Research methods in a multimedia environment

Professor Giovanni Biondi has been President of INDIRE, since 2013 and Director General of the same institute for a long time. From 2009 to 2013, he was Head of the Department for Planning and Management of Human and Financial Resources of MIUR. He was member of ministerial commissions, designed the projects for interactive whiteboards (IWB), 2.0 cl@ssroom, 2.0 schools, the national assessment system, the telematic booklet for high school final exam and online enrolment, as well as the test for the 2012 teaching public exam, which was carried out with computers for the first time ever.

Since 2009, he has been chairman of European Schoolnet, a network of 30 European ministries of education. He has taught at various universities (Bressanone, Rome, Venice) and lectured in master’s and postgraduate courses abroad. Author of numerous publications, member of numerous scientific committees of journals, he is scientific director of Didacta.

He is a member of the start-up and coordination nucleus for the implementation of the National Evaluation System and member of the Department and Academic Senate of Telematic University of Studies – IUL.

The course is divided into 4 modules:

• Module 1 – The birth of school systems and their historical mission
• Module 2 – The crisis of school models: the results of the Italian schools
• Module 3 – Digital disconnection and the innovation in the school model
• Module 4 – Towards an absent school
  • 1. The representation of knowledge: the book and the digital; learning processes and multiple intelligences
  • 2. Fragmentation of time at school and the use of technology
  • 3. After the pandemic: from online learning to interactive online learning
  • 4. The organisation of space: pre-school, primary and secondary school

The course addresses issues such as the crisis of school systems in Western countries, the new cognitive strategies that students develop through the use of technologies and digital languages and the consequent widening of the gap between schools and contemporary society.

In addition to the analysis of the above-mentioned elements, the course proposes research activities both to explore possible ways of innovation of the school system and to directly experiment with innovative tools applied to teaching and training paths.

The course addresses issues such as the crisis of school systems in Western countries, the new cognitive strategies that students develop through the use of technologies and digital languages and the consequent widening of the gap between schools and contemporary society.

In addition to the analysis of the above-mentioned elements, the course proposes research activities both to explore possible ways of innovation of the school system and to directly experiment with innovative tools applied to teaching and training paths.

The course offers the student both the tools to understand the crisis of the contemporary educational system and a broad overview of the elements of innovation present on the national territory. The student will be stimulated to elaborate a personal point of view on the concept of innovation and to investigate the educational reality in order to understand its problems by evaluating possible solutions related to methodologies that promote the active involvement of the learner and to the reorganisation of learning environments.

A. Knowledge and understanding
The aim is to help students to develop skills in interpreting the educational crisis by exploring some of the main reasons for the existing gap between school, the knowledge-based society, the professional world and the digital generation.

B. Applied knowledge and understanding
The course offers knowledge and interpretations closely linked to the contemporary school reality and pushes the student to an applicative level through the analysis of practical cases.

C. Autonomy of judgement
Starting from the analyses proposed in the course with particular regard to the role of ICT and digital languages, students are invited to develop their own interpretative hypotheses and to carry out autonomous analyses.

D. Communication skills
The different modules require the student to prepare multimedia presentations.

E. Ability to learn
The course requires autonomy in research and information processing in the various modules.

A. Use of advanced textbooks, knowledge of some cutting-edge topics within the subject studied
In addition to online materials, digital learning resources and, as far as possible, 3D contents will be used.

B. Professional approach to work and possession of adequate skills to conceive arguments, support them and solve problems within the subject studied
By the end of the course the student should understand and be able to argue:
▪ the meaning and value of innovation in school processes;
▪ the added value of ICT in innovation processes;
▪ the historical developments in educational models;
▪ the connection of tools and languages between new and old technologies.

C. Ability to collect and interpret data useful for making autonomous judgments
Ability to research and organise information, data and contents found on the web, processing the results in order to create and support personal visions in the use of new technologies applied to teaching and training.

D. Ability to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to specialist and non-specialist interlocutors
Ability to work in collaborative environments including the use of synchronous and asynchronous telematic tools and to produce communicative products with shared multimedia editing tools.

E. Ability to undertake further studies with a high degree of autonomy
The course is structured to offer tools, techniques and methodologies for research in a multimedia environment.
As such, it represents the basis for undertaking further studies that analyse some specific aspects more deeply.

DIDACTICS PROVISION

12 hours of didactics provision as follows:

⮚ 8 hours of video lessons;
⮚ 4 synchronous video lessons: the recordings will always be available in the online training environment;
⮚ Podcasts of all the above-mentioned video lessons.

INTERACTIVE DIDACTICS

⮚ 1 orientation forum;

⮚ 4 thematic follow-up forums (1 for each module);
⮚ Analysis of case studies and experimental use of educational technologies.

SELF-LEARNING
Teaching materials are provided for each module: in-depth thematic studies, lecturer’s articles, open access readings, online resources, reference bibliography, etc.

• Biondi, La scuola che non c’è. Dalla crisi del modello tayloristico alla scuola del futuro (From the crisis of the Tayloristic model to the school of the future), Carocci, 2021.
• Biondi, La scuola dopo le nuove tecnologie, Apogeo Editore, 2007, Milan.
• Schleicher, Una scuola di prima classe, Il Mulino, 2020
• Bergmann, A. Sams, Flip your classroom. La didattica capovolta, Translation by S. Vastarella, Giunti scuola, 2016, Florence.
• Biondi, S. Borri, L. Tosi, Dall‘aula all’ambiente di apprendimento, 2016, Altralinea Edizioni.
• Profumo, Leadership per l’innovazione nella scuola, 2018, Il Mulino.
• Baricco, The Game, 2018, Einaudi Editore.
• W. Golding, Il signore delle mosche, Mondadori, 2001, Milan.

Access to the final examination is subject to the completion of the 4 etiviy (intermediate papers).

• For the first three modules there is a first written paper.
• Several activities are proposed for module 4.

The overall assessment of the assignments and activities carried out contribute to the grade in the final examination. Case studies on innovation experiences in schools are also included.

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