Papers by Pio Alfredo Di Tore
Advances in educational technologies and instructional design book series, 2014
This chapter focuses on the relationship between technology and education, starting from the cons... more This chapter focuses on the relationship between technology and education, starting from the consideration that the software design explicitly dedicated to the teaching-learning process is, for the most part, still anchored to a discreet information processing model. This model underestimates the role of the body and corporeality in the teaching and learning process and fails to capitalize on the potential offered by enactive interaction devices already present and widely used in schools and learning-dedicated centers. The opportunities offered by the NUIs in school contexts represent the natural consequence of an embodied and enactive approach to knowledge, valued in school contexts in which the skills of perception and the action are enhanced to foster learning.
E convinzione diffusa che la realta aumentata e la realta virtuale abbiano trovato nel campo dell... more E convinzione diffusa che la realta aumentata e la realta virtuale abbiano trovato nel campo dell’educazione un’area in cui dispiegare compiutamente il proprio potenziale. L’efficacia degli ambienti VR e AR nel contesto educativo sarebbe legata principalmente all’idea di simulazione. L’idea di simulazione coinvolge una ridefinizione della natura della rappresentazione; questo lavoro affronta il tema della corporeita, o meglio dell’embodiment, come elemento chiave del passaggio dalla rappresentazione all’immersione. In un contesto in cui la ricerca in ambito educativo sembra essersi riappropriata della dimensione embodied dell’apprendimento, appare opportuno iniziare una riflessione, in ambito didattico-pedagogico, sul ruolo del corpo e della corporeita nel contesto virtuale o aumentato: nel momento in cui, come accade negli ambienti VR e AR, l’intero corpo diviene protagonista dell’interazione, si passa dal dominio della rappresentazione a quello dell’embodiment.
International Journal of Digital Literacy and Digital Competence, 2014
The rationale of this work combines the concepts of role playing and storytelling in the creation... more The rationale of this work combines the concepts of role playing and storytelling in the creation of an interactive virtual environment aimed at assessing and training students' perspective taking skill, or the ability of students in primary and secondary level to take the point of view of the characters of a narrative. The ability to take the perspective of others is extremely important from the cognitive point of view. Piaget has suggested that the moment we abandon the egocentric perspective in favor of the ability to take another point of view, takes place not earlier than seven years of age. Subsequent researches challenged the findings of Piaget. For this reason, the project will address children in the last years of primary school (aged 8-10) and the first level of secondary school (aged 11-13). From 8 years old then, in fact, the child, in the opinion of many researchers who have addressed this issue, should be out of the egocentric stage and should have acquired the ski...
The work documents the development of EmoTracker, a software that uses an artificial intelligence... more The work documents the development of EmoTracker, a software that uses an artificial intelligence algorithm for the recognition of the level of attention and for the recognition of students' emotions during video meetings. The software uses the video stream from the webcam as input and is able to detect the user's age and gender, the level of attention, based on eye movements, and the six Basic Emotions identified in the Basic Emotion Theory. The software is based on the MorphCast Software Development Kit, which combines machine learning and face recognition with analysis of sex, age and emotions to estimate the level of attention of users, without using personal data. Currently, the software is in the testing phase, by the students of the Technologies for Inclusion course at the University of Cassino. As soon as it has reached full reliability and stability, the software will be used in the activities of the CA.SP.I. (Special career for inclusion) Il lavoro documenta lo sviluppo di EmoTracker, un software che utilizza un algoritmo di intelligenza artificiale per il riconoscimento del livello di attenzione e per il riconoscimento delle emozioni degli studenti durante le video riunioni. Il software utilizza come input il flusso video della webcam ed è in grado di rilevare l'età e il sesso dell'utente, il livello di attenzione, in base ai movimenti degli occhi, e le sei Emozioni di base individuate nella Teoria delle Emozioni di base. Il software si basa sul Software Development Kit di MorphCast, che combina l'apprendimento automatico e il riconoscimento del volto con l'analisi del sesso, dell'età e delle emozioni per stimare il livello di attenzione degli utenti, senza utilizzare dati personali. Attualmente il software è in fase di sperimentazione, da parte degli studenti del corso di Tecnologie per l'Inclusione dell'Università di Cassino. Non appena avrà raggiunto la piena affidabilità e stabilità, il software sarà utilizzato nelle attività del CA.SP.I.
Handbook of Research on Cloud-Based STEM Education for Improved Learning Outcomes
Learning today is no longer related to the “classroom” as the physical environment; it is instead... more Learning today is no longer related to the “classroom” as the physical environment; it is instead an “across spaces” place characterized by the possibility to build serendipitous, pervasive and seamless experiences. Such experiences are in fact no more constrained to space-time limits and bounds but focused on context and situation awareness to enhance the learning process. Also, these experiences are often associated with next generation technologies which well fit to a paradigm shift marked by seamless continuity of learning. The interest in context-aware educational settings mainly based on mobile and sensor systems has led researchers to investigate new ways to recognize issues mainly related to the definition of “learner's contextual information” (profile information in situation) and, on the basis of this information, to identify the “types of adaptation”. In this work, we present the first theoretical and applicative results that the Italian scientific community has achie...
Journal of e-learning and knowledge society, 2014
Research on narrative and interaction with pedagogical studies which refer to disciplines that re... more Research on narrative and interaction with pedagogical studies which refer to disciplines that require strong immersion for the acquisition of knowledge in areas such as museum education lead scholars to question the importance of perspective taking. This work represents the evolution for educational purposes of a narrative video game designed for the measurement of perspective taking skills. Perspective taking skills, or the ability to change point of view, involve the need for a mental rotation, in relation to the environment or to an object in the environment, while maintaining a main perspective environment in question. This is the key feature, for Alain Berthoz, of empathy. Empathy is a dynamic process that requires a doubling, it is to adopt an egocentric point of view, but after an allocentric manipulation, while inhibiting the emotional contagion, which is rather typical of sympathy. Empathy is a process considered to be particularly relevant in the field of education. Histo...
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 2012
This study is part of a larger project designed to assess the effectiveness of the use of exergam... more This study is part of a larger project designed to assess the effectiveness of the use of exergames in the teaching of motor activities. The project starts with an overview of the state of the art of exergames and the influence of psychological models of the movement in software design. The experimental section of the project involves the creation of 3 exergames educational, of which:an exergame related to visuomotor integration, on the basis of tests as Bender Gestalt and VMI, an exergame dedicated to test, in augmented / virtual environments, some commonly accepted principles in motor control (speedaccuracy trade-off, Hick's law, stimulus – response compatibility, Fitts' law), and an exergame related to the acquisition of cognitive skills through the involvement of the whole body (reading – writing skills). In this general framework, this study locates itself as the scientific starting basis, providing an overview of the literature on exergames (from which does not seem to...
This paper presents the results of a research on perspective taking, aimedto investigate two spec... more This paper presents the results of a research on perspective taking, aimedto investigate two specific themes: the age when the child leaves perceptiveegocentrism, and gender differences in the management of spatial referencesystems. The innovative contribution of this work is that it has addressedthe issue with a not abused tool for this field: the videogame, whichhas been the data collecting instrument for the experimental research project.The paper addresses the issue of the representation of space in the child,from Piaget to neurosciences, describing the reference systems competingin the representation of space and the Piagetian conceptual framework, andreporting the scientific debate on the "three mountains task" and the spatialtheory of empathy.Once described the conceptual framework, the text presents the researchdesign, the path for design and development of the videogame, the methodsfor data collection and discusses the results obtained. The experimentalprocess has...
The learning is no longer related to the structural setting of traditional classroom; it is inste... more The learning is no longer related to the structural setting of traditional classroom; it is instead an “across spaces” place characterized by the possibility to build ubiquitous experiences. Such experiences are in fact no more subject to space-time limits and bounds but focused on context – student relation and on situation awareness to enhance the learning processes. Also, these experiences are often associated with next generation technologies, mobiles, wereables and interactives, which well fit to a paradigm shift marked by learning situations in enactive, embodied and readable by the student learning. In this work, we present the first theoretical and applicative results that the Italian scientific community has achieved as part of the research lines that involve around the concept of Situation Awareness and Cognitive Awareness, constituent a seamless learning.
Journal of e-learning and knowledge society, 2013
This article aims to describe a possible scenario for the applications of e-learning solutions to... more This article aims to describe a possible scenario for the applications of e-learning solutions to the field of Physical Education. Knowledge related to Physical Education is here defined as enactive knowledge, codified in the form of motor responses and acquired in the action, not mediated by the iconic and symbolic plan. The iconic and symbolic dimension, typical of Graphical User Interfaces, has been a barrier to the creation of e-learning strategies in Physical Education. The new paradigms of Human Computer Interaction such as Natural Interfaces, the spread of “everyday’’ technologies that retrieve to HCI the physical dimension, and the diffusion of exergames in education, now make it possible to imagine large-scale creative and collaborative elearning-based physical education. The article describes coarse-grained theoretical and methodological approaches underlying learning of motor skills and indicates the possible technological scenario, according to the type of interaction de...
In the last decade we saw a heated debate on the implementation of complex learning theories in P... more In the last decade we saw a heated debate on the implementation of complex learning theories in Physical Education. In the educational field there has been the difficulty to apply in the teaching practice a conception of the knowledge and learning which, on a theoretical level, has recognized the role of the body in movement, while it struggles, on the operative level, to define methodologies and tools usable in everyday’s activities. The constructivist hypothesis in Physical Education has faced serious difficulties in educationally interpreting the nature of the motor experience. This paper focuses on the concept of action and on the reversal of the process of perception-action operated by the phenomenological tradition (Merleau-Ponty), which has been confirmed in more or less recent neuroscientific evidences (Berthoz, Decety, Jeannerod). In this perspective, the subject builds his world according to his basic needs and action tools. From this point of view, faced with insurmountab...
Scientific literature highlighted gender differences in spatial orientation. In particular, men a... more Scientific literature highlighted gender differences in spatial orientation. In particular, men and women differ in terms of the navigational processes they use in daily life. Scientific literature highlighted that women use analytical strategies while men tend to use holistic strategies. According to classical studies, males show a net advantage at least in the two categories of mental rotation and spatial perception. Subsequently, brainimaging studies have shown a difference between males and females in the activity of brain regions involved in spatial cognition tasks. What we can say with certainty is that, given the complex nature of the sub processes involved in what we call spatial cognition, the gender differences recorded by numerous scientific studies conducted in this field are closely related to specific measured abilities. The evidence that emerges with certainty from diverse studies is, however, that of a huge variety of strategies that differ according to sex, context,...
Journal of Human Sport and Exercise - 2019 - Autumn Conferences of Sports Science
The spread, in sport, of technologies able to detect and organize in real time a wide range of da... more The spread, in sport, of technologies able to detect and organize in real time a wide range of data related to the athlete and the context (tracker, gps, gyroscopes, accelerometers, bio-sensors embedded in smartphones or available as wearable devices) offers a great opportunity to collect performance data, allowing objective, accurate and non-invasive physical activity monitoring. In particular, this type of detection allows to avoid all the interferences connected to the laboratory settings. Wearable devices using textiles with embedded physiological sensors are used in various applications involving monitoring, control and learning» (Helmer et al., 2010). In sport, wearable technologies allow detections that do not alter the "natural" scenario of the performance. This work presents the design and development of a wearable device for the collection of data relating to a fundamental of volleyball: the service. The device consists of a glove, wearable by the athlete, equipped with various ultra-thin sensors (such as not to affect performance). The sensors are operated by an Arduino Nano microcontroller, worn at the forearm level by an arm band. The basic sensor is a flexible and ultra-thin TekScan pressure sensor (<0.1 mm), able to detect the pressure exerted by the hand on the ball in a range between 0 and 100 kg with an accuracy of 100g and a sampling frequency of 100 Hz. Collected data are processed by a specially developed support software that provides elementary statistics and specific graphical representations and can be exported in the most common formats.
Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design
The first product of the project presented here was a prototype of video games, named IKeWYSE, wh... more The first product of the project presented here was a prototype of video games, named IKeWYSE, which constituted the data collection tool for the experimental research project. The videogame prototype realized requires the user to navigate in a three-dimensional space through an avatar. User deals with three different tasks, two of which are designed to measure the skills of perspective taking, while the third task is calibrated on the ability of mental rotation. The default point of view is a semi-subjective view with the camera following the avatar. The player has the option to select other views, going through semi-subjective, subjective and objective point of view. The game was tested between January and March 2015, with a group of 70 children, 35 males and 35 females, from the third, fourth and fifth primary school class and from a first secondary school class of the Istituto Comprensivo San Valentino Torio, in the province of Salerno. Each user performs 10 attempts for each ta...
Journal of Human Sport and Exercise, 2015
The Christmas Sport Scientific Conference is a unique event, having the aim of providing an infor... more The Christmas Sport Scientific Conference is a unique event, having the aim of providing an informal forum for the presentation of research, projects and proposals by postgraduate students or inexperienced researchers. It hopes to provide an opportunity for young researchers to present their ideas in English, a daunting task to most of us, and begin their career path in a friendly atmosphere. There are always a number of very experienced Sports Scientists invited as Keynote Speakers and, as well as providing exemplars in presentation style and content, also provide the delegates with feedback and positive criticism on their research communication skills. In effect the Conference then becomes a practical output for Scientific Writing and Research Methods courses. It was the dearth of such courses in Europe that 'sparked' the ideas for the first Conference nine years ago. Each year the Conference grows, so much so that we will have to have a rethink on the structure and organisation. This year we had over 100 abstracts-this sort of size inhibits flexibility. It might be in the future that we cannot accept abstracts in the morning that the conference starts. We might even expect the submissions to meet the publishers' guidelines in formatting? On the other hand......? Good conference everyone. See you next year to celebrate the 10th.
This paper discusses the theoretical framework underlying the design of an educational video game... more This paper discusses the theoretical framework underlying the design of an educational video game, being developed at the University of Salerno, designed to assess the skills of perspective taking and mental rotation of players. These skills, in the theoretical framework which this paper refers, are essential skills involved in the empathic relationship. The project, in fact, refers to a precise definition of empathy, due to Alain Berthoz and the spatial theory of empathy, and aims to assess the educational implications. We present the spatial theory of empathy, describes the spatial reference systems provides a quick review of the literature on the representation of space in the child and the representation of space in video games. Finally, the paper describes the prototype of videogame created, in which the player is faced with three different tasks, two of which are designed to measure the ability of perspective taking, while the third task is calibrated on the ability of mental ...
International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 2015
In modern society about 10% of children suffer from a neuro-developmental disorder called dyslexi... more In modern society about 10% of children suffer from a neuro-developmental disorder called dyslexia, which implies difficulties in learning to read. According to recent research, playing action videogames can be a valid teaching tool to improve the reading skills of dyslexic children through forms of engagement and interaction. This paper describes the design, implementation, validation and experimentation of an educational action game oriented to promote phonological and visuo-spatial attention training in dyslexic subjects aged between 7 and 9.
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Papers by Pio Alfredo Di Tore
The software records in xml format the drawing made by the user and the time taken, and verifies what points are adhering to the proposed route and which ones differ significantly.
reclaiming body in digital storytelling, unraveling the complexity of the narration and, as such, a simplex way (Berthoz, 2011) to learning with the awareness that “the degree of physical involvement is the measure of immersion“ in a digital context (Krueger, 1991).
The objective of the research is the reinstatement of the body to digital storytelling, knowing that the gestures made by the weather person are embedded in a narration (Poddar, Sethi, Ozyildiz & Sharma, 1998).Based on a theoretical framework that integrates the concepts of embodied cognition developed in the context of cognitive science, the contribution of phenomenology (Dourish, 2004) and the new forms of HMI developed in the User Interface Design, this project aims the development of a gesture recognition software to allow authors to create effective, interactive gesture-driven stories, using Natural User Interfaces.
intersubjective relationship. In essence, the skills involved in reading maps and in developing strategies for spatial navigation are skills that allow us to see the world from different points of view,
abandoning the egocentric perspective (Berthoz, 2000). To get out from egocentrism means being able to see the reality (not just the spatial reality) from several points of view, however other than our own.
In this perspective, the work develops describing orienteering as a sport, and facing a review of scientific literature on the cognitive processes involved in spatial navigation and management of spatial reference systems, in light of the contribution made to this specific field studies from
neuroscience. The work thus illustrates the spatial theory of empathy and concludes with a proposal for the spread of orienteering as an effective teaching practice in inclusion-oriented education contexts and as a powerful learning resource for Special Educational Needs.