The Use of Mobile for Lifelong Learning in Italy_final

8/8/2019 The Use of Mobile for Lifelong Learning in Italy_final

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Mobile Learning for Lifelong Learningprojects in the Italian context

Luciano Seta*, Davide Taibi*, Giovanni Fulantelli*, Marco Arrigo*, Onofrio Di Giuseppe*, Manuel Gentile* andGianluca Merlo*

*Italian National Research Council Institute for Educational TechnologiesVia Ugo La Malfa, 153, 90146 Palermo (Italy)

{luciano.seta, davide.taibi, giovanni.fulantelli, marco.arrigo, onofrio.digiuseppe, manuel.gentile, gianluca.merlo}@itd.cnr.it

Abstract In this paper, we describe the state of the art on the use of mobiledevices for lifelong learning initiatives in Italy. The paper is basedon the research work done in the framework of the Europeanproject MOTILL (MObile Technologies in Lifelong Learning:best practices). Some exemplary projects on lifelong learninginvolving mobile technologies in Europe have been identified andanalyzed according to three dimensions: management, pedagogyand policy. In this paper we report on the Italian context asemerged by the study of the three Italian projects.

Keywords Mobile learning, lifelong learning, mobile learning projects.

1. INTRODUCTIONThis paper will be devoted to discuss selected mobilelearning experiences in the Italian context. This discussionwas one of the outcomes produced during the Europeanproject Motill (MObile Technologies in Lifelong Learning:best practices). This project was aimed to construct acommon framework involving educational research centersand the principal public and private agencies, engaged inthe sector of learning and training, to support the use of themobile technologies in the Life Long Learning (LLL)context.

The main aspects related to the theoretical andmethodological approach developed during the MOTILLproject are out of the scope of this paper. Instead, somespecific questions that characterize the implementation of mobile learning initiatives in the Italian context will behighlighted. The importance to contextualize any discourseabout mobile learning is central to this paper. Thisstatement has many fundamental implications. Forexample, it means that mobile learning cannot be examinedwithout taking into consideration political and socio-economic situation, global and local educational policies,

diffusion of specific technologies as well as competencesand skills to use them properly.

Therefore, mobile learning will be analyzed against theecological landscape of educational policies (Weaver -Hightower, 2008) in Italy. In particular this approachrequires identifying actors , relationships , environments and structure , and processes involved in the constitution of anycomplex ecosystem. Starting from three real experiences of mobile learning, examined during the MOTILL project, we

point out some components characterizing the ecology of educational policies in Italy.

In the framework of the MOTILL project, the Institute forEducational Technologies of the Italian National ResearchCouncil has selected three mobile learning projects in Italy,by means of structured interviews with the projectcoordinators. Interviews have been structured in such a wayto gather data on 3 analysis dimensions: management,pedagogy and policy; 18 key features for the threedimensions have been identified by the research team of theMOTILL project. Finally, ethical considerations have beenanalyzed too.

In this paper, the data gathered during the interviews willbe interpreted in an ecological perspective (Firestone, 1989;Ball, 1998; Cash et al., 2003; Barab and Roth, 2006;Weaver-Hightower, 2008): for each mobile learningexperience, we describe the specific niche within anecology that the experience has contributed to define and inwhich, consequently, it has to be situated.

Consequently, it will be possible to point out someconsiderations about relevant educational policies carriedout in the Italian national context.

2. THREE MOBILE LEARNING PROJECTIN ITALYThe use of mobile technologies in formal, not formal, andinformal educational contexts is a relatively new topic inthe Italian landscape, and this is in contrast with the factthat these technologies are deeply pervasive in the Italiansocial panorama. Often, in newspapers, these technologieshave been discussed in relation to unfair and bullyingbehaviors, or to the diffusion, thanks to the activity of textmessaging, of peculiar shibboleths between adolescents(Caron and Caronia, 2007). But rarely, one can read

something about opportunities offered by mobiletechnologies in education and learning (Traxler, 2010).

This situation defines a peculiar ecology in which predationrelationships prevail. The main actor, the student, isconsidered principally as a potential prey, and mobiletechnologies as the predators. Often, the agency, that is thepower to act within ecology, seems reserved to technology,and the prey is described as unable to resist to the power of that.


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In this landscape, some processes are activated fromeducational agencies, such as schools, academics, VET(Vocational and Educational Training) centers, and frompolicy departments, at national, regional, and local level.Regarding to this, a double movement can be observed.The first movement is conservative, it is aimed to preservethe environment, reducing resources consumption, andusing technology as a facilitator. The second movement is

addressed to conversion and adaptation, the rationale is thenecessity to cope with a dramatic change; here thetechnology is deemed as a lever able to push theeducational system in a new direction.

This double movement characterizes a plurality of educational policies aimed to integrate ICTs in learningprocesses. This justifies also the tendency to think of theuse of mobile technologies such as an opportunity to tacklesome relevant problems in the Italian educationallandscape: Italy's poor performance in various indicators of educational achievement (Polesen, 2010); the long lastingpermanence of students at Italian universities; the newmigratory wave in Italy.

The three mobile learning projects discussed in this section,have been conceived with the objective to tackle exactlythese three different issues.

2.1 MoULeThe MoULe (Mobile and Ubiquitous Learning) is an onlineenvironment for collaborative learning; by integratingsmart phones and portable devices, it enables educationalactivities based on the exploration of a geographical place.The system includes specific functionalities to search andaccess information spaces, to communicate and to annotateplaces according to their geographical coordinate. Datastored in the system are enriched by the informationconcerning geographical localization, so that the systemprovides users with information specific to the place theyare visiting. Teachers can use MoULe to design educational

paths, monitor users activities in real time, and evaluatequantity and quality of interactions among users (Arrigo etal., 2007).

This technological environment is aimed to support highschool students using context sensitive handheld devices incollaborative knowledge construction. The mobiletechnologies have been used as tools able to sustainstudents' creative work, while they are engaged in informalactivities. So, technology emerges as a new resource in theeducational policy ecology; it provides a suitable help totackle the problem of the poor performance in theeducational achievement, moving the focus from school tocontext, from the individual to the group, from thescholastic curriculum to experiences in real life.

The transition between formal and informal learning waspromoted by the design of experimental activitiesalternating onsite and classroom learning, and by thelearning environment created which was accessible throughthe use of both mobile devices and computers. During these

learning experiences, the students can discover differentsources of information, different ways to extract, elaborate,construct and store the knowledge. This transition, from amere notional knowledge to a situated learning experience,is probably one of the most important transformationsneeded or students to support their learning throughout alifetime.

This is also evident in the pedagogical approach thatauthors have adopted in designing the technologicalenvironment. In fact, the informants have declared:

In this project a model for mobile Knowledge Building Process was defined; on the basis of thismodel. According to the social constructivism

paradigm, knowledge is not transferred fromteachers to students, but is the result of collaborative activities.

As result of this learning experience, the students acquiredcompetences in using online educational tools, particularlyapplications which promote processes of collaborativeknowledge construction and improve their abilities to work

in a group.The political objective is also corroborated by theinformant s consideration:

The MoULe project provides teachers and schoolswith tools which enable them to exploit theeducational potential of onsite learning activities.

In the context of the MoULe project, the practice of themobile learning has had an impact on the distribution of theroles within the class, new social ties are been establishedduring the experience, and students have found new waysto learn and work. This project seems to claim new politicalactions needed to spread similar practices in widercontexts, creating networks between different schools,integrating learning activities with other social and culturalinitiatives. A new educational policy landscape will have tosettle down because the necessity to introduce newtechnological tools at school could be taken into account toobtain a greater involvement of students and also to verifythe didactic efficacy of these new apparatuses.

2.2 FedericaFederica is the e-Learning of the University of NaplesFederico II, it was developed to offer free access to theacademic knowledge of the university, with the free offerof educational materials and a structured guide to the

enormous informative patrimony already available inInternet. The interface of the web learning portal of Federica use a modular approach that combines simplicity,flexibility and high technological quality. Using this portalstudents can consult study materials for university coursesin e-Learning (also available in podcast format), at anytime, with extraordinary wealth of contents organized intraining modules with different media format. The intentionis to provide better support to students in gaining access touniversity knowledge content, in particular, this support is


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targeted at students who are behind with their studies, tothose off campus and to foreigners. Federica has receivedmore than two million hits in its first year, an indication of a significant user base, has not linear effects on the ecologyof learning at university.

If the initial objective of Federica was to involve people inuniversity education and to make knowledge within theuniversity easily accessible to all, now this platform makesuniversity courseware knowledge accessible not only tostudents enrolled in courses but to everyone. Informants puton evidence that considerable interest in Federica has beenshown by working professionals, postgraduates and youngpeople interested in having access to a university.Moreover, students using platform come from differentareas and regions, from Albania, ex-Yugoslavia, Greece,the Middle East.

So, if at the start of the initiative the aim was to focus onthe local territory, then this was followed by the naturalevolution of Federica towards international users because itaroused interest in various regions of the world in

university courseware.Federica initiative seems to boost emergent processes;these processes are characterized by the appearance of newecologies in which old problems look for new solutions. Tomanage such processes, different levels of policy have to beinvolved, and so it is not strange that:

The initiative has been strongly promoted by thedean of the university in order to reorganize and improve the structure of e-learning at theuniversity. Right now local politicians, areshowing a lot of interest and involvement and are,working to support the initiative financially aswell as politically.

Regarding the use of mobile technology, this varies from asoft approach, via audio podcasts, designed more for thedissemination of academic content, to a more sophisticatedapproach This was designed mainly for interactivity, via aweb interface and smartphone, e.g. iPhone or similar, thathas a higher cost and is more commonly used byprofessionals workers than by students. The intention is tointroduce the student to the use of mobile technologies in aprogressive manner, allowing even those who areeconomically disadvantaged to be able to use low costresources.

2.3 EnsembleThe main objective of the ENSEMBLE project is to testinnovative and multi-modal training approaches to supportintegration and active citizenship for young and adultmigrant groups in accordance with the 2003 Progress reportabout Democratic values, participation and activecitizenship education. New mobile communication toolsrepresent strategic instruments for increasing andimproving the participation of populations at risk of exclusion, regardless of differences of age and education.

The participation of adults and young people in theENSEMBLE project emphasizes the use of open, flexibleand innovative learning methods responding to learners'needs and current habits (use of mobile phone andpodcasts).

This project is strictly linked to an ecological politicallandscape, fixed at European level. In fact, the generalbackground of the ENSEMBLE project proposal isprovided by the European immigrant integration policiesand by the recent Communication "European i2010initiative on e-Inclusion - to be part of the informationsociety" in which the Commission underlines the role of ICT in providing the conditions for everyone to take part inthe information society by bridging the accessibility,broadband and competence gaps, accelerating effectiveparticipation of groups at risk of exclusion and improvingthe quality of life.

In the last five years this landscape has been established invarious documents, and the European Union underlines therelevance of the media which has considerable

responsibility in its role as an educator of public opinion.At national level, the management of the educational policyfor integration has been an increasing issue of last fewyears. In Italy, the national Parliament has ruled thephenomenon of immigration by means of various laws:starting from 1986. In this paper, we cannot examine theeducational policies arisen from these laws (Ponzo, 2009,table 1 at p. 18), but it is important to highlight as theENSEMBLE project work over a very relevant problem: if at current time now the immigrant students between 15-24years old are only the 9% of the total, in the 2050 they willbe the 38% of the total (Cipollone and Sestito, 2010, p. 32).

The ENSEMBLE project proposes a new approach to thistopic using mobile devices. The rationale is that the steadilyincreasing availability of these devices, their versatility andmobility are heightening interest in the use of suchinstruments in disadvantaged contexts, where the Internetconnection is not available, but there are mobile phones; infact, low-cost mobile devices offer opportunities forreducing inequalities at a global level.

ENSEMBLE intention appears to want to establish anenvironment where cooperative relationships prevail, this isobtained by combining the development of an innovativedidactic methodology with the use of very common mobiletechnologies.

The experimentation has been undertaken in two differentareas in Europe: the town of Prato in Italy, and the districtof Yvelines in France, on a sample population of differentnational/ethnic origins. The practice was mainly initiatedby municipalities, since these stakeholders were alreadymaking big efforts to foster social inclusion of immigrants.The target group of the project were students of 13-15 yearsold (second generation immigrants) and the studentsparents (first generation immigrants).


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Informal learning is present for both the target groups:students and adults. Actually, adult learning occurs almostentirely on an informal basis. Specifically for youngstudents, MP3 devices allow young students to move fromformal learning strategies in the classroom, towardsinformal learning opportunities occurring outside theschool. Regarding to this, informants declared:

Further investigation would be necessary in order to evaluate the role of these informal learningmoments in the whole learning process; inaddition, these informal learning occasions arestrictly related to something occurring in a formaleducational setting, and are sometimes dependent on the activity performed in the classroom

The transition between formal to informal learningmoments is a key pedagogical idea in ENSEMBLE. In thisway, the project wants to stimulate processes of adaptationand conversion. In these processes the change can bedramatic and actors have to adapt to these alteredenvironments.

3. CONCLUSIONThe relation between mobile technologies and lifelonglearning in Italy seems to push educational policies indirection of a peculiar ecological landscape. In particular,technologies and methodologies can cooperate to create aenvironment where new processes can emergespontaneously. These processes could boost a dramaticchange by means of the overcoming of traditionalboundaries between formal and informal contexts forlearning.

In this perspective, the researchers involved in this fieldhave underlined the opportunity to introduce the ICTs atschool as tools to face some relevant problems that areslowing economic and social development. In this paper wehave analyzed three Italian mobile learning projects and wehave highlighted that each project was aimed to face aspecific difficulty: poor performances of students inproblem solving and in creative thinking (MoULe); longlasting period of permanence at university (Federica);integration of immigrants at school (ENSEMBLE). Thechoice of the specific problem to face is not random; itreflects a specific vision about technologies such asfacilitator or as lever in a cooperative relationship.

However, the educational context in Italy is alsocharacterized by others problems. For example, inequalities

in performances between geographic areas, lack of aquality assessment system in education, scarcity in adultliteracy; and different ecologies have been proposed tocope with them. The theory of human capital (Becker,1964; Cipollone and Sestito, 2010), for example, introducesa more competitive environment, in which the policy

makers have to manage the scarcity of knowledgeresources, the distribution of incentives, and the control of the quality of the whole educational system, for example bymeans of introduction of some international system forassessing skills and competences.

This paper is aimed to better understand the opportunitiesoffered by the mobile technologies in lifelong learning.Regarding to this, the main suggestion is the when a newtechnological and methodological environment is designed,it is extremely important to take into consideration theentire ecological landscape, evaluating also the nationaleducational policies that the use of mobile devices canencourage.

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