Distance Learning during the lockdown: methodologies employed and teachers' thoughts

The pandemic emergency has highlighted the need to find alternative teaching approaches that are effective in crises: wars, natural disasters, or, indeed, epidemics. Emergency remote teaching responds to this necessity: it is in fact a teaching mode that has been tested in difficult contexts, here physical presence is not possible and the only way of communication between students and teachers and among peers lies online. However, ERT, unlike e-learning, does not provide for the design of exchange platforms and codified modes of interaction: rather, emergence leads toward a quick and prompt renovation of teaching. Less organization is compensated by the rapidity with which action is taken to restore educational ties and teaching continuity. This is what also happened during the lockdown period, namely during the pandemic emergency, when, from one week to the next, schools dropped classroom presence altogether, converting interaction from physical to virtual. Teachers found themselves forced to redesign all activities by employing technology, regardless of their level of digital competence, whether related to media education or purely tool-based. In this study, conducted on a sample of N=1023 volunteers, both contacted through social channels and through solicitation of some school principals, we sought to investigate teachers' thoughts on DaD and their teaching choices during the school closing period. The results show that teachers valued the opportunity offered by digital to not interrupt teaching and relationships with students. On the other hand, however, they feel that online meetings can only work for short periods and with upper-grade pupils. For kindergarten and early primary grades, the need for parental intervention invalidates the normal relationship between teachers and students. A portion of teachers, on the other hand, would like to be able to continue using distance education, exploring the potential of these tools.