Fabio Sorrentino, a Pedagogical Engineer at EDUC, shares his inspiring journey from IT technician to educational innovator. With a deep-rooted passion for innovation, research, and education, Fabio discusses his role's essence — flexibility, innovation, and supportiveness — and the challenges and rewards of promoting pedagogical change within the EDUC Alliance.
How long have you been working for your university? What inspired you to join this position?
I have been working at the University of Cagliari since 2006, when I won my first job competition as an IT technician at the age of 19. This marked the beginning of my journey within the university. While working as a technician for three and a half years, I pursued my degree in Computer Science. After completing my Master's degree and PhD, I started a five-year career in Research, holding several Post-Doc positions in the HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) field, with a strong connection to Pedagogy. Over the past 12 years, I have also been involved in various teaching activities, primarily at the university level but also in primary and high school settings. Since December 2019, I have been working at EDUC as a Pedagogical Engineer (PE), having joined the Alliance during the initial phase of the pilot project and continuing in the same role to this day in EDUC. The primary motivation for applying to this position was the perfect alignment between my background in Computer Science and Pedagogy, along with meeting the requirements for the role. As for accepting the position, the main motivation was the challenge envisioned by EDUC, as well as the European scale of the Alliance itself.
What led you to become part of EDUC?
I've always been a supporter of the European Union and I consider people as citizens of Europe and the world rather than of a specific country. Simultaneously, I have a true passion for innovation, research, and education. Therefore, it was the perfect match: a European-founded initiative with a strong synergy between these three aspects.
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What three words best capture the essence of your role, and what guided your selection of these words?
Flexibility, innovation, and supportiveness. This is because there is often a significant gap between theory and practice, requiring flexibility to integrate theoretical concepts into practical applications. While some theoretical principles may not always be directly applicable, they should still influence our approach. Innovation is crucial as we strive to modernize and adapt education to meet evolving challenges. We must encourage both teachers and students to embrace new methodologies and technologies, preparing them for future challenges rather than only focusing on existing ones. Supportiveness is crucial as we work collaboratively with other figures in education. We are here to assist and empower educators, students, and administrators, fostering partnerships to achieve shared goals.
Could you describe the responsibilities of the PE Team, highlighting both its advantages and challenges?
Describing our work isn't easy; it's like riding a roller coaster in education. We encounter ups and downs, moments of joy, and moments of struggle. Sometimes, our role isn't fully understood, especially in Italy, due to its novelty. Even explaining to my family what I do isn't straightforward. Perhaps the only person who truly understands the professional side of me is my wife! Working as a Pedagogical Engineer also requires strong communication skills since you interact with different stakeholders with different needs, perspectives, and expertise. Some may be more receptive to change, while others may be resistant. We cannot force change upon them, but we must do our best to help them feel comfortable with changes.
What sparked your interest in developing the Teacher's Journey program?
It was an innovative approach to engaging teachers, establishing a dynamic network centered around the exchange of ideas. As a Computer Scientist, I firmly believe that sharing is the best fuel for innovation. We know that getting teachers to adopt this approach would be challenging, but in the long run, we knew it would become a crucial tool.
What drove EDUC Alliance to initiate the Teacher's Journey program?
I believe the main idea behind this initiative was to move beyond common practices and explore a new approach to sharing ideas and fostering collaboration. Prior to launching Teachers Journey (TJ), the process was similar to other calls: providing a template or online form and allowing teachers to submit their ideas. While this approach had its advantages, it didn't prioritize the sharing of ideas or the creation of a network among our teachers. Moreover, EDUC is an Alliance founded to look for new ways of working, new frameworks, and new opportunities by adopting innovative methods. We strive to think outside the box and adopt innovative approaches. Like any experiment, we will evaluate the results at the end to determine if this approach is effective. If not, we will learn from it, saving time for others, and moving forward anyway. However, we are confident that this will be a successful experiment.
How does Teacher’s Journey create a dynamic intercultural teaching and learning environment?
The main idea is to enable teachers from various universities to explore new collaborations within EDUC. Given that the university itself is a multicultural environment (consider foreign teachers working in each university), an educational program could potentially be offered by teachers from outside Europe as well. The same applies to students.
What types of support can teachers expect when they dive into the Teacher’s Journey program?
It’s a 360° support, encompassing pedagogical, IT, administrative, and promotional aspects. The main concept is that you bring your idea to the table, and we'll assist you in bringing it to realisation.
What impact do you expect Teacher’s Journey to have on the teachers and students involved?
Inspiration. I truly believe that this kind of tool can enable teachers to easily see beyond the walls of the university. Among our teachers, there are many who have travelled the world and have a lot of experiences, especially in research. In the same way that they have been influenced in their research activities by the countries and experts they have encountered, the same will happen from a teaching point of view.
How do you see Teacher’s Journey reshaping the educational landscape within the EDUC Alliance?
In summary, this tool has the potential to positively influence the overall educational landscape within the EDUC Alliance by promoting pedagogical innovation, fostering collaboration, encouraging internationalization, ensuring quality assurance, and facilitating community engagement.
What’s the long-term vision for Teacher’s Journey, and how do you imagine it evolving over time?
Looking ahead, the long-term vision for Teachers Journey is to become a globally recognized platform for fostering international collaboration among educators, at least within EDUC. The program aims to continually evolve by expanding its network of participating universities and educators, thus increasing the diversity of perspectives and experiences shared within the Alliance.
How will you gather feedback from participants, and how will it influence the future of the program?
The main feedback, given our role, will be collected by directly talking with teachers. In this specific case, we need to assess the user experience of them and determine if everything runs smoothly. We extensively discussed various sections and questions with the PEs team, and we also involved teachers in defining the first version of the TJ. Obviously, having more teachers onboard will provide us with more feedback: the greater the number of teachers, the more feedback we will receive, enabling us to tailor it to their needs as effectively as possible.
Can we look forward to changes or expansions in Teacher’s Journey based on feedback?
Surely, it's a tool designed for them, and it will continually be improved to streamline the process further.
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What advice would you give to teachers considering jumping into the Teacher’s Journey program?
The best advice is the one I give myself as a teacher: look around and discover new ways and tools that allow you to improve your teaching method, your classes, and engage students with the main goal of enhancing their learning experience. Everything is, in some way, available in EDUC, and the TJ is the main gateway to access this world, with an additional component: international collaboration among peers.
How can teachers best prepare to maximise their collaboration within Teacher’s Journey?
They should be open-minded and eager to discover this world. Be flexible and always keep in mind that many things should be experienced, and in some cases, they will need to be redesigned and rethought. Working with other teachers also means being open to changing one's own ideas about teaching, trying different approaches, and being open to testing new methodologies that we have never experienced before.