The report on the digital decade prompted the European Commission to issue recommendations to Italy aimed at encouraging investment in high quality education that leads to the development of the transversal skills necessary to keep pace with the digital transformation of society. AI is revolutionising the world, and, with it, education. Learning that passes through the corporeity and the senses is therefore destined to disappear and be replaced by the perception of the three-dimensional world? Will it still be necessary to aim towards literacy emotional literacy and inclusion, the result of a skillful application of inclusive teaching methodologies such as flipped inclusion? These are the questions the authors will try to reflect on, analysing in particular flipped inclusion, in order to of exploring, devising, designing and testing inclusive models of ecological development.
TopDigital Skills, Virtual Learning Environment, And Knowledge Production: Historical Evolutionary Framework
On September 27, 2023, the European Commission (EC) published the first State of the Digital Decade report. The report assessed the progress of member states, providing specific country recommendations. It highlighted that, under current conditions, only 59% of the population will have basic digital skills by 2030, against a target population of 80%. Furthermore, the number of information and communication technology (ICT) specialists may not exceed 12 million, whereas the target is 20 million. Consequently, the report recommended prioritizing investment in high-quality education and skills, particularly promoting women's participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines from an early age (Di Marco, 2023).
Given these findings, renewing the educational system to match the dynamic future society is imperative. This entails implementing new learning and teaching models and optimizing existing ones across various life and knowledge areas (De Benedictis et al., 2019). Such renewal should capitalize on experiential innovations and adopt educational practices that acknowledge the pervasive interconnections in formal, informal, and non-formal learning contexts (De Giuseppe et al., 2023). Thus, new educational perspectives concerning artificial intelligent (AI) systems should transform differences into potentialities through responsible administration of new technologies (Zellini, 2018), amplifying subjective potentialities (Aiello et al., 2017) and moving away from compensatory logic linked to diversity, adaptation, and integration (Sibilio & Aiello, 2016).
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing society and education, necessitating an understanding of how pedagogy can benefit from it. Reflecting on Alan Turing (1950), who is considered the founding father of computer science and AI, it is useful to compare the results of a process rather than defining intelligence. According to the “Imitation Game” method, if a process is considered intelligent when performed by a human, it can be considered intelligent when performed by a machine. Thus, AI can be defined as the science that enables computers to perform tasks requiring human-like intelligence. This technological intervention has redefined learning, knowledge acquisition, and the roles and methodologies of teachers, reshaping learning environments (Petruccelli, 2017). However, there are advantages and risks, including the potential anthropomorphizing of AI (Finocchiaro, 2022), where students might imagine replacing a teacher or tutor with a machine.
The school, traditionally seen as the primary place of learning (Barbi, 2014), must adapt to the new reality of accessible culture anytime, anywhere. This adaptation is in line with the concept of a virtual learning environment (VLE), moving away from exclusive face-to-face classes and the traditional transmission of knowledge. A learning community is seen as a process that unites individual actions of self-education for common goals (Batini & Fontana, 2003). The web is now an environment for mutual interaction and collaborative knowledge production (Calvani & Menichetti, 2013), where learners are no longer passive consumers but active producers of knowledge (Panciroli, 2008).