Diapositiva 1

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Proposal Barcellona 21st february 2005
Continue to test the Green Board by collecting
evidences from different learning experiences in
each research context Make focus groups and
interviews with privileged users in order to
define the requirements for the interface of the
Digital Library
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INTERVIEWSMarch 2005
OBJECTIVES
Define the first requirements for the interface
of the Digital Library by gt identifying the
relevant factors in a learning process starting
from real teachers experiences(and not form
Green Board Elements) gt investigating experts
process in designing a learning process
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Prof. Guastella teaches Ancient literature at
University of Siena in the Department of
Humanistic studies . He is also in charge for
professional training for the administrative
staff of the University of Siena He
reports two experiences of teaching
Professional training at Unisi Subjects
changing of administrative rules in Italian
University Course at University Humanistic
department Subject ancient literature.
Prof. Guastella
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1- Professional training Changing of
administrative rules in University My
starting point of view on the subject was
different from the participants and this made the
course more interesting and various 2- Course
at University Classicist There were a lot
of discussion among persons
Best teaching experience
Key elements 1- Both Teacher and Students
curiosity about new themes presented and
discussed subject 2- Open discussion among
participants and teacher made the course more
dynamic Teaching method 3- Variety of contents
and heterogeneity of the class Students
profile 4- Few students let me well manage the
interaction Student number 5- Students had a
good knowledge background about the subject of
the course Student profile
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In my opinion every time the students are
forced to attend a course, the learning
experience can be considered negative
Regret teaching experiences
Key elements Teaching as a social rite when
both teacher and students feel themselves
compelled to attend the course, the lesson seems
to be a sort of rite, in which the actors are
not engaged.
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Method
Contents
Studentsprofile
Design a course
Prof. Guastella starts from the contents and the
results he want to achieve the amount of
contents that the students individually or
collectively have to learn during the learning
process. He defines a minimal set of contents he
wants them to acquire, which can be easily
extended during the experience. Content
subject Guastella chooses the best method to
give the students the theoretical tools to
manipulate to the contents during and after the
learning activity Method The other elements
(like students number, students knowledge
background, physical characteristic of the
class,) are unknown at the very starting point
of the process design, so the learning process
has to be flexible enough to allow the contents
and method management in relation with them i.e.
If the class is too numerous I can divide it in
small groups
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Prof. Putti teaches Visual Anthropology at
University of Siena in the Communication Science
Department. He is also in charge for
professional training for the technical staff of
the University of Siena He reports two
experiences of teaching Course at Teachers
Training School Subject Philosophy Professional
training at Unisi Subjects Audio-video tools
Prof. Putti
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Professional training Phylosophy A student
didnt want to learn the subject. I decided to
teach her at least some reasoning modalities on
philosophy by interviewing her everyday on small
parts of the program
Best teaching experiences
Key elements Establish a personal
relationship with the student in order to
increase his/her motivationMethod (one to one
teaching)
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Professional training Audio-Visual tools
once I choose the wrong objectives with
respect to the students I deepened some topics
they didnt interested to and I only
superficially addressed the ones they were more
interested to
Regret teaching experiences
Key elements Students had a too much
heterogeneous knowledge background. Difficulty in
creating a common ground among experts and
beginners attending the same course Student
profile A lot of students were not really
interested in the subjectLack of motivation
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Subject
CONTEXT
Method
Socialorchestration
Time
Design a course
Prof. Putti first takes into consideration all
the aspects of the context in which is going to
teach Context Istitutional context, Students
information, Physical space Then he organize the
timetable of the course Subject Duration and
step Try to distribute the contents to give the
course a good balanceContents He chooses the
best method for each part of the course lecture,
visual presentations, discussionMethod He
defines the roles and the interaction modality
with the studentsSocial orchestration
Interaction and roles
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Simone Gambini is a technical employee of the
University of Siena. He is also in charge for
professional training for the technical staff of
the University of Siena He reports
two experiences of teaching Professional
training at Unisi Subjects Audio-video tools
Seminar inside a University course at Science
of Communication Department Subjects
Audio-video tools
Simone
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Seminar in Audio-video tools for university
students When I had a positive feedback about
what participants learnt
Best teaching experiences
Key elements Good knowledge background of
participantsStudents profile During the lesson
there was a constant discussion among students
and teachers. The interaction was really
high Social orchestration, interaction
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Lessons in Audio-video tools for university
technical employees Participants did not have a
sufficient background knowledge to be engaged in
the course
Regret teaching experiences
Key elements Some of the participants did not
have a sufficient knowledge to share a common
vocabulary with the more trained Students
profile There was not interaction among
participants but a one way transmission of
information Social orchestration, interaction
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Subject
Method
SpecificContents
Time
Design a course
Simone first takes into consideration the
subject is going to teach Subject Then he
organize the timetable of the course Duration
and step He arranges the contents in different
topics linked logically Contents He takes in
account the physical space Method
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Andrea teaches Bioinformatics at University of
Siena in the Bio molecular and Biology
Departments. He reports two
experiences of teaching Bio informatics to
university students in molecular biology. Both
teaching experiences reported have the same
subjects Bio informatics software applications
and database for Bio molecular analysis.
Andrea
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Students Course in Bio informatics software
applications and database for Bio molecular
analysis
Best teaching experiences
Elements Practical exercises on computers give
the possibility to follow students in
accomplishing the given tasks. Further more is
possible to provide them with technical
assistance in interacting with software and to
guide them in the procedure Teacher method
(Teaching format practical) Proposing unsolved
case studies connected with real world
experience the students may have (e.g. during the
classes SARS was an unsolved analysis case
proposed while the Media attention on the disease
was really high) Contents situated
content Some of the case study solved were
issued as Scientific paper. This possibility
motivated the students that really seldom have
access to the production of scientific
publications and proved that the gap between
research and teaching can be bridged Traces
externalization Student information need,
profile, motivation
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Students Course in Bio informatics software
applications and database
Regret teaching experiences
Elements The motivation of students was not
properly addressed The pre-existing knowledge of
students was not integrated in the content of the
courses Student information need, profile,
motivation The unavailability of computers
compelled Andrea to teach more theoretical
classes (e.g. teaching database structure or
algorithms instead of using the software)
Artefacts and materials availability, status
The shift towards theoretical contents did not
match with the interests of students Student
information need, profile, motivation
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Artefacts
Objectives
Contents
Student
Time
Space
Teacher
Key Elements Motivation of students Student
information need, motivation Availability of
resources in terms of contents Artefacts and
materials availability, status Availability of
spaces and artefacts Spaces physical
characteristics, use Continuous presence of
teachers and tutors Teacher role Situating the
content of the course according to other courses
the students have already attended or are about
to Contents integrated content Choosing content
considering what could be interesting for
students and connected to their real world
experience Contents situated content Make
explicit the objectives in relation with the
skills students should acquire Aims
Objectives aims, objectives students
information needs Organize the activity in
relation with the numbers of student and time.
Time duration and step social orchestration
number
Design a course
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Moira works for the network of Siena University
Libraries as a programmer of software
applications for content management. Really
often she teaches the personnel of the libraries
(her colleagues) how to use the software she
assembled. She reports two
experiences one as a teacher the other one as an
attendant .
Moira
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Teacher in a Course for the personnel of
University Libraries. subject software
applications for content management
Best teaching experiences
Elements The activity during the course was
mainly practical Teacher method Teaching
format practical The content was really well
situated in the everyday experience of the
participants Contents situated
content Teaching to a Community. Moira
personally knew the participants (most of them
are usually colleagues) Organizational cultural
context community The participants most of the
times knew the problems the software applications
attempted to address Aims and objectives
sharing A high degree of interaction among
participants Social orchestration numbers,
interaction Few participants have more
possibility to cooperate and collaborate Social
orchestration grouping
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Attendant in a Course for the personnel of
University Libraries. subject software
applications for content management
Regret teaching experiences
Elements Due to the high number of people was
not possible to establish a satisfactory degree
of Interaction among participants Social
orchestration number, interaction The seats
were not comfortable Spaces physical
characteristics, use Wrong participants
expectations about the objectives of the
course Student information need, motivation The
content presented was not structured Activity
actions
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Activityplan
Socialorchestration
Students
Evaluation
Artefacts
Teacher
Design a course
Elements Stating the objectives with respect to
the participants experience and
expectations Student information need,
motivation Well structured teaching
activity Activity actions Numbers of
participants (small groups to facilitate
interaction) Social orchestration number,
interaction Artefacts available and well
functioning (make the course more
appealing) Artefacts and materials availability,
status Artefacts and materials
availability, The summative evaluation is a good
tool to monitor if the course was
successful Evaluation summative evaluation the
teacher should make the participants feel
comfortable (avoid the learner-teacher
traditional relationship) Teacher role, attitude
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Background/Expertise Musician Music Teacher
Title of the Project Musical Educational
Programme for Primary Schools (Sponsored by the
Municipality of Perugia, Italy) Role Programme
Designer, Coordinator, Operator (teacher)
Francesca
Francesca is the coordinator of an educational
program aiming at teaching music (basic level)
to Primary School children (5-11 years old). She
has been teaching music for 18 years, in these
interviews she speaks about her experience both
as teacher and as educational programs
Coordinator.
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. Some years ago I was going to meet the young
students of a primary school class (5-6 years
old) for the first time. I decided to use a
special (or magic) object to introduce myself
to the class . I found a gummy yellow coloured
ball with some blue points painted on I called
that Lulù (like the sphere yellow and blue)
. After few Lulù became part of the lessons she
taught the children the basic parameters of
the sound (duration, loudness, height) through
its behaviour, she looked after the behaviour of
the children during the class activities, she
evaluated their elaborates . After several years
I sometimes meet some of those children asking me
about Lulù
Best teaching experiences
. Lulù was unexpectedly successful for me. I
decided to re-formulate the whole didactic course
around that . You cant expect too much from
the activity you plan for such young children.
Something that seem to be gripping (for the tools
involved, the typology of the activity) can even
result boring for the students. Sometimes an idea
you didnt consider of too much interest will
result very intriguing for these young students

Emerging issue(s)
The importance for teaching to be flexible and
improvise their role and the activities during
the interactions with students
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. Ive never met a real bad or unhappy
experience. I have a general concern regarding
the difficulties I usually face in involving the
teachers and the families in the musical
activities . Sometimes it seems that teachers
consider musical didactic as a matter of fact
in the development of primary school curricula.
They rarely put too much attention at the
proposed activities and its always quite
difficult to find space for teaching music or to
link the various subjects together . Beside
that, Its even difficult to consider parents and
families as resources for our activities. In the
past, we proposed them to collect funds for
buying musical instruments or for recording
musical material for all the children. Anybody
really seemed sympathetic with such ideas
Regret teaching experiences
Emerging issue(s)
. The importance of integrating subjects and
coordinating teachers in the development of
complex scholastic programmes (e.g. music,
maths, literature) . Involving external
stakeholders (i.e. the families) as resources for
didactic projects
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Contents
Aims
Activities
Assess ment
Outcome
Artefacts/ Materials
Time
Objectives
Design a course
I usually start with a general aim, which is
trying to give the children a meaningful musical
experience. All the other specific objectives
(sense of rhythm, acquisition of singing basic
skills) are secondary. Id like to open them a
door into the world of music For doing this
we have to collect and organise an interesting
musical material. That could be original (songs
and tunes composed ad hoc) or existing musical
material (symphonies, folk/pop songs, didactic
material) For doing this we have to collect
and organise an interesting musical material.
That could be original (songs and tunes composed
ad hoc) or existing musical material,
symphonies, folk/pop songs, didactic
material) The objectives are almost always the
same sound/silence, concept of music, musical
parameters, rhythm I schedule the Activities
in the time-span (usually 3-4 months) trying to
following the availability of the various schools
and teachers During the courses I usually
schedule at least 3-4 meetings with the operators
(music teachers) for check-ups The courses end
up with a public performance of the children
that may be held within each school (teachers
and families are invited) or in a public space
(e.g. the main theatre) for all the kids
involved
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Background/Expertise Humanistic Area
(LiteraturePhilosophy degree) High School
Professor of History, Literature and Philosophy.
Title of the Project Interdisciplinary
class project called The Cultural and Musical
Revolution in the 60s 70s Role Project
Coordinator, Professor
Elisabetta
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. I havent any previous experience in the
project area cause I come from a school in
which this area is not developed at all
moreover this is the first year Im experiencing
the project tutoring . This year I found very
positive the activity of lyrics production and
music recording . I observed most of the
students actively taking part at the the proposed
activities, especially those ones usually
distracted during the standard lessons
Best teaching experiences
. In this kind of non-conventional activities the
change of context plays a crucial role.
Students show competences which are not usually
demanded in the standard courses, in some cases
experimenting the inversion of role between
them and the teachers
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. Again, this is the only experience of tutoring
I have and I didnt face any actual unhappy
situation. . Ill probably adjust some aspects
in the next years. Some activities might be
better arranged and scheduled. . In
the very early period I tended to plan too many
activities and results in too few time. This
unrealistic perspective overloaded the students
who werent completely able to accomplish the
requested tasks.
Regret teaching experiences
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Contents
Evaluation (???)
Activities
Finding External Resources (teachers)
Objectives
Time
Design a course
It wasnt me planning this project for the first
time. I became the coordinator of the project
during the second year so what I made has been
trying to re-arrange the whole plan I
scheduled a calendar of meetings and activities
in a way that students could have been working
together with the teachers, in groups, in the
classroom or in the Labs. I scheduled a
calendar of meetings and activities in a way that
students could have been working together with
the teachers, in groups, in the classroom or in
the Labs. I noticed too much waste of time
and resources. That was why I decided to
establish a minimum set of (more specific)
objectives/priorities for the first year and a
different set of more general objectives (to be
refined) for the second For some of those
objectives (e.g. lyric production or song
composition) I needed some external
collaborators. I contacted them asking their
involvement in the project Im not sure
whether some kind of evaluation is expected or
not at the end of the projectI see my colleagues
producing many kinds of files and charts
Sometimes I would like to be like them, sometimes
I feel them (filling in forms, producing
evaluation files) like a sort of constriction
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Background/Expertise Scientific Area
(Naturalistic Science Laurea Degree) High
School Professor of Science and Chemistry.
Title of the Project Interdisciplinary class
project called The Cultural and Musical
Revolution in the 60s 70s Role Professor
Elisabetta
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. I recently took one of the 4th class in the
traditional naturalistic trip (IV
Biologico) . Students walked around a
naturalistic site (in this case down the river)
for then collecting together observations and
discussions . Teachers gave them a common topic
(the river) to be deepened under different
perspectives (economical, historical, literal,
scientific) . They conducted the activity
with much enthusiasm and ability, positively
impressing one of the expert/lecturer invited by
the school
Best teaching experiences
. For the first time the students experimented
the research approach . We (teachers) showed
them how to speak about the same topic following
different points of view
Emerging issue(s)
. In this situation it emerges the importance of
empirical activities rather than
theoretical/speculative approaches . This
experience suggests the importance of linking
different contents together and to ground them in
a concrete, shared experience
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. It deals with one of the class involved in the
interdisciplinary project living downtown (VB
Biologico) . Nobody of them is going to use the
contents developed within the project for the
final exam at the end of the year . The students
say they dont see the link with any of the topic
or the subject they usually study . Its the
first time this kind of objective is missed in
the experience I have in tutoring
Regret teaching experiences
. The theme of the project didnt come up from
any students discussion/debate. It has been
imposed by the committee of teachers . The
project is not shared among the class nobody
really seems to feel involved in it . In a
parallel experience I have in tutoring
interdisciplinary projects the classroom chose
the theme of the course. That is making them
feeling much more involved
Emerging issue(s)
. The importance of allowing students to be part
of decisional/addressing processes . Sharing
the decisions seems to be crucial for increasing
students motivation
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CONCLUSIONS

• gt Even when they work in the same context,
  teachers dont have a common approach to learning
  design
• gt Some given elements are considered basically
  influencing to design/act/evaluate a learning
  experience
• context (not-manageable factor)
• - students motivation (difficult to manage)
• students background (not-manageable factor)
• gt Mostly all the teachers design a learning
  process starting from the subject and/or aims and
  objectives
• then
• teachers on technical topics usually focus on
  factual elements which can influence the learning
  process (i.e. tools, space, students number,
  etc.)
• teachers on humanistic topics are more
  interested in defining the objectives and the
  activity in respect with students profiles and
  needs

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FOCUS GROUP5th April 2005
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FOCUS GROUP5th April 2005
Define the first requirements for the
interface of the Digital Library by gt
testing consistency and significance of the Green
Board categories for privileged users by
observing their effective use of the elements gt
investigating the clustering and the hierarchy
modalities of the Green Board elements
OBJECTIVES
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FOCUS GROUP5th April 2005
SIMULATION simulation of the design of
real learning activity active involvement of
learning experts critical factors emerge
during the discussion
METHOD
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FOCUS GROUP5th April 2005
2 heterogeneous groups Group A 1- Carlo,
University of Siena Administrator teaching
experiences in professional training 2- Diego,
musician music teacher for
beginners 3- Maria Alessandra, University
Professor in Mathematics teaching experiences
in University and school for teachers Group B 1-
Giovanni, University of Siena Administrative
employee expert in human resources management
and training 2- Veronica, Software developer
teaching experiences in informatics
courses 3- Francesco, musician teacher of
music
GROUPING
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FOCUS GROUP5th April 2005
Group A Organize a choir with a final
performance target university
employees activity duration 6 months Group
B Design a course of Informatics for
children target children of primary school (10
years old) activity duration 2 semesters
TASKS
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FOCUS GROUP5th April 2005
gt Green Board elements (written on
post-its) gt Blank post-it gt Form for the
description of the elements
TOOLS
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FOCUS GROUP5th April 2005
TOOLS
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FOCUS GROUP5th April 2005
gt 20 minutes of discussion inside each team
to identify key elements gt 30 minutes of writing
down description of each elements using forms gt
10 minutes defining relations, hierarchies and
groupings of elements gt 5 minutes final
presentation and discussion
ACTIVITY
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FOCUS GROUP5th April 2005
Negotiation of the general aims of the
course Group A The course has mainly a
social value, It gives participants an
opportunity to establish new kind of social
relations. Secondly it gives opportunity to
learn music Group B The course aims to provide
children with a basic knowledge of the main
functionality of a computer. It has an
explorative and playful approach
ACTIVITY steps
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FOCUS GROUP5th April 2005
Negotiation of the description of key
elements aims and context constituted the
starting elements of the project for both
groups Group A put in relation aims with
students profile and needs in order to specify
the objectives. Then they defined the duration
and steps and the activity. The group
discussed about the meaning of assessment in
this particular learning activity (mainly leisure
activity) Group B started from aims to
define the objectives of the course and refine
the subject. The definition of context
helped them to describe the students profile and
lead them to introduce a new element significant
for the learning activity funding and
resources strictly related to tools availability
and spaces they also created another element
concerning the possible integration with other
subjects in the same learning context (primary
school)
ACTIVITY steps
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Arranging the elements Group A disposed the
elements on two axes x- time (chronological
order) y- relevance (priority of the element in
the learning activity) They clustered the
elements in three macro-areas according to the
different phases they went through during the
design 1- resources management 2- unfolding
of learning activity 3- evaluation of the whole
activity
CONFIGURATION /A
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Arranging the elements Group B mapped the
elements around two main core elements aims
context The connections among the elements
were established according to their relations
without pre-existing criteria (e.g. time).
The configuration they used was shaped around
that course without constituting any standard
learning program structure
CONFIGURATION /B
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Both groups presented their plan explaining
the rationale and describing the main elements
they used for the learning activity
design. Then the others commented and asked
clarifications on elements and their disposition
on the board.
DISCUSSION
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FOCUS GROUP5th April 2005
Aims and context as prior elements of
research within the digital library The two
different configurations of the Green board
elements proposed by the two groups suggest at
least two different approaches to the use of
the Digital Library. 1- a modality based on
a sequential or abstract composition (e.g. use
of templates, already made schema) 2- a
modality based on narrative exploration of
elements to acquire inspiration from similar
experiences
CONCLUSIONS
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Next step Bristol 6th April 2005
Use the results of the feedbacks from the
different contexts to define the users
requirements for the Digital Library
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Allumino karto a tutti!