Society is currently witnessing a century of changes. The ongoing technological revolution is modifying the way in which people act and interact as well as every other aspect of life causing remarkable consequences. The application of emerging digital technologies in any field or sector is, on the one hand, opening multiple unprecedented possibilities and, on the other hand, generating a series of new ethical and responsibility concerns. As a matter of fact, new technologies have the power to steer human agency and enlarge boundaries reshaping behaviors and reinventing social relationships. That is the reason why, Klaus Schwab refers to this ongoing digital transformation not only as the Fourth Industrial Revolution but also as a much broader “transformation of humankind” (Schwab, 2016). Hence the need to up-skill future generations to proactively face the ongoing radical changes and to deal with such ever-emerging digital challenges in order to start moving towards a collective preferable future. In this extremely complex contemporary scenario, human creativity is notably acknowledged to be one of the essential abilities to foster a valuable collaboration and coexistence between people and technologies. Creativity is, indeed, a unique human ability that can actually help people navigate successfully in this digitally enabled world and empower them to strategically unlock the multiple opportunities brought by emerging technologies (Bruno & Canina, 2019). In this regard, therefore, innovative educational models must be implemented and applied in order to provide upcoming generations with a radically new skillset to enhance their creative abilities enabling them to spot and exploit the viable potentialities of emerging technologies. This is, indeed, the ultimate goal of the Digital Creativity for Developing Digital Maturity Future Skills (DC4DM) European Project, a three-year project funded by the Erasmus+ Programme coordinated by Politecnico di Milano and carried out by a consortium of four European universities and one start-up. The project is focused on the implementation of a human-centered educational model to make students gain and train a set of creative abilities useful to design responsibly and sustainably with digital technologies. It is in the framework of the DC4DM European Project that this thesis has been developed. The aim is to design an original educational resource to support the training of a set of Digital Creative Abilities to deal with the anticipation of potential impacts of emerging technologies, namely Technology Foresight. The thesis development entailed both a broad analytical part and a practical approach to translate the collected insights into a tangible outcome. Indeed, an initial step included an extensive research based on literature review aimed at setting a theoretical groundwork for the implementation of an ad hoc educational resource. Afterwards, the research was applied through an experimental approach aimed at framing and focusing the project opportunity. The outcome of this thesis is a Vademecum for Tech Foresight, a guide to help learners and professionals navigate the complex realm of impacts’ anticipation and assessment. The Vademecum consists of two parts: a guide (Guide for Tech Foresight) collecting the basic notions and key concepts which Foresight is grounded on and a brief workshop activity (Mini Challenge for Tech Foresight) which allows to put in practice the previously-acquired theoretical knowledge. The learning activity was developed through an iterative process which comprised evaluations and adjustments. Ultimately, the Mini Challenge was tested with real students to validate its relevance. The Vademecum for Tech Foresight will be collected in the final outcome of the DC4DM project, the EduBox, a collection of resources to empower new generations to become the future Digital Maturity Enablers.
La società in cui viviamo sta assistendo ad un secolo di cambiamenti. La rivoluzione tecnologica in corso sta modificando il modo in cui le persone agiscono e interagiscono tra loro così come tutti gli altri aspetti della vita quotidiana causando notevoli conseguenze. L’applicazione di nuove tecnologie emergenti sta, da una parte, aprendo molteplici possibilità e, dall’altra, generando una serie di nuove preoccupazioni legate all’etica e più in generale alla sfera della responsabilità. Le nuove tecnologie hanno, infatti, il potere di indirizzare l’agire umano e allargare i confini del possibile rimodellando i comportamenti e reinventando le relazioni sociali. Questo è il motivo per cui Klaus Schwab fa riferimento all’attuale trasformazione digitale definendola non solo la Quarta Rivoluzione Industriale ma soprattutto una più ampia “trasformazione dell’umanità” (Schwab, 2016). Da qui la necessità di formare le future generazioni per affrontare pro-attivamente i cambiamenti in corso e per gestire le sfide digitali in continuo aumento con l’obiettivo di dare inizio ad una transizione verso un desiderabile futuro collettivo. In questo scenario contemporaneo estremamente complesso la creatività umana è considerata essere una delle abilità essenziali per promuovere una proficua collaborazione e coesistenza tra persone e nuove tecnologie. La creatività, infatti, è un’abilità unica dell’uomo che può aiutare le persone a navigare la complessità del mondo digitale e a sfruttare strategica- mente le molteplici opportunità che le tecnologie emergenti portano con sé (Bruno & Canina, 2019). A questo proposito, quindi, è necessario implementare e applicare nuovi modelli educativi per fornire alle nuove generazioni una serie di skill che permettano loro di migliorare le proprie abilità creative e riconoscere le potenzialità delle tecnologie emergenti. E’ questo infatti l’obiettivo del Digital Creativity for Developing Digital Maturity Future Skills (DC4DM) European Project, un progetto di tre anni finanziato dal Programma Erasmus+ e coordinato dal Politecnico di Milano in collaborazione con altre tre università europee e una start-up. Il progetto è focalizzato sull’implementazione di un modello educativo human-centered per fare in modo che gli studenti acquisiscano e allenino una serie di abilità creative necessarie per progettare in modo responsabile e sostenibile con le tecnologie digitali. E’ nel contesto operativo del DC4DM European Project che questa tesi è stata sviluppata. L’obiettivo è progettare una risorsa educativa originale per supportare gli studenti nell’allenamento delle Digital Creative Abilities necessarie per l’anticipazione dei potenziali impatti delle tecnologie emergenti e imparare a fare Technology Foresight. Lo sviluppo della tesi ha comportato una ampia parte analitica e un approccio pratico per tradurre le informazioni raccolte in un risultato tangibile. Infatti, un primo step è stato caratterizzato da una ricerca estensiva basata sul metodo della literature review e focalizzata a gettare le basi teoriche per la successiva implementazione di una risorsa educativa ad hoc. Dopodiché, la ricerca è stata applicata attraverso un approccio sperimentale per inquadrare e definire un’opportunità progettuale. L’outcome della tesi è un Vademecum per il Tech Foresight, una guida per aiutare gli studenti e i professionisti nel navigare la complessità del processo di anticipazione e valutazione degli impatti tecnologici. Il Vademecum è composto da due parti: una guida (Guide for Tech Foresight) che raccoglie le nozioni e i concetti fondamentali sui quali è basata la disciplina del Foresight e una breve attività di workshop (Mini Challenge for Tech Foresight) che permette di mettere in pratica le conoscenze teoriche acquisite attraverso la guida. L’attività didattica è stata sviluppata attraverso un processo iterativo che ha compreso una serie di continue valutazioni e modifiche. Infine, la Mini Challenge è stata testata con studenti volontari per valutarne la rilevanza da un punto di vista educativo. Il Vademecum for Tech Foresight sarà incluso nel DC4DM EduBox, una raccolta di risorse per dare alle nuove generazioni la possibilità di diventare i futuri Digital Maturity Enablers.
Butterfly effect. The impacts of emerging digital technologies and their power to shape our collective future.
MONESTIER, EVA
2020/2021
Abstract
Society is currently witnessing a century of changes. The ongoing technological revolution is modifying the way in which people act and interact as well as every other aspect of life causing remarkable consequences. The application of emerging digital technologies in any field or sector is, on the one hand, opening multiple unprecedented possibilities and, on the other hand, generating a series of new ethical and responsibility concerns. As a matter of fact, new technologies have the power to steer human agency and enlarge boundaries reshaping behaviors and reinventing social relationships. That is the reason why, Klaus Schwab refers to this ongoing digital transformation not only as the Fourth Industrial Revolution but also as a much broader “transformation of humankind” (Schwab, 2016). Hence the need to up-skill future generations to proactively face the ongoing radical changes and to deal with such ever-emerging digital challenges in order to start moving towards a collective preferable future. In this extremely complex contemporary scenario, human creativity is notably acknowledged to be one of the essential abilities to foster a valuable collaboration and coexistence between people and technologies. Creativity is, indeed, a unique human ability that can actually help people navigate successfully in this digitally enabled world and empower them to strategically unlock the multiple opportunities brought by emerging technologies (Bruno & Canina, 2019). In this regard, therefore, innovative educational models must be implemented and applied in order to provide upcoming generations with a radically new skillset to enhance their creative abilities enabling them to spot and exploit the viable potentialities of emerging technologies. This is, indeed, the ultimate goal of the Digital Creativity for Developing Digital Maturity Future Skills (DC4DM) European Project, a three-year project funded by the Erasmus+ Programme coordinated by Politecnico di Milano and carried out by a consortium of four European universities and one start-up. The project is focused on the implementation of a human-centered educational model to make students gain and train a set of creative abilities useful to design responsibly and sustainably with digital technologies. It is in the framework of the DC4DM European Project that this thesis has been developed. The aim is to design an original educational resource to support the training of a set of Digital Creative Abilities to deal with the anticipation of potential impacts of emerging technologies, namely Technology Foresight. The thesis development entailed both a broad analytical part and a practical approach to translate the collected insights into a tangible outcome. Indeed, an initial step included an extensive research based on literature review aimed at setting a theoretical groundwork for the implementation of an ad hoc educational resource. Afterwards, the research was applied through an experimental approach aimed at framing and focusing the project opportunity. The outcome of this thesis is a Vademecum for Tech Foresight, a guide to help learners and professionals navigate the complex realm of impacts’ anticipation and assessment. The Vademecum consists of two parts: a guide (Guide for Tech Foresight) collecting the basic notions and key concepts which Foresight is grounded on and a brief workshop activity (Mini Challenge for Tech Foresight) which allows to put in practice the previously-acquired theoretical knowledge. The learning activity was developed through an iterative process which comprised evaluations and adjustments. Ultimately, the Mini Challenge was tested with real students to validate its relevance. The Vademecum for Tech Foresight will be collected in the final outcome of the DC4DM project, the EduBox, a collection of resources to empower new generations to become the future Digital Maturity Enablers.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/186383