ABSTRACT
Just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was argued that studies of EMI university lectures had mostly addressed face-to-face settings and that more research needed to be done on EMI in online settings. At the start of the pandemic, universities all over the world scrambled to deliver teaching using digital technologies, offering a range of synchronous and asynchronous solutions. This article focuses on input in online EMI teaching during the pandemic and aims to identify and describe its salient features. The research uses mixed methods to investigate this topic, triangulating data from questionnaires sent out to lecturers, recordings of video lectures, and interviews with lecturers. The interviews use stimulated recall, or retrospective interview, in which respondents verbalise their thoughts about a task after carrying it out. The lectures were of the synchronous videoconferencing lecture variety, in which instruction occurs in real time. The study has implications for online EMI teaching well beyond the pandemic, given that blended learning models are increasingly adopted in higher education and EMI lecturers are concerned with how to make their lecturing more effective. The shift online has disrupted the kinds of face-to-face input ensembles that are possible, but led to the establishment of others. © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Francesca Costa and Cristina Mariotti;individual chapters, the contributors.
ABSTRACT
This paper focuses on enabling strategies to enhance the military landscape of the Galla Placidia Line by stressing all opportunities offered by digital technologies in the field of cultural heritage. The proposed solutions have been implemented as part of an ongoing project funded by the Emilia-Romagna region and Ravenna municipality, which supports a conscious digital transition of cultural sectors as a new way of understanding, enjoining and preserving historic architectures and sites. Assumptions and aims of the research also face the pressure the entire planet is experiencing due to Covid-19 pandemic. First, this study describes the fortified system of German bunkers erected along the Adriatic coast during World War II, highlighting its limits and potential and framing the research background;then, it presents the tested digital tools pointing out their positive effects on processes of knowledge, conservation and enhancement of such a dissonant heritage. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Lombardy was severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic since February 2020 and the Health System underwent rapid reorganization. Outpatient clinics were stopped for non-urgent patients: it became a priority to manage hundreds of fragile neurological patients who suddenly had less reference points. In Italy, before the pandemic, Televisits were neither recognized nor priced. METHODS: At the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico C. Besta, we reorganized outpatient clinics to deliver Neuro-telemedicine services, including Televisits and Teleneurorehabilitation, since March 2020. A dedicated Working Group prepared the procedure, tested the system, and designed satisfaction questionnaires for adults and children. RESULTS: After a pilot phase, we prepared a procedure for Telemedicine outpatient clinics which was approved by hospital directions. It included prescription, booking, consenting, privacy and data protection, secure connection with patients (Teams Microsoft 365), electronic report preparation and delivery, reporting, and accountability of the services. During the March-September 2020 period, we delivered 3167 Telemedicine services, including 1618 Televisits, to 1694 patients (972 adults, 722 children) with a wide range of chronic neurological disorders. We successfully administered different clinical assessment and scales. Satisfaction among patients and caregivers was very high. CONCLUSIONS: During the dramatic emergency, we were able to take care of more than 1600 patients by organizing Neuro-telehealth in a few weeks, lessening the impact of the pandemic on fragile patients with chronic neurological disorders;this strategy is now stably embedded in our care pathways. In Italy, Telehealth is at present recognized and priced and is becoming a stable pillar of the health system.