technology can replace the
presence of teachers at school
and how much internet and social networks
they can change the traditional model
learning and teaching for
answer these questions there
I will tell a story is a story
true started six years ago is the story
of a course in which for the first time
facebook was used to support
some university lessons
I will tell you about the energy standards that you are
released in the classroom and online
and then I will tell you about a more investigation
rigorous in which we have tried to
scientifically understand if this
experiment had had effects e
finally I would like to share with you some
considerations on the use of technology
in school and ask me if we can
do without the teachers are a
mathematician and I like doing teaching
I try to convince my students with
the use of computers that mathematics
can brighten their life with
application of forward and with his
immortal beauty exactly six years
he entered a class with 400 people
400 are so many more than you all
here at the academician it is impossible
seeing them in their faces were too many
to tell the truth I was also enraged with the
my university that put me in the
conditions to teach this way
how do you understand if they understood how
you can know them follow them and drive them
I’m told that a shot was needed
soul supplement actually served a
way to communicate with these students
my students and I thought that for one
Facebook time
it could be a way to give some
answers and receive questions not
it was simple because traditionally
facebook is related to the personal sphere
and we rarely think of it as one
tool that can be used
at work or study
but I had to make virtue of necessity and
I had to find and possibly
experience a new way to do
lesson and then built the page that
see behind me
it is called mathematics after a first
some students caution period
they brought something, I answered immediately
continuing however to exalt them in
class to use the internet more than that
they could make sense of a course
so crowded the posts slowly
increased and I immediately under with the
answers i like he against the aj that the
maths I accepted friendships away
this vivolo di posta became one
torrent and then a river and finally
a flood
my wife told me only you’re out of
head you can not stay on facebook everything
the day is this point
at this point I realized that I rendered myself
I could never have done it
to answer all these people from
only but success of beautiful things
the students began to answer
between them and then came my help
two special students their
dedication their commitment were
fundamental
I still remember alessandra that yes
he materialized as a character of the
Japanese manga that loves so much and answered
literally hundreds of questions in
dry way precise punctual dry
there was also a marina that had a style
different more empathic and philosophical e
he managed to irony season with
math answers at some point
all the students realized that
something special was happening
we speak a blog defining a tribe
and and immediately after
we ended up on the courier of the Veneto and finally
on the gazzettino
in this delirium of post of laica of
mathematics and the mass media
the students were very gassed
and they thought this experiment
would have yielded them up to three points
more in the final vote to tell the truth
I was also gassed in my little one
let me think I did it
history but now let’s stop for a moment
because the euphoria of the moment has passed
he asked me what had happened
I mean what happened
really as a scientist I know it is
difficult to prove the existence of causes e
the effects I give you an example
take a group of people with
the flu and give them a glass of
fresh water in the morning a glass
of fresh water in the evening after one
week
about half of them will be healed
you can conclude that fresh water
cure the flu obviously we do not know
that which is not so and half of those
people probably would have recovered in
every case acquafresca knowledge
in the same way as I could be
sure that facebook had been well ethical
for my students maybe they were good
of his
maybe we teachers had been wide
those votes
maybe just the air of treviso
it is better than that of Venice
how do you understand if something has
effects in science a group is used
control
but we did not have it then
we decided to create it to compare
in a rigorous manner the performances of the
facebook students with those of the
students of analogous courses without
facebook and for four years we have
collected data waiting for example that
these students graduate if they do so
be able to exclude that it was a
group of extraordinary quality
think that we even examined the
quality of all high schools from
where they came from
even at this stage it is a person
exceptionally helpful was turning me to
that time was a graduate student
and she with me has been probing for months
freshmen and sieved data to search
to understand if there were any differences
among those of facebook and others
we had entered that mode
I call hunting for red October
maybe you remember the movie where the
captain of a Russian submarine that
sean connery plunges into the abyss for
escape from the Americans
in the same way we tried to understand
if facebook had had effects but
facebook was hiding and it was
immersed in an ocean of other potentials
explanations and control after checking
filing after filing the net effect
of facebook went down and passed by three
points at 2 and then at 10 75 and at the end
half a point here we are at the epilogue of
this story
how much Facebook is worth from the point of view
didactic mean what is worth after that
you’ve washed the fun out of the euphoria
and you have taken the skill into account
intrinsic quality students
of their superior diploma of
contribution of us teachers
how much is worth half a point is so much is
this little I let it decide to you
but let me say that it seems to me little and I know
perfectly that you have to work hard
to get small improvements
this seems to me a small one
improvement half a thirtieth though
it should be spread on an audience of 400 people
and if you think about it maybe this is also
reasonable maybe we were crazy
think that facebook would have changed the
way of learning
maybe it was obvious that they are not there
shortcuts that studying costs fatigue
that you have to spend hours on the books that you have
sweaty papers do not remove anybody
maybe it’s obvious you need one
smart person of a smart teacher
who looks at you in the eye understands from the
your look if you understand and if you must
to unfold perhaps we were simply
naive to think we would become
suddenly the genes with hits of post and i
like and then
let’s think about it next time
to the umpteenth school reform
the discussion focuses too much only
on
technology on interactive whiteboards
on the lim on ipads and smartphones
maybe we need teachers in
leg commitment and good facilities e
Internet
yes yes as we have seen internet is
helpful
cidiverte entertains adults as well
you all digital natives but to accounts
made at the end of the fair
people are important and internet
it is worth only half a point
thank you
[Applause]
”
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