Abstract:

ANSAS is a pubblic agency for educational research and in-service teachers' professional development. In 2010, the Italian Ministry of Education asked the Agency to re-design two courses, Tecnologie per la didattica base e avanzato, delivered in 2008/09. The request came after a survey pointing out that the courses had a significant drop out rate (about 30% in the basic course and 25% in the advanced course) and were considered uneffective by more than a half of the teachers. The survey also pointed out that participants expected to acquire technical skills and both courses, aimed to develop a pedagogical competence, didn't meet these expectations. Given this scenario, the Ministry of Education considered the assessment of initial and final teachers' digital competence as a priority and asked ANSAS to develop a feasability study for a certification. The article describes the preliminary work for the design of this certification that will be tested in 2012/13. It includes: a longitudinal study about the changes in Italian teachers' digital skills from 2001 to 2010; a comparative analysis of different definitions of pedagogical digital competence; the definition of syllabus as a participatory design process.
For the longitudinal study, ANSAS researchers drew from considerable amount of quantitative and qualitative data collected during previous professional development activites. The study pointed out that during the period 2001-2010 there was a slow but general increase in the use of ICTs among Italian teachers. Despite this fact, they generally consider themselves inadequate to use them in their profession and are persuaded that courses should focus on technical and practical training: pedagogical digital competence is not considered an issue. On the other hand, the study also pointed out that ICTs are rarely embedded into professional practice. Digital technology is considered mainly a “motivational tool” to be used occasionally.
As a consequence of these findings, ANSAS decided to revise both the definition of this competence and the methodology used in professional development. Researchers took part in a comparative study by European Schoolnet. Epict and UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers were taken in account as a reference for future courses. However, as they were considered too prescriptive to meet italian teachers' expectations and needs, ANSAS researchers decided to identify alternative frameworks. Finally, they identified a theoretical framework, the Technological Pedagogical Content Model, by M. J. Koehler and P. Mishra, supporting a pedagogical approach to ICTs use with a strong focus on practice.
Based on this model, ANSAS undertook the definition of the syllabus. Researchers identified five areas (School and Information Society, New media literacy, Educational Technology, Instructional design) plus a Curriculum based area with 9 subjects taught in primary and junior secondary schools. To define content and objectives, ANSAS involved one specialist for each of the first five areas. For the Curriculum based area, researchers involved from one to three teachers for each subject: all of them were experienced in the use of ICTs and in four cases they were also teachers' trainers. The article describe the general process for the definition of the syllabus and presents case studies from the Curriculum based area: Italian, Foreign Languages, Math and Science.

Keywords:

Teachers' professional development, educational technology.