THE EVALUATION OF UNIVERSITY DISTANCE TEACHING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: AN ON-GOING ITALIAN RESEARCH ACTIVITY ON THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

In the field of university teaching, the debate around technologies is gaining a leading role. The emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic has shown the necessity to re-think the spaces and times of university study, thus opening the way to a reflection on those learning environments where teaching and learning are not linked to the physical co-presence of professors and students. It is in this context that the use of elearning in education and training settings is becoming more and more important: new learning environments in which students change from “receivers” into “manipulators” of knowledge. This shift requires different approaches because it implies a movement from a transmissive teaching model to coconstruction and process-based learning. In this sense, the “learning design” approach shows how urgent it is for professors to be able to design and develop effective pedagogical interventions. The necessary abilities and skills can be acquired through continuing ad-hoc training on the innovative use of new technologies and on innovative teaching strategies. The existing research literature in this field was widely enriched during the last academic year. Many universities have been forced to reorganise their teaching practices to introduce, maybe for the first time, digital devices. A change that, due to its sudden introduction, has sometimes caused difficulties. The present paper focuses on the processes and effects of digital technologies on Italian university teaching during the sanitary emergency. The starting point was an analysis of the main aspects of use of technologies in higher education. Then, some of the most recent national and international experiences of distance teaching have been described, in order to stimulate an effective pedagogical debate on how to ensure the quality of teaching and appropriate training, in the perspective of adopting Blended Learning in the future. The National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research (ANVUR) launched a survey focusing on the quality of distance teaching offered by Italian universities in the second semester of 2019/2020. Three questionnaires were set up, each for a different target: Rectors/Directors, Professors, Students. This paper illustrates the main focus areas of the questionnaires and initiates a reflection while waiting for the survey to be concluded.