Monica Banzato

A Case Study of Teachers’ Open Educational Practices

This article presents an exploratory study of the digital practices used by teacher educators regarding Open Educational Resources and Open Educational Practices. Despite the growing diffusion of OER repositories, the results of this research reveal that teachers’ practices are still tied to traditional models, and that they are only slightly open to the sharing and reusing of digital materials and to the employment of open license resources in the manner made available by web 2.0.

Competence Based Tutoring Online

The paper suggests crossing global e-learning models with specific ones so as to determine their possible correlation in order to infer online tutor competence profiles. These are found at the intersection of the pyramid, matrix and e-learning instructional design models. Hypothetical setups of the pyramid e-learning systems are discussed. The competence matrix is described in more detail as a complex and potentially useful instrument to guide OLT training and evaluation. It is concluded that the synergy resulting from the interplay among the competence matrix, e-learning instructional design models and e-learning environments will make it possible to assess instrument potential and conceptual schema appropriateness. It will also show their limitations, with a view to improving them.

Models of e-learning

Presentazione di una possibile tassonomia degli usi della rete telematica per l’apprendimento, che comprende un modello di formazione in autoapprendimento e un modello di formazione assistito.

Online teacher training in the Veneto SSIS

Descrizione di un progetto sperimentale di e-learning per la formazione iniziale degli insegnanti.

Literacy and complexity

This contribution discusses a theoretical framework pertaining to the concept of digital literacy. The expression literacy is difficult to translate, as it has many shades of meaning and reflects a long historical, philosophical and educational tradition. Analysis of the international scientific literature reveals that literacy is a complex phenomenon which has attracted attention in many different disciplines. What is meant by literacy, or to be literate in today’s society, remains a matter of heated debate. In the eighties, the main approaches to literacy (techno-psychological, socio-cultural, historical, anthropological) favored the conceptualization of plural literacies, something also referred to as the “literacy crisis”. In response to the disintegration of definitions, the multiplicity of expressions and the fragmentation of research, an effort is currently being made to position different epistemological literacy studies within a theoretical framework. The aim is to encompass the plurality of theoretical and practical approaches in a wider definition, or meta-definition, of literacy. This step is crucial for understanding the latest developments in the field. The problem is not one of formulating a definition or choosing one approach over another, e.g. techno-psychological vs. socio-cultural. Rather, it is a matter of redefining the foundations of research that is investigating literacy as a “complex” phenomenon, where it appears necessary to adopt approaches similar to those used to study “complex systems”.

Creare esercizi interattivi e prove di verifica

Short teaching guide for using the software Hot Potatoes for the production and automatic control of exercises and assessment tests.

Second Life: a 3D educational world.

Improduttivita e inefficacia dei sistemi educativi sui “nativi digitali” Negli Stati Uniti nonostante siano utilizzati grandi investimenti per l’istruzione i risultati riscontrati sono piuttosto modesti. E’ nota e diffusa la sensazione di disagio dei giovani nei confronti della scuola che e vissuta in modo sempre piu distante dai propri interessi e aspettative, molte volte perche si sentono costretti a seguire attivita che percepiscono come monotone e ripetitive, rispetto alle attivita fuori dal mondo scolastico. Ma anche in l’Italia e altre nazioni Europee le cose non vanno meglio. Le lezioni tradizionali, peraltro mai abbandonate o comunque messe in discussione dagli stessi insegnanti, non fanno molto per sollevare l’interesse di una generazione cresciuta con Internet, Mtv, Cellulari e YouTube. Queste riflessioni, basate su diversi rilevamenti e statistiche sui giovani (vedi ad esempio grafico a pagina seguente), inducono a una revisione strutturale (e non di facciata) dei metodi con cui gli educatori cercano di trasmettere le conoscenze agli studenti. La distanza tra la formazione indotta dai sistemi scolastici e i nuovi “linguaggi” emergenti nei giovani, come ad esempio dei “nativi digitali” e molto grande [Prensky, 2001], non fa altro che aumentare il divario tra scuola e giovani. Anche se molti docenti hanno fatto progressi sensibili nell’utilizzo didattico ed educativo di nuovi media (di cui un largo numero di giovani sono avidi consumatori), il “gap” generazionale tra “emigranti digitali” (tra essi gli insegnanti) e i “nativi digitali” (i giovani) non si riesce a colmare [Prensky, 2001].

The class becomes a set: how to create our first video

Description of an experience in which to make a video teaching, starting from the script and passing the assembly and the choice of software.

Online learning latforms

Confronto fra diverse piattaforme per l’e-learning, con l’occhio alle metodologie e non solo alle tecnologie per la formazione.