LIBRI DI MARIO GIAMPAOLO

The COVID-19 pandemic rendered social inequalities more visible in the last two years and negatively impacted different spheres of life all around the world. How do we enhance quality education and reduce inequalities in the teaching and learning process? This paper presents the main results derived from a quantitative study involving university students who are enrolled in Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree courses in Italy. Students were asked to fill out surveys concerning the Student Measure of Culturally Responsive Teaching (Italian version) and the Sense of Belonging in order to explore their perceptions of culture-based teaching practices applied during lessons and their sense of belonging to the academic context. Data coming from statistical analysis shows a higher level of CRT and SoB, and reveales a moderate and positive correlation between the examined variables. These results allow us to reflect on the role of the active development methodologies, which can be applied in the educational contexts to promote intercultural dialogue and future culturally engaged professionals in order to reduce social barriers in the learning process and promote a more sustainable world.

L’articolo presenta le prime evidenze sull’adattamento e la validazione italiana dello Student Measure of Culturally Responsive Teaching volto a misurare le percezioni delle studentesse e degli studenti universitari sulle pratiche didattiche attente alla dimensione culturale in aula. Tale strumento è stato somministrato ad un campione di 336 studentesse e studenti iscritti all’Università di Siena. I dati raccolti hanno permesso di condurre l’analisi fattoriale esplorativa dello strumento, confermando la struttura trifattoriale. La consistenza interna dello Student Measure of Culturally Responsive Teaching e dei fattori emergenti è stata misurata attraverso l’alpha di Cronbach i cui risultati suggeriscono che la versione italiana di tale strumento presenta una buona consistenza interna ed un buon livello di affidabilità anche rispetto alle sue componenti.

Quali scenari e prospettive educative nell’era del post digitale? Quali emergenti potenzialità per i processi di insegnamento/apprendimento? Quali le ricadute negli ambiti formativi? Questi gli interrogativi cui mira a rispondere il volume, che raccoglie gli atti del Convegno SIREM 2021, fondando al contempo una riflessione finalizzata a proposte e azioni educative, didattiche e culturali che muovano nella direzione di un consapevole processo di cambiamento e di innovazione.

La media education, anche se presente nelle indicazioni formali, è scarsamente attuata nella scuola italiana, limitata com’è a situazioni episodiche che trovano maggiore riscontro negli ambiti informali. Il volume entra in profondità nella varietà del quadro italiano, tra esperienze formali e informali, in diversi ambiti che vanno dall’infanzia agli adulti, valorizzando una ricchezza e un potenziale pronto per uscire dalle cornici sperimentali della ricerca e delle singole offerte formative locali per essere messa a disposizione dell’intera cittadinanza.

Nel novembre del 2019 il Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca pubblica il bando “Piani per l’orientamento e il tutorato”. Lo scopo è quello di innovare e supportare le azioni di orientamento e tutorato delle Università italiane. Il Corso di Laurea in Scienze dell’educazione e della formazione dell’Università di Siena, capofila di un network di 15 CdL L-19, 116 scuole e 101 organizzazioni del settore educativo e formativo, risponde al bando proponendo il progetto “Super – percorsi di orientamento etutorato per promuovere il successo universitario e professionale”. Il progetto ha come obiettivo quello di realizzare azioni di orientamento e tutorato per supportare le prefigurazioni professionali di studentesse e studenti. Il contributo descrive le caratteristiche generali del progetto che hanno guidato il coordinamento delle attività del network, le sfide e le ipotesi che hanno permesso di guardare all’orientamento e al tutorato in un’ottica innovativa e lontana dai modelli tradizionali.

Learntwist is a web-based software that aims to facilitate learning in adults. Developed by Susan Isenberg, the software is an electronic version of an apprenticeship contract. The article introduces the framework of andragogy and self-directed learning, presents the methodology of learning contracts, focuses on the principles of adult education applied to internet learning and describes a research conducted at the University of Siena. The research illustrates how students validated and used the Italian version of Learntwist. Participants have been engaged in a cognitive walkthrough to assess the usability of the software and in the planning of a personalized learning plan. Students evaluated that the learning experience can be improved by working on the different steps, the customization and the graphic interface of the software. The activities planned by the students are characterized by arguments and subjects related to students’ passions and interests, strategies based on research, collaboration with experts, learning evidence and methods of assessment. Limits of the experience and hypothesis for further researches are also discussed.

"Se i medici sapessero se i pazienti potessero" is an Action-Research project sponsored by the Department of Education, Humanities and Intercultural Communication at the University of Siena, started in March 2016. Built on the experience and the literature that identifies the group as a resource and place of peer learning, the goal of the project is to determine whether, and under which conditions, it is possible to establish a Community of Practice (CoP) that allows a social approach to the oncologic disease, emphasizing the exchange of knowledge between participants who are interested in experimenting this new approach to and management of the treatment

This article deals with the theme of innovation in academic didactic through the use of technologies and is one of the outputs of a larger project, "Preparazione alla professionalità docente e innovazione didattica" (PRODID), which aims to establish and develop strategies to support teaching profession at the University of Padua. The authors introduce the theoretical framework and the projects carried out in the University of Padua to take advantage of the potential of technology, then present the results obteined during the first year of the project. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire which involved professors of the University and semi-structured interviews conducted with 16 privileged witnesses forming part of the teaching staff. The questionnaire collects the level of diffusion of didactic solutions that rely on online resources and the quality of teaching experiences conducted by the teachers. The interviews relate to multiple aspects of teaching by highlighting best and innovative practices, resistances due to established practices, and teaching models adopted.

This paper illustrates students’ reflections on the experience of implementing Malcolm Knowles’s 1986 model of learning contracts in an online discussion forum. The study was an attempt to improve and adapt the tool to a master’s degree course at the University of Padua. Based on this qualitative inquiry three major themes come to light in our analysis : (a) Learning Contract and the learning process, (b) Characteristics of Learning Contracts and (c) Dynamics of collaboration. The findings encouraged our reflection on how to improve the contract and better involve the students in their learning process of becoming more self-directed. Finally, we can affirm that the Learning Contract can be considered an appropriate tool to elicit reflection for the learner and facilitator in higher education.