Loredana Manasia|Teodora Daniela Chicioreanu
DOES THE INTERNET SHAPE OUR MIND? THE CASE OF VIRTUAL EMPATHY IN FUTURE TEACHERS
Polytechnic University of Bucharest|Polytechnic University of Bucharest
doubt use technology online activities shape realworld interactions thoughts behaviours attitudes affects take opportunity reconsider digital competencies future teachers therefore present paper argues relevance virtual empathy fostering learning virtual learning environments achieve goal correlational study conducted number 569 undergraduate students z generation representatives purposefully sampled participants internet users enrolled teaching degree program romanian regular university subjects completed online survey measuring level virtual empathy sociodemographics media usage behaviours selfreport scale applied measure participants empathy levels proved reliability article depicts results study discusses results indicate complex relation going online realworld empathy video gaming affects level virtual realworld empathy however none participants reported optimal levels virtual empathy scores virtual empathy significantly lower computed realworld empathy male female subjects nevertheless correlational analysis showed positive statistically significant correlation two types empathy addition gender differences regarding virtual empathy analysed conclusion paper reflects need reshape view digital literacy future teachers