Telecom Italia and the Faculty of Learning Sciences Suor Orsola Benincasa University in Naples have launched a trial adoption of digital teaching tools and technologies in two classes at the Istituto Scolastico Suor Orsola Benincasa.
In partnership with Olivetti and the Campania Consortium for Research into IT and Industrial Automation (CRIAI), the trial will supplement teaching materials with multimedia content created by students and teachers using digital technologies and Web 2.0 tools, and be accessible via the latest generation of computer devices.
The purpose of the trial is to assess the impact of new technologies on the evolution of teaching methods towards new models, and to assess how effective new technologies are in terms of learning. The venture will make it possible to identify the content best suited to the latest access devices, define the benefits achievable in terms of learning on a subject by subject basis, and identify new training plans for teachers.
For the remainder of the current school year, two classes at the Istituto Scolastico Suor Orsola Benincasa in Naples (a second year high school class and a second year grammar school class) will take part in trials across a range of subjects: Italian, Latin, French, English and Physics. Project activities are managed over a Web platform built by Telecom Italia in partnership with CRIAI. Teachers and students use this platform to create teaching content via leading-edge information sharing tools such as blogs, forums and wikis. The adoption of these tools in a school environment – they are commonly found in free time activities – allows students and teachers to actively participate in the creation of new content, including multimedia content, to supplement existing teaching materials. Olivetti is equipping classrooms with an Oliboard Interactive Multimedia Whiteboard and loaning every pupil an M1025 netbook.
The Faculty of Education Sciences at the Suor Orsola Benincasa University and its Dean Lucio d’Alessandro will be running the scientific side of the project, and offering the classes involved access to the university’s resources for activities and research into pedagogy, teaching materials and new technology as applied to teaching and training.
This initiative confirms the Telecom Italia Group’s commitment to developing and distributing leading-edge technical solutions capable of fostering schools computerization and helping to modernize Italy and its economy.
Rome, 25 October 2010
