Antonio Calvani

Models and Instruments for assessing Digital Competence at School

How digital competence can be defi ned and assessed? One of the most known instruments to certifi cate IT skills is the European Computer Driving License (ECDL), but it focuses on the mastery of specifi c technical skills while neglecting dimensions which are pedagogically signifi cant. In such a context, our research group developed a conceptual model for the notion of digital competence based on three dimensions: technological, cognitive and ethical. Grounding on this model, we worked out and tested an instrument (Instant DCA) to assess digital competence in students aged 15/16 years.

Inter‐university cooperative learning: an exploratory study

This paper presents some preliminary findings from continuing action research involving university students of Education and examines the creation of a community of learners through the use of electronic media for remote collaboration. The main goal of this community was the design and implementation of a Web site about the curricula content of two parallel courses. The research focussed on the evaluation of the impact of technologies on communication processes among local peers and remote peers, and on the role of experts in the learning process. Qualitative analyses were conducted on information gathered from videorecordings of local interactions, personal portfolios, and cognitive maps. Students also completed rating scales on their perceptions of desired and actual function fulfilment (direct instruction, cognitive scaffolding, and affective scaffolding) by local and remote peers and tutors in the accomplishment of goals.

Connectivism: new paradigm or fascinating pot-pourri?

We are talking about a concept which is entering more and more the technological debate, above all with regard to the solutions of the 2.0 web, and which someone starts adding, as fourth name, to the canonical triad of “isms”, behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism: connectivism. We wonder whether we are handling a new paradigm. A text that should be considered is Knowing Knowledge by Siemens1 which, in the form of wiki in progress2, enlightens on the thought of the author who does not see the book anymore as final object but thinks about network notes, conversations, interactive systems. It is an anticonventional, aesthetically pleasant and stimulating paper, with a lively style and an amusing graphics, characterized by frequent aphorisms and metaphors. But the reader who would look for an organic view or for instructions easily transferable in a real working context, will be disappointed: the work, declaredly chaotic, has the character of a creative bricolage, in which overlapping, incongruities, open suggestions are part of the game. Presuppositions follow some concepts (or would it be better say slogans?) which have been accompanying the reflection on the knowledge society for at least twenty years: network technologies condition the ways of building

Design of Collaborative Learning Environments: bridging the gap between CSCL theories and Open Source Platforms

Starting with the assumption that collaborative learning and working will occupy a strategic role in undergraduate, post-graduate and life-long education as well as in collaborative, fl exible and distant working, in this paper we present a refl ection on how to reduce the gap between constructivist and CSCL/W theories and practices, and open source initiatives for e-learning in universities. The main goal, beyond the production of technologies, is to put forward research directions and to stimulate instructional designers to closely work with open source researchers and developers. In this paper we present a synthetic selection of collaborative features that are usually included in CSCL/W environments but are missing in e-learning platforms. Thereafter, we propose the design and implementation of some of the more relevant features in a very well known open source e-learning platform (Moodle). Finally, we discuss the potentialities and critical aspects of Moodle as a possible solution to the need for the dissemination of collaborative learning experiences in Higher Education contexts

Gruppi collaborativi online: come valutare interazioni efficaci

Online training based on small, self-organised groups, in some cases supported by an institutional tutor, can be a strategic solution for lifelong learning. It combines affordability with an active and engaging pedagogical model. The self-management of the groups is a key point as it make possibile to reduce the tutor’s workload: in this way one tutor could monitor more groups and/or engage in longer courses. But how to evaluate the collaborative work in online groups? Stated that a typical tool for online collaborative work is the threaded web forum, in this paper we propose a quantitative methodology for evaluating effective collaborative interactions. This work is applied to the Moodle add-on module Forum Plus, but it is partially suitable for every threaded web forum.

Hypermedia: Interactive Exploration of a Medieval Town

With the aim of developing an interface capable of supporting the acquisition of historical knowledge through interactive involvement, this paper shows an application of HyperCard concerning the exploration of a medieval town. The student, who is taken to fourteenth‐century Florence, can move freely through the city, go into the houses and start conversations between the characters; furthermore the student can also access short descriptive information or historical and historiographic files. The possibility of this visual‐situational involvement — offered by multi‐media experiences — supporting the acquisition of more abstract notions is still to be evaluated.

Assessing online collaborative groups within institutional contexts: a pluridimensional approach

The use of online work groups partially or totally self-managed is becoming a widespread educational practice even within formal education contexts such as universities, especially in job-oriented post-graduate courses (master courses, specialization courses, internships). In such contexts it is important to have assessment criteria which can be easily applied and later integrated adequately with the individual assessments. What indicators are therefore taken into consideration when assessing an online collaborative group? In an earlier study we had drawn up an “effective collaboration” quantitative model centered on the quality of communication and socio-ethical relationships management. Here we propose to integrate such a model with another two quality dimensions (i.e., the dimension “quality of critical negotiation” (QCN) and the “Quality of end product” (QEP).

Lifelong Learning : quale ruolo può svolgere l' e-learning 2.0?

L’attenzione al Lifelong learning si e progressivamente accentuata negli ultimi anni, anche in relazione allo sviluppo delle tecnologie di rete che recentemente hanno visto una evoluzione verso il mondo 2.0. In questo lavoro ci chiediamo che ruolo potra avere il cosiddetto ’e-learning 2.0 nel contesto della formazione continua. Nella prima parte presentiamo sinteticamente le caratteristiche del mondo 2.0. Nella seconda parte individuiamo vincoli e criticita dell’e-learning 2.0 all’interno di uno scenario possibile di Lifelong learning.

Formazione e tecnologia della Comunicazione. Quali nuove integrazioni ed aree emergenti

Il mondo della formazione e quello delle tecnologie della comunicazione (media) hanno da tempo dato vita a ‘fertili sconfinamenti’. Tradizionalmente si può distinguere all’interno di un ambito complessivamente definibile come ‘pedagogia dei media’, un educare nei, ai, coi media, dimensioni nelle quali, negli ultimi 50 anni, si sono inseriti principalmente due orientamenti, la Media Education e la Educational Technology. Nuovi spazi si aprono oggi per questi settori, in particolare in relazione allo sviluppo delle reti e all’enfasi crescente che viene posta su quella che si è usi ormai chiamare ‘società della conoscenza’. Nell’intento di favorire un primo avvicinamento a questo complesso territorio presentiamo qui un quadro, in forma necessariamente sintetica, dei riferimenti teorici e storici più importanti, e dei nuovi ampliamenti tematici ed applicativi che vengono emergendo.

E-learning nell’Università: quale strada percorrere?

At the recent SIe-L Congress, researchers and teachers from over thirty Italian Universities presented initiatives in the field of e-learning. On the basis of these contributions, we can state that most Universities in Italy have recently developed activities in this field or are planning to do so. Apart from local experiences, does an «e-learning strategy exist for all Italian Universities»? And what should the University do in view of the newly- established «on-line Universities» (should traditional universities follow this model or go a different way)? In order to draw some concise guidelines so as to include e-learning in a more organic manner in the Italian University context, we propose herewith to focus on three main dimensions: the «concept of e-learning» (specifying what we mean and what we can expect of it), the «institutional mechanics» (making the organizational machine run efficiently), and the «scenario» (clarifying up aims and possible pursuable paths). Currently, the blended solution is the reference scenario for the Italian University system. Yet, this concept needs to be better described, analysed and supported by an adequate organizational and normative reference framework, shared by Academia.