Comunicato stampa
EDUCO, per imparare e insegnare il digitale
At the end of the school year, EDUCO, the digital education project promoted by the Municipality of Collina d'Oro, comes to an end. Over the course of two years, the project involved 341 students from the municipal school (64 from kindergarten and 277 from elementary school). The teaching staff was supported by experts from the Department of Education and Learning/Higher School of Education (DFA/ASP) in running workshops on new digital languages and technologies. The project was carried out in collaboration with the Center for Educational and Digital Resources (CERDD) of the Department of Education, Culture, and Sport.
精东影业 Image Focus
During the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 school years, the DFA/ASP ran ten workshops involving twenty classes from the Collina d'Oro municipal school and the entire teaching staff. The objective was twofold: to enable students to approach the digital world in an active and critical way and, at the same time, to equip teachers with the tools and skills to continue the workshop activities independently in the years to come.
"In its second year, the EDUCO project became even more integrated with the school environment at Collina d'Oro, adapting to the pace of the teachers, who were able to deepen their technical skills both in relation to everyday digital teaching and in relation to specific courses on media, IT, and science," explains Luca Botturi, Professor of Media in Education at the Media and MINT Laboratory of the DFA/ASP. 鈥淭he children became familiar with digital tools and learned to see them as useful tools for learning, not just as objects of entertainment or status symbols. This is a decisive first step towards a critical and conscious use of digital technology.鈥�
The workshops covered a range of areas, from the development of computational thinking with an introduction to programming languages to educational robotics, multimedia production, and outdoor teaching to measure environmental parameters with digital tools. Some courses led to the creation of podcasts, animated videos, interactive games, and environmental monitoring projects, with the active and motivated involvement of the students.
The coding activity used the visual programming software Scratch, which allows students to write and animate their own names, create interactive stories, or make small educational video games. The projects can be integrated with skills from other disciplines, giving rise to broader courses, such as the group creation of applications to present geography or science content.
In outdoor technology workshops, students monitored environmental parameters鈥攁ir, water, soil, and climate鈥攗sing scientific instruments and digital probes. The data collected was then reworked into interactive presentations, analyzed, and evaluated in the digital media workshop.
Sara Canepa, Director of the Municipal School Institute, emphasizes: 鈥淓DUCO has had very positive results in terms of engagement, training, and the development of innovative teaching practices. The program will continue thanks to the teachers who, having been trained on key issues, will be able to continue the work independently and share the results with their colleagues. Further development of the project is also planned in relation to the educational use of iPads.鈥�
During the presentation evening, municipal councilor Livia Balmelli reiterated the importance of the initiative for the entire local community: "EDUCO is not just an educational project, but the result of a shared vision: to promote education in step with the times, capable of consciously, critically, and creatively integrating digital technology into everyday school life. The activities were carried out under the supervision of teachers who were supported by experts in the field, in an atmosphere of enthusiasm, discovery, and learning. The Municipality of Collina d'Oro believed in this path from the outset, aware that investing in schools means investing in the future of our community."
Thanks to the work of the municipality, the school, and academic and cantonal centers of expertise, EDUCO is proving to be unique in Ticino. Never before has a digital education program been offered that involves the entire municipal school system: from the two preschools to all elementary school classes. The next step will be entrusted to the skills, initiative, and creativity of the teaching staff, who will have the task鈥攁nd the opportunity鈥攖o continue along the path they have embarked upon.
"In its second year, the EDUCO project became even more integrated with the school environment at Collina d'Oro, adapting to the pace of the teachers, who were able to deepen their technical skills both in relation to everyday digital teaching and in relation to specific courses on media, IT, and science," explains Luca Botturi, Professor of Media in Education at the Media and MINT Laboratory of the DFA/ASP. 鈥淭he children became familiar with digital tools and learned to see them as useful tools for learning, not just as objects of entertainment or status symbols. This is a decisive first step towards a critical and conscious use of digital technology.鈥�
The workshops covered a range of areas, from the development of computational thinking with an introduction to programming languages to educational robotics, multimedia production, and outdoor teaching to measure environmental parameters with digital tools. Some courses led to the creation of podcasts, animated videos, interactive games, and environmental monitoring projects, with the active and motivated involvement of the students.
The coding activity used the visual programming software Scratch, which allows students to write and animate their own names, create interactive stories, or make small educational video games. The projects can be integrated with skills from other disciplines, giving rise to broader courses, such as the group creation of applications to present geography or science content.
In outdoor technology workshops, students monitored environmental parameters鈥攁ir, water, soil, and climate鈥攗sing scientific instruments and digital probes. The data collected was then reworked into interactive presentations, analyzed, and evaluated in the digital media workshop.
Sara Canepa, Director of the Municipal School Institute, emphasizes: 鈥淓DUCO has had very positive results in terms of engagement, training, and the development of innovative teaching practices. The program will continue thanks to the teachers who, having been trained on key issues, will be able to continue the work independently and share the results with their colleagues. Further development of the project is also planned in relation to the educational use of iPads.鈥�
During the presentation evening, municipal councilor Livia Balmelli reiterated the importance of the initiative for the entire local community: "EDUCO is not just an educational project, but the result of a shared vision: to promote education in step with the times, capable of consciously, critically, and creatively integrating digital technology into everyday school life. The activities were carried out under the supervision of teachers who were supported by experts in the field, in an atmosphere of enthusiasm, discovery, and learning. The Municipality of Collina d'Oro believed in this path from the outset, aware that investing in schools means investing in the future of our community."
Thanks to the work of the municipality, the school, and academic and cantonal centers of expertise, EDUCO is proving to be unique in Ticino. Never before has a digital education program been offered that involves the entire municipal school system: from the two preschools to all elementary school classes. The next step will be entrusted to the skills, initiative, and creativity of the teaching staff, who will have the task鈥攁nd the opportunity鈥攖o continue along the path they have embarked upon.