Italy was one of the countries to be hit early and hard by the Coronavirus. Partial lockdown began late February, expanding to the entire country within 2 weeks. This Saturday on Silver Lining for Learning, we will hear first-hand from Dr. Nicoletta Di Blas and Dr. Tommaso Agasisti from the Politecnico di Milano about how their institutions and the system overall responded to the crisis, from both the point of K12 educators and school leaders. [More below.]
Our guests
Dr. Nicoletta Di Blas is a faculty member with the Department of Electronics and Information of Politecnico di Milano. She directs the HOC-LAB (www.hoc.polimi.it) and has been active in projects related innovative education, educational technologies (digital storytelling, collaborative virtual environments, Massive Online Open Courses design and Implementation), technology-enhanced communication for cultural heritage and e-Health, involving thousands of users from all around Europe. She is the director of the master’s program in educational technology DOL and co-director of the master’s program on Managing Digital Innovation in Schools.
Setting the context: On March 10th, when Italian schools had been closed and it wasn’t clear whether and when they would be allowed to open again, a MOOC on Online teaching was launched by HOC-LAB, a laboratory at Politecnico di Milano (the largest technical university in Italy) with a strong tradition into training teachers on how to infuse technology into the classroom. More than 3000 K-12 teachers, enrolled to the MOOC, giving vent to a thriving community of practice where discussion and exchange of ideas (“mutual help”) went beyond the sheer access to the course’s content. Dr. Di Blas will draw on data, anecdotes and reflections gathered in this context and will focus on teachers’ various reactions to the emergency.
Dr. Tommaso Agasisti is Professor of Public Management and Associate Dean for Internationalization at the Politecnico di Milano School of Management. He also co-directs the Executive Master in School Management and of the Executive Master in Managing Digital Innovation in Schools. He has worked extensively in the measurement of performance in public organizations and institutions, with special focus on schools, universities and local governments. Since 2014, he is member of the Evaluation Committee of the Educational System of the Trento Province, Italy.
Setting the context: Dr. Agasisti will speak to the importance of leadership, specifically what the emergency taught school principals, as “managers” of the schools, taking into account both broad responsibilities (governing the school) and detailed issues (such as addressing difficulties faced by individual teachers and students). He will also illustrate the main features of a project led by PoliMi to support policy makers in assuming decisions about the reopening of schools – including the protocols to be defined for guaranteeing safe and effective education. There is serious concern on achievement losses, given the extent of the break from schooling, and particularly the impact on disadvantaged students (those who have inadequate access to technology or unable to cope). Finally, he will speak to the how this emergency forced key actors to evaluate what worked well during the school closure and the emergence of a clearer framework about the educational components which are supported more by technology (knowledge transfer) and those that need more attention (such as, social interaction and knowledge activation).