Sigal Eden

Cyberbullying victimisation in adolescence: relationships with loneliness and depressive mood

Cyberbullying is deliberate, aggressive activity carried out through digital means. Cybervictimisation in adolescence may be related to negative psychosocial variables such as loneliness and depressive mood. The purpose of the present study, the first of its kind in Israel, was to examine the association between adolescent cybervictimisation and two socio-emotional variables: loneliness and depressive mood. The sample consisted of 242 Israeli adolescents, aged 13–16 years, who completed questionnaires regarding Internet use, cyberbullying, traditional bullying, loneliness and depressive mood. In total, 16.5% of the participants reported being cybervictims and 32.5% reported knowing someone who was cybervictimised. The results revealed a relationship between cybervictimisation and loneliness (social, emotional and general) as well as depressive mood. A logistic hierarchical regression found that loneliness, gender and depressive mood each explained some variance in cybervictimisation in adolescents. As an anchor for comparison, and in order to shed light on the findings, results are presented in comparison to traditional bullying. The results make a contribution to national and international cyberbullying research and broaden the knowledge about potential risk factors for cybervictimisation.

Increasing social engagement in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder using collaborative technologies in the school environment

This study examined the effectiveness of a school-based, collaborative technology intervention combined with cognitive behavioral therapy to teach the concepts of social collaboration and social conversation to children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (n = 22) as well as to enhance their actual social engagement behaviors (collaboration and social conversation) with peers. Two computer programs were included in the intervention: “Join-In” to teach collaboration and “No-Problem” to teach conversation. Assessment in the socio-cognitive area included concept perception measures, problem solving, Theory of Mind, and a dyadic drawing collaborative task to examine change in children’s social engagement. Results demonstrated improvement in the socio-cognitive area with children providing more active social solutions to social problems and revealing more appropriate understanding of collaboration and social conversation after intervention, with some improvement in Theory of Mind. Improvement in actual social engagement was more scattered.

Virtual Reality as a Tool for Improving Spatial Rotation among Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the practice of rotating Virtual Reality (VR) three-dimensional (3D) objects will enhance the spatial rotation thinking of deaf and hard-of-hearing children compared to the practice of rotating two-dimensional (2D) objects. Two groups were involved in this study: an experimental group, which included 21 deaf and hardof-hearing children, who played a VR 3D game, and a control group of 23 deaf and hard-of-hearing children, who played a similar 2D (not VR) game. The results clearly indicate that practicing with VR 3D spatial rotations significantly improved the childrens performance of spatial rotation, which enhanced their ability to perform better in other intellectual skills as well as in their sign language skills.

Experiences and Opinions of E-learners: What Works, What are the Challenges, and What Competencies Ensure Successful Online Learning

This paper reports findings of a survey of online learners from Western (mostly US), Israeli, Mexican, and Japanese cohorts. An instrument with 58 questions, including several open-ended items, allowing 318 respondents to tell their “stories” as online learners, was disseminated online in late 2008-early 2009. This research study attempts to better understand how students engage in online learning in terms of interacting with the medium and materials, with the instructor, and with one another. Also, with four distinct cohorts, representing four countries and cultures, there is some value in determining if there might be certain differences between these learner populations that are driven primarily by cultural orientation. The study revealed that the majority of respondents rated their satisfaction with their online learning to be positive. The findings further reveal that these cohorts produced a diverse list of positive/negative aspects influencing satisfaction/dissatisfaction, identified items critical to being a successful online learner, as well as challenges in their online learning environment. The majority indicated that success as online learners ultimately depended more on self-determination than on institutional support. Summary findings and analyses presented here provide evidence of some commonalities across groups and reveal experiences and opinions that can contribute to formulating a set of competencies useful to both online learners and providers.

Improving Flexible Thinking in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children with Virtual Reality Technology

The study investigated whether rotating three-dimensional (3-D) objects using virtual reality (VR) will affect flexible thinking in deaf and hard of hearing children. Deaf and hard of hearing subjects were distributed into experimental and control groups. The experimental group played virtual 3-D Tetris (a game using VR technology) individually, 15 minutes once weekly over 3 months. The control group played conventional two-dimensional (2-D) Tetris over the same period. Children with normal hearing participated as a second control group in order to establish whether deaf and hard of hearing children really are disadvantaged in flexible thinking. Before-and-after testing showed significantly improved flexible thinking in the experimental group; the deaf and hard of hearing control group showed no significant improvement. Also, before the experiment, the deaf and hard of hearing children scored lower in flexible thinking than the children with normal hearing. After the experiment, the difference between the experimental group and the control group of children with normal hearing was smaller.

The effect of format on performance: Editing text in print versus digital formats

In light of the present-day proliferation of digital texts and the increase in situations that require active digital text reading in learning, it is becoming increasingly important to shed light on the comparison between print and digital reading under active reading conditions. In this study, the active reading abilities of 93 university students (83% females) were examined. Participants were asked to read, edit, recognize errors and improve the quality of short papers (600 words each) on the topic of environmental awareness, in both print and in digital formats. Surprisingly, and in contrast to many recent reports about print versus digital reading, no significant differences were found between the performances of participants in the two formats. Similarly, no significant differences were found for all categories of text errors as well as for gender. It was found that the digital readers completed their tasks faster than the print readers but their performance was not lower. Results of this study have important implications for the current debate in higher education concerning the use of digital text for learning and for designing, reviewing and editing academic works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive intervention through virtual environments among deaf and hard-of-hearing children

The lack of the auditory sense in the hearing-impaired raises the question as to the extent to which this deficiency affects their cognitive and intellectual skills. Studies have pointed out, that with regard to reasoning, particularly when the process of induction is required, hearing-impaired children usually have difficulties. They experience similar difficulties with their ability to think in a flexible way. Generally, a large body of literature suggests that hearing-impaired children tend to be more concrete and rigid in their thought processes. This study aimed at using Virtual Reality as a tool for improving structural inductive processes and the flexible thinking with hearing-impaired children. Three groups were involved in this study: an experimental group, which included 21 deaf and hard-of-hearing children, who played a VR 3D game; a control group, which included 23 deaf and hard-of-hearing children, who played a similar 2D (not VR game); and a second control group of 16 hearing children for whom no intervention was introduced. The results clearly indicate that practising with VR 3D spatial rotations significantly improved inductive thinking and flexible thinking of the hearing-impaired.

Cyberbullying Involvement among Students with ADHD: Relation to Loneliness, Self-Efficacy and Social Support.

Cyberbullying is defined as an intentional online act via electronic media, to harm, embarrass and/or humiliate another person. As adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at a higher risk in being involved in bullying behaviour as perpetrators or victims, the main purpose of this study is to examine the prevalence of their cyber experience and its impact on loneliness, perceived self-efficacy and social support. The study population included 140 adolescent students with ADHD taking part in general classes and 332 students without disabilities, all of whom completed four self-report questionnaires (cyberbullying, perceived feelings of loneliness, self-efficacy and social support). The findings show no significant differences between students with or without ADHD regarding the time spent on the net and their perceived usage expertise. Most participants with ADHD were familiar with the internet and spent a similar amount of time surfing as the adolescents without ADHD. Results revealed significant differences between the student groups (ADHD/Non-ADHD) and some of the social-emotional measures: students with ADHD who were cybervictims and students with ADHD who were cyberwitnesses reported on greater feelings of emotional loneliness and a lower belief in their social self-efficacy than the non-ADHD students. Furthermore, ADHD student cyberwitnesses also reported on feelings of greater social loneliness. Findings revealed that girls were significantly more often cybervictims than boys. However, boys reported on significantly more involvement as cyberperpetrators than girls.

Three-Dimensionality as an Effective Mode of Representation for Expressing Sequential Time Perception:

The process of developing concepts of time continues from age 5 to 11 years (Zakay, 1998). This study sought the representation mode in which children could best express time concepts, especially the proper arrangement of events in a logical and temporal order. Usually, temporal order is examined and taught by 2D (2-dimensional) pictorial scripts. Using Bruners (1973, 1986, 1990) representation stages, we tested the comparative effectiveness of VR (Virtual Reality) as a mode of representation on childrens conception of sequential time with the pictorial representation mode, the oral, and textual modes. The study involved 65 participants, aged 4 to 10, in 2 groups: kindergarten and school children. The study examined their ability to arrange episodes of a scenario in which a temporal order exists, using the different modes of representation. The findings demonstrate substantial differences in the temporal order arrangement between the modes of representation. In the 3D VR representation, the subjects had a smaller number of errors than in the other representations. These findings suggest that even though the pictorial mode is the most common way of examining and expressing temporal sequence, we should establish new ways of presenting sequencing so that children will be better able to achieve their full cognitive and academic potential.

The Effect of 3D Virtual Reality on Sequential Time Perception among Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children.

Over the years deaf and hard‐of‐hearing children have been reported as having difficulty with time conception and, in particular, the proper arrangement of events in a logical, temporal order. The research examined whether deaf and hard‐of‐hearing children perceive a temporal sequence differently under different representational modes. We compared the effect of three‐dimensional (3D) virtual reality (VR) representation on sequential time perception among deaf and hard‐of‐hearing children with pictorial, textual, spoken and signed representation. We studied 69 participants aged 4–10, who were divided into two age groups: kindergarten and school age. Using different modes of representation, we examined the children’s ability to arrange episodes of a script in which a temporal order existed. Following the representation stages suggested by Bruner, we included six scripts that were adapted to the different modes of representation and thus created a sum of 30 scripts. The findings demonstrate that the VR 3D representation and the signed representation enabled the best perception of sequential time. The poorest results were for the textual representation. An interesting finding was that the pictorial representation scored low, indicating that this form of representation is not as easy as expected.