AGENT-BASED SIMULATION FOR TEACHERS AND TECHNOLOGY IN SCHOOLS

Many plans and projects support the development of digital education in schools. The results, both in terms of innovation and digital development, have been poor or of no proportional relevance compared to investments. The paper presents a new perspective to face this challenge. An agent-based model in NetLogo environment simulates some scenarios for the use of technology in schools. The aim is to build a tool analysis based on a systemic vision of the school, useful for teachers involved in innovation. The hypothesis is that the success of technology in the school is determined not only by the teachers' digital competences, but by the stakeholders' quality of relationships: teachers, school headmaster, parents, administrative staff, students. Netlogo allows to design a high number of different scenarios with the same agents, changing some parameters. Some of the results show that social interaction between agents is certainly an important and fundamental element to support every type of initiative, but it is not enough because, at the same time, it is also necessary to have a technical growth in the school environment. In general, the simulation shows that training is not efficient if relationships between teachers are poor. Furthermore, the students' involvement is productive if they have a privileged and continuous relationship with their teachers.