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The multicultural and plurilingual dimension of contemporary European society together with the growing interest in CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) educational approach determined an increasing demand of methodological training for the CLIL teacher in Italy, also following the recent Educational Reform introducing CLIL instruction in upper secondary schools. This scenario encouraged the Orientale University to develop a blended methodological training course for CLIL teachers, integrating face-to-face activities with Web 2.0 virtual classrooms. This paper focuses on the online component of the course as it offered teachers the opportunity to experiment with new training environments based on technology, interaction and collaboration. Particular attention is given to the nature of the interactions among teachers and on the role of the e-tutor, acting as mediator and facilitator of learning and supporting the process of community building in the virtual learning environment. Data collection and observation confirmed that online collaborative activities not only helped teachers acquiring the methodological contents of the course but also contributed to the formation of an online community of learning that, with the constant presence of the e-tutor and the support of a well-structured virtual classroom, contributed to the success of the whole training programme., Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society, Vol 12, No 3 (2016): Special Issue: EMEMITALIA Conference 2016

EU internationalization policies have had a great impact on Italian mainstream educational curricula and have given impetus to the spread of Content and Language Integrated Learning (henceforth CLIL), a dual-focused approach which shares a number of key features with English for Specific Purposes (henceforth ESP), such as the use of content from different non-linguistic subjects and the development of academic and communication skills, and with general English courses, such as communicative language teaching methodology. In view of the fact that students are the beneficiaries of content and language curriculum requirements, the aim of this study is to give voice to their perspective. It is the authors’ experience that students have mostly been asked about their level of appreciation of CLIL, but this study intends to explore how and if they are coping with the demands of bilingual instruction. Our findings are derived from three separate questionnaires administered to students, English as Foreign Language (henceforth EFL) teachers and CLIL subject teachers from twenty Italian upper secondary schools of the Campania Region situated in southern Italy. The survey results are intended to attain the twofold aim of identifying the specific purpose of English for CLIL and exploring the impact on students’ learning practices.

The histology and, accordingly, biomechanics of the human corneal stroma are highly heterogeneous. There is extensive knowledge on the existence of regional differences in the collagen fibril bundles' packing arrangement and lamellar orientation across and throughout the thickness of the human corneal stroma.1–5 The anterior stroma consists of short bundles of collagen fibrils that show dense intertwining and also insert vertically into Bowman's layer, thus contributing to maintain corneal shape. The deeper stroma contains collagen fibril bundles that are arranged in wide lamellae oriented predominantly along the superior/inferior and nasal/temporal meridians and with reduced connections between adjacent layers. Several laboratory techniques have been used to elucidate the depth-dependent mechanical properties of the human corneal stroma.6–17 All of these studies have shown that the elastic modulus within the stroma decreases from anterior to posterior, regardless of the mechanical testing used. It is therefore well accepted that the depth-dependent changes of stromal mechanical elasticity are linked to the depth-dependent change of stromal microstructure. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) enables localized mechanical sample testing and has been used to investigate the local elastic modulus of the human corneal stroma at different depths. Although the results from previous studies6–11 could not be directly compared, because of the use of AFM tips with variable geometry and dimension as well as different study protocols, the elastic modulus is shown to decrease 40% to 80% with depth from the anterior stroma to the posterior part of the stroma. The aim of this study was to provide information on the depth-dependent compressive elastic modulus of the human corneal stroma both at the tissue (stroma) and molecular (collagen) level by using AFM. In addition, we correlated the depth-dependent anisotropy of stromal elasticity with images of the human corneal stroma acquired by second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy.

Doctorate School of Science and Technique “Bernardino Telesio”, Ciclo XXVII, a.a. 2014 Università della Calabria

International audience; In the last 15 years World Wide Web has changed the nature of work and social relationships and it is also impacting another important field such as education. On the one hand, the web applications are bringing a lot of easiness for both students and teachers because they provide new teaching and learning resources. On the other one, the spread of distance education is also playing a crucial role in dismantling the traditional teaching praxis and redefining the teacher-student interaction. In this paper we focus on the way Polish students, Italian teachers and peer tutors of interact in a blended course of Italian.