Abstract:

The pandemic has imposed on the school system an organizational and planning remodeling of the activities. This has taken the character of a new challenge: Distance Learning (DL). With the Ministerial Decree n. 39 of 26 June 2020, the DL has evolved into Integrated Digital Education (IDE). The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has accelerated the information revolution which affected the school system for several years. The Italian school was forced to change its operating methods. Consequently, schools must use information and communication technologies creatively in relation to the complex objectives to be achieved.

Distance learning, by definition, represents a type of on-line teaching, through Internet connections, in interactive or asynchronous mode (Menghi, 2020). As a result, it cannot be implemented as a simple reproduction of the traditional "face to face" classes.

Distance learning offers a different representation of the teaching-learning process:
it requires an innovative approach to create learning situations in which the student can independently develop knowledge, skills, and competences.
In fact, a radical change in the way of teaching is necessary since the mere introduction of new technological tools is not sufficient to guarantee the improvement of processes. The lesson in DL or IDE must be planned according to the technological perspective, modifying the relational and communicative dimension of the didactic action of the classroom lesson. The teacher must reduce the time dedicated to the theoretical explanation with the aim of increasing the interaction with the students through examples, exercises, feedback, individual and group operational moments.

All this has the aim of placing the student at the center of the teaching-learning process, favoring discussion, relationships, and active participation. Therefore, it is necessary to modify the evaluation practices: they must be consistent with the student's progress and coherent with the educational contexts in which the action carried out (SApIE, 2020). On this basis, the present contribution proposes to identify, without claiming exhaustiveness, the general framework created in Italian schools during the emergency period with the aim of understanding how much distance teaching has impacted on teaching professionalism and on teaching action. There was a special focus on the characteristics of educational mediation that identify effective teaching (teacher's skills, educational methodologies, organization of spaces and working time, individual activities, evaluation methods, etc.). The profession of teachers has been at the center of an intense debate for many years and the problems connected with this topic are of a fundamental interest today.

Keywords:

Distance Learning, Pandemic, school, teacher professionalism, Integrated Digital Education.