“Tutti a Iscol@”: In Sardinia, Digital Innovation Runs Through The School Desks
The project in brief
The story of the project
In the hyperconnected world now contaminated by artificial intelligence, it is increasingly necessary to equip younger generations with knowledge and tools capable of addressing the challenges of the present. It is from the school benches that innovation must be both learned and put into practice.
It is from these foundations that the project Tutti a Iscol@ - Linea B3 IDEA, where IDEA stands for Educational Innovation and Learning.
The initiative, funded by the Department of Public Education of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia with approximately 1.5 million euros from the Action and Cohesion Plan (Digital School action), was carried out in collaboration with the regional agency Sardegna Ricerche.
Its explicit goal is to enhance the use of technological innovation in schools, guiding and supporting teachers in experimenting with new practices, methods, and tools based on the critical and reasoned use of digital technologies.
The intervention, in continuity with B2 line, which in the previous three years had involved various schools in extracurricular workshops on digital innovation, engaged over 120 public secondary schools of both first and second grades throughout the region during the academic years from 2018 to 2021. The experimentation process was divided into two phases. In the first phase, 60 "educational and technological tutors" selected by CRS4 – Centro di Ricerche, Sviluppo e Studi Superiori in Sardegna (the project's implementing body) guided approximately 400 teachers in experimenting with new teaching methods and tools. In the second phase, these same teachers brought the innovative practices learned from the tutors into the classrooms, reaching approximately 8,000 students.
The experimentation focused on three technological areas: Augmented Reality (AR), to extend learning beyond the confines of school spaces and time through the creation of AR content using smartphones and PCs; Computational Thinking, to enhance technological skills in Robotics, Internet of Things, and Coding; and Artificial Intelligence, to create connections and conceptual maps between teachers and students capable of enhancing digital interdisciplinarity in regular teaching.
In these fields, educational and laboratory experiences came to life, carried out by schools divided into four project groups, with a lead school for each group. Specifically, the groups worked on projects selected by CRS4 from those submitted by schools responding to “Tutti a Iscol@”'s public call:: “#Ajoaiscol@” from the lead school Istituto Tecnico Professionale “Ianas” in Tortolì, involving upper secondary schools and lower secondary schools in the Nuoro area; “IDEA provincia Sassari 1” from the lead school Istituto Comprensivo “Satta–Fais” in Perfugas, which brought together several upper secondary schools and lower secondary schools in the province of Sassari; “Innovare il pensiero” from the lead school IIS “S.A. De Castro” in Oristano, involving lower and upper secondary schools in the Oristano area; and “Tecnologie innovative digitali e didattica” from the lead school “Asproni-Fermi” in Iglesias, which grouped together numerous schools, including both upper and lower secondary schools, in the South Sardinia and Metropolitan City of Cagliari areas.
As part of the overall initiative, a dedicated technological platform for tutors and teachers was also developed. This platform was designed to provide a space for designing, producing, sharing, and utilizing the content created by tutors and teachers during the experiments.
In addition to the experimental activities, numerous seminars and webinars dedicated to teachers were also organized, covering key themes of the project. Topics ranged from educational robotics to immersive teaching, from cybersecurity to the opportunities of artificial intelligence applied to the educational context.
With its distinctive features, “Tutti a Iscol@” serves as an example of how cohesion policies step in to enable the younger generations to keep pace with the rapidly advancing field of digital innovation.