Information Technology applied to adult education

Alessandro Ferrini is a technologist who has been working at INDIRE, since 2007. He is an IT expert and programmer in both web and stand-alone fields. He deals with the development of collaborative training portals, innovative research software, institutional websites, with particular attention to the technological evolution of both hardware and software. He is also involved in the development of 3D modelling software as part of INDIRE’s “Maker@Scuola” research project, the study and development of user interfaces for various created software, the development of apps for mobile devices, interaction with physical components using hardware platforms such as Arduino or Raspberry PI, and database management.

He is one of the authors of the book “Maker@Scuola – 3D printers in kindergarten”, published for INDIRE in 2017 by Assopiù Editore, ISBN 978889689365-4.

In 2013, he taught the “Web Advanced” course at the International School of Comics, and has worked for important companies or research bodies such as ENI and CNR, for which he has carried out consulting activities and developed neural networks dedicated to the research and classification of legal documents on the web.

The course consists of 2 modules, the duration of which is not specified because it depends on the time needed to complete the activities.

The two modules are:

• Module 1 – Overview of tools available to implement distance learning.
• Module 2 – Practical implementation of simple distance learning.

The course is composed of 2 training modules and aims to provide basic skills to create an adults-driven e-learning platform.

During the course students will be guided to USE

The two available modules are:

• Module 1 – Overview of available tools dedicated to e-learning activities.
• Module 2 – Creation and management of a simple e-learning platform.

Activities are realised in blended mode, i.e. using e-tivities and joining webinar sessions.

The course is dedicated to the development of basic skills needed to launch and manage simple distance learning modules.

The course is structured in 2 main modules. It does not involve the mnemonic study of texts, but the careful reading of these texts in order to focus on the scenario in which the activities must be imagined and, if possible, reproduced in one’s own professional contexts.

Equally carefully read all materials that are offered online and that are aimed at carrying out the proposed activities.

The activities are carried out using students’ computers connected to the Internet. Discussions are aimed at reviewing the activities carried out, in the form of presenting problems, sharing solutions, and new proposals. The place for discussion is the forum of the IUL environment. Free software is used wherever possible for carrying out the activities and writing the papers. The software is recommended by the lecturer, but students are free to use any software they wish as long as they know how it works. The lectures or explanations given by the lecturer will in any case be based on the recommended software.

Links to the materials are offered by the lecturer in the IUL environment during the course.

They will refer to various online and offline sources, depending on the needs that arise.

The course includes various activities, including the final project, which aims to bring together all the knowledge acquired during the course of the lessons.

The activities are not aimed at the final examination, which are used to hold a final discussion and to slightly adjust the evaluation. Instead, the final assessment is based on a real and continuous evaluation of both the activities carried out and the quality of the final project. The lecturer and tutor collaborate in assisting with the activities and their discussion.

A. Knowledge and understanding

Development of basic skills needed to use software for creating and managing training modules.

B. Applied knowledge and understanding

Realisation of a final project implementing the knowledge learnt.

C. Autonomy of judgement

Through discussions and peer-to-peer comparisons, students will be encouraged to realise the differences in their methods of approaching problems, learning from peers and improving their own performance through self-analysis.

D. Communication skills

The aim is to be able to produce a final ‘product’ that clearly communicates the ideas developed by the student.

E. Learning ability

The course should result in the ability to use the tools not only to carry out the indicated activities, but also to create original training modules from one’s own ideas.

A. Independent use of tools for creating multimedia training modules.

B. Professional approach to work and possession of adequate skills to devise arguments, support them and solve problems within the subject studied.

C. Ability to collect and interpret data useful for carrying out autonomous projects.

D. Ability to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to specialists and non-specialists.

E. Ability to undertake further study with a high degree of autonomy.

DIDACTICS PROVISION

• 4 recorded video lessons available on the platform.
• 2 synchronous meetings on the platform.
• Podcasts of all the above-mentioned video lessons.

INTERACTIVE DIDACTICS

• 1 course orientation forum;
• 2 thematic follow-up forums (1 per module);
• Possibility to carry out work in groups.
• 2 structured e-activities (as described in the section “in itinere assessment methods”).

SELF-LEARNING

Teaching materials are provided for each module: in-depth thematic studies, articles and slides by the lecturer, open access readings, online resources, reference bibliography, etc.

Handouts and teaching materials will be made available by the lecturer during the course.

Access to the final examination is subject to the following 2 e-activities:

• E-tivity module 1: Exploring and comparing distance learning tools.
• E-tivity module 2: Realisation of a simple training module

The assessment of learning will take the form of an oral interview on the course contents and on the final report submitted, if any. The grade (min 18, max 30 with possible honours) is determined by the level of performance for each of the following dimensions of the oral interview: mastery of contents, appropriateness of definitions and theoretical references, clarity of argument, command of specialist language.

Italian