Abstract:

New media are inducing massive processes for social, didactic and technological innovation within the university system. In a liquid society, these processes are the base on which Universities can build their version of an Augmented Learning for Social Innovation.
Augmented Learning allows to extend University reach out how never before. We live in a society in which information is ubiquitous, services are global and populations move constantly. In this new context, the role of the university changes, extending its activities to reach populations that previously had no access to higher education. Formerly confined to youth, and to physical university classroom, learning age now includes the entire span of a life, and the classroom becomes virtual, to accommodate learners from any place and time.

Thus, new concepts emerge, such as:
1) life-long learning – the possibility and necessity of learning throughout one’s life;
2) e-learning – the opportunity to engage in distance learning through “augmented” didactics;
3) ubiquitous or mobile learning – learning engagement outside university buildings that goes beyond pre-established learning schedules and locations; and finally
4) blended learning – which adds new tools and learning modes to traditional didactics.

With Augmented learning, I intend all the four learning concepts specified above.

In order to exploit at best the possibilities offered by Augmented Learning, four dimensions should be taken under consideration:
1) pedagogical,
2) technical,
3) institutional,
4) content.

Over the past 10 years the University of Urbino has implemented practices that demonstrate how indispensable it is to create flexible but balanced relationships among these elements so as to optimize the results of the educational process in terms of teaching quality and effectiveness. Maintaining a dynamic equilibrium among these four aspects of the learning process can be difficult, and coordination must be strategic. Concentrating excessively on didactics, for example, may produce excellent learning materials, but without considering technical and access requirements any students in areas suffering the digital divide would not enjoy access. Underestimating the institutional element, on the other hand, may hinder the recognition of university credits after completion of courses and thus render pedagogical results irrelevant. Overemphasising technical questions may produce undervalued appreciation and development of course content. In short, the risks of excessive attention to pedagogy generates a pedagogical bias, as excessive technical emphasis produces a technological bias, excessive institutional emphasis generates too much bureaucracy, and excessive emphasis on content creates disjointed pedantry.

It is necessary, therefore, to promote a new Learning Experience. The Urbino Experience promotes Augmented Learning in all dimensions, binding and blending each of them in order to create a synergetic effect that avoids the risks described above. This gives form to the passage from a knowledge transmission approach (currently applied in most forms of academic discipline and didactic objective) to a vision that places the student at the centre of the learning process, guaranteeing in this way Social Innovation and the democratizing of the learning processes.

Keywords:

Augmented Learning, e-learning, Social Innovation.