Research AreaPrograms and research projects of the University and the Faculties of the International Telematic University UNINETTUNO
A distance teaching system based on the use of technologies, since it triggers the mechanisms of didactic communication which make up a particular form of dialog between professors and students together with new interactive procedures between the source of the message and the receiver, requires the development of programs of applied research as a basis for planning and executing psycho-pedagogical and didactic models for distance teaching and learning. Applied research becomes essential so as to ensure that the results can constitute the basis upon which to reevaluate the NETTUNO model in an experimental way, and to constantly check the most proper organizational structures and models of teaching..
One of the determining factors in consolidating and developing the NETTUNO model resides, in fact, in research activity which is conducted at both national and international levels. The results of the research projects are the basis for the pedagogical model’s evolution and the process which has led to the realization of the International Telematic University UNINETTUNO
Most of the research programs carried out are aimed at building up a coherent body of theoretical and operational knowledge on the basis of which there has evolved a complex distance teaching system founded on the use of technologies and cognitive and connectionist theories. The results of the research conducted so far have permitted a balance between the engineering/ technical components and the cognitive, cultural and educative ones at the heart of the development of information technologies, and have involved scholars from various disciplines (technological, from computer science, pedagogical, from educational psychology, experts in various languages); the research activity carried out has been at once theoretical and experimental, pure and applied.
The results, therefore, have made it possible to identify new ways of carrying out the teaching-learning process whether face-to-face or at a distance, and they have already had a significant effect on theories linked to the learning processes, to teaching methods, and to the distance learning relationship. From the economic point of view, the results have also supplied the basis for developing new e-learning models.
Right from the outset the teaching-learning model carried out with NETTUNO’s distance learning courses has been the object of research relating to "Formulating television models of university distance teaching through the use of satellites and telematic and computer networks", this linked to CNR’s strategic research project entitled "Multi-medial didactic communication and distance teaching", coordinated by Prof. Maria Amata Garito. The results of this research have made it possible to create the model of didactic communication and new languages for carrying out NETTUNO’s video-lessons; the analyses conducted in the research field have created the platform for producing prototypes of video-lessons linked with theoretical hypotheses tested on 15000 students of the distance learning courses.
Many other research projects have been conducted at both European and international levels on subjects always relative to the application of the new technologies in the learning and teaching process. In particular, GIOTTO, HERMES-GIOTTO and HAMLET have been the three main projects which have allowed the development of the psycho-pedagogical model and of the learning environments on the Internet applied in producing the didactic portal of the International Telematic University UNINETTUNO.
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES OF THE UNIVERSITY
The new cognitive society and the evolution of multi-media technologies applied to distance teaching are evidence of the birth of a type of educational communication which constitutes a particular form of dialog where the general rules of communication theory need to be revised. It therefore necessary to develop research programs and to take on board the results through examining the potential of the various instruments involved (computer and television networks, the use of television in training, hyper-textual and multi-medial systems, types of hyper-medial interfaces, etc.), so as to construct a coherent body of theoretical and operational knowledge which establishes a correct balance between both the engineering/ technical and the cognitive, cultural and educative components at the heart of the development of information technologies. At present the first type of components, namely the engineering/ technical ones, tend to predominate in respect to the cognitive ones, and thus place serious obstacles and dangerous distortions in the use of the results. This problem – which arises in many of the fields where the technologies are used – assumes particular relevance in the educational area, given the characteristics and the delicate nature of the functions to be carried out.
Cognitive science, psychology, linguistics, computer science, pedagogy have all already produced epistemological models and strategies for analyzing specific problems in the fields of their respective disciplines and which are useful for identifying the complex interrelations that exist between means of communication, cognitive processes and messages, these the elements constituting every communicative situation. In these areas, the International Telematic University UNINETTUNO carries out important research through national and international research projects. The research activity is based on a close interaction between the theoretical and experimental activities, and is organized around some lines of research which are strongly interdisciplinary in nature, comprising many different aspects: cognitive, didactic, disciplinary, methodological/organizational and techno/computer-scientific. The various areas involved in the University’s research activity act in such a way that they are closely linked to the Faculties of Psychology, Engineering and Economics..
Research activity of the Faculties
Each study Faculty of the University is involved in starting research activity closely linked to and coherent with the disciplinary fields treated; in particular priority should be given to projects with a strong element of internationalization of scientific and technological research, as well as recourse to the distance learning network for their realization. The Faculties can construct appropriate structures, also jointly with other Faculties of UNINETTUNO or of other Universities, or with public or private research centres, both Italian and foreign.
To this end International Telematic University UNINETTUNO announces research allowances and doctorates.
| Announcement |
A.A. |
Publication |
Expiry |
Status |
Committee |
Admitted to the oral exam |
Suitable |
| Announcement for the Conferment of Research Allowance |
2007/08 |
12/09/2007 |
03/10/2007 |
Expired |
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