“ I ncomparable!” T hings that F 2F t eaching cannot do

1. “Incomparable!” Things that F2F teaching cannot do diRoberto Maragliano

2. Are there differences, in didactics, between f2f and e-learning? • And if there are differences, what sort ofdifferences we are talking about? Before trying to answer these questions, I want to explain my personal point of view on the relation betweendidactics andtechnology

3. For didactics, technology can be support environment For technology, didactics can be • implicit element • explicit element

4. For example, in traditional didactics, the manual can be seen • as a material tool, useful to transfer knowledge (support) • as a matrix of experiences, able to mold them (environment)

5. In addition, the fact that in the manual relies a specificdidactics can be • highly considered (explicit element) • ignored (implicit element)

6. In my opinion • technology offers didactics an environment • didactics must interact with (and within) this environment

7. If the environment changes, also didactics must change, in order to redefine its identity So, if the environment changes, didactics must make itself explicit In my opinion, we have to concentrate in a selective way on the problems of didactics

8. Many of the ideas we have, and especially many of the practices we adopt in didactics, are determined by the characteristics of printedbooks The manual gives shapes to teaching and learning experiences

9. The manual is in relation with a dualistic model in which there are previously defined subjects and objects, with differentroles knowledge is seen (and is used) as a physical object, with specific boundaries and specific internal articulations the teacher teaches, and the learner learns

10. Internet technology is very different to printing technology Although it is so ductile as to adapt itself for people that use it like a printing technology, Internet technology redefines knowledge organization If this is the time to understand what shapes this technology can give to knowledge, this crisis can be an opportunity

11. This crisis can be a growth, if it is really a chance to recognize the specificity of didactics problems If the crisis is a growth, there are no more reasons to believe in a dualistic model In the most advanced e-learning experiences subjects and objects are fluid entities teaching and learning are open functions

12. For years, online education was controlled by software engineers, who have decided the issues to debate For years, we have been talking about systems, platforms, standards

13. Within this teaching approach didactics problems were intended as resolved We can say more there were no problems technology did itall But technology did not face toward anti-technological prejudice that is verystrong in didactics

14. During the last years and after various experiences didactics problems have become more visibles Today, didactics and technology can interact at the same level, without risks of colonization I think this is good for both technology and didactics

15. In the relation between each others didactics and technology must define themselves in a better way and singularly But together they have to face the objections that come from outer worlds This process is not linear and its positive result is not sure

16. There are a lot of resistances on technological side, there are resistances toward considering the contributions that come from didactics, for technicalinnovation and technical clarification on didactics side, there are resistances toward considering the contributions that come from technology, for conceptualinnovation and conceptualclarification

17. There’s no comparison! How can we compare face-to-face teaching and its typical human characteristics to the sterile teaching condition related to a calculating machine? How can a computer, unable to feel pain or joy, express the feeling of teaching and learning?

18. These are the objections we have regularly to face in our work These objections summarize the resistances toward considering technology as a philosophical resource didactics as a field in which we can debate and discuss different point of views

19. It is difficult to answer these questions It is difficult to persuade those who are not accustomed to listening to the others to the world It is difficult to persuade those who do not want to be convinced But we have to answer and try to debate the prejudices underlying that questions

20. My answer is usually this It is true, there is something that online learning cannot achieve I agree, a direct experience is something incomparable But then, we should be coherent, we have to give up our learning habits, based on reading! And more, the machine has no feelings, but can we find feelings in our university rooms or in the pages of our manuals?

21. And I want to say more, trying to face directly these objections There are lot of activities we can do exclusively online, and not in a face-to-face experience For example interaction among everyone simulation sharing of the same work space

22. Interaction among everyone, simulation, sharing of the same work space are not common activities in the actual university learning methods due both to material and conceptual (and affective!) restrictions

23. Moreover, these are typical activities in a technologically and didactically advanced net learning Thanks to these activities the entire community learns, not simply the single student

24. Net learning does not transfer to the student a strictly delimited piece of knowledge but enables him/her to elaborate and share open portions of knowledge Subjects and objects have open boundaries, that can easily change

25. Net learning permits open dialogues between teacher and students and among students There are not rigid distinctions in roles There are not fixed roles the learner teaches the teacher learns

26. These activities are not always realized at the same time in the actual e-learning projects When they are exploited (even if partially), the way of conceiving and practicingdidactics tends to change

27. Thanks to the awareness about the possibilities of net didactics, that are different from the f2f ones, didactics can develop itself Thanks to the awareness about the possibilities of interaction, simulation, collaboration, technology can develop itself

28. We have to respond to the blackmail that came from the common sense about things that net didactics can not do, in comparison to f2f didactics We have to challenge f2f didactics to do whatwe manage to do And above all, we have to challenge f2f didactics to document what it is able to do just as we document what we are able to do