Technological innovation and change in the university

It is by now common knowledge that one of the aspects upon which the survival of the University depends is how it will make the best possible use of the new technologies (e-learning). Despite the acceptance of this principle, difficulties arise when one attempts to proceed from the mere declaration to actually planning activities and putting them into effect. This research, the result of collaboration between teachers and researchers of the Educational Science and Engineering Faculties of the University of Florence, focuses on certain theoretical concepts and reference apparatus, bringing international literature to bear on the specific case of Italy. [english version]It is by now common knowledge that one of the aspects upon which the survival of the University depends is how it will make the best possible use of the new technologies (e-learning). Despite the acceptance of this principle, difficulties arise when one attempts to proceed from the mere declaration to actually planning activities and putting them into effect. This research, the result of collaboration between teachers and researchers of the Educational Science and Engineering Faculties of the University of Florence, focuses on certain theoretical concepts and reference apparatus, bringing international literature to bear on the specific case of Italy. [english version

Evidence Based Education e didattica efficace: come integrare conoscenze metodologiche e tecnologiche nella formazione degli insegnanti

The health emergency caused by Covid-19 offers new opportunities to implement possible changes in schools to improve learning-teaching processes beyond the current situation. One of the most significant space concerns the possibility to rethink teacher training by integrating organically methodological and technological dimensions. Traditionally these dimensions have been treated as separated. In this paper the authors intend to bridge this gap by making use of the recent acquisitions of educational research, confirmed in the Evidence Based Education perspective. This research allows identifying fundamental principles of effective teaching working in the physical classroom as well as in the virtual one. In this context, the theory of cognitive load provides a useful connection for a valid didactic approach. The question the authors want to answer is the following: to integrate methodological and technological knowledge and skills adequately, how can a training course for teachers be organized and implemented? If on the one hand, the fundamental principles of effective teaching are the same, on the other the different implications in terms of risks and opportunities offered by the different communicative settings must be considered. Therefore it is necessary to look for a solution that highlights the common fundamental principles as well as the the specific criticalities and the potentialities that arise in the transition from teaching in the physical classroom to teaching in the virtual one

Digital Competence in K-12 : theoretical models, assessment tools and empirical research

Over the last years the theme of the digital competence in its different aspects has been object of a growing interest. In a number of official documents and communications, international bodies underlined the significance of this competence for lifelong learning and to participate in the so-called 'information society'. Within this context, education research has the duty to provide realistic conceptual models coherent with the school's objectives and which can be put into practice within the school curriculum. In the present paper, we shall introduce a theoretical model, education oriented, to represent this competence and a set of tools to assess it in the school context, i.e., the Instant DCA (iDCA) and the Situated DCA. Then we shall focus on iDCA and on the results of the testing carried out over the last two years in the Italian secondary school.Durante los últimos años el tema de la competencia digital en sus diferentes aspectos ha sido objeto de un creciente interés. Los organismos internacionales han destacado a importancia de esta competencia para el aprendizaje permanente y la inclusión en la sociedad de la información en una serie de documentos oficiales. Dentro de este contexto, la investigación educativa tiene el deber de proporcionar modelos conceptuales coherentes con los objetivos de la escuela y que se puedan poner en práctica dentro del currículum escolar. En el presente trabajo, introducimos un modelo teórico, orientado a la educación, para desarrollar esta competencia y un conjunto de herramientas para evaluarla en el contexto escolar

Valutazione della competenza digitale: che cosa fare per la scuola primaria

Assessment of Digital Competence: A Tool for Primary Schools Digital competence is now recognized as one of the most important educational goals to be pursued in the policies of the new millennium. Research is proposing numerous considerations to better define the nature of this competence and it generally stresses the need to develop theoretical models in which, together with strictly technical knowledge and skills, cognitive abilities and notions of ethics and behavior are also present. This theoretical reflection includes the problem of providing schools with tools to facilitate and assess progressive advances at various levels of age. In the European framework and within the Digital Competence Assessment (DCA), a program which also covers other school levels, the present contribution shows a questionnaire used in order to assess digital competence in primary schools, which is useful to identify areas on which to conduct immediate actions. The questionnaire, together with its accompanying instructions, is made available to schools under the Creative Commons license

Evidenze, miti e prassi didattiche: il caso dell’insegnamento della lettura nella scuola italiana

This paper aims to take stock of the acquisitions achieved by evidence-based research on teaching to read, to compare them with the teaching practices, as they emerge from the school textbooks proposed by the publishing houses in Italy. Moving from the importance recently assumed by scientific research on effective teaching and the need to avoid risks and misunderstandings that can be generated for its use in practice, the evidence acquired about the teaching of reading and writing is presented, recalling the need to focus on the grapheme-phoneme correspondence to be acquired by children in a progressive, systematic and explicit way. It is then pointed out that the textbooks in use propose approaches in clear contrast with this finding. The second part focuses on the experimental researches conducted in Italy in recent years, congruent with the framework previously indicated, which achieve better effectiveness and high motivation in all pupils. Particular attention is paid to the national research conducted recently by the Association S.Ap.I.E

L’innovazione tecnologica nella scuola: come perseguire un’innovazione tecnologica sostenibile ed efficace

Starting out from the document drawn up by OECD on the Italian “Digital School” project for the introduction of technological innovation in schools, the author discusses the criteria to which innovation policies based on the principles of sustainability and maximum pedagogical impact should be subject, in an Evidence Based Education perspective. Historically we tend to overestimate the positive effects of technology on learning, while research has already highlighted their limitations, which are restricted to specific areas, at the same time pointing to the risks related to consequent cognitive overload. Suggestions for decision makers are made, underlining the need to recover the educational relationship with easy technologies, take into account the cognitive balance between reading paper and digital reading and finalize well the use of technology for achieving specific objectives

Le TIC nella scuola: dieci raccomandazioni per i policy maker

Basandosi sulle evidenze relative al rapporto tra tecnologia e apprendimento e sul recente rapporto OCSE riguardante il Piano Nazionale Scuola Digitale, l’autore riflette sui criteri che devono orientare le politiche innovative, ispirati a sostenibilità, ottimizzazione dell’impatto educativo, sottolineando anche la necessità di finalizzare meglio l’impiego delle tecnologie verso specifici obiettivi. Viene ricordato come storicamente si tenda a sovrastimare l’effetto positivo delle tecnologie sull’apprendimento; la ricerca ha invece rilevato i limiti della loro efficacia (da ricercare in determinate aree) e la rilevanza del rischio del sovraccarico cognitivo che la loro introduzione può comportare. Si propongono alcuni suggerimenti per i decisori scolastici rispondendo alle due domande “Quali criteri per la politica tecnologica?”, “In che modo usare le tecnologie per apprendere a scuola?”

Per una scuola dalle esperienze ottimali

Nel contesto didattico due principali spostamenti diventano necessari: rendere coerenti e ben strutturate le progressioni degli apprendimenti con obiettivi definiti chiaramente da un lato e introdurre alcune esperienze di apprendimento intenso e coinvolgente dall’altro. Molte ricerche e meta-analisi mostrano come le strategie d’insegnamento più efficaci siano quelle in ambito Direct/Explicit Instruction, che implica una guida diretta ed una didattica strutturata. A queste vanno poi aggiunti momenti di apprendimento coinvolgente per attuare esperienze formative ottimali

Per una Didattica come Scienza dell’Istruzione

In questo lavoro intendo evidenziare come i significativi cambiamenti sopraggiunti negli ultimi decenni negli ambiti dell’Evidence Based Education (EBE) e dell’Instructional Design consentano a quel dominio conosciuto nel nostro Paese come “Didattica” di presentarsi ormai con i caratteri propri di un ambito scientifico. Conseguentemente si impongono nuove scelte e assunzioni di responsabilità circa l’impiego di criteri più rigorosi per valutare ed avvalersi di conoscenze affidabili. Anche i rapporti tra università e scuola, ricerca scientifica e pratica didattica possono risultarne riconfigurati secondo modalità che consentono un maggiore impatto.Al lavoro si aggiunge una breve riflessione sul significato di Evidence Based Education