CNR-ITD

Main activities and responsibilities

Since first October 1991 I have been working at the Italian National Research Council (CNR), “Istituto di Tecnologie Didattiche e Formative” (ITDF) of Palermo. I work on application of multimedia technology in educational hypermedia systems, networking technologies and methods to present information on Internet. I research new technologies in distance education and co-operative learning system.

Scientific and technical coordinator of International and National projects on mobile learning and Information technologies for blind people.

Since December 2008 co-ordinator of the European project MOTILL - Mobile Technologies in Lifelong Learning: best practices. The project is funded by the European Commission within the National Lifelong Learning Strategies (NLLS) – Transversal programme – Key Activity1: Policy Cooperation and Innovation of the Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-2013.

Scientific and technical coordinator of the MoULe (Mobile and Ubiquitous Learning) project part of the CORFAD project.

Senior developer, responsible for the design and development of several educational software prototypes. Author and manager of Learning Management Systems for online and mobile learning.

Co-author of the VocalSe@rch® a meta-search engine to support blind and visually impaired people in using Internet information tools.

Designer and developer of software mobile agents for educational distributed collaborative systems. Firewall Manger and network security responsible.

From first February to first May 1996 I worked at the University of Surrey, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering - Guilford – United Kingdom on Image Processing. Co-Author of a model for image identification.

I worked as a computer science teacher in several courses for high school teachers, young employees and unemployed regarding ICT in Education, information technologies and computer programming.

At the moment, I am working on application of new technologies in educational hypermedia systems, integrating tools for blind people, accessible through wireless devices (PDA, mobile phones, etc ..).

Author and/or co-author of several refereed articles. Editor and chapters co-author of/on scientific books.

Technical skills and competences

Firewall Manger and local network security responsible (Checkpoint and IpCop systems).

Senior developer expert in several programming Language (Java, Javascript, VisualStudio.Net C#, C, C++, Pascal, Delphi, Basic, Assembler, HyperTalk, OpenScript, Lingo). Member of the steering committee for Java Italian Association (JIA).

Expert developer for mobile devices (.Net for Microsoft Windows Mobile and Java for Symbian OS).

Speech Synthesis and Recognition technologies to develop effective speech applications.

Operating system administrator for : Windows (All releases), UNIX (Sun Solaris, Digital Unix, Irix, Linux), Apple System, MS-DOS.

Internet server administrator (Web,ftp,telnet,mailing) for Macintosh, Windows e Unix (Solaris, Digital, Irix e Linux) systems.

Web Project Manager (expert on web service technologies).

Multiannual experience in AAA accessible Web designing and developing using innovative technologies.

Francesca Maria Dagnino has been working as research fellow at Italian National Research Council since 2010; initiallly at the Istituto di Storia dell'Europa Mediterranea in the two year period 2010-2012 and afterwards at the Istituto per le Tecnologie Didattiche.

She is a Psychologist and a Cognitive-Behavioural Psychotherapist.

Her main research interests are Game Based Learning, Pedagogical Planning, and ICT-Based Solutions for Cultural Heritage Education.

She participated in several National and International projects:

• Progetto Migrazioni - National Project
• Progesis (Progetto Sicurezza e Svantaggio) - National Project
• MAGICAL Project (MAking Games In CollaborAtion for Learning) - EACEA LLP KA3 (ICT) Multilateral Projects
• eSG Project (Stimulating Entreprepreneurship through Serious Games) - EACEA LLP-ERASMUS-FEXI
• GALA (Games and Learning Alliance), Network of Excellence for Serious Games - Cooperation - ICT, Technology Enhanced Learning, FP7 (7th Framework Program)
• i-Treasures Project (Capturing the Intangible through ICT) - Integrated Project under the ICT theme (Information and Communication Technologies), FP7 (7th Framework Program)

Manuel Gentile is a researcher at the Institute for Educational Technology of the National Research Council and deputy of the director for the Palermo branch of the ITD.

His research activity concerns the definition of methodologies and environments to support learning and teaching. He has participated in several national and international research projects for the design and implementation of mobile learning platforms, educational games, and systems for the production, sharing, and collaborative organisation of educational resources.

Currently, his work focuses on the topics of embodied cognition, serious game design, and the application of artificial intelligence in education, for the development of ad-hoc systems and for the analysis of the impact of such technologies on educational systems.

He is a member of the CNR National Observatory on AI and co-chair of the AI for Education and Education for AI thematic table.

He has several scientific publications to his credit in the field of serious games and on the application of AI techniques in the design and implementation of serious games. He is currently the scientific coordinator of the European project SuperCyberKids and head of the CNR unit within the Erasmus+ KA3 European project, Artificial Intelligence for and by Teachers (AI4T).

Davide Taibi is a researcher of the Institute for Educational Technologies at the National Research Council of Italy. His research activities are mainly focused on the application of innovative technologies in the e-learning field, with particular emphasis on: mobile learning, Semantic Web and Linked Data for e-learning, standards for educational processes design, Open Educational Resources. He has participated to the following European funded projects: Motill (“Mobile Technologies in Lifelong Learning: best practices”), Sloop (“Sharing Learning Object in an Open Perspective”), Sloop2DESC (“Sharing Learning Object in an Open Perspective to Develop European Skills and Competences”), Tenegen (“Connect the teachers to reach and teach the Net Generation”). He has also collaborated as an associated partner in the projects: mEducator best practice network and LinkedUp (“Linking Web Data for Education”). He has been contract professor at the University of Palermo.

Academia.edu: http://cnr-it.academia.edu/davidetaibi