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This paper is part of a wider research project and focuses on the model adopted for evaluating the impact and effectiveness of online teaching and learning, enabling students to adopt a critical approach which could be extended to any online resource which they may use for their lifelong learning. Technology plays a fundamental role in everyone’s life and must be approached critically, especially by young people entering the labor market for the first time. The Laboratory for experimental pedagogy (Lps) based at the Department of Education – Roma Tre University has been working, since 2010, on research focusing on the enhancement of students’ critical thinking skills to foster the development and promotion of the critical use of technology in education. The present contribution describes how giving students the tools to carry out an evaluative analysis of the resource they are accessing can enable them develop their analytical and critical thinking skills. It can also help them gaining insight into the importance of "learning to learn" and independently evaluate the quality of online digital resources both as learners and future educators. Doing so it is possible to overcome "brief term instrumental characteristics" of tools and promote long term evaluation processes (Vertecchi, 2012).

Il progetto am-learning ha avuto come obiettivo principale la predisposizione di un ambiente adattivo per l’istruzione in rete, in grado di individualizzare il messaggio di apprendimento sulla base delle competenze linguistiche dei destinatari. Il volume riporta gli interventi presentati in occasione della conferenza internazionale organizzata a conclusione del progetto per discutere i risultati e le prospettive aperte in seguito al progetto stesso.

The Project "Contributions to the definition of an interdisciplinary critical technology" stems from the results of a departmental research started by DIPED (Department for Educational Design) in 2011, "Contributions to the definition of a critical technology", with the aim of favouring and promoting the development of critical thinking skills in higher education students, from different areas of study, offering online cultural insights. The results obtained in the previous research, though highlighting a certain difficulty in argumentation and writing production, were comforting as regards the employment of the model (Poce et al., 2012) devised by the research group for the project. The hypothesis to be verified aimed at establishing if proposing cultural insights to students, built according to specific structures on which guided discussions are carried out online, critical thinking skills are improved, notwithstanding the field of study. Assuming that present higher education students show a widespread difficulty in writing and argumentation, the research group decided to extend the model devised in 2011 also to other areas of study to assess its efficiency. This has ben possible thanks to the creation of an ad hoc teaching and learning module entitled "Critical thinking skills and the reading of the classics", available on the Orbis Dictus (Vertecchi et al., 2010) e-platform (www.orbisdictus.it), where two groups of students could access: one from the faculty of Education, University Roma Tre and one from the faculty of Engineering - University of Salento. The activity allowed some general considerations. Notwithstanding the small numbers of the students involved (48 students in total in the year 2012), the opportunity to carry out the analysis with two different cohorts of students (2011 and 2012) from the Faculty of Education - Università Roma Tre allowed a diachronic evaluation of results. For the first time, then, the research group could employ the model also with another field of study students. Taking into consideration the differences between the groups involved, data collected show a positive impact of a model that wants to make a critical use of technology and, employing consolidated teaching and learning structures, put democratically at disposal of everyone cultural insights, which are essential to educate "a free citizen in a free republic" (Garin, 1957, p.157).

An important passage in the 2010 OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) report Investing in Human and Social Capital underlines the need for formal education to enter the workplace: In the nations where work is organized to support high levels of employee discretion in solving complex problems, the evidence shows that firms tend to be more active in terms of innovations developed through their own in house creative efforts (OECD, 2010, theme 1, p. 10). The key point is in fact that new skills are needed, because traditional skills learnt at school or at university are disappearing and are not deemed useful in facing the needs for innovation and growth that society today demands. The concept behind our project, Contributions for the Definition of a Critical Technology, is therefore that of verifying the effectiveness of a model constructed to increase critical thinking skills, which are essential in environments such as those described by the OECD, in the above-mentioned document. The present contribution aims to describe the results of the study carried out at DIPED - Dipartimento di Progettazione Educativa e Didattica (Department for Educational Design) - Roma Tre University, where the levels of critical thinking skills of students were assessed through an ad hoc content analysis protocol. The different sections explain why content analysis is considered a valid and reliable technique in the assessment of critical thinking skills and how the procedure was used in the above-mentioned project. The research is set within this context and, though being implemented in higher education, aims to project its results into different settings, in order to improve other areas, such as lifelong learning, and enhance development in various fields of knowledge. The project principally aims to assess the hypothesis that, in providing further cultural insights, according to well-defined models on which to undertake guided discussions coordinated by an experienced tutor, critical thinking skills of students increase. This is made possible through the development of an ad hoc online module, Critical Thinking Skills and Reading of the Classics, available to students in Education (Faculty of Education Sciences). In order to assess critical thinking skills, the students’ written productions were treated with a lexicometric analysis using the Taltac software, and with content analysis, through an adaptation of the Newman, Webb and Cochrane (1997) model. The main categories of the analysis include relevance, importance, introduction of new ideas, information and solutions, reference to personal experience and opinions, clarification of doubts, new knowledge, elaboration of new solutions, critical evaluation, practical use of new solutions, width of understanding. The ability to think critically and therefore to make functional use of what is learnt is what the OECD report itself mentioned as vital if wanting to enhance the development of new skills and in particular skills that are effective for growth and innovation in complex organisations.

Lps-Diped - Università Roma Tre chaired the Tempus Demed - Development of Master Study Programmes in Education (2009-2011) - project. The project’s main objective was the renovation of the Masters courses in Education in certain Balkan countries (Macedonia, Albania e Kosovo). The basic intention involved the adaptation of the higher education provided in the cultural reference area to the principles established within the European context. In particular, during the Dublin Conference in 2004, the so-called Bologna follow up group drew a number of indicators. As already mentioned, at different times, EU policy has highlighted the need to carry out actions aimed at a renovation of higher education cycles, but not much was provided in terms of definition of the curricula, especially for the second cycle of studies. The Demed project also attempted to fill a gap in this regard, operating an indepth revision of this level of studies in the Education sector in Albania, Kosovo e Macedonia. This intervention, moreover, was always carried out working in close cooperation with the partner countries, so that the support provided by Lps Diped, as leader, by Cdell - Centre for Developing and Evaluating Lifelong Learning - University of Nottingham (UK) and by DPU - Arhus University (DK) was realized with an actual collaboration programme, and never resulting as an imposition of certain Western models. The present contribution, therefore, is intended to give a general overview regarding the Tempus funding programme, a description of the Demed project itself, a synthetic report of the online seminar broadcasted to Seeu staff during the project period and of the data collected while evaluating the same experience.

Le varie classificazioni e tipologie elaborate dai sociologi costituiscono il frutto della riflessione comparata su particolari fenomeni sociali oppure si configurano come la risultanza dell’applicazione di particolari metodi di analisi di dati derivanti da ricerche empiriche. Il volume rintraccia queste attività negli ambiti relativi ai prodromi dell’azione, ai comportamenti, alle aggregazioni, alle istituzioni e ai processi sociali. Particolare attenzione è rivolta alle tipologie emerse in settori rilevanti della società attuale quali il consumo, lo sport e il turismo.

Originality and innovation are two of the main aspects to be considered in order to define creativity in education. If the domain where creativity is to be developed is Higher Education, these elements become crucial. After having learned a large amount of information, students at University should start applying those concepts and conceive of original ideas, in order to foster improvement in society. In our time, without creativity we would not benefit from any of the countless possibilities we experience every single moment of the day, from getting on the underground to reach our workplace, to browse the Internet and communicate instantly with the whole world. It is vital therefore to understand properly what creativity is, teaching its main characteristics to the students and being able to assess it. As Cowan (2006) underlines, being the heart of the creative process often the sudden insight, the blue flash out of which the germ of an idea emerges creativity is often so unpredictable that it is even difficult to capture for those who experience it. Consequently, assessing creativity is as important as much as complicated. This paper discusses how to deal with this issue. Different aspects of the subject matter are analysed, and assessment of creativity is developed with particular reference to its processes and results. Even though many researchers have investigated the elements which lead to the creative act, there are no standards for measuring creativity. For this purpose, some attempts of assessing creativity are reported and discussed. Finally, some proposals are made regarding the basic features which a reliable assessment method should consist of. Keywords creativity, Higher Education, assessment, innovation, quality.

The online laboratory Introduction to Experimental Research is an example of blended learning carried out at the Roma Tre University. This contribution looks at both the impact of the experience on the results of students who enrolled the module at the beginning of the initiative in 2003, and the level of satisfaction of the students who attended the course three years after its start. In particular, part of the work is devoted to the national project which allowed the start of the module itself. The project (a Prin project - Project of National Relevant Interest) was actually funded by the Government and aimed at defining the role of e-learning within higher education environments. It was carried out by eight different research units located all over the country. In the above framework, the Roma Tre University, has developed its own research carrying out an experimental programme at the module of Educational Research - Faculty of Primary Education. The experiment, which began thanks to the initial contribution of the Ministry, is now in its third year and, as it is described in the full paper, meets various needs frequently put forward by the students. It also demonstrates that fieldwork, given the geographical and procedural complexity of education, can contribute effectively to the improvement of the quality of university teaching. Keywords Higher education, evaluation, teaching, eLearning, blended learning, interaction, quality.