Moving online: an opportunity for all

In the last few days we have been facing different kind of emergencies and one has been surely the educational one. Moving online from one day to the other was not easy and manageable for everyone. Change has been involving students and teachers everywhere. It is as if innovation was someway imposed by a fatal fate. We need to turn the difficulty into opportunity: in fact, never before has the school system experienced such a widespread use of technologies in teaching and in daily learning, becoming a common practice in all areas of teaching and in different degrees of education, from childhood to university. Students are now called upon to use, at the request of the schools themselves, innovative and digital personal tools to build their knowledge, communicate with their teachers and practice the development of specific skills.

Enhancement of transverse skills can be nourished and developed from such a singular situation if the emphasis is placed on the critical and conscious use of technological equipment, so as to make students citizens aware of the educational possibilities that the moment offers and start a didactic process that promotes and support social inclusion. Digital competence is one of the eight competences required of European citizens in a lifelong learning perspective. The acquisition of this competence does not derive exclusively from the ability to use digital tools: technological skills evolve and change daily and you must be able to use ever newer and different tools. Furthermore, thanks to new technologies and, in particular, to the tools provided by the Web, users are confronted with a wide range of information that everyone can produce, regardless of their specific and sectoral skills. This freedom increases the risk linked to the authoritativeness of the sources and contributes to the diffusion of a kind of culture lacking in depth, since it is based on the speed and temporariness of data (Poce, 2015). Every aware citizen must be able to use ICT to find, retain, evaluate, produce and share data and information, communicating with other people on the web and using specific digital tools. The introduction of new technologies in pedagogically rigorous educational paths supports users and allows them to learn how to use digital technologies and tools critically. At the same time, it supports the development of transverse skills (communication, collaboration, critical thinking) and facilitates the inclusiveness of all social groups, removing the physical and motor barriers that prevent real and active participation.

In the perspective so far exposed, two examples of good practices proposed by the Centre for Museum Studies I chair at Roma Tre University are proposed, both aimed at promoting transversal and digital skills through technology and cultural heritage in formal educational contexts (primary and secondary school): technology is, in the practices described below, a tool for knowing the territory, its history and heritage and, at the same time, a means through which the student becomes aware the relation of the human being with the outer world, promoting communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking.

1. Critical technology, creativity and didactics of science (first and second grade secondary school): the project aims at promoting knowledge related to biodiversity and the protection of heritage developing critical thinking skills through an online course intended for pupils and students of the first grade at secondary school. In the student laboratory, pupils are invited to work in a group on the analysis and production of creative stories of a scientific topic related to their territory. The course uses exclusively personalized digital environments (the Orbis dictus platform) and remote communication tools (e.g. Wiki) to improve the language skills possessed by the pupils, as well as to increase the argumentative skills in written production, the development of critical thinking and the creativity. The project was carried out in a preliminary phase with the collaboration of the Institute for Marine and Coastal Environment of CNR – (Centre for National Research - headquarters of Capo Granitola and the Centre for Museum Studies Roma TRE University).

2. Cultural heritage for the development of transverse skills: the Musetech WebApp (primary and secondary school). Within the Erasmus + DICHE project "Digital Innovation in Cultural and Heritage Education in the light of 21st century learning", the Centre for Museum Studies (Roma TRE University,) partner of the project together with 5 other European institutions, has created the Musetech WebApp Musetech ( available at the link http://www.musetech.it) through which primary and secondary school teachers can learn and experiment digital practices and tools for cultural heritage education: Virtual Reality app, interdisciplinary educational courses, software for the realization of Digital Storytelling. Teachers can browse the categories available within the WebApp (class, objectives, cultural site) to get inspiration or search directly through keywords to narrow down the selection. The WebApp has been used for the construction and implementation of more than 10 heritage education courses through technologies in secondary and primary schools which involved around 200 pupils in Rome (Italy).

http://centrodidatticamuseale.it/it/

Poce, A. (2018). Il patrimonio culturale per lo sviluppo delle competenze nella scuola primaria. Cultural Heritage and the Development of XXI Century Skills in Primary education. Milano: FrancoAngeli.

Poce, A. (2015). Tecnologia critica, creatività e didattica della scienza. Milano: FrancoAngeli.