The PhD course in "Learning Sciences and Digital Technologies" is designed to investigate the relationships between technologies and social and material contexts in educational processes. PhD students will study the pedagogical and neuroscientific foundations of learning, the main pedagogical-didactic theories and digital design with the aim of developing new technologies, analyzing large-scale educational data, designing training and docimological methods.
Particular attention will be paid to the issue of training individuals with disabilities and special educational needs in formal, informal or non-formal contexts and to educational and rehabilitation strategies in fragile or disadvantaged social groups.
It will cover issues related to the legal profiles concerning data management and privacy protection and the gender perspective, equity and well-being in the relationship between individuals and within organizations.
The topic of emerging and innovative technologies and their impact on teaching and learning processes, both from an application point of view and from the point of view of the development of original solutions and tools, is of particular importance.
Students enrolled in the doctoral course in "Learning Sciences and Digital Technologies" will be able to explore the use of technologies for solving complex problems through the implementation of theoretical and empirical studies. They will develop specialist knowledge through participation in relevant research projects involving both the academic and industrial/professional communities. In fact, participation in research projects conducted within the laboratories and research centers belonging to the proposing universities and institutes, the laboratories of affiliated institutions (industries, schools, hospitals, clinical centers-IRCCS) and public and/or private research institutes will be promoted. This will allow to address, through research, issues that have important repercussions on the well-being of individuals and on active participation in multiple contexts; it will also allow to develop skills in the construction of research projects and in the use of the results obtained for the implementation of interventions and good practices able to transform training actions also in an inclusive perspective. Students will then be able to apply the outcomes of a theoretical or applicative/technical work in a technology-mediated innovation aimed at promoting educational experiences that increase the quality of life of children, adolescents, adults and the elderly in differentiated areas. At the same time, PhD students will have the opportunity to identify solutions to use the potential of digital technologies in the creation and management of bonds, relationships and forms of participatory sociality in learning and in social and organizational contexts.
The course was built with the awareness that design, social and contextual variables of learning, educational sciences, neuroscience and cognitive and developmental psychology and special pedagogy are fundamental elements for rethinking training in real and virtual environments and in special educational contexts.
Each student will deal with an application project in the technological area on topics such as: programming, digital animation, simulation, robotics, interaction design, serious games, tangible interfaces, application of AI modules for learning environments, development of applications to promote learning processes in clinical and atypical populations, augmented reality, Digital and Data Literac.
The Doctorate is divided into 3 curricula: e-Teaching & e-Learning, ETEL; Technolog En Enhanced Learning & Advanced Technologies for Education, TEL-ATE; Ne Ne Literacies & Digital Citizenship, NELIT. Without losing the interdisciplinary character of the course, they focus on different areas of study, in a nutshell: (1) didactic procedures, (2) technological innovations, (3) ethics, citizenship and digital skills.
The training plan will be built in the constant dialogue between theory and practice to promote the creativity of students in the constant confrontation with real problems. Training activities transversal to the curriculum will concern research methodology, scientific communication, entrepreneurship and the design of competitive calls. The laboratory experiences will aggregate disciplinary knowledge on specific problems. The training will be delivered in mixed mode (online but 4; the collaboration of teachers from international universities and research centers will be encouraged in carrying out educational activities that will be delivered in English up to a maximum of 70% of the entire plan of the training offer.