Didattica innovativa, best practice e tecnologia nell'era smart: l'esempio dell'Università degli Studi di Bergamo

The article describes the development of ICT and smart cities and the role they have played in innovating teaching activities at the University of Bergamo. After describing the new concept of knowledge in the smart era, the analysis concentrates on the recent changes that have affected the higher education systems in the last decade at a global level and on the impact and resulting consequences deriving from them. In such a demanding context, it is clear that in order to meet the challenges of the future, the winning asset will be working on providing equal opportunities (e.g. disabilities, gender identity, parent students, mature students, ethnic and political diversity and economic difficulties). We are moving toward a society constantly changing at a fast pace: education needs to provide exceptional tools in this “liquid” society, as described by the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman. Nevertheless, no technology can fully substitute traditional universities. What technology could do is heralding opportunities, particularly when it supports universities to achieve the goal of better educating the citizen of the smart cities.