CAN EMERGENCY REMOTE EDUCATION MAKE UNIVERSITIES “SMARTER”? LECTURERS’ REFLECTIONS ABOUT USEFUL LITERACIES

These are not normal times. As the historian Harari pointed out, the coronavirus outbreak has forced governments, businesses, and educational boards to carry out large scale experiments they would never have agreed to conduct in normal times (Harari, 2020). In an attempt to curb the spread of the virus, the Italian government officially declared Italy’s lockdown in late February 2020. Among other things, this forced the entire education system to suddenly shift onto digital platforms that only a few teachers and students were Giacosa, A. Can Emergency Remote Education Make Universities “Smarter”? Lecturers’ Reflections about Useful Literacies European Distance and E-Learning Network (EDEN) Proceedings 266 ISSN familiar with; face-to-face courses had to be turned into distance learning in a very short time. However, an unprecedented challenge can be turned into an opportunity. After a second semester taught entirely remotely and exams performed digitally, the strengths and weaknesses of the academic response to the emergency can be identified. As almost all students and lecturers have experienced online learning and teaching first-hand, they are now able to have informed opinions about the challenges and strategies involved and can provide suggestions to improve the online academic experience. With the spectre of another possible lockdown looming on the new academic year, Emergency Response Education (ERE) might have to be turned into “the new normal” of distance learning. In this context, the wisdom gained by the massive online experience of the last semester can contribute to planning a nimble response to educational needs in case universities have to shift online again. This paper presents several critical points concerning key literacies lecturers may need in order to transform ERE into quality distance education: the perceptions and reflections of 24 lecturers from 14 Italian universities are presented and discussed in terms of the new challenges universities have to face under these circumstances. Moreover, it sheds light on issues of concern which could make education “smarter” and more inclusive. First, this study will be situated within the existing literature and its novelty will be highlighted; second, the research questions and the methodology used to gather data will be presented; third, data will be examined to identify trends emerging from lecturers’ perceptions and reflections on their ERE experience; finally, specific literacies will be highlighted which may enable us to turn emergency remote education into a smarter, high quality “new normal” in higher education. Literature review and the state of the art Until February 2020, e-learning was regarded as a subsidiary tool, a useful helper, a dangerous competitor, a threat to human resources and academic quality, a cheap and profitable marketing booster or a licence for diploma mills. Due to the massive migration of education onto digital platforms, there has been in