L’uso dei Mobile Instant Messaging nell’higher education. Verso una proposta orientativa-formativa di sviluppo della competenza mediale

[Autom. eng. transl.] Thanks to the search for immediacy, speed and ease of use, in recent years we are witnessing more and more, also within training contexts and project teams, a multiplication of communication spaces, above all by adopting mobile instant messaging channels ( MIM) (eg. WhatsApp) along with other more popular channels (eg forums, e-mails, groups on Social Networks) From international literature it emerges that MIMs are intentionally adopted in training contexts, in mobile learning paths, especially in high education to increase participation, student-teacher sharing, exchange of communications and resources. Critical elements are not lacking, such as the excessive number of messages, many off-topic, the use of a too informal language and the students' expectation of immediate answers. The study aims to investigate the perceptions of MIM users in particular of spontaneous groups that arise within high education education experiences to understand if these services can be used in a formative key with adults and what skills they require. There are two research contexts: II level Master in Media Education Manager (MEM) - Catholic University of Brescia; Advanced course in Innovative methodologies and technologies for learning (MetinApp) - University of Milan-Bicocca. In both it was created by the students, spontaneously, a WhatsApp group in which the teachers / tutors were also added. The structured telephone interview was used to investigate participants' perceptions. In the analysis of the interviews, the Activity Theory model was adopted, which allowed the results to be read with attention at 3 levels (technological, individual, collective). From a first reading of the data, it emerges that WhatsApp could be used for training with some tricks: training on the instrument and on the peculiarities of online communication, presence of a moderator, sharing of objectives and netiquette. Another interesting figure emerges from the interviews: it is believed that MIM's services can only work if taken in a logic of integration with other environments considered most suitable for performing complex tasks (eg LMS, collaborative writing spaces). Given the overall positive value attributed to the MIMs, it is necessary to reason on how to introduce them in training in a guided manner: starting from the areas present in the DIGCOMP 2.0 framework, some dimensions of digital competence have been selected and adapted (eg for the relative area to communication: how to interact, share and profitably collaborate) in order to develop an orientative-formative proposal aimed at supporting the maturation of the medial competence underlying the use of MIMs.