DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AND LEARNING PROCESSES. THE ETERNAL GOLDEN GARLAND

none1noBeyond any possible rhetorical division between those who are for or against a more or less massive use of technologies, it is undeniable that technologies always have effects on cognitive, relational, and autonomy processes of individuals, in every season of life and by virtue of the quantity and quality of the use to which we are exposed. The experience of the pandemic caused by Covid19 definitely amplified and highlighted this fact, making the advantages and disadvantages of online life, to which many were forced, immediately apparent. The data on the learning process, in particular on the exclusions that online education has generated, is evident, although very patchy. The difference was determined by the technological skills of learners and teachers, by the possibilities of access to appropriate infrastructures and devices, and by the style of conducting teaching. With regard to this last point, pre-Covid teaching methods were an important factor: digital teaching has often amplified, for better or for worse, what was already being done in the traditional way, with the evidence, however, that some changes that were less evident in frontal teaching were urgent in mediated teaching. The speed of the lesson, for example, the didactic rhythm, the anchorage to the concrete and the levels of personalization were some of the conditions that compromised the success of online training. Technological teaching has also concerned the population of pupils in difficult, disabled, and disadvantaged situations, for whom the impact with the ICT world has been accompanied, as research has shown, by other risk factors (Ianes, 2020), again linked mainly to pre-Covid elements, and referring above all too experienced integration, practiced as a cultural model for schools or as a routine afterthought. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, recognizes new technologies as an essential contextual element for the promotion of the person's functioning, becoming tools capable of compensating for deficits, facilitating independent living, or, conversely, an obstacle and depriving environment/tool. For this reason, they find a specific place within the Environmental Factors of the ICF (WHO, 2001) and the assessment that must be made of them in view of individualized educational planning. International research (Woodward et al .,2001) based on evidence that tries to define what works in the ICT world for children with special educational needs, taking into account a plurality of variables, amount and type of feedback, practical experience, evaluation systems, motivation, teaching strategies - comes to the conclusion that the fact that software has been validated on the research level, does not guarantee that it works in practice (ibid., p. 21). The contribute aims to go in this direction and intends to provide some general reference criteria for evaluating and choosing technological opportunities.Pinnelli StefaniaPinnelli, Stefani

Multi-User Virtual Environments Fostering Collaboration in Formal Education

This paper is about how serious games based on MUVEs in formal education can foster collaboration. More specifically, it is about a large case-study with 4 different programs which took place from 2002 to 2009 and involved more than 9,000 students, aged between 12 and 18, from various nations (18 European countries, Israel and the USA). These programs proved highly effective into fostering a number of transversal skills, among which collaboration (both remote and in presence), stood out as prominent. The paper will introduce the four programs, the way they were designed to foster collaboration and the data on their impact. Overall, the conclusion is that a technology-based educational experience can be successful only if technology is seen as a “mediator” and all the activities that go with it are carefully designed in view of the educational goal and taking into consideration the whole context into which the experience will be embedded. This means that designers of technology-based educational experiences must be ready to make changes and adjustments according to how the experience (which can be compared to a living “creature”) thrives and reacts to the “environment” (the school, the teachers, the students…) in a sort of “evolutionary” life cycle quite different from an engineered blue-print

Can ICT support inclusion? Evidence from multi-user edutainment experiences based on 3D worlds

reserved2noCan ICT support inclusion? This paper presents some evidence collected during a 6-years experience with educational programs based on multi-user virtual worlds, involving more than 9,000 students from 20 different countries across 3 continents. Eloquent anecdotes, supported by quantitative data, tell us that, under some conditions, ICTs can be a powerful tool to involve disaffected students, raise interest, promote socialization and trigger important changes of attitude.mixedN. Di Blas; C. PoggiDI BLAS, Nicoletta; Poggi, Caterin