. (2008). La sostenibilità didattico-formativa dell’e-learning. Social networking e apprendimento attivo. Milano: FrancoAngeli.

Vander Wal, T. (2007). Folksonomy coinage and definition. (http://www.vanderwal.net/folksonomy.html).

Veen, W., & Vrakking, B. (2010). Crescere nell’era digitale. Roma: Idea.

Wilson, S. (2008). Patterns of personal learning environments. Interactive Learning Environments, 16 (1), 17-34.

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Making, evaluating and enjoying cartoons Research into the quality of cartoon production involving children, parents, cartoon producers and media experts1 Laura Messina and Fabrizio Personeni

aBSTRacT

Department of Education Sciences of University of Padua, Via Beato Pellegrino, 28 – 35137 Padova (Italy). E-mail: laura.messina@unipd.it; fabrizio.personeni@unipd.it

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 high quality products, and more and more suited for children’s development.

In particular, the research investigates the criteria for cartoons’ production and evaluation used by four categories of subjects: cartoon makers and media experts, with regards to the production criteria, children of 5/6 and 10/11 years and their parents, with regard to 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, revealing a complex conceptual framework that offers many suggestions to develop further this line of research.

Keywords: cartoon evaluation; cartoon production; cartoon quality; communication pact.

1

This article has been developed jointly by the two authors. Laura Messina has written paragraphs for the Introduction and the Concluding remarks and perspectives; Fabrizio Personeni has written paragraphs for The current study design and Results.

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Introduction Although children are increasingly attracted to new technologies, video games in particular, their interest in television and cartoons remains high.

According to data collected in our country by Eurispes and Telefono Azzurro, in 2010, “television is beloved by children: only 4% never watch it”, as compared to 25.3% for the PC, and cartoons occupy “an important”, although “not exclusive place”, in what television offers children, with a clear preference, for 7-11 year-old children, for the cartoon The Simpsons (Eurispes & Telefono Azzurro, 2010, p. 65).

As regards to entertainment cartoons (D’Amato, 2002; Farné, 1988), which have not been so closely studied (Kaufmann & Lohr, 1999), research has primarily focused its attention on the cartoon-consumer relationship, and in particular on the “effects” it can produce on young people.

Studies conducted from this perspective focus mainly on certain areas: the preferences of children for cartoons, also taking into account textual genres or characters (Baggaley, 1985; Kaufmann & Lohr, 1999); the role of cartoons in children’s socialization or behavioural model acquisition (Forge & Phemister, 1987; Mayes & Valentine, 1979); the incidence of violent scenes on behaviour (Haynes, 1978; Kaufmann & Löhr, 1999); and learning opportunities offered by cartoons (Greenfield, 1985).

Besides the “effects” of cartoons, research has investigated, albeit more rarely, children’s views on the quality of television programmes including cartoons, and standards used to evaluate them (Gunter, McAleer & Clifford, 1991; Nikken & van der Voort, 1997).

In the broader context of relationships between children and television (eg, Bertolini & Manini, 1988; Buckingham, 1998; Dorr, 1986; Tannenbaum, 1980), one of the most interesting perspectives of inquiry that is relevant to the present work is the “formative research” (Fish & Truglio, 2000; Palmer, 1974) aimed at combining entertainment and education in its investigations, which studies television products from the early stages of pre-production and production in order to lead to their improvement (Messina, 2009).

This type of research — particularly innovative because of the joint involvement of scholars and media producers — has been mainly directed at inquiring into the dimensions of appeal, attention and comprehension, which are considered as features that should be taken into account when attempting to optimize the fruition of a television programme.

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A classic example of this line of investigation is the work of Children’s Television Workshop (CTW) on Sesame Street (Mielke, 2000; Palmer & Fisch, 2000), which tried to raise the quality of the programme by using innovative forms of entertainment to develop cognitive skills — pre-literacy, pre-numeracy, spatial orientation or recognition of basic colours skills — and also leading towards moral education, building on the sphere of emotions in an attempt to convey social values such as kindness, respect, sharing (Lesser & Schneider, 2000).

From our point of view, the important innovation introduced by formative research is nevertheless limited by the “top-down” approach, since it addresses children as users or testers or informants, but not as “design partners” (Druin, 2002), a role which is not advocated solely in the study of new technologies to promote a really educative effect of media products.

As several studies show (eg, Nikken & van der Voort, 1997; Parola & Trinchero, 2006), the most interesting results, and those which are most useful in the search to improve television products, making them also suitable for a “special audience” as is the case with children (Dorr, 1986), are those which emerge when producers and consumers are both involved. Studies into the quality of television are moving in this direction (Nikken & van der Voort, 1996; 1997; 1999), comparing the views of mothers, children, producers and film/television critics, and trying to define what constitutes quality for each of the above categories.

As a matter of fact, the above-mentioned approaches should be integrated considering both the main dimensions investigated by the Children’s Television Workshop (Bickam, Wright & Huston, 2001; Bryant & Anderson, 1983; Fisch & Truglio, 2000; Meyer, 1983) — i.e. appeal, attention and comprehension, which are related to viewer appreciation but not necessarily to quality — and the features that define a quality product (Albers, 1992; Nikken and van der Voort, 1996; 1997; 1999) — but do not necessarily imply appreciation (Wober, 1990).

Such an “integrated” perspective could be particularly useful not only to discover the more profound relationships between these constructs and for a better understanding of the “communication pact” between producers and viewers, or between promises and expectations (Sartori, 1993), but also to contribute to orienting the production “educationally” (Messina, 2005; 2009), this last term referring not to instruction, as it is used in English, but, 277

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as in Italian, to the media’s power to form the human personality (Galliani & Messina, 2003).2

The current study design Based on these assumptions, the broad objective of this work is to contribute to outlining a research procedure whose aim is to promote communication and interaction between media makers, young users, parents and media experts, with the view to making cartoons both more attractive to children and able to act positively on their development. A further aim is to define cartoons’ quality indicators, even though the construct of quality «is not an objective attribute of a children’s programme, but rather a characteristic that is ascribed to a programme in the light of the values and norms that the observer considers to be important» (Rosengren, 1991, cit. in Nikken, 2006, p. 14).

The specific goals of the study are: – to investigate the production criteria used by Italian cartoon makers; – to inquire into the evaluation criteria adopted by children in the fruition of cartoons; – to examine the perceptions of evaluation criteria and production criteria of two other categories of communication pact actors, respectively parents and media experts; – to investigate the conceptions of quality of cartoons held by the four categories of actors involved; – to compare the similarities and differences between the production and evaluation criteria on the one hand adopted by producers and children and on the other perceived by parents and experts, and likewise regarding their conceptions of quality; – to compare the production and evaluative criteria, both adopted and perceived, with quality conceptions; – to identify other factors that could affect production and fruition and which do not specifically pertain to media text in the strict sense.

2

although not very frequent, even in italy there is a tradition of research into TV entertainment production, which includes studies on Albero Azzurro (Farné & Gherardi, 1994) and Melevisione (coggi, 2002; 2003; parola & Trinchero, 2006), as well as those on children’s evaluation criteria of TV (Bertolini, 2002).

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Method The research has an exploratory nature and adopts a qualitative methodology, considered the most appropriate to investigate the different facets of the production and fruition process, in a multidimensional perspective that should better grasp the complexity of cartoons.

Participants The research involved six categories of subjects: producers, to find the criteria that guide them in making a cartoon and their conceptions of quality; children, to find the criteria they follow in assessing the cartoons and their conceptions of quality; parents, considering they can help to clarify some aspects of evaluation not well focused on by their children, but also give suggestions to improve the cartoon quality; media experts, who can provide a competent and detached view of the criteria employed by production companies and can also make a significant contribution to the definition of quality standards aimed at maximizing the educational/formative impact of a media product.

In particular, a total of 60 subjects were involved in the study: 10 representatives of the main Italian cartoon companies, which follow the entire production process (pre-production, production, post-production);3 10 children of 5/6 years of age and 10 children of 9/10 years;4 the parents of selected children: 16 mothers and 4 fathers, who belong to different social categories (from housewife to university professor); 10 experts in the media study field.5

3

4

5

Eight companies are members of “cartoon italia”, an association which covers 85% of the domestic market for cartoons: Gruppo alcuni (S. Manfio, Treviso), De Mas & partners (E. levorato, Milano), Enarmonia (S. Raimondi, Torino), lanterna magica (a.S. Vanhollebeke, Torino), Stranemani (l. De crescenzo, prato), Rainbow S.r.l (p. Verdenelli, ancona), Musicartoon (S. callipari, Roma), Subliminal (R. Raffo, Roma); while the remaining are Rai 3 (M. Bollini, Turin) and Mediaset (F. Margaria, Milan).

The schools involved are: “l’aquilone” kindergarten and “San camillo” primary school, both in padua.

The choice of the age of children corresponds to two specific groups targeted by the production: preschool (0 to 5 years) and “Kids” (6 to 10 years).

Experts are eight academics from different italian universities, with different subject competency: prof. p.c. Rivoltella (Media Education, Università cattolica di Milano), prof. p. aroldi (Media and Children Cultures, Università cattolica di Milano), prof. G. Bettetini (Theory and Tecniques of Social Communication, Universtà cattolica di Milano), prof. R. Trinchero (Experimental Pedagogy, Università di Torino), prof. M. Ricciardi (Sociology of Cultural and Comunication Processes, politecnico di Torino), prof.ssa M. D’amato (Sociology of Mass Communication, Università di Roma Tre), prof. G. losito (Media Sociology, Università la Sapienza di Roma), prof. R. Farné (Pedagogy, Iconography and Iconology, Università di Bologna). in addition, two experts “in the field” were involved: Dr. a. Bastiancich (professor at the Experimental centre of cinematography, and director of the festival “cartoons on the Bay” as well as a consultant for

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Instrument The instrument used to collect data was a semi-structured interview which, given the diversity of age of the subjects involved (as well as expertise in the subject under investigation), was drafted contemplating four formats covering the same areas, but using a more technical language with experts and specialists and simplified with children and their parents.

The interview is articulated in six areas for each of which specific questions were formulated: – the first area, besides biographical information relating to respondent, regards the modes of production or use of cartoons and the importance attributed to them, taking into account the three dimensions of appeal, attention and comprehension; – the second area, which broadly relates to the target of cartoons, concerns difficulties in production or use of this product; – the third area focuses on the contents of the cartoon, investigating the selection and evaluation criteria of the story/idea, the characters, the setting; – the fourth area deals with cartoon form, looking in detail at linguistic, technical and aesthetic features (graphic style, genres, forms of language, editing, sound); – the fifth area concerns the functions performed by cartoons; – the sixth and last section is devoted to conceptions about cartoon quality.

Procedures Before the interviews were started, the instrument was tested with some people from the four categories, but external to the research. Before the interviews, also a collection of favourite cartoon clips, chosen by the children involved was made — surveying their preferences through a questionnaire administered in advance — in order to focus the interviews on specific cartoons and prevent children from thinking in an abstract way about the proposed issues.

In the case of producers, the questions were inevitably related for the most part to their production (which we assumed would in any case be viewed positively), while as regards to experts and parents no speRaiTrade) and Dr. a. Maso (teacher in a kindergarten in the province of padua and teacher trainer in audiovisual language, with particular reference to cartoons).

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cific cartoons were suggested, and they could make any references they wished.

On the other hand, with regards to cartoon quality, all categories of subjects expressed their judgment parameters about quality referring to specific cartoons.

The interviews were tape-recorded and administered in familiar contexts: the producers were interviewed at their production companies, experts in their work environment, and children with their parents at their own home.

In the latter case, they were interviewed separately: first the children and then their parents.

Data analysis The audio-interviews were transcribed as text files and the content was then analyzed through Atlas.ti software. For each category of subjects a hermeneutic unit was created (a total of six hermeneutic units), inserting in each unit the ten primary documents corresponding to the texts of the interviews. Subsequently, the documents were analysed encoding the “narrative themes”: that is, detecting the most important sentences and giving them specific verbal labels related to codes that emerged during the work of analysis.

The work of analysis and interpretation was divided into three main phases: in the first, codes related to production and evaluation criteria were identified; in the second, codes related to cartoon quality conceptions were identified; in the third a comparison of the data obtained in the two previous phases was carried out.

As our intention was to carry out an in-depth and meaningful piece of research, we considered appropriate to group together the various codes into sub-groups for each family, following the structural-systemic method of analysis of Casetti and di Chio (1990), focussing on the “textual stratification” approach, which makes it possible to identify all the factors that run through the audio-visual text and are not related to the three components that interest us: contents, form and function.

In this way, the contents were subdivided into aspects related to those elements that go to define a story or an idea, namely: the distinctive features of the characters and their roles, and the characteristics of the setting (in terms of places, but also of situations).

On the other hand, the form was broken down into the principal codes of film-making as adapted by cartoons: the graphics (both as line-drawings and 281

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also as framing, lights and colours), the genre, the narrative mode (including above all aspects of the screenplay, the editing and the directing), the sound (including the spoken voice) and the animation technique.

Furthermore, in addition to the two principal components into which a media text is subdivided (contents and form), the specific functions of cartoons were also contemplated, bearing in mind both the purposes that can guide the fruition of a given text — following the “Uses and gratification” approach, which however focussed above all on the needs and expectations of the audience (Katz, Haas & Gurevitch, 1973) — as well as the intentions that can direct the production — basing on the presumption that a media text’s functions might correspond to the needs of the audience (Capecchi, 2004).

Thus, the functions were subdivided into: ludic and entertaining, social and value-charged, motivational, emotional, intellective, and educational.

Therefore, concerning production and evaluation criteria, codes were aggregated cross-linking the three primary factors of cartoons — contents, form and function — with the three dimensions used by the Children’s Television Workshop: appeal, attention and comprehension.

In total (see Table 1), for each category of subjects 9 families result: 3 families related to contents features (Attention-Contents, ComprehensionContents, Appeal-Contents), 3 families related to form features (AttentionForm, Comprehension-Form, Appeal-Form), and 3 families related to functions that a cartoon can perform (Attention-Function, ComprehensionFunction, Appeal-Function).

Regarding the analysis of conceptions about cartoon quality, the codes were aggregated into 3 families for each category of subjects, considering only cross-media factors: Quality-Contents, Quality-Form, and QualityFunction.

Based on the above-mentioned codes and their aggregation in families, a comparison between the data was made to identify similarities/differences between the production and evaluation criteria that emerged from the four categories of subjects and quality conceptions.

Finally, we tried to compare the quality indicators with the production and evaluation criteria previously highlighted, in order to detect those of greatest significance for the creation of attractive, formative and quality cartoons.

During the analysis of documents we also found some indicators not strictly related to cartoons as media text, that nevertheless seem to have an effect on production, fruition, and quality related to cartoons.

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Contents

Appeal

Attention

Comprehension

Table 1

Form

Function

Story/idea

Graphics

ludic/Entertaining

characters/Roles

Genre

Social and value-charged

Setting/Situation

Narrative mode

Emotional

Sound

Motivational

animation technique

intellective

Story/idea

Graphics

ludic/Entertaining

characters/Roles

Genre

Social and value-charged

Setting/Situation

Narrative mode

Emotional

Sound

Motivational

animation technique

intellective

Story/idea

Graphics

ludic/Entertaining

characters/Roles

Genre

Social and value-charged

Setting/Situation

Narrative mode

Emotional

Sound

Motivational

animation technique

intellective

Educational

Educational

Educational

Dimensions (appeal, attention, comprehension) and factors (contents, form and function) with relative codes, inquired in the research.

Results Given the space limitations of this article and the richness of data collected,6 here we will only highlight the main similarities and differences among the four categories of subjects with respect to production and evaluation criteria and quality conceptions, then point to the main relationships between them, focusing primarily on children and producers.

Similarities and differences between production and evaluation criteria The comparison between the criteria used by producers and children, respectively to produce and evaluate cartoons, focused on the three dimen6

a detailed data analysis is in a volume of personeni (2011).

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sions already investigated by the Children’s Television Workshop, which should promote the proper use and facilitate the transmission of specific messages — appeal, comprehension and attention — cross-linked with the main features of media text: contents, form and function. The analysis has also been enriched by comments from experts and parents about their perceptions of these criteria.

Basically, producers and children are in tune with regard to appeal standards referring to cartoon contents, form and functions, while a gap emerges with regard to the dimensions of comprehension and attention.

Referring to appeal, all groups surveyed agree that it can be increased by the choice of age-appropriate topics and easily understandable stories (Dorr, 1986), the absence of violent scenes (Metastasio, 2002), the deepening of relational dynamics, the presence of characters of the same age of the target audience and the accuracy of personality features of the protagonists.

The producers seem to take into account only marginally the ability to create characters that modify their own nature, while for children it seems a very important indicator.

In general the setting does not affect the cartoon’s appeal, although there are some preferences for realistic and natural contexts.

Moreover, children do not seem interested in all those elements, highlighted instead by the producers, related to the distribution of the cartoons, such as the transversal and inter-generational aspects of the product (which are usually attractive for parents) and the universality of the themes (essential for international markets).

Similar perspectives between the different categories emerge also relative to aspects of form that make cartoons a satisfying product. The most important elements are: the characters’ graphic design (as evidenced also

by Baggaley, 1985; Cattelino, Rabaglietti & Roggero, 2003), the comic and action genres (in line with the studies of Mielke, 1983; Kaufmann & Löhr, 1999), the structuring of linear and simple plots (especially for younger children), the use of tailor-made music and songs, care taken in the writing of dialogue, and the presence of special effects. It is interesting to note the criterion related to the possibility for the target to be able to reproduce the characters as a drawing (Farné, 1988), which is highlighted above all by producers and experts.

Children, unlike producers, emphasize their appeal when there is coherence between graphic elements and nature of the represented characters.

They also prefer self-contained episodes. On the other hand, producers fo284

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cus on meta-textual elements, partly planned to allure parent and partly to express their creative talent, even if actually these narrative techniques do not seem to be of any interest to children.

Analogously, the animation technique and the fluidity of movement seem to interest the producers more than the children.

Considering the analysis of the functions that make a cartoon appealing, all those interviewed believe it is essential that this kind of audiovisual product should: entertain children, facilitate their socialization, encourage them to play (as shown also by Greenfield, 1985; Schramm, Lyle & Parker, 1971), keep children company, help to simulate experiences by identifying with the characters (Dorr, 1986; Morin, 1962; Oatley, 1994), spread prosocial values and rules, develop the imagination and knowledge through entertainment.

The evaluation criteria used by children and by producers differ with regard to the question that cartoons should help viewers relax (Lull, 1980).

This criterion is considered essential by children, but is just mentioned in passing by production companies, which often indulge in using anxiogenic contents and upsetting form features (Singer & Singer, 1983).

Regarding this point we should also emphasize the parents’ considerations about the importance of emotions aroused by cartoons, that excite positive feelings and can be easily managed by children (Schramm, Lyle & Parker, 1971).

On the other hand the producers underline, first, the possibility of cartoons to motivate young viewers to take action in their own reality after watching television, stimulating their curiosity and the “dimension of doing” (Oliverio Ferraris, 1995; Salvi, 1994) and, secondly, to develop the aesthetic sense of the target. Unfortunately, children do not seem to be attracted by these aspects.

Regarding the attention, the comparison of the criteria adopted by producers and those used by children show even greater differences. As far as contents are concerned, all the groups agree in considering the original stories and the comprehension of the proposed topics as essential elements to keep a viewer’s attention (Anderson & Bryant, 1983). Moreover, according to the children, the presence of challenges would be a good catalyst of attention, even if experts believe cartoons often present struggles or monstrous characters in order to keep the kids glued to the screen.

As regards form features, producers and children tend to agree that the attention is activated by the characters’ design, by the bright colours of 285

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graphics, by twists in the story, by sophisticated soundtracks (Mielke, 1983; Wartella, 1980) and by special effects.

Children appreciate the possibility to look the characters’ in the eye in frontal shots, when characters speak, while producers focus on editing (slow for kindergarten children and fast for teens), on funny gags and on cartoons’ duration.

All those interviewed give little importance to the function of cartoons to attract and maintain attention, even if the parents report the prominent feature of making people laugh and experts stress the power of cartoons to arouse emotions.

The different groups agree on observing how comprehension is facilitated by the use of few and familiar concepts (as also pointed out by Greenfield, 1985). Children think it is important for cartoons to be attractive (perhaps in order to lead to a greater concentration in processing the contents), to have a small number of characters and to present protagonists with unambiguous personalities. Parents report problems of younger children in understanding the difference between cartoons and advertising, as between fiction and reality (issues widely debated in the literature by Chandler, 1997; Dorr, 1986; Flavell, Flavell, Green & Korfmacher, 1990; Fernie, 1981; Hawkins, 1977; Howard, 1993; Kelly, 1981; Wartella 1980).

However, the most influential aspects in understanding cartoons seem related to the form features, and those that are highlighted by all categories are: linearity of the plots, without «gaps» in the script (Albers, 1992; Fratini, 1993; Palmer, 1974); editing without creating too hectic a pace; use of sound in order to emphasize crucial moments (Palmer, 1974); and easy lexicon in which new words are always explained. Children focus also on the use of graphics with stereotyped/symbolic colours that contribute to defining the nature of characters and atmosphere in the different situations; moreover, they prefer self-contained episodes of cartoon series, so that they do not lose the thread of the plot, and slow dialogue with short speeches.

On the other hand, the producers stress the importance of simple graphics for younger children, the repetition of key concepts and the prevalence of images instead of dialogues.

Similarities and differences in conceptions of quality The analysis of similarities and differences among the quality conceptions of interviewed subjects was based on contents, form and function of cartoons.

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Regarding the contents, all the groups tend to believe that a cartoon is of a good level when it is not violent or aggressive, and does not present anything shocking for children (as evidenced by Coggi, 2003; Valkenburg & Janssen, 1999). A good quality cartoon should be based on an original concept (Nikken & van Der Voort, 1997, highlight the absence of boredom) and should have a meaningful story for the target (Albers, 1992; Losito, 2002; Parola & Trinchero, 2006). Producers do not consider some criteria that children, parents and experts usually take into consideration (this maybe happens because some aspects are taken for granted), such as the presence of concepts that are familiar and well-known to the target and of age-appropriate topics, the plausibility of stories (Bourlot, Franchi, Valmachino & Vittadini, 2002), which should be close to the children’s experience, use of realistic, positive characters, holding values that children can easily identify with (Parola & Trinchero, 2006; Plenk, 2009).

The producers point out the importance of relationships (with friends, family...), of cross-cultural stories (which can be distributed internationally), of poetic stories and of care in drawing the characters’ personality.

Among the quality criteria, parents and experts note the opportunity of dealing with taboo subjects and social issues in an untroubled /natural way.

They also believe that children should be clearly shown the motivations and effects of characters’ actions, taking into account children’s difficulties in making inferences (Wartella, 1980).

The comments of the interviewees about the form of a quality cartoon show how essential it is to make a distinction among the features of this audiovisual product, depending on target age (Trinchero, 2003); for example all the groups agree that younger children prefer cartoons with simple and soft graphics, with primary colours, with a slow editing, short duration, and a rhythm adequate to children (Vittadini, Dadomo & Valmachino, 2003).

The different groups believe that the quality of a cartoon is given by detailed graphics (which confirms the studies of Nikken & van Der Voort, 1997), by bright, but not excessive, colours as well as by linear plots without any narrative “gaps”, by original music and sound, and by realistic dialogues, using a familiar language with no vulgarities (Vittadini, Dadomo & Valmachino, 2003).

Producers and experts concentrate on graphic authorship, on symbolic colours consistent with the atmosphere and with the mood of characters, on meta-textual references, on the priority of images instead of words and on 287

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the fluidity of animation. Children, on the other hand, consider important the simplicity and reproducibility of cartoon drawings, soundtracks that help the understanding of the situations of the story and the interactivity of the cartoon; this is particularly important for younger children (as noted also

by Parola & Trinchero, 2006). Finally, self-contained episodes and the use of a simple lexicon are criteria recommended by parents.

If we consider the function of a quality cartoon, all the groups agree that it should entertain (Nikken & van Der Voort, 1997), help relaxation and spread pro-social values and behaviour rules (Schramm, Lyle & Parker, 1971). Other relevant criteria are not always shared: the power to move without disturbing the children’s feelings (Coggi, 2003), which is not sufficiently emphasized by producers; the ability to introduce new aspects of reality; the stimulation of additional activities besides watching TV (even if children do not consider this); the skill to develop the imagination and critical thinking; the development of an aesthetic sense (especially mentioned by the experts) and the integration between school knowledge and entertainment (as reported also by studies of Ardizzone, 1997; Coggi, 2003; RAI, 1995).

Finally, analysing the interviews, we have found some criteria concerning external factors that affect cartoon production, fruition and quality. We gathered these indicators into eight main categories: “metatext”, target peculiarities, programme schedules, broadcasters, production practices, business logic, research and society.

Relations between production criteria, evaluation criteria and conceptions of quality Data analysis shows that several criteria pertaining to appeal, comprehension, attention and conceptions related to contents, form and function of a quality cartoons are shared by the people involved in the research; however there are meaningful differences among the different categories.

The next challenge for researchers and production companies in planning quality and “educationally oriented” cartoons (Messina, 2005; 2009) is to deepen some features, not always shared by the four groups of subjects but surely significant, like: positive stories, everyday life situations similar to children’s lives, touching upon social problems, giving emotional sustainability to media texts, making characters’ reasons and feelings more explicit, helping the visibility of “marginalized” and under-represented people, reducing the number of characters, dealing with the transformation of pro288

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tagonists, the coherence of graphics and soundtrack with the characters and with the situation’s atmosphere, the self-contained episodes, “eye-contact” between cartoon “actors” and viewers, the realistic dialogues, the presence of meta-textual elements related to the children’s experiential world, the opportunity to relax, the ability to stimulate children after they have watched the cartoons, the development of a critical sense and the education to an aesthetic sense in young viewers.

All these factors strengthen not only the complexity and multidimensionality of the cartoon itself, but also highlight the need to integrate quality conceptions with production and evaluation criteria, connecting the several points of view of cartoon-producers, of children, of parents and of media experts.

Concluding remarks and perspectives This research has attempted to inquire into the cartoons’ production criteria adopted by producers and perceived by media experts, as well as into the cartoons’ evaluation criteria used by children and perceived by their parents. The research also regarded the parameters used to judge the quality of a cartoon. The overall aim was to try to apply parameters used by research on TV programme fruition (Fisch & Truglio, 2000) and on TV programme quality (Nikken & Van Der Voort, 1996; 1997; 1999) to the study of cartoon and to see if it was possible to create a dialogue, though virtual, between the four principal categories of subjects who in various ways are interested in cartoons, and thus bring about improvements in this media product.

The results show that even very young children have an opinion not only about the quality of cartoon, but also about all those textual elements that characterize a cartoon. Another and salient finding is the very rich framework of ideas raised by contributions of the four categories involved, from which indications and suggestions for further research and cartoon making emerge.

These results are an encouragement to continue our research in two different directions: on the one hand, to find further confirmation of the shareability of criteria and conceptions by involving a greater sample of children and parents; on the other hand, to pass from the virtual dialogue to real dialogue, which means not only promoting the joint and present collaboration 289

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with the existing categories of people, but also enlarging it to teachers, who, together with parents, are the principal mediators of children’s choices and the development of their conceptions and judgement criteria. In this second case, we will be putting our postulated communicative pact to the test, by using “participatory formative research” (Messina, 2009).

Concerning the latter research line, and despite the hard times that everyone is now going through during which the quality and the educational value of media products is being debased, we believe that it would be necessary to appeal for greater synergy between producers, broadcasters and the State, which should give incentives and funding to projects for experimentation and research, as happens in the USA and in many European countries, where broadcasters collaborate with research institutions which study the educational value and formative worth of the TV programmes they transmit (for example, IZI – International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television).

At the same time, production companies need to develop a greater awareness of the importance of dialogue with all the key figures that accompany a child during her/his development, especially since children should occupy a position of supreme importance for producers in this field. These figures can give feedback of great significance to producers who want to create high quality entertaining cartoons, and in doing so to pay due attention to the formative influence that such products inevitably possess. Last but not least, production companies should demand the creation of departments for educational research into the quality of television programmes from private and state broadcasters.

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Specific section: On teacher education

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Digitality, media, education: Towards teaching processes Donatello Smeriglio

aBSTRacT

Department of Cognitive and Educational Sciences, University of Messina, Via Concezione 6 – 98122 Messina (Italy). E-mail: dsmeriglio@unime.it

Today, the socio-cultural fabric of our everyday lives has undoubtedly been transformed by the widespread use of digital devices. It was inevitable that this wave of change would also affect the education and teaching establishment in general, and schools in particular. With the integration of this new technology, schools have had to, and will have to review not only their conceptual and disciplinary framework, which will need to be updated, through coherent programming guidelines, into education and training courses which are suited to the necessities of the technological era, but also their education practices and strategies. This article aims to examine some of the conceptual and operative possibilities which have opened up with the arrival, of the latest generation computer systems, focusing on the new “spaces” which educational science should analyze and use, in order to update and respond to the requirements of an increasingly advanced and globalised scientific world. To this effect, a paradigmatic hypothesis is put forward which, also in virtue of the characteristics of the new web, promotes a basis for an education more oriented towards education processes rather than towards the simple transmission of contents.

Keywords: digitality; education; net; cross-media; communication.

Edizioni Erickson – Trento

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The development and the widespread advance of digital technology in every area of our social lives is reason to reflect on two interrelated and consequential aspects: the first regards our relationship with computer and telematic systems today; the second regards our young people, who were born in the era of mobile communication and Internet, and who therefore have a different mindset in comparison to the previous generation. There is, in fact, a great deal of literature on the subject, which helps to clarify the different ways in which young people and adults today, approach and assimilate these new media. Adults are more likely to make practical use of these devices, with a specific purpose in mind, and to maintain a certain emotional distance, albeit with a considerable dose of fear and diffidence, which often turns into a form of “blind resistance” (Toffles, 1988) born of a fear of change or laziness. Young people, on the other hand, have a strong sense of positive trust in telematic technologies, from socio-cultural and communication, emotional, relational, creative and recreational points of view (Rivoltella, 2006). These conditions which acquire greater relevance when discussing education methods and objectives, which are inevitably conditioned by the specific routines and communication codes of the web.

This article includes not only an analysis of the instrumental dimension of today’s technologies, but also an understanding of the effects they have on our, and our young people’s construction of reality, and also an evaluation of the consequences that these have on education, on teaching practices and on learning strategies. I believe, in fact, that an effective and efficient education project, should not only be technologically possible, but should also be developed with a constant and continual research into the many implications of digital technologies on the cognitive-emotive processes of the student, and the teacher.

It is true to say that internet, videogames, mobile phones and social networks have become an integral part of our lives, and in particular, our children’s lives. It is a constant and total immersion in the global net (both in an indirect way and in response) which has made the experience different, and which has consequently modified the way in which it is decoded, received and experienced. Without wishing to debate the issues raised by Marc Prensky (Prensky, 2001), on the generational divide between digital natives and immigrants, it is necessary to affirm here (in reference to what follows) how the virtual habitat necessitates a digital subject, the avatar, who is not the sum of man and technology, but rather a hybrid, a combination of 298

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man and technology with various alter egos. The mediamorphosis (Fidler, 2000) that we are undergoing, therefore, delineates us more and more as cyborg (Case, 2010), surrounded by technologies that extend not only our bodies, but above all, the functions of our minds. In a different way, but just as inexorable, proximity to the digital device involves a different way of elaborating, organizing and using information, as if we had a multitude of different personalities and identities. More precisely, this happens amongst young people, who think, relate and communicate in ways and in languages that are, at times, incomprehensible to their elders. It is a difference which regards not only the temporal, historical or generational dimension, but especially cognitive architecture, that is, the difference between the structure and functioning of minds which interact with computers and similar devices from birth, and more mature minds. This consideration leads me to support the importance of experience and of “environments” in the configuration of “human nature” (Ehrlich, 2005), and also to sustain that the quality and quantity of these experiences can form the structure of our minds, shaping certain neural connections which would translate, by charting them, the knowledge that has been acquired, both in terms of declarative as well as procedural knowledge, etc.

To this effect, then, it is appropriate to underline how the borders between environment and the individual become narrow and fragile, in the same way as between technology and mind and between technology and education.

Digital devices, both hardware and software, become extensions of our bodies and of our minds, through which we represent the world in which we are immersed. Cognitive functions, in fact, do not «limit themselves to what the brain is doing, but become what the brain manages to achieve thanks to external contributions, including those derived from technologies such as the computer or the smartphone. […] Pen and paper or electronic devices are resources which help our brain to achieve what it requires. We can think of them as an expansion card to be put into a computer expansion slot: they extend and modify our ability to store and manage information» (Clark, 2008). In a nutshell, the perspective from which we wish to view pedagogical-didactic activity, in view of what has just been said, does not focus on those questions which regard the existence or not of «cognitive processes distributed throughout the environment, conveyed by external devices for the elaboration of information […] or on the question about who is the subject of mental states and cognitive processes that would extend into 299

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the environment», but rather it concentrates on the indisputable effects that the new media have on ways of representing, configuring and interacting with knowledge, with others and with the world. And not only: the passage from web to web 2.0 (up to the semantic web) has marked the transition from a closed system of memorization, filing, visualization and consultation of data, in a top-down way, to an open system of information sharing, in a bottom-up way, which has literally revolutionized the parameters of use. It is a change which offers greater space and importance to relational exchanges between internauts, rather than aiming to supply only information and contents. These are aspects which consolidate what Lévy calls «cosmopedia», and which he defines as «a new type of knowledge organization, largely based on the possibilities, which have recently become available to computer science, for the representation and dynamic management of knowledge […]

An encyclopedia proposes a fixed image and text side by side, whereas the cosmopedia presents a large number of different forms of expression» (Lévy, 2002, p. 210), linked not only to the multimodal linguistic codes of the web, but above all by the diverse styles and creativity, both cognitive and emotive, of the net’s inhabitants. For these reasons, the benefits of internet and of telematic communication systems is becoming increasingly personalized and set in motion not just «by the interactivity of consultation, based on the search for information and in depth examination, on the primacy of text over image and of personal choice over generalized benefit» (Giovagnoli, 2009, p. 10), therefore, predominantly on contents and on data; but above all, initiated «by the interactivity of conversation, based instead, on comparison and participation, and on the presence of different forms of expression (fixed or animated images, interactive simulations, sound maps, dynamic ideographs, virtual realities, artificial performances, etc.)» (Lévy, 2002, p.

210), therefore on relational, cognitive and emotive processes.

Therefore, the union between concepts such as digitality, hypermediality and education underlines something that goes beyond thinking, planning, programming computer devices for education and learning tasks, but is a much wider and more complicated awareness of the technological world, now oriented towards the digitalization and automation of its multiple dimensions, whether they be cultural, social, political or economic. In fact, it is no longer possible to think of man’s evolution without measuring it against the continual scientific progress he achieves and presents to public opinion, in terms of reconfiguring the cultural-anthropological fabric into the bit or «access time» era.

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Taking these considerations as a starting point, the following ideas aim mainly to give emphasis and argument to a theoretical and workable plan, conceived in terms of teaching processes, and which is mainly geared towards a series of educational activities and procedures which will encourage multimodal forms of communication and cooperation. A paradigm shift, then, which focuses its educational-methodological system on learning processes rather than on contents, and from a systemic perspective which assesses the multiple variables inherent in education practices and, above all, the effect of computer and communication technologies on daily life in general, and on education more specifically, on education.

This is the fundamental premise on which to base the education system aimed at teaching processes, on a project system which, both in terms of infrastructure, professionalism and methodology, makes the most of the new relational and communication dynamics which are part of the world wide web. It is a theoretical-operational approach which increasingly tightens the relationship between education research, technology and neuro-scientific research, in a synergic process which connects the varying areas of investigation and experimentation to man.

From an educational perspective, the concept of the extended mind establishes the strong link which exists with reality, in our case technological, and a representation of it, in a symbiotic dimension which narrows the boundaries between subject and object, perception and world: ÂŤperception is not the representation of a world which exists independently, but rather is a continual generation of a world through the process of living. The interaction between a living system and its environment is cognitive interaction, and the process of living is a process of perception. Living is knowingÂť (De Toni & Pomello, 2005, p. 143).

Therefore, the extension of perception that is created through the use of specific hardware and software systems dictates a reconsideration of traditional teaching systems, from the point of view that these technologies require different knowledge and skills, and therefore new professional figures who are in step with the relentless progress of computer technology.

If we think about teaching processes, it is necessary to restructure and recontextualize the principles on which education activities are based, and not simply utilize, on an experiential level, a particular tool or computer device.

It is therefore important to redefine education objectives, the environments in which these educational activities take place, the specific knowledge and 301

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skills of the teachers, education strategies and also, communication styles (Smeriglio, 2009). And if it is true that the representation of the world passes through extensions of it and our minds, in other words, technology, then we need to think about an extended form of education, and teaching processes; that is, education both from a conceptual-theoretical and a practicaloperative point of view, which follows the latest movements in the digital world closely, critically and consciously; an education strategy, therefore, capable of promoting common objectives and values, orienting the cultural and social choices of future generations (Smeriglio, 2010).

What the universe of the multimedia, of the net, actually does, is to modify the fundamental categories of the real world, subverting and contaminating concepts of time, space and causality, integrating them in such a way as to supply new ones, or, contrarily, to generate a vacuum, filled only by the obsessive accumulation of data, images and texts (Longo, 2005). In this society, where there is so much access to knowledge, education strategy should use the strengths that it has to analyze, study and plan education strategies, pushing towards those new languages, and new communication and relational forms which digital technology has developed and diffused in the everyday lives of our children.

The right conditions for teaching processes Living in a digital era means being aware of the fact that we inhabit a world which is increasingly crowded with computer and communication devices. The strong presence of today’s media means that many of our activities are carried out with the support of the latest information technology. It is a phenomenon known as «tele-wrapping» (Ito, 2005) which should be recognized, experienced and understood, because it concerns us personally, but especially because it is already an integral part of our young people’s lifestyles. In connection to this, the recently published 9th Report on Communications, by Censis/Ucsi states (Censis, 2011): from the data collected from research into the evolution of media use by the consumer, there emerges an obvious increase in internet use by young people, mainly due to a rise in the phenomenon of social networking.

To achieve this, the proposal of teaching processes which make use of the characteristics of today’s digital devices, utilizing them to bring teachers 302

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and students (and vice-versa) closer together, so as to develop the ability to think, creativity and autonomy, seems more coherent in comparison to a teaching style which is still based on the transmission of contents in a linear and accumulative way.

Therefore, we need to think about and reflect on the possible education criteria which are most adapt to a type of formative approach which fully exploits the possibilities offered by today’s technological devices. This leads us to analyze not only the functions of specific technologies, but also the ways in which people learn.

It is clear to many, in fact, that the realization of a series of educational activities, including the choice of specific education tools and devices, underlies the adoption of a particular pedagogical paradigm which aims to explain the cognitive and emotive processes involved in how the individual learns. Thus, within the expanding field of the current phenomenon of neuro-science, and the many connections it has to educational research, there is a leaning towards projects and planning which is more suited to teaching methods using multimedia and technology. The most important ideas concerning proposals for teaching processes are those which perceive mental plasticity, active participation and the importance of the environment, as the fundamental theories and arguments on which to base education planning and programmes.

«Assuming that the nervous system is not a static network of interconnected elements, (…) but a real and living plastic organ (that is, modifiable), which continuously grows and changes in response to our own genetic programmes, but also along with our interaction with our own environment, we can understand how the quality and the variety of stimuli coming from an external context, can influence the development, the maintenance and the reorganization of the nervous system itself» (Pinel, 2007, p. 526). From this, we can see how experience, as well as the active participation, can determine the activation of particular networks and neural connections, just as, on the contrary, a lack of stimuli and of intellectual and emotional involvement can lead to the reduction of performance and cognitive abilities.

In educational terms, this means paying greater attention to the quality and the variety of the educational event, and to the context in which it is realized, from a point of view that is not directly and clearly deterministic and causal between environment and learning, but rather from a relativisticstochastic point of view, in other words, probabilistic. The higher the number of education courses, and the more diverse they are, from a linguistic, 303

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strategic, communications, methodological and technological point of view, the greater the possibility, statistically, of developing significant learning achievements in the students, in function of a wider probability of harmony between cognitive styles, learning rhythms, study techniques, memorization and reflection, and educational projects.

In fact, with teaching processes, traditional ways of teaching, which are curricular, linear, static and centred on the teacher, are abandoned in favour of a more dynamic and flexible methodological approach, which concentrates attention on the cognitive, emotive and motivational processes of the learners, on the ways in which they learn, on the creation of networks of meaning which are established through moments of sharing, cooperation and narration. An approach to education therefore, which favours the active participation of the students, in the building of their knowledge through interaction, and the communicative exchange which can be realized in that vast and varied network of communication that is the internet. In the positive value attributed by the group to the social process of the acquisition of knowledge, resides what Lévy defines as collective intelligence (Lévy, 1999) and which holds the components of the group together. In other words, it is the social process of the exchange and sharing of knowledge which help to nourish cohesion and cultural development, rather than the possession of knowledge itself (Jenkins, 2007).

To this effect we need to envisage educational action which moves towards these new dimensions and towards these new virtual spaces: teaching processes, in fact, assume a technical-operative cross-media approach which «modulates the education project using different media, distributing original contents, which are unique but complementary in each one» (Giovagnoli, 2009, p. 63). The way to do this would be to diversify the contents according to the different languages each of the digital tools has, so as to meet, as mentioned above, the cognitive styles and emotional and motivational channels preferred by the students. It would also help to differentiate the educational activities and practices by using the specific communication and interactive spaces of virtual environments: chat rooms, forums, workshops, wiki, social networks, etc.

Multimediality, hypertextuality, interactivity, dynamics, as well as texts, images and sounds, are all parts of today’s technological world, capable of initiating different and multiple processes of mental representation, as well as being able to promote greater emotional involvement and wider active participation on the part of the learner. In other words the virtual, which 304

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is a feature specific to modern-day computer devices, acts as a dynamic action space in which the intellectual functions, social and communications activities of our youth are stimulated, also modifying concept maps through the use of a simple click, or by connecting. To this effect, teaching processes are concerned with different mental activities, both motivational and emotive, which are triggered by the various educational contexts, real and virtual, in a double procedure, both descending and ascending, guided by the teacher’s methods and tactics, but also by the students, with their specific needs, characters and preferences.

Ultimately, the correlation that needs to be made is that between cyberspace, mental space and teaching; and the latter two elements analyzed in their dimension of virtuality, that is, the possibility of turning into and becoming behaviours, conduct, learning and educational profit. Moreover, education and teaching projects are mainly projective; they are based on what is known in order to build pathways, strategies and objectives which can be developed in the near future, in probable and then virtual situations.

In this way, then, virtuality, which characterizes those technological tools with internet access, for example multimedia tools, can be considered an attribute of mental space. «Cyberspace is fluid and endless like the mind, but it is neither exclusively material nor truly mental. It is certainly, it is completely different from physical space. It is a unique environment which allows any possible network combination, permutation and configuration.

Mental space is also virtual. Both types of space require visualization and design, both play with sensorial representations/simulations. Both have memory, both have research, retrieval and visualization mechanisms. Both elaborate information and both have intelligence» (De Kerckhove, 2001, p. 16). Therefore there is an analogy between the mind and technology, a dynamic interdependence which underlines how cognitive activities are, and can be, influenced by the specific functions of certain hardware and software tools. And it is in this way that the education system, and specifically the one proposed here, should reconsider its plan of action, so as to appropriate and «inhabit» the technological spaces of the net, in order to broaden out into the mental spaces of net surfers, internauts and also digital natives (who are already deft and comfortable with today’s computer systems).

One of the prerequisites for teaching processes is to broaden teaching, in the sense of creating and planning education courses which are practicable within the digital technology context; this is fundamental if we want to respond in a coherent way to the demands for innovation and development 305

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which today’s world requires. Therefore, education should have access to cyberspace, to multimediality and hypermediality, without limiting itself to computer literacy for the individual. Rather, it should develop a critical and proactive use of technology, and develop, through the use of specific interfaces, cooperative, collaborative, creative and artistic, metacognitive and relational abilities, so that our students can become part of today’s social and globalized fabric.

For example, through the use of specific animation software, and through the appropriation of mark-up languages and programming, students can apply their imaginations through more and less sophisticated interactive situations, which they can then share on the web.

Hence, teaching can and should adopt these new models and communication channels in order to plan, not only digital learning objects (LO), but to create a coherent response to the cognitive and emotive forms of today’s youth, who make systematic use of digital technologies. It is therefore necessary to consider the many ways of implementing educational contents, strategies and practices which might be extended to, applied to and prosper from the use of different digital tools.

It is evident that there is a new cultural and global context, made up of interconnections, intercommunications, links and bits, which highlight a new form of cognitive architecture: in other words, connective. «It is the architecture which provides physical and mental connectivity between bodies and minds. This connective architecture is based on the notion that interconnected minds can exist and that their connections are supported by technologies which permit them to come together at specific times in order to reach specific objectives. Just as “solid” architecture guides the coming and going of bodies within a space, connective architecture, through the combined use of hardware and software, helps the free reunion and separation of minds which work together for whatever purpose (De Kerckhove, 2001, p. 18). Extension, multimediality, interconnectivity, virtuality, cyberspace: these are terms which reveal a great deal the technological research and experimentation of the last sixty years, which illustrate possible future scenarios for the globalized world, and which influence the cultural, educational, curricular and procedural choices of present and future schools. They also highlight the gaps in today’s education system, which has a patchy and intermittent approach to technological progress. In line with the strategic objectives set out by the European Union for the teaching and education sector, schools primarily need to promote and develop digital skills (as 306

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well as relational and cooperation skills) in order to allow students to move from an often passive and disorganized use of the different media channels available to them, to «achieving a level of media literacy which allows them to codify in a critical and conscious way, the abundance of messages and communications, information and educational contents with which they are inundated» (Ferri, 2008).

This means that we need to rethink the ways in which we approach education, the cognitive objectives that need to be reached, including teaching and professional re-training. This is aimed, not only at the computer literacy of our current and future teachers in the field of digital technology, but also at the functionality and the educational implications that this technology calls into question and which it can help to develop within a wider education-teaching perspective; and it is this, which, in my opinion, marks the shift from teaching contents to teaching processes.

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Toffler, A. (1988). Lo choc del futuro. Milano: Sperling & Kupfer.

Varela, F. (1979). Principles of biological autonomy. New York: North Holland.

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The application of robotics in school and teacher education1 Emanuele Micheli* and Valentina Pennazio**

aBSTRacT

* School of Robotics, Piazza Monastero 4 – 16149 Genua (Italy). ** University of Valle d’Aosta.

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 high quality products, which are more and more suited for children’s development. In particular, the research investigates the criteria for cartoons’ production and evaluation used by four categories of subjects: cartoon makers and media experts, with regards to the production criteria, children of 5/6 and 10/11 years and their parents, with regard to 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, revealing a complex conceptual framework that offers many suggestions to develop further this line of research.

Keywords: educational robotics; school; learning and play; disabilities; teacher education.

1

Emanuele Micheli wrote Educational robotics as a teaching tool; Educational robotics at school: The key competencies; The experiences in the Italian schools; Educational robotics as an integration tool; Teachers, robotics and training needs. Valentina pennazio wrote: Introduction to robotics; Robotics in the play and learning of children with disabilities: The state of the art; A pilot study results like basis for robotics application in school; From rehabilitation to education: robots in kindergarten; Teachers, robotics and training needs.

Edizioni Erickson – Trento

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Introduction to robotics Robotics is an area that is acquiring increasing scientific, economic and cultural importance and is one of the keys of the industrial and cultural revolution. Europe and Italy are involved in the scientific-technological development of robotics, but in a secondary position in relation to other countries like the US and Japan. Robotics in the past has been used in industrial applications that have produced programmed machines to perform physical tasks only. Currently, robotics has produced technologies that have made the most interesting perspectives and interdisciplinary studies possible. These machines are not only able to perform tasks, but also to promote social relationships and complex cognitive functions. After the Papert turtle (1984) and Handy Board designed by Fred Martin (Martin, 2000), different robotic systems have been developed in recent years. Some of these are predetermined, independent and sophisticated robots as IROMEC, explained in this paper. Other robots, such as the LEGOÂŽ MINDSTORMS â&#x201E;˘ construction kit, allow the user to design and build many robots with different behaviors. In recent years, robotics has also been experienced in education in particular in cooperative teaching. Robotics becomes educational robotics, it is necessary for motivating, learning and promoting the attainment of skills at different school levels, even in disability situations. In kindergarten, for example, educational robotics is helpful in supporting the usual play activities while at the other school levels (primary, secondary of first and second grade) educational robotics is important for learning of science and beyond. The application of robotics in school represents an opportunity for innovation and improvement of traditional teaching, but also a challenge for teachers who must develop new skills. What kind of knowledge, skills and competencies teachers should have to design independently the use of robotics in teaching? In this paper we endeavor to discuss both the effects of robotics on learning and on the training needs of teachers who decide to use robotics in their daily teaching. We will also present some experiences in schools with the use of different robots.

Educational robotics as a teaching tool In Italian schools of all types and levels there are numerous teachers utilizing the design, conception, construction and programming of robots as 310

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a teaching tool capable of consolidating or facilitating the comprehension of curricular disciplinary concepts. The experiences conducted by the partner schools of the Robotics School in numerous national and international projects serve as proof of how today for teachers and innovative scholastic administrations, educational robotics is a tool for learning to all effects.

There are various ways of introducing educational robotics in the relevant lessons, but each method respects certain universal learning values which can be reassumed in the key competencies at European level.

Kits utilized in schools and in the various experiences Lego Mindstorm NXT is the most popular kit used in the first and second grade secondary schools, (it is also widely used in the final years of primary school (from 8 to 10 years). The kit presents various sensors (sound, touch, ultrasound, light) which enable the creation of various interdisciplinary projects. The great flexibility at a programming level allows this kit to be utilized both in primary schools through the iconic language created

by National Instruments NXT-G up until the final years of the vocational schools where more complex languages such as C++, Java and LabView are introduced. The great flexibility and solidity of this kit makes it the most commonly used in schools.

Lego WeDo is destined for pre-school and primary school students. It contains two sensors (infra-red and tilt) and is connected directly to the computer for power. This kit allows the introduction of complex programming concepts such as the cycle or basic mathematical concepts. The iconic programming language allows a fast and intuitive approach to programming, the organization of the software allows the introduction of individual construction within a narrative structure that motivates children to the creation of small differently shaped robots: monkeys, crocodiles, children etc. The strength of the kit is the strong link with the narration within which the robot created is to act.

Arduino is an open source physical computing platform based on a simple input/output board (I/O) and a development environment that implements the C++ Processing language.

Arduino can be used for developing independent interactive objects or can be connected to software on the computer (Flash, Processing, VVVV, Max/MSP). The boards can be assembled by hand and or bought pre-assembled. Thanks to this low-cost starting board, various robots with sensors, 311

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tracks, and gripper have been created. The teaching use of Arduino resides in enabling students to create a real robot from scratch conceiving it from both the ethical and open-source standpoint.

Educational robotics at school: The key competencies The key competencies identified by the European Commission for the Life Long Learning are those reported hereafter. Thanks to the highlighting of the various key competencies it will be possible to understand how robotics can become an official teaching tool for motivating students of all ages in the study of the various subjects.

Communication in the mother tongue Designing, building and assembling robots signifies having to share ideas, drawings; it means collaborating, team-working. Robots are objects which cannot be built alone but require continuous exchange of ideas among the members of the group with the various intelligences that emerge during construction and problem solving. The comparison with diversity enables the improvement of the communicative skills of the students who must communicate their own ideas clearly and synthetically at many levels, through many means of communication: design, technical text and oral communication.

Communication in foreign languages Educational robotics projects foresee the need for students to compete in a world that does not use Italian for the sharing of information, but uses English. In order to be able to conduct research and be able to build robots, students are often obliged to compete with foreign languages. In some projects utilizing educational robotics, numerous video conference link-ups were held (often using Interactive Whiteboards). These enabled Italian students to collaborate with their foreign counterparts on a common task dedicated to the design of the robots. In this case, the robots become a catalyzer for communication capable of motivating young people to study a common theme: robots (a theme requiring skills that can already be found on the internet and which thus enable the reading, learning of the written 312

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language and subsequently the re-processing of the skills and the oral exposure to students who do not have a common language other than English).

Mathematical competency and basic competencies in science and technology The obvious link between robotics and mathematical, scientific and technological disciplines often makes it more difficult to understand how radically the lessons of these subjects can change from the methodological and process point of view with the introduction of the use of robots. In every type and level of school it is possible to utilize programmable robots to enable the students to re-process abstract concepts, facilitating the connection with reality. Educational robotics enables the mediation of the scientific contents from various points of view, comprehensible to different intelligences.

Furthermore, the conception of error changes radically: the error is no longer seen as a judgment but as an incentive to change one’s own skills. In this way the Galilean point of view is recovered, the scientific method does not foresee abstract alone (in schools today, mathematics is very abstract), but continuous experimenting, capable of modifying our abstract. Installing a relation between the world and abstract may enable students understand better not only scientific subjects.

Digital competency This key competency is evidently linked with educational robotics. In order to program robots it is necessary to use computers and to be able to dynamically document the robot’s activities it is necessary utilize the various digital communication tools in the best way. This means that educational robotics gives a 360° possibility for the creative use of the computer.

Learning to learn Working on robots is not conducted by the teacher in a traditional way; the teacher has the task of coordinating the various activities and “discoveries” so as to be able to consolidate certain curricular concepts. His or her role is not to provide skills dogmatically. The design/construction/programming of the robot enables the students to represent the world independently, to be able build their own aware and explicit way of learning, to be able to create a learning process linked to observation, experimentation, abstract 313

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and theorization in a continuous cycle that foresees that each stage intervenes with the other.

Social and civic competencies Robotic technologies are the technologies of the future, introducing robotics in these years is like introducing IT in the Eighties — it has a great civic value for the future of the students. In addition, having to work in a group and the need to have to accept different intelligences from each member allows the students to recognize differences and accept them to improve the work of the group. Recognizing and collaborating with diversity are two components of the social aspects that educational robotics contributes to developing. Thanks to projects monitored, for example, by the Robotics School, there are many cases of integration of children with cognitive issues within the work of the class.

Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship Educational robotics enables the stimulation of the students’ creativity in designing new robots with new functions and new programs. The sense of initiative and entrepreneurship is experienced by participants in the lessons on many different levels, enabling the students to develop different entrepreneurial strategies: – exposure of their own ideas during the robot design; – listening to and sharing the ideas of others; – management and self-organization of the group; – exposure of their own solutions at programming level; – shared problem-solving.

Cultural awareness and expression In the other key competencies, if the advantages linked to the method or the technology are highlighted, this key competency requires the aptitude to be expressed not from a technical point of view but creatively and expressively. Also in this case there are many students who re-process the robot idea creating innovative and aesthetic designs and personalizations of the robot. The personalization of the teaching tool allows for greater involvement of the students and enables greater expression of their own aptitudes.

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The experiences in the Italian schools There are hundreds of Italian schools utilizing educational robotics within the regular teaching timetable, integrating the construction and programming with the various disciplines. There are numerous Italian school networks which collaborate to share experiences and teaching methods: Robot@Scuola (www.robotascuola.net), Roberta (roberta.isii.it), Open doors to robotics in the region of Piedmont, the robocup junior network, the Digital World Foundation, rob&ide. The experiences monitored by the staff of the Robotics School are many and varied, therefore in this article it was decided to describe one experience per typology of school.

The experiences in the pre-school In order to talk about the use of educational robotics in the pre-school, we shall present two different experiences, one performed in the IC Don Milani di Latina, by Prof. Linda Giannini. The second experience refers to the pre-school Primo Circolo di Pinerolo led by Prof. Donatella Merlo. At Latina the children are in a heterogeneous class regarding the age and with various different kinds of activities available, from traditional whiteboard games, and computers to drawing sheets. One of the activities performed in conjunction with the Robotics School is intended to enable the children, upon request, to connect via Skype and call the offices of the Robotics School where one of the staff can talk with the children, show some laboratory robots working, and draw together with the children using specially dedicated programs. In this way the children can get to know different ways of talking about robots, representing them and utilizing new communication technologies in a controlled and “safe” way. Experiments were also conducted with older children regarding robot commands through the icons commonly used on Skype. In addition, the fundamental component of each project is that of sharing the children‘s work with older students using a blog so as to favour both the continuity and the growth of the knowledge through collaboration. Another determining factor of these projects is the insertion of a robot within a narrative, where the child can develop his or her own expressivity and creativity. In the Pinerolo teaching center, 5-year old children built small robots, utilizing the Lego kit WeDo. In these lessons they worked on various concepts linked to the collaborations, dividing up the parts by different colours, sizes, shape and after following the instructions 315

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to build small robotic animals, they inserted these animals into a narrative context. For example, the construction of the crocodile enables the children to enquire about what type of food crocodiles eat, drawing this and experimenting with this. Furthermore, to welcome the robotic crocodile they drew and studied the habitat of the crocodile. Thanks to the robots they were thus able to learn concepts of mathematics, biology, science, ecology, mechanics and IT using a simple active tool such as a small robot.

The experiences in primary school In primary school the design/construction/programming of the robots enables the teachers to introduce numerous skills which are important for the future, such as: – positive approach at the creative stage; – capacity to listen during team-work; – problem-solving skills; – return to the importance of manual skills; – collaboration among peers; – acceptance of diversity.

The skills developed through these projects are: – scientific skills; – reading and drawing skills.

Robotics acquires importance as a method to motivate the right way of studying and team-working directing the work of the children at a very specific project that enables the student not to feel judged by his peers or the teachers.

The experiences in first grade secondary school In first grade secondary school it is necessary to support the manual work with the capacity of the student to abstract and formalize. At the Da Vinci Chelini Middle School in Lucca, some teachers utilized the following approach: they work in parallel with the LOGO language to create geometric shapes with the virtual turtle created by Papert. The same procedure is asked of the students after the first creation of a robot artifact capable of moving.

The teacher asks the students to create the same geometric shapes previously created with LOGO. Although the commands are similar, the reactions of the 316

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two objects, one virtual and one real (the robot), are different. In this way the students verify that reality interferes with our previous abstractions, with the rules that we create and which in the virtual world function to perfection. The movements the robots make will not be perfect and they will change size and shape on the basis of the wheels utilized or the surfaces on which they move.

A new experience that creates a close link between the abstraction anticipated (initial hypothesis) and reality and which enables the students to create real mathematic and geometric relations, it is precisely the simple exercise of making the robot move forward one meter. This experience, illustrative of the experience of numerous teachers of the Robot@School network and from the workshops conducted by the Robotics School in numerous teaching projects all over Italy and Europe, has enabled the highlighting of different types of routes taken by the students in their forming hypotheses on the reality of real “intelligent” objects moving in an environment that modifies their behaviour.

For example, asking the students to create a robot that can move forward a meter involves various disciplines and competencies: the mathematicalgeometric area, creative skills, relations among different sizes, creation of general laws which describe the world, the concept of measurement and size.

During these experiences with Lego Mindstorm® robots, the students discovered the measurement of the diameter in mm. Even without possessing a measuring tape they can thus program the robot utilizing the formula for the circumference and understanding how many rotations of the wheels are necessary to move forward one meter. The exercise has also another possible solution based on time and possessing a measuring instrument. In this way the students link speed to time and consequently to space. This example lets us understand how, starting from reality — the determined wheel — the student can abstract concepts utilizing mathematical and physical relations. Through repetition of the experiment and observation, the student controls the result.

The experiences in second grade secondary school In second grade schools two general typologies of experience can be identified: robotics as a teaching tool to motivate the learning of curricular activities and robotics as an object of study in the institutes of technical or professional vocation. Numerous teachers utilize the iconic NXT-G software, which enables the student to start programming. At this stage of utilizing iconic software the first grade secondary student can understand better some abstract concepts of programming that are fundamental for tackling informa317

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tion technology. For example, five concepts linked to text programming such as C++ and Java (3-year period of high schools) can be understood through the use of iconic software such as NXT-G. The experiences of some teachers thus confirm the simplification of concepts such as IF or LOOP, whose comprehension difficulties are linked not to the concept itself but to the language, that is, a pre-decided code. Often the student does not understand the language, and confuses the difficulty of the concept with the difficulty of the tool used to understand it, which is precisely the code, the language. Thanks to the preliminary use of the iconic languages the student manages to abstract the concepts and subsequently use different languages for programming. This passage refers to different levels of abstraction but thanks to different tools they can easily be learnt. The programming acts on different levels of abstraction which all converge in reality; it will be reality alone that is the judge for understanding whether or not the programming created is right.

Educational robotics as an integration tool In every type of school, educational robotics is proving to be an excellent integration tool for every type of intelligence, even for the most fragile young people such as autistic children. Emanuele Micheli of the Robotics School (co-writer of this article) has been working with autistic children for one year. The method of use of robotics is at a narrative level. The robot is built (in some cases also planned) by the young people, programmed and then inserted into a narrative context. In this way the various skills of the students are motivated in the relation with the teacher and with their own companions. This is the task of educational robotics with regard to integration: creating relations among children. Experiences of the use of sophisticated robots in disability have also been performed by the University of the Valle dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Aosta in both a rehabilitative and a scholastic context.

Robotics in the play and learning of children with disabilities: The state of the art Many field studies (Karlan, 1988; Harwin, 1988; Howell & Hay, 1989; Smith & Topping, 1996; Kwee, 1999; Eberhart, 2000; Marti, 2005; Kronreif, 2007; Cook & Polgar, 2008; Scascighini, 2009; Besio, 2010) highlight the 318

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positive role of robotic technology to support, through play, cognitive, emotional and social development of children with disabilities in rehabilitation and school. In recent years experimental research on relationship “robotics and children with disabilities” has in fact focused on the play, typical activity of childhood. The research used both prototypes specifically designed for use by children with physical, cognitive, and Pervasive Developmental Disorders (Kaspar, Aurora, Paro, Iromec) and robotic toys present on the market (I-Sobot, Wall-e And Mst. Personality), adapted to be used in the presence of special needs (Benitez & Cala, 2007). The adjustments of robotic toys can be simple and complex: simple, when you change some parts of the toy or using sensors, complex, when you create software (for example AdioScan, Digio) for the management of accessible interfaces (Scascighini, 2010). Therapeutic and educational effectiveness of robotic systems have always been evaluated in experimental contexts through actions based on play. The objective was to evaluate how the use of robotic devices in the play has influenced the cognitive, social, communicative-linguistic and emotional development in children with different disability and their social relations.

In some studies (Cook & Polgar, 2008) robotic systems have been used to replace the standardized tests that cannot be used in case of physical and language disability, to assess through inference the ability of the disabled child to understand and solve problems. In these cases robots were used, which were designed: to ask the child the use of special cognitive skills that cannot be assessed with standardized tests; to develop discovery environments that allow you to explore and problem solving. Robots in disability may have different functions and subsequently different classifications.

– Assistive Robotics (AR): robots that assist the disabled person through physical interaction and help him or her to interact with objects and standard toys. For example, robotic prosthetic arms that help children with physical disabilities to play with Lego bricks (Besio & Caprino, 2010; Laudanna, 2010).

– Socially Interactive Robotics (SIR): robots that facilitate social interaction (Fong et al., 2003).

– Socially Assistive Robotics (SAR): robots that create effective interaction with the human being and help him to obtain improvements in rehabilitation and learning contexts (Feil-Seifer & Matari, 2005).

In the Seventh European Research Framework Programme (2007-2009) the expression Cognitive Companions was created to indicate robots that 319

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help humans as expert assistants or companions and constantly interact with them (Besio & Caprino, 2010). These robots need to learn new skills, new tasks, growing in constant interaction and cooperation with humans. The functional emotional and social aspects (Marti & Giusti, 2009) that make funny, intriguing, significant human interaction (Besio & Caprino, 2010) are other features of these robots. In schools there are some international experiences for the application of robotics to disability. In schools there are some international experiences for the application of robotics in disability.

A robot designed for science activities has been tested with physical disabilities students aged 9 and 11 years (Howell & Hay, 1989), while a work situation named ArlynArm (Eberhart et al., 2000) was used with physical disabilities students aged 10 to 18 years for sciences and arts learning. Another work situation, the commercial robot named SCARA (Harwin et al., 1988) was adopted to help disabled children to use and manipulate blocks, select objects and play.

A pilot study results like basis for robotics application in school From 2006 to 2009 Valle d’Aosta University has been partner in the Interactive Robotic Social Mediators as Companions (IROMEC) research project, financed by the European Commission under the Seventh Research and Development Framework Programme. The project studied the needs of children who cannot play and learn due to cognitive, physical or relational disability. The project is based on a user-centered approach and has supported a prototype robotic toy implementation “IROMEC” used not only in rehabilitation but also in educational context. Experimental phase results in the IROMEC project favored a subsequent pilot study named “Giochi Robotici per tutti” (Gi.Ro.Tu). Pilot study has been carried out since 2010

by Valle d’Aosta University, in collaboration with the Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi — Centro St. Maria Nascente — Servizio DAT, which has been working for several years in such projects. During the first stage, a study was carried out in a rehabilitation context in children with physical disabilities and it investigated with quantitative and qualitative methodological tools, the robot-mediated play sessions effect in children with physical impairment on visual-spatial skills (primary outcome) and playfulness level (Bundy, 1997; 320

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Neumann, 1971; Rubin, Fein & Vandenberg, 1983) (secondary outcome).

IROMEC robot experimental play sessions showed significant improvement in cognitive ability, in understanding cause/effect relationship, in problem solving resolution, in visual-spatial components, in attention and involvement degree and in play motivation. Verbal communication, smiles and gestures has made it possible to detect a high entertainment degree during the play scenarios execution.

From rehabilitation to education: Robots in kindergarten After positive pilot study results in the rehabilitation context, Valle dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Aosta University has continued trials in schools. There are two research objectives: to verify the robotic technologies influence in the development of special competencies (socialization, understanding cause and effect relationship, rules and returning respect, attention maintenance, high-level cognitive functions application, experience of self and others) in children with disabilities and improve the same competencies in other children. The trial, still in progress, is carried out in kindergartens because robot application for achieving educational and teaching objectives is based on play, which is the typical activity of this kind of school.

Robots used in school In trials three different robots types were used: IROMEC, the prototype developed in the homonymous research project, I-SOBOT and Wall-E. IROMEC is a â&#x20AC;&#x153;companion robotâ&#x20AC;? prototype that facilitates, improves and implements the play in children with disabilities by promoting their learning and socializing ability. IROMEC is mediator in rehabilitation and educational contexts, and adapts itself to non-standard play environments, such as playing contexts. This robot can look like a human being or an imaginary animal according to different needs. It is designed for children with physical and cognitive disabilities (autism, mental retardation, language difficulties). In Siena it has already been tested in two different schools in four children aged from 6 to 11 with cognitive and physical disabilities but there are about 40 cases treated in Europe. With IROMEC improvements were observed: in sensory development, in communication, in interaction with others and in their movements. These are 321

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preliminary results yet they show the IROMEC’s potential and its application in schools.

I-SOBOT (by the Japanese TOMY Company Ltd) is the world’s smallest humanoid robot produced. It sings, dances, rolls, kicks, and does just about everything you would expect a miniature robotic man to do. It also responds to 10 preprogrammed voice commands and comes with a hilarious collection of special action commands which include animal and celebrity impressions. Finally, it can be controlled in proper fashion for robot soccer tournaments, races, and other friendly competitions via its powerful infrared remote control. The remote control also allows you to create scripts, which are user-defined chains of robot movements. The robot has been reprogrammed to make its functions accessible to users who may use only one switch. With these adjustments, it was possible to bring imitation play to children with autism and physical disabilities and their companions.

WALL-E is an interesting robot, which produces pre-recorded voice messages, sound and movement; it has four sensors to detect movement and four sensors to detect voice. Via an infrared remote control, you can create many movements and combinations. Infrared remote control is difficult to use for children with motor or cognitive impairments. One of the possible adaptations is to use two switches to control two simple actions such as turning and going forward. The robot has been tested in turn taking a play scenario.

The trials in kindergarten The trials were carried out in six kindergartens in the Italian region of Liguria (one class for each school) selected according to the type of disabled children. In particular, the trials involving children with autism and children with physical disabilities and their companions. Before the trials there was a meeting with principals and teachers to explain the project objectives and together to design play activities with the robot. The trial was carried out in six steps: an initial observation and five two-hour activities with the robot.

In some activities all three robots were used, and in other activities only IROMEC was used. The playfulness and motivation aspects were collected from video recordings carried out during the five play sessions and using an observation grid and the Test of Playfulness (Bundy, 1997). Children were involved in structured and challenging levels of active play with robots.

These activities, called “scenarios” have been designed specifying: the play equipment (which robot and any other equipment), the type of play (exercise 322

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play or sensory-motor, symbolic play, game rules), the activity objectives and results; the actions necessary to carry out activities (described with task analysis methodology); the teacher role as activity facilitator and the quality of assistance provided. Teachers have been supported in the robot programming from the Valle d’Aosta University researchers but carried out the activities independently. Each children group (with disabled child) played the first scenario, the easiest. When the objective was reached children played subsequent scenarios, more difficult.

Teachers, robotics and training needs The teachers have agreed to use robotics in their activities; they have joined the project considering robotics as a resource for all children to achieve educational and teaching objectives. Some teachers believe that the computer is not useful, but they have shown interest in robotics. In particular they have shown interest in the robots’ physicality to convey emotions, exhibit behaviors like children and to encourage metacognitive components.

The teachers believe that while the robot physicality creates interaction and produces that phenomenon which leads man to anthropomorphize robots (Friedman, Kahn & Hagman, 2003) even when their physical appearance is different from that of a human being interaction with the computer is more limited because the user is seated when using the keyboard and screen.

Teachers showed a second positive aspect in the robots’ mobility, in their ability to perceive environmental physical features. The presence of a robot that moves, avoids obstacles, reacts in response to various types of stress, and focuses attention on behaviors that are modified in relation to different environmental conditions favoring the acquisition of cause and effect relationship. A third aspect noted by teachers is the similarity of the robot’s social behavior with that of children in their physical, behavioral, cognitive and emotional features. The risk that the similarity of robots with humans or animals creates inappropriate expectations is, according to teachers, not important because these robots clearly show their limits. Beyond the positive aspects highlighted that arouse interest and desire to use robotics in everyday teaching activities, teachers feel unprepared for the use of such media. First of all, it highlights the need to fully understand the robotic support gaining trust and confidence during its application in education. For many teachers 323

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this means filling the gaps in their knowledge through the construction and programming of simple robots. Furthermore they consider imperative the presence of support that helps teachers to plan lessons with robots since the skills required to do this are greater than those needed to design their normal activities. These considerations then lead to design training courses for teachers interested in using robotics in their teaching activities.

Conclusions: The training of the teachers In order to boost the use and methodologies expressed by educational robotics render in Italy, numerous teachers belonging to the Robotics School network are developing a project for the refreshing and training of teachers from every type and grade of school. There are hundreds of teachers trained every year in these courses (recognized by the Ministry of Education, the Italian University and Italian Research) and they are spread over the entire national territory. The training courses are centered on both the technique necessary to build the robot (robotic platforms suitable for all age groups are utilized) and the methods and processes necessary for teaching different subjects through the use of robotics. In the training course all teachers from every subject are involved, from music to mathematics, from physics to computing, from literature to foreign languages, from technology to history. In this way the training courses make the use of educational robotics permanent within the schools, radically changing the methods and processes of teaching.

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Besio S., Caprino F., & Laudanna, E. (2008). Profiling robot-mediated play for children with disabilities through ICF-CY: The example of the European Project IROMEC. In K. Miesenberger, J. Klaus, W. Zagler & A. Karshmer (Eds.), Computers helping people with special needs (pp. 545-552). Berlin: Springer.

Besio, S., Caprino, F., & Laudanna, E. (2009). How to use robots for play in therapy and educational context? The IROMEC methodological proposal. VIII International Conference on Interaction Design and Children IDC 2009, Como, 3-5 June.

Bundy, A.C. (1997). ToP – The Test of Playfulness. Fort Collins, Colorado State University, USA. Cook, A.M., & Polgar, J.M. (20083). Cook & Hussey’s Assistive Technologies: principles and practice. Philadelphia: Elsevier Inc. Eberhardt, S.P., Osborne, J., & Rahman, T. (2000). Classroom evaluation of the arly arm robotic workstation. Assistive Technology, 12 (2), 132-143.

Friedman, B., Kahn, P.H., & Hagman, J. (2003). Hardware companions? What online AIBO discussion forums reveal about the human-robotic relationship. CHI 2003 Proceedings (pp. 273-280). New York: Association for Computing Machinery.

Harwin, W.S., Ginige, A., & Jackson, R.D. (1988). A robot workstation for use in education of the physically handicapped. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 35 (2), 127-131.

Howel, R., & Hay, K. (1989). Software-based access and control of robotic manipulators for severely physically disable students. Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 1 (1), 53-72.

Karlan, G., Nof, S., Widmer, N., Mc Ewen, I., & Nail, B. (1988). Preliminary clinical evaluation of a prototype Interactive Robotic Device (IRD-1). Proceedings of the ICAART 88 Conference, Montreal: Quebec.

Kronreif, G., Kornfeld, M., Prazak, B., Mina, S., & Fürst, M. (2007). Robot assistance in playful environment-user trials and results. Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Rome.

Kwe, H., Quaedackers, J., van de Bool, E., Theeuwen, L., & Speth, L. (1999). POCUS Project: Adapting the Control of the MANUS Manipulator for persons with Cerebral Palsy. Proceedings of the International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), Palo Alto, 1-2 July.

Lieberman, J.N. (1977). Playfulness: Its relationship to imagination and creativity. New York: Academic Press.

Marti, P., & Giusti, L. (2007). Coupling the digital and the physical: a way on in the design of tangible media. In Human-Computer Interaction. Interaction Platforms and Techniques.

Volume 4551/2007 12th International Conference, HCI International 2007, Beijing China, July 22-27, Proceedings, Part II (pp. 1173-1182). Berlin-Heidelberg: Springer.

Marti, P., & Giusti, L. (2009). A robot companion for inclusive games: A user-centred design perspective, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Anchorage, 3-8 May. Martin, F.G. (2000). Robotics explorations: A hands-on introduction to engineering. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Neumann, E.A. (1971). The elements of play. New York: MSS Information.

Papert, S. (1984). Mindstorms. Bambini, computers e creatività. Milano: Emme.

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Rubin, K.H., Fein, G.G., & Vanderberg, B. (19834). Play. In P.H. Mussen (Ed.). Handbook of child psychology (pp. 693-774). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Smith, J., & Topping, M. (1996). The introduction of a robotic aid to drawing into a school for physically handicapped children: A case study. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 59 (12), 565-569.

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Note to the authors Submissions are to be sent, as MS Word iles, to the email address of the Secretary: rem@educazionemediale.it Submission and writing-up guidelines:

To be suitable for publication in REM – Researches on Education and Media, submission should be sent electronically (as Word or RTF iles), at least 6 months prior to publication, at the address: rem@ educazionemediale.it Together with the submission, a letter should be sent, undersigned by each contributor, authorizing publication of the submitted material and guaranteeing the material’s originality and uniqueness; the letter should be sent to the address: Edizioni Centro Studi Erickson, via del Pioppeto 24, 38121 Trento. The authors should acquire all the needed permissions for the reproduction of copyrighted or previously published material.

Galley copies will not be sent to the authors.

The Journal acquires the literary property of the submitted articles and reproduction of the material, total or partial, is prohibited. Each article will be submitted anonymously, to two referees. Articles not composed following the editorial guidelines will not be considered.

Each article should include:

1. on a separate sheet: full name, institution, address of the institution, position in the institution, e-mail, phone number of the author(s); 2. title of the submitted article; 3. abstract in English; 3. abstract in Italian (for the website); 4. keywords in English (2-5, separated by a semicolon), limited to the terms included in the European Education Thesaurus (http://redined.r020.com.ar/en/); 4. keywords in Italian (for the website) (2-5, separated by a semicolon), limited to the terms included in the European Education Thesaurus (http://redined.r020.com.ar/en/); 5. full text, subdivided in paragraphs and sub-paragraphs, titled but not numbered; 6. bibliography, following APA – American Psychological Association rules; 7. igures and tables (if any) progressively numbered, in their deinitive and graphically perfect version.

Abstract and summary guidelines:

The maximum length for both summaries and abstracts is 200 words.

Article guidelines:

– the maximum length of articles – Studies and researches – is 12 pages, or about 30.000 characters, including spaces (and including graphics, tables, notes and bibliography); – footnotes, if any, should be progressively numbered, and should have only an explanatory function (no bibliographical notes); – the different paragraphs (with bold title, no numbering) and sub-paragraphs (with italic title, no numbering) should be clearly marked by leaving one line between title and text, and two lines between a paragraph and the following title; – to highlight text portions or foreign words, italics should be used, never bold or underscored; – quoted text from sources listed in the bibliography should follow the APA rules, such as in the following examples: (Bruner, 1986); or (Bruner, 1986, p. 11); or (Bruner, 1986, pp. 11-12); or (Tufte, Rasmussen & Christensen, 2005); or (Mayer et al., 2005), or (Ardizzone & Rivoltella, 2003).

– iconographic documentation (igures, graphs and other documents to be included as originals) should be provided in original form (no photocopies); images extracted by newspapers or other low-quality sources should be avoided. Digital images (supports: 100 MB ZIP or cd-rom) should conform to these characteristics (the printed image will have the same size of the provided image): line drawings (in black and white) 600 to 1200 dpi resolution; grayscale images 300 dpi resolution;

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in any case the images, as also the tables, must be referred to in the body of the main text, provided with legends and progressively numbered. The editorial board reserves the right of slightly modifying the placement of images for printing purposes. As images are often copyrighted, it will be the author(s) responsibility to acquire written permission to reproduce both images and material which is part of previous publications, or not owned by them. In the case of pictures portraying people, the author(s) will have to obtain publication permission from the subject(s).

Quoted texts must be listed in bibliography following strictly the standards set by APA Publication Manual (http://www.apastyle.org/) – by alphabetic order of author’s names, and in chronological order (from the oldest to the most recent publication) where works by the same author are concerned.

Depending on the kind of work quoted, bibliographical reference should strictly follow these models: a) Journal articles: Messina, L. (2007). Valutazione dei prodotti mediali: il “collaudo” di Gnam! Il cibo in gioco, CADMO, XV (1), 87-114. b) Journal Articles in Press: Ricciardi, M., & Bossi, V. (in press). Convergenza tecnologica e creatività digitale. Economia dei servizi. c) Books: Rivoltella, P.C. (2006). Screen generation. Milano: Vita e Pensiero. d) Italian version of a foreign book: – if in the main text, only author and date are quoted: Novak, J.D. (1988). Learning, creating, and using knowledge: Concept Maps as facilitative tools in schools and corporations. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. (Novak, J.D., L’apprendimento signiicativo: le mappe concettuali per creare e usare la conoscenza. Trento: Erickson, 2001).

– if in the main text author, date and page(s) of the Italian edition are quoted: Novak, J.D. (2001).

L’apprendimento signiicativo: le mappe concettuali per creare e usare la conoscenza (pp. 0-0).

Trento: Erickson. (Novak, J.D., Learning, creating, and using knowledge: Concept Maps as facilitative tools in schools and corporations. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1988).

– if in the main text author, date and page(s) of the foreign edition are quoted: Novak, J. D. (1988).

Learning, creating, and using knowledge: Concept Maps as facilitative tools in schools and corporations (pp. 0-0). Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. (Novak, J.D., L’apprendimento signiicativo: le mappe concettuali per creare e usare la conoscenza, Trento: Erickson, 2001). e) Books «edited by»: Ricciardi, M. (Ed.) (2008). Interfacce della memoria. Napoli: ScriptaWeb. Rivoltella, P.C. (Ed.) (2008). Digital literacy: Tools and methodologies for information society.

Hershey: IGI. f) Contributions to a collection or anthology: Limone, P. (2006). Videogiochi e pedagogia. Training level ed applicazioni didattiche. In T. GrangeSergi, & M.G. Onorati (Eds.), La sida della comunicazione all’educazione. Prospettive di media education (pp. 129-142). Milano: Franco Angeli. g) Congress papers: Galliani, L., & De Waal, P. (2005, June), Learning face to face, in action and on line: Integrating model of lifelong learning. Paper presented at Eden Annual Conference, Bringing e-learning close to lifelong learning and working life: A new period of uptake, Finland, Helsinki.

Messina, L., Personeni, F., Tabone, S., & Manio, S. (2008). Lello & Lella international research project. In L. Gómez Chova, D. Martí Belenguer, & I. Candel Torres (Eds.), INTED2008 Proceedings.

International Technology, Education and Development Conference (pp. 216-224). Valencia: IATED. h) Quotes from web sites: Rivoltella, P.C. (2006). Media Education e ricerca. (http://www.ilmediario.it/cont/articolo.php?artic olo=313&canale=Terza&nav=1).

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Edizioni Erickson – Libri e software

NTI SCO IALI C SPE GLI PER NATI O ABB

Supervisione, materiali e testi di Flavio Fogarolo e Carlo Scataglini

IperMAPPE Studiare e imparare con mappe e schemi multimediali

(KIT: Guida + CD-ROM di installazione) Prezzo di copertina: € 79,00 Sconto 15%: € 67,15

guida + CD-ROM di installazione ISBN 978-88-6137-897-1 prezzo di collana «ipermappe» + «alfa reader 2.0 plus»: € 215,00 (con lo sconto del 15%: € 182,75)

IperMAPPE è il nuovo e potente sistema di rappresentazione grafica e visualizzazione digitale della conoscenza appositamente progettato da Erickson per sostenere lo studio e l’apprendimento sia come strumento compensativo, per un efficace e autonomo metodo di studio (mappe costruite dallo studente), che come strategia di facilitazione nello studio assistito (mappe costruite per lo studente). Il software consente di costruire in modo semplice e intuitivo delle «ipermappe», cioè degli schemi ricchi di informazioni e di multimedialità: non solo dei grafici da stampare, ma degli oggetti dinamici da consultare a video in modo attivo e personalizzato. Con IperMAPPE l’autore (studente o insegnante) potrà quindi costruire: – mappe per lo studio individuale, – schemi per fissare i concetti fondamentali di un testo, – tabelle di semplificazione e adattamento dei contenuti didattici.

I nodi della mappa potranno contenere dati di diverso tipo: testo linguistico scritto, immagini, animazioni, filmati, suoni, registrazioni audio di spiegazioni e commenti, link a risorse esterne, trasformando la mappa in una vera e propria risorsa multimediale. IperMAPPE è perfettamente integrato con il lettore vocale ALFa READER: l’utilizzo combinato dei due software moltiplica le funzioni compensative degli strumenti (previste anche dall’art. 5 della Legge 170/2010: «Nuove norme in materia di disturbi specifici di apprendimento in ambito scolastico»).

Vai su www.erickson.it per consultare il catalogo completo, essere aggiornato sulle ultime novità e fare acquisti diretti

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ALFa READER 2.0 Plus Ausilio per la Lettura Facilitata

(KIT: libro + chiavetta USB + sintesi vocale) Prezzo di copertina: € 149,00 Sconto 15%: € 126,65

La migliore soluzione tecnologica per compensare efficacemente le difficoltà di letto-scrittura.

IL LIBRO ALFa READER 2.0 base (libro + chiavetta USB) per utilizzare questa versione è necessario possedere una sintesi vocale SAPI5 come «Silvia» € 99,00 – ISBN 978-88-6137-584-0 ALFa READER 2.0 plus (libro + chiavetta USB + 2 VOCI ITALIANE + 1 VOCE INGLESE) € 149,00 – ISBN 978-88-6137-600-7 A RICHIESTA: Voce francese: € 36,00*** Voce tedesca: € 36,00*** Voce spagnola: € 36,00*** prezzo di collana «alfa reader 2.0 plus» + «ipermappe»: € 215,00*

La Guida Didattica del Prof. Flavio Fogarolo analizza il concetto di strumenti compensativi e distingue tra strategie e tecnologie compensative. Nella seconda parte il volume descrive dettagliatamente le funzioni del programma, mostrandone l’efficacia come strumento compensativo.

IL SOFTWARE

L’innovativo software Erickson, prodotto in partnership con Byte-way, che consente di ridurre efficacemente le difficoltà di letto-scrittura in bambini, ragazzi e adulti con dislessia.

Partendo dalle più comuni applicazioni presenti su tutti i pc, questo programma permette l’ascolto dei testi ed evidenzia, anche da PDF, le parole lette dalla sintesi vocale.

ALFa Reader è di semplice e intuitivo utilizzo, si avvia con un clic e un’icona sul desktop lo rende costantemente attivo sul computer in cui viene installato.

In particolare il programma: evidenzia le parole lette rispettando la formattazione del testo nei formati file più diffusi (word, PDF, HTML, e-mail), operando direttamente «dentro» gli applicativi più utilizzati: Word, Internet Explorer, lettore pdf, Writer; legge un testo in word, IE e pdf senza doverlo copiare e incollare; mantiene la formattazione grafica del testo letto; legge in continuo in word e pdf; utilizza in modo integrato le funzioni originali del programma in uso; registra il testo letto sotto forma di file Wav o MP3; permette di scegliere voci di sintesi anche diverse da quelle fornite (purchè SAPI 5); permette di personalizzare l’interfaccia (gestione «SKIN»).

Vai su www.erickson.it per consultare il catalogo completo, essere aggiornato sulle ultime novità e fare acquisti diretti

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Ivan Sciapeconi e Eva Pigliapoco

Percorsi di scrittura con la LIM 2 Imparare a comporre testi, descrivere e confrontarsi in gruppo

(KIT: LIBRO + CD-ROM) Prezzo di copertina: € 42,00 Sconto 15%: € 35,70

IL CD-ROM

libro + CD-ROM ISBN 978-88-6137-913-8

Questo software, che conclude l’opera cominciata con il primo KIT, contiene 4 applicativi per attività di apprendimento cooperativo nel secondo ciclo della scuola primaria. Attività, queste, che non si ispirano al classico modello del «clicca sulla risposta giusta», ma offrono all’insegnante una sorta di scaffolding all’interno del quale operare. Nello specifico Analizzare, Descrivere, Comporre e Argomentare.

Il software contiene inoltre dei filmati-video con dei tutorial e delle lezioni in aula in cui vengono spiegati nella pratica i possibili usi degli ambienti e la loro specifica declinazione didattica.

IL LIBRO

Presenta una prima parte che introduce il potenziale dirompente dell’impiego delle nuove tecnologie nella didattica, con particolare riferimento all’ingresso nelle scuole della LIM (Lavagna Interattiva Multimediale). Spiega poi le dinamiche dell’apprendimento cooperativo, il ruolo del docente come mediatore e la costruzione dei gruppi di lavoro. Successivamente passa alla descrizione dettagliata dell’ambiente di lavoro, fornendo una guida pratica all’uso dei 4 applicativi contenuti nel software dei quali si delineano anche gli obiettivi principali e le linee guida per la costruzione di un percorso integrato con le schede operative.

Segue quindi una seconda parte con numerose e graduali schede operative stampabili, da utilizzare alla lavagna o direttamente in classe con gli alunni, suddivise seguendo l’articolazione del software (Analizzare, Descrivere, Comporre e Argomentare).

Sfoglia gratuitamente alcune pagine del libro su www.erickson.it

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Dario Ianes, Lerida Cisotto e Nicoletta Galvan

Facciamo il punto su...

Disgrafia e disortografia Apprendimento della scrittura e difficoltà

(libro + DVD + CD-ROM) Prezzo di copertina: € 22,00 Sconto 15%: € 18,70

IL LIBRO libro + DVD + CD-ROM ISBN 978-88-6137-909-1

Il libro si pone come risorsa essenziale e aggiornata sulle possibili cause e caratteristiche delle varie tipologie di difficoltà di scrittura. Particolare attenzione sarà quindi rivolta alla disortografia e alla disgrafia, senza trascurare però altre difficoltà inerenti le abilità di scrittura, con riferimento alle più recenti linee guida e ai più accreditati ed efficaci programmi di intervento.

Il testo accompagna il lettore in un percorso integrato, rispondendo al bisogno di acquisire maggiori conoscenze con solide basi scientifiche, guidando all’utilizzo dei filmati contenuti nel DVD e dei materiali presenti nel CD-ROM. IL DVD-VIDEO

Il DVD-VIDEO contiene videointerviste con noti esperti italiani sui disturbi specifici nell’ambito della scrittura, dove vengono spiegate quelle che sono le caratteristiche peculiari inerenti le varie tipologie di difficoltà e le caratteristiche degli interventi che si possono attuare a scuola e in famiglia.

IL CD-ROM

Il CD-ROM contiene numerosi materiali stampabili in formato PDF (parti di libri, schede operative), articoli tratti dalle riviste delle edizioni Erickson e versioni dimostrative di software educativo, che consentono di approfondire la tematica in base agli strumenti e alle metodologie più attuali fornite dalla ricerca scientifica ma anche dal prezioso bagaglio esperienziale creato dalla scuola in questi ultimi anni.

Vai su www.erickson.it per consultare il catalogo completo, essere aggiornato sulle ultime novità e fare acquisti diretti

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Giacomo Stella e Enrico Savelli

Dislessia oggi Prospettive di diagnosi e intervento in Italia dopo la Legge 170 Prezzo di copertina: € 10,00 Sconto 15%: € 8,50

pp. 96 – cm 12x19 ISBN 78-88-6137-891-9

Nell’ultimo decennio la Dislessia Evolutiva ha attratto un crescente interesse nel mondo della scuola, dei servizi sanitari e, più in generale, dell’opinione pubblica. Un interesse testimoniato dalle numerose iniziative, conferenze, convegni, eventi formativi e pubblicazioni sull’argomento. Questo volume vuole essere l’occasione per fare un punto aggiornato sulla situazione, come si presenta oggi, soprattutto in Italia, anche alla luce della recente Legge 170/2010 sui Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento. Il suo carattere introduttivo e lo stile discorsivo, che lo rendono fruibile anche a un più vasto pubblico di non esperti, non rinunciano tuttavia a fornire un quadro completo e aggiornato sulle principali caratteristiche del disturbo: dalle procedure per l’identificazione al suo corso evolutivo e alla sua eterogenea espressività, fino alle diverse forme e tipologie dell’intervento. Lo scopo del volume è anche quello di integrare le attuali conoscenze scientifiche con le indicazioni normative delineate nella legge, soprattutto riguardo agli interventi che dovranno essere attuati nell’ambito clinico e scolastico.

CONTENUTI Capitolo 1 – Una legge per la dislessia: lo stato attuale e le prospettive future Capitolo 2 – La dislessia evolutiva Capitolo 3 – Interventi: tipologia e modalità Capitolo 4 – La dislessia negli adulti Capitolo 5 – Prospettive future GLI AUTORI Giacomo Stella è professore straordinario di Psicologia clinica presso la Facoltà di Scienze della formazione dell’Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia. Direttore scientifico dell’Istituto di Ricerca Dislessia Evolutiva (IRIDE) dell’Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, dell’Università di Urbino e dell’ASL di Pesaro, è direttore dei corsi di perfezionamento in Psicopatologia dell’apprendimento (presso l’Università di Urbino) e in Psicopatologia dello sviluppo (presso l’Università della Repubblica di San Marino).

Enrico Savelli è psicologo clinico dell’età evolutiva. Da anni si occupa di dislessia e disturbi specifici di apprendimento, temi sui quali è autore di varie pubblicazioni; codirige la rivista «Dislessia» pubblicata dalla Edizioni Erickson.

Sfoglia gratuitamente alcune pagine del libro su www.erickson.it

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Centro Studi Erickson – Formazione CORSI DI APPRENDIMENTO ONLINE

I corsi di apprendimento online sono strutturati in 4/5 moduli didattici e hanno una durata di 50 ore, comprensive dello studio dei materiali e dello svolgimento delle prove di veriica. Prevedono l’assistenza di un docente/ tutor esperto della materia che: • rende disponibili i materiali dei moduli nelle date indicate; • è a disposizione dei partecipanti per qualsiasi necessità (tecnica o di contenuto); • modera i forum didattici attivati e anima il confronto tra i partecipanti; • veriica l’apprendimento dei diversi moduli e invia un feedback sull’esito di ciascuna prova.

Al termine del corso viene rilasciato un attestato di partecipazione ai corsisti che hanno svolto tutte le prove proposte dal tutor.

PROGRAMMA 2012 DEI CORSI ONLINE Abilità di counseling

Disturbo specifico dell’apprendimento (DSA) della letto-scrittura: caratteristiche generali e approccio didattico

Autrice: Annalisa Pasini

Apprendimento Cooperativo

Autrici: Giorgia Sanna e Monja Tait

Autrice: Anna La Prova

Apprendimento della letto-scrittura e difficoltà di linguaggio Autrice: Graziella Tarter

Disturbo specifico dell’apprendimento (DSA) della letto-scrittura: corso avanzato Autrice: Susi Cazzaniga

Autismo: interventi psicoeducativi e clinici Autrici: Serenella Grittani, Tamara Battistini e Katia Tonnini

Educare alle regole Novità 2012 Autore: Gianluca Daffi Educazione Positiva

Didattica metacognitiva: corso avanzato

Autrici: Rosa Angela Fabio e Patrizia Oliva

Autrici: Anna Maria Re e Susi Cazzaniga

Il parent training nell’autismo Novità 2012 Autrice: Raffaella Piovesan

Didattica metacognitiva: corso base Autrici: Germana Englaro e Martina Pedron

Dislessia e trattamento sublessicale

Impariamo ad imparare. Percorso Introduttivo sul Metodo Feuerstein

Autrice: Susi Cazzaniga

Autrice: Maria Luisa Boninelli

Disturbi di attenzione e iperattività

Individualizzare la didattica: adattamento e semplificazione del libro di testo

Autrice: Giorgia Sanna

Disturbi di attenzione vità e iperattività: corso avanzato N2o012 Autrice: Giorgia Sanna

Autore: Carlo Scataglini

L’educazione Razionale Emotiva Autore: Mario Di Pietro

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L’intervento psicoeducativo nei comportamenti problema Autrice: Sofia Cramerotti

La comprensione del testo scritto Autrice: Susi Cazzaniga

Le difficoltà di apprendimento della matematica: corso avanzato Autrice: Germana Englaro

Le difficoltà di apprendimento della matematica: corso base Autrici: Germana Englaro e Martina Pedron

Leggere poesia

Novit2à Autrice: Erminia Ardissino 201

Le Intelligenze Multiple Autrice: Giuseppina Gentili

LIM – Strategie didattiche Autori: Beatrice Pontalti e Francesco Zambotti

Lo stress dell’insegnante Autori: Mario Di Pietro e Elena Bassi

Metodologie di insegnamento dell’italiano L2 Autrice: Paola Maniotti

Missione compiti Novità Autore: Gianluca Daffi 2012 Piano Educativo Individualizzato/Progetto di vita Autrice: Sofia Cramerotti

Tecnologie e strategie per compensare i DSA Autori: Flavio Fogarolo, Maria Rita Cortese, Angiolella Dalla Valle, Paolo Rizzato e Caterina Scapin

ACCEDERE E PARTECIPARE AI CORSI ONLINE È FACILE! Unico requisito fondamentale per iscriversi a un corso online Erickson è avere una casella di posta elettronica (indirizzo e-mail) e un computer con l’accesso a internet. Dopo aver inviato la scheda di iscrizione (scaricabile dal sito www.erickson.it sezione formazione online) e il pagamento al Centro Studi Erickson, secondo le modalità indicate, verrà spedita, il giorno di inizio del corso, un’e-mail con username, password e tutte le indicazioni di base per svolgere il corso stesso.

Costi e modalità di iscrizione > sconto 10% per gli abbonati alle riviste Erickson > sconto 20% per chi si iscrive a più di 2 corsi (Per il corso in «Tecnologie e strategie per compensare i DSA» non sono previsti questi sconti) Il costo dei corsi è di € 160,00 + IVA 21% (€ 193,60), quello dei corsi avanzati è di € 180,00 + IVA 21% (€ 217,80).

Inviare la scheda d’iscrizione completa dei dati tramite mail a formazione@erickson.it o tramite fax al numero 0461956733 o tramite posta al Centro Studi Erickson, Via del Pioppeto 24, Fraz. Gardolo, 38121 Trento, allegando la fotocopia della ricevuta di versamento effettuato su CCP. n. 29150372 intestato a Centro Studi Erickson o tramite boniico bancario intestato a Centro Studi Erickson, Cassa di Risparmio Sparkasse IBAN: IT67A0604501801000000134100 o dell’assegno circolare non trasferibile (da inviare in originale a stretto giro di posta).

Per informazioni: Segreteria organizzativa, Centro Studi Erickson, Via del Pioppeto 24, Fraz. Gardolo – 38121 Trento; Tel. 0461 950747Fax 0461 956733; E-mail: formazione@erickson.it

Maggiori informazioni sul programma 2012 dei corsi online su www.erickson.it

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Finito di stampare nel mese di dicembre 2011 da legoprint â&#x20AC;&#x201C; lavis (TN) per conto delle Edizioni centro Studi Erickson S.p.a.

Trento

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SPECIAL ISSUE: MEDIA AND EDUCATION: WHICH ASSESSMENT (AND EVALUATION)?

Evaluating (and assessing) to build a quality media education Antonella Nuzzaci Monographic section: Studies and research on evaluation Quality literacy. Competencies for quality development in education and e-learning Ulf-Daniel Ehlers Evaluation of Internet use and personality characteristics Anna Maria Murdaca, Francesca Cuzzocrea, Francesco Conti and Rosalba Larcan Utilizing peer interactions to promote learning through a web-based peer assessment system Lan Li, Allen L. Steckelberg and Sribhagyam Srinivasan Online learning environments between formal and informal contexts. A study to determine the learning level of learners using these environments Orlando De Pietro Making, evaluating and enjoying cartoons. Research into the quality of cartoon production involving children, parents, cartoon producers and media experts Laura Messina and Fabrizio Personeni Specific section: On teacher education Digitality, media, education: Towards teaching processes Donatello Smeriglio The application of robotics in school and teacher education Emanuele Micheli and Valentina Pennazio

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