For years I have been debating with myself about the importance of the teacher in the learning process.
My experience in Olivetti Research, initially on how information technology could be applied in training, then led to the use of the knowledge connector network (receivers and transmitters) and finally, on the emphasis obsessive of the exchange between knowledge called Collaborative learning.
All this, although it has led to a redefinition of the teacher's functions, has left spaces for reflection still stuck in the original meaning.
If only we wanted to understand the role of a teacher beyond all the evolutions that have affected him (from the primitive use of the blackboard with chalk to the most sophisticated technologies that he can use today) his inevitable ability to stage a holistic theater of changeThe mechanistic vision of measuring induced learning, justified by the need to display the result of a training action, has led to a focus on including the students learn (learning processes) rather than on the how teachers teach (teaching processes).
It is also true that andragogy in Italy shows disconcerting dichotomies. Vocational training (in the private sector), especially when it uses a source of funding, is exacerbated on such as students learn to document results and justify the training program. In contrast, institutional training (public education, such as university education) is completely detached from the outcome: a very high percentage of students failing an exam doesn't prompt a reflection on the training program provided. It's almost as if the river of knowledge generated by the institutional source could drown or carry away students, regardless of whether they have a raft or, at least, whether the flow of water is excessive.
In both cases, there is a lack of attention to teaching processes. I still find Shulman's earlier remarks about the teacher's role in his or her personal understanding of content, in its reorganization, relevant. «in activities, emotions, metaphors, exercises, examples and demonstrations, so that it can be understood by students»
I remember, many years ago, in my experience as a trainer having to teach a group of students a first version of EXCEL, the metaphor of the was very useful to me Battleship.
Vincenzo Di Prisco
Training center manager.