Remote Support through Technologies: A Research-Training on Teachers’ ‘Sophisticated Knowledge’

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the process of transforming teaching practices, such as remotely supporting students through innovative technological means. After a reflection on the impact of COVID-19 emergency on teachers’ skills, on the basis of a series of professional resources made available to teachers in order to support remote participation and learning of students, the work presents methodologies and results of an intervention-research, which involved 108 teachers in service, aimed at develop the teachers’ ability to integrate remote teaching technologies resources, with a view to personalizing interventions and effectiveness of learning content. The survey highlighted that relationship with students has been the teaching practice aspect most influenced by technologies/digital resources in the period of the pandemic. Such results offer support for didactic research to integrate the well-known explanatory model of TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) with further aspects relating to ‘sophisticated’ knowledge, more linked to adaptation and re-shaping of knowledge to be taught with reference to the students needs.