“Our School” professors: an interview with Francesca Baisini Monica Lunati
This is the fourth instalment of our series of interviews with “Our School” Professors. Today, we meet the professors who developed the seventh unit of Integrated Digital Citizenship and Sustainability in Primary School (Erickson, 2023): Francesca Baisini, primary school teacher, and Monica Lunati, primary school support teacher.
The chapter developed by the two teachers is entitled "L'Intervallo: a digital newspaper" and aims to share common stories, developing disciplinary and soft skills through a creative and original approach. It is a flexible and open virtual space in which children produce reality lessons, life flows related to subjects but not only…
INTERVIEW
Can you summarize the activity you followed and addressed in the book?
FRANCESCA: As part of the process of developing a digital newspaper, I mainly dealt with the production of multimedia content, such as the theme song, the digital postcards, and the creation of the podcast. This allowed students to approach and experiment with a digital language also from the point of view of block programming. So, both in a more traditional way and by expanding its use through electronic boards such as Makey Makey.
MONICA: I worked on developing and "moving" the language starting from the experience of the students who, through various tools and applications (Canva, Spreaker, Audacity, CoSpaces, etc.) enjoyed decoding and coding messages and creating multimedia products of various kinds (podcasts, fake news, advertisements, film reviews…).
What was the added value of the proposal for your classes? Have suggestions for additional activities or new needs emerged?
FRANCESCA: Seeing happy and involved students working like a real editorial team was the real added value of the project. It’s not just a course, but an effective training experience from various points of view: personal, cultural, relational, and digital. A wunderkammer, as we like to call it, where everything can be told through the power of digital communication.
MONICA: I believe that the added value of this experience for our students was the process itself, that is, the importance of the course experience in an active, personal, and fluid way. A creative wunderkammer in step with the times, where the passage of time itself generates curiosity, personal growth, and amazement.
