Fondazione Hallgarten-Franchetti Centro Studi Villa Montesca

The “Hallgarten-Franchetti Centro Studi Villa Montesca” foundation, also called “Fondazione Villa Montesca” and “Fondazione Centro Studi Villa Montesca” carries on the tradition of the Centro Studi e Formazione Villa Montesca founded in 2001 at Villa Montesca where in 1909 Maria Montessori organized a seminar that gave birth to the first publication of the scientific pedagogic method universally known as the ‘Montessori Method’.

Continuing the tradition of Alice Hallgarten and Leopoldo Franchetti in the fields of innovative teaching methods and social work the Foundation aims at developing and enhancing the activities of Villa Montesca, also by promoting the cultural heritage and scientific legacy of Baron and Baroness Franchetti particularly in science education and other cultural experiences carried out in Europe, given the importance of the legacy of the rural schools of Montesca and Rovigliano.

The Foundation is nowadays internationally renowned for top quality research and training in teacher training, information technology and communication, education for European integration and regional cooperation in the field of education and culture at local, regional and European level.

The Foundation has a vast experience in managing interdisciplinary project teams composed of researchers from universities and other educational organisations. It has an important role at regional, national and European level in the development and promotion of lifelong learning as a tool for improving and strengthening social and work opportunities following the main recommendations of the EU Commission  “It is never too late to learn” and “It is always a good time to learn“. The aim of our activities is to help establish an efficient educational system which can help to overcome the barriers to education/training, speed up the recognition of learning outcomes achieved in formal, informal and non-formal approaches in order to encourage active participation in the learning process also by those people who, owing to marginalization, may be excluded from it.

Areas of intervention:

  • European Cooperation and Research activity: Design and development of collaborative projects with organizations and institutions of EU Member States and implementation of research and pilot projects aimed at exploring new forms of innovation, with particular emphasis on teaching methodologies, social cohesion and creativity;
  • Training and e-learning: Development of high-level training courses, specialized training for teachers, adult education and realization of multimedia training activities through the experimentation and use of innovative technologies and digital languages;
  • Social and Cultural Promotion: Promotion of cultural heritage and educational tradition of the rural schools of Montesca and Rovigliano; Implementation of actions and services related to the field of culture and social policies; Realization of initiatives, events, meetings and demonstrations;
  • Communication and Media: Interdisciplinary design and production of multimedia content for current communication systems and development of teaching pathways on new languages and communication technologies.

MOOC Platform

The Centro Studi Foundation MOOC Platform:

  • Platform containing Massive Open Online Courses to opening up information and educative materials to a very wide public and interested stakeholders.
  • The courses contents are video-lessons, deepening materials, assessments, etc.
  • It is an innovative interactive multi-platform addressed to learning practice and procedures tackled to involve a large scale category of people on various typologies of topics and subjects.

Some of our courses:

  • Problem Based Learning: Problem-based learning (PBL) is an exciting alternative to the traditional approach of classroom learning. With PBL the teacher presents a problem, and there are no lessons, assignments or exercises. Since you are not given content, your learning becomes active in the sense that participants discover and work with the content they feel is necessary to solve the problem.
  • Civil protection: Developed within the project CPModel, the course introduces to some of the main areas of applicative issues related to the concept of “resilience to disasters”. The proposed didactical scheme is based on the well-known “Ten Essentials for Making Cities Disaster Resilient” based on the “UNISDR (the United Nations Office for Disasters Risk Reduction) Handbook for Local Government Leaders”.
  • Early School Leaving: Developed within the project School Still Plays, the course is targeted to school teachers and faces the issue of early school leaving and how to prevent this growing phenomenon.
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Main tasks
  • Collaboration in the definition of the methodology framework

  • Coordinate all onsite pilots

  • Piloting CRISS in 7 schools

  • Organise the ICT summer campus