Quello che i numeri non dicono. Uno studio mixed-methods sull'applicazione del CLASS in Italia

The increasing globalization of tools used to assess ECEC quality requires reflection on their cultural coherence and ecological validity when applied in cultural contexts other than those of origin, as well as on the meaning of inconsistencies at the psychometric level that sometimes emerge - inconsistencies that quantitative methods alone often struggle to explain adequately. This paper proposes an integrated framework that combines the statistical analysis of quality assessment tools with a qualitative exploration of the meanings and interpretations that accompany their use in other cultures. This mixed-methods study, analyzing the implications of the CLASS Pre-K tool application in Italian preschools, offers a broader reflection on the importance and the need to adopt a critical, culturally-sensitive approach when using assessment tools outside their cultural cradle.La crescente globalizzazione degli strumenti per valutare la qualità dei servizi educativi per l’infanzia richiede una riflessione sulla coerenza culturale e la validità ecologica di questi strumenti quando applicati in contesti culturali diversi da quelli d’origine, nonché sul significato delle incongruenze a livello psicome-trico che talora emergono – incongruenze che i soli metodi quantitativi spesso faticano a spiegare adegua-tamente. Il presente lavoro propone un framework integrato che combina l’analisi statistica degli strumenti di valutazione con un’esplorazione qualitativa dei significati e delle interpretazioni che accompagnano il loro utilizzo in un’altra cultura. Nello specifico, lo studio mixed-methods, analizzando le implicazioni dell’applicazione del CLASS Pre-K nelle scuole dell’infanzia italiane, offre una riflessione più ampia sull’importanza e la necessità di adottare un approccio critico e culturalmente sensibile quando si utilizzano strumenti di valutazione al di fuori della loro culla culturale

Students teaching other students

The COVID-19 pandemic situation that overwhelmed us still strongly questions university teaching today. The research reports a classroom’s activity based on self-assessment (SA) and peer-feedback (PF)activities. The result is connected to the combination of three key points for effective teaching: 1) an active role of the students involved in the activity, 2) an effective use of technology based on a Student Response System (SRS), and 3) a sustained pedagogical training for teachers suddenly catapulted to new teaching methods. The design used, developed in the Italian university context, can be developed totally online, guaranteeing new skills and new learning, in view of a hypothetical, and not so unexpected, return to distance learning

Didactics and Self-Assessment: An Innovative Proposal for The University of Trento

The university institution is called today to face challenges concerning the ability to recognize and pursue new formative goals (Grion et al., 2018). In the light of this, the research wants to reflect on the reality of the University of Trento, so far, the only Italian university, among the 35 evaluated, to have obtained the highest rating assignable by the Anvur. The aim is to highlight both the primary nodes in which the University requires renewal and its hinges points, and report in detail the results of quantitative analysis, commissioned and drafted by the Joint Committee of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering (DICAM), which saw the need to further analyze the reality of students of the individual courses of the Department. The contribution links, in conclusion, the points emerged from the direct observation of the students to a consistent response to the emerging literature review. Specifically, reflecting the field of post-compulsory education paths, with a strong connection with self-assessment (SA). The results seem to show that self-assessment (SA) can be a new key to the promotion of an education capable of experimenting, through participatory and innovative teaching, knowledge, autonomy, responsibility and soft skills: fundamental elements that the University of Trento needs to improve to achieve European and international standards

Chasing Smart Communities standards: Lesson Learnt from Geothermal Communities Project in Montieri (Italy)

Abstract European Smart Cities and Communities initiative is asking cities to improve quality of urban life by developing actions aiming at better integrating infrastructures and rationalizing energy use. Lessons learnt from former European demonstration projects represent a valuable expertise on integrated actions aimed at developing innovative measures at urban level. The paper reports and discusses the first results of demonstration activities undertaken in the Italian site of Geothermal Communities project (European Commission, FP7 CONCERTO initiative) where best practices in geothermal energy use, integrated with other renewable energy sources and retrofitting measures, were implemented

Formazione dei docenti universitari: innovazione e apprendimento continuo attraverso l’autovalutazione

Teachers and students are the real protagonists of the educational relationship linked to education. Teacher training and learners’ learning are on the agenda and in continuous and rapid evolution. The research links initial teacher education with innovation and continuous learning through self-assessment, which is considered both a learning strategy available to students and a pedagogical technique that the teacher can employ. To provide reflections related to teaching and assessment, the research analyzes the opinions of 100 professors teaching in the humanistic university sector, obtaining quantitative and qualitative data. In this paper, although limited both in the number of participants and in the disciplines analyzed, emerges a positive consideration of self-assessment as a fundamental element. It represents an invitation, anyone interested, to reflect on teaching methodologies considering the experimentation of self-assessment practices

Autovalutazione all'università: una ricerca con studenti universitari spagnoli e italiani

La ricerca che di seguito viene presentata ha l’obiettivo di rilevare le percezioni di un gruppo di studenti italiani e spagnoli sulle pratiche di auto-valutazione all’università, tematica che nonostante sia di attuale attenzione in molti paesi del mondo, risulta ancora poco trattata nei contesti accademici sia italiani che spagnoli. La ricerca empirica ha coinvolto 109 studenti spagnoli e 109 studenti italiani, utilizzando un questionario iniziale e un’intervista successiva. I risultati permettono di proporre alcune considerazioni riguardanti la necessità di assegnare una maggiore importanza alle prospettive di autovalutazione in ambito universitario, sostenendo l’urgenza dell’attivazione di processi di innovazione delle pratiche valutative oggi comunemente attuate nelle università del nostro paese

Transition from monitoring and assessment to self-monitoring and self-assessment

In line with the targets set by the Europe 2020 strategy (EC, 2010), by giving the student a central role, the research focus shifts to self-monitoring and self-assessment, two related components in a cyclical process (McMillan & Hearn, 2008). The research primarily aims to verify how students self-monitor and self-assess their learning process. Once outlined in their modalities, the research wants todwell and reflect on the personal traits of students about two variables: area of knowledge and academic year. The subjects who took part in the questionnaire were 180 attending students, enrolled in the three-year degree courses in Education and Philosophy of the University of Padua, Verona, and Venice. The research aims to answer three research questions: 1) How is the self-monitoring process complementary to the self-assessment one? 2) Is there a correlation in the area of knowledge of the students? 3) Is there a correlation in the academic year of student

Il self-assessment come strumento utile allo sviluppo del talento

This research wants to demonstrate that self-assessment (SSA) needs to be implemented. Here, the term talent is understood as “personal training potential for development” (Tessaro 2011, pp. 355). It is linked to SSA, seen as “the qualitative assessment of learning processes and its final products” (Panadero, 2011, pp. 78) that a student acts. In order to demonstrate that self-assessment practices play a key role in student's development and learning (Andrade & Valtcheva, 2009), 109 Italian university students took part, voluntarily, at the research. The first Research Question focuses on the benefits the SSA can bring. The second wants to reflect on the role of students and teachers within SSA practices. Despite the limitation of the research, the final diagram and the reported reflections can be useful to students and to university professors, to pedagogists and to all those interested in the topic, as a possible guideline to consider. They had been used as a starting point for other researches, still ongoing

Spunto di riflessione sulla figura dell’insegnante all’interno di pratiche di self-assessment

Il self-assessment (SA) ha ricevuto una considerevole attenzione nelle ricerche pedagogiche degli ultimi anni. Ciò che manca è analizzare l’importanza del ruolo dell’insegnante per poter aiutare gli studenti nelle pratiche di auto-valutazione. Con l’obiettivo di portare un avanzamento pedagogico per la figura dell’insegnante, questo lavoro vuole considerare il SA come “un processo didattico utilizzato dal docente come risorsa educativa” (Panadero & Alonso-Tapia, 2013). Appoggiandosi al modello ciclico di Zimmerman e Moylan (2009), alle “condizioni favorevoli” descritte da Andrade e Valtcheva (2009) e agli spunti pratici di Panadero e Alonso-Tapia (2013), si è cercato di capire in quale fase l’insegnante può essere uno strumento d’aiuto per gli studenti, e come può lo stesso insegnante fornire elementi utili alle pratiche auto-valutative degli studenti. Cercando di dare risposta a questi due quesiti, si è cercato di creare uno “schema-guida” che l’insegnante, di ogni fascia, può utilizzare per favorire l’utilizzo, corretto, del self-assessment all’interno della classe. L’obiettivo finale pertanto è quello di supportare gli insegnanti nel favorire l’apprendimento scolastico degli studenti attraverso l’utilizzo di nuove pratiche educative, quali il self-assessment.In recent years self-assessment (SA) received considerable attention in educational research. What is missing is to analyze the importance of the teacher’s role to help students in self-assessment practices. With the goal of bringing educational progresses for the figure of the teacher, this work wants to consider the SA as “a learning process, used by the teacher as an educational resource” (Panadero & Alonso-Tapia, 2013). Leaning on the Zimmerman and Moylan’s cyclical model (2009), on the “favorable conditions” described by Andrade and Valtcheva (2009), and on the practical ideas (2009) provided by Panadero and Alonso-Tapia (2013), the first step of this work was to understand at what point of the students’ learning process the teacher can be useful for them, and how the teacher can provide important elements into students’ self-assessment practices. Trying to answer these two questions, a “Sample-Guide” has been created, by which teacher, at every level, can use to encourage the correct use of self-assessment within the classroom. The ultimate goal, therefore, is to support teachers to improve students’ learning, through the use of new educational practices, such as self-assessment

La scuola sullo schermo. Il contratto didattico e il curriculum nascosto durante la DaD e la DDI

Due to the increasing SARS-CoV-2 infections, teaching activities in Italian schools were suspended on 5 March 2020. Since then, ministerial decrees promoted a teaching-learning process, totally or partially computer-mediated, leading to significant changes in the relational and content dimension of the learning event. The mutual expectations between students and teachers (didactic contract) have changed, and the ideological and cultural messages that come with disciplinary teaching (hidden curriculum) have been enriched with new meanings, bringing different beliefs regarding technological innovations in education to the students. This paper presents the results of a survey conducted in a Northern Italy high school aimed at observing these phenomena to understand the context surrounding distance and hybrid learning events