Open the newspaper, now it’s a race: everyone against the DAD. It’s like shooting the Red Cross. The opposition trying to win a few votes, and then there is the “positioning” friendly fire against the Minister Bianchi. All repeating that the DAD did not work and that it is urgent to be back in attendance. Come on? As if there were someone who claims otherwise! Here, as a manager of one of the three platforms that the DAD has allowed, I’m not there.
The model that we experts have been offering for years is a hybrid model, widespread in many European countries, where the presence in the classroom in the morning is essential, and the platforms add a digital dimension both in the classroom and in the afternoon at home that makes teaching more participatory, makes children collaborate and gives students a role more active.
The digital education of the pandemic was a disaster not only because the face-to-face part was missing, but above all because 96% of the teachers (source: Indire) only re-proposed frontal lessons, keeping the students on Zoom 5 hours a day. In short: the absolute worst way to use digital.
All competing to mention the Invalsi: has anyone wondered what Invalsi we would have without DAD? The alternative to DAD – whose services were provided by all platforms free of charge, bearing significant economic losses, but no one knows this and it is not very cool to talk about it – was the cosmic void.
Instrumentalize the DAD in the political debate it does damage because it risks passing the message, in a little digital school system and with a teaching very similar to fifty years ago, that the problem is technology and not teaching. There is a post-pandemic risk of throwing the baby away with the bath water. And it is also unfair to the teachers, who have made an incredible effort trying to reinvent themselves or almost themselves, and who are the heroes of these 18 months together with the healthcare staff.
We are looking at the finger instead of the moon: we should talk about didactics, instead of demonizing technology tout court. Instead, let’s talk about how to prevent the few classes that will return to DAD in October from experiencing the same “televised” DAD as last year. Let’s talk about how to incentivize (yes, even economically) and train teachers in one hybrid teaching that helps children develop the skills of the third millennium. In short: let’s talk about how the post-pandemic can be a great one opportunity for renewal of teaching methods and of the school in general. Going on against Zoom is really useless.
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