73308 - STRATEGIE DIDATTICHE E DI COMUNICAZIONE PER GLI ADULTI

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students: - they will know, understand and analyze the complexity of the assumptions that interact in a learning environment for adults; - they will know, understand and analyze the theoretical assumptions and debates on educational environments for lifelong learning and continuing education; - they will understand and analyze the approaches and teaching models for lifelong learning and continuing education; - they will know and be able to analyze best practices of educational interventions for the promotion of personal social and professional development; - they will understand the specific elements of teaching and Learning strategies for adults (objectives, methods, tools, resources, time, etc.., and their interdependence); - they will know how to activate synergies, for complex learning environments; - they will be able to design specific learning situation in presence and blended, related to particular educational and training contexts, in a cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary approach; - they will be able to define the necessary functionality to the learning environment in relation to the structure of communication (video conferencing, virtual classrooms, interactions with tutors, chat rooms, message boards, email, etc.); - they will be able to analyze the quality of formal learning situations and their connection with the non-formal and informal learning; - they will be able to analyze the quality of learning and teaching materials and of the educational relationships; - they will be able to recognize the characteristics of human resources appropriate for the development of a specific learning context; - they will know how to coordinate the learning and teaching activities of several trainers to achieve consistent educational processes; - they will be able to identify the training needs for their cultural and professional development.

Course contents

ERASMUS students are invited to contact the teachers at the beginning of the course to agree on any changes to the programme.

The course addresses the contents of didactics from the perspective of lifelong learning/education in adult and transitional contexts. The now well-known extension of the lifelong learning/education paradigm, traversed by the multifaceted incursions of the digital and intersected by lifedeep and lifewide learning, amplifies the resonance of training/learning/education processes that should be considered for the organisation of learning contexts. It follows that the hybridisation of the forms and places of training/education involves subjects throughout their lives, through the metaphor of the onlife. In this perspective, the importance of knowing, organising and managing contexts "for" lifelong learning is twofold: on the side of the adult-in-training, knowledge and skills are needed to direct one's own existential project in the life cycle, with a new fomative/educational awareness; on the side of the adult-expert-planner, knowledge and skills are needed to be able to activate plural strategies and tools to enable adults-in-training to achieve the objectives towards which they are oriented and to create the conditions of opportunity for the development of real learning possibilities. Active subjects, in the full exercise of responsibility and potential, can express - and reach - thresholds of agentivity for generativity and transformation.

The teaching and communication strategies of adults are set in this complex scenario, characterised by transitions and an increasing discontinuity in the existential paths of subjects. In the dynamism of transitions, training processes can be considered true "communicative events" that entail a reinterpretation of new and specific skills - communicative, relational, decision-making, choice.

The course will therefore address the issue of teaching methodologies in adult education, also reflecting on the educational challenge represented by digital tools for the production and dissemination of culture, hybridised by AI. In particular, the course will explore

- the environments for formal, non-formal and informal learning

- hybrid environments for learning and the development of life skills;

- the digital in education;

- teaching methodologies;

Teaching methodologies accompany the theories of adult learning addressed in the course: in particular experiential and transformational learning.

The expected outcome is a dual awareness: of learning, on the one hand, and of adult-oriented practices on the other.
The design of the (hybrid) innovative didactics envisages the realisation and fruition in digital learning environments, augmented by the realisation of curricular artefacts co-constructed and delivered with commonly used platforms (G-Classroom, Teams for example) or/and mobile applications (the podcasts realised and implemented in Spotify). Similarly, the management of the course learning environment (from a methodological point of view) will be based on problem-based and cooperative learning, while at the same time developing a set of life skills useful for the quality of the students' outgoing profile.
The content, starting from the teaching topics, will be co-generated by the students' study and assessed as part of the final examination.

Readings/Bibliography

Module prof. Elena Pacetti

For all students:

Bochicchio, F., Rivoltella, P.C. (2017) (a cura di). L'agire organizzativo. Manuale per i professionisti della formazione. Brescia: Editrice Morcelliana (chapters 3, from 6 to 8 and from 13 to 19).

One book betwwen:

1. Ligorio, M.B., Cacciamani, S., Cesareni, D. (2021). Didattica blended. Teorie, metodi ed esperienze. Firenze: Mondadori Università.

2. Bonaiuti, G., Dipace, A. (2021). Insegnare e apprendere in aula e in rete. Per una didattica blended efficace. Roma: Carocci.

3. Rivoltella, P.C. (a cura di) (2021). Apprendere a distanza. Teorie e metodi. Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore (solo la parte prima, seconda e terza).

Module Prof. Piergiuseppe Ellerani

For all students:

C. Biasin, G. Chianese (2022). Apprendere in età adulta. Milano: Mondadori

One book between:

1. Maestri, A., Polsinelli, P., Sassoon, J. (2019). Giochi da prendere sul serio. Gamification, storytelling e game design per progetti innovativi. Milano: Franco Angeli.

2. Pian, A. (2009). Didattica con il podcasting. Bari: Laterza.

3. Panciroli, C., Rivoltella, P.C. (2022). Pedagogia algoritmica. Brescia: Scholè.

4. Ellerani, P. (2017). Costruire ambienti per l’apprendimento. Cooperative learning, problem based learning, service learning. Teramo: Lisciani.

Teaching methods

The course promotes an approach based on participative and active teaching.
The classroom becomes a place increasingly focused on teaching-learning methods and techniques capable of stimulating and facilitating processes in their connection with the territory and the lifewide. The lecture will be supplemented by in-depth studies and direct comparisons with problems and innovative experiments. Students will be asked to play an active role, through discussions, case studies (also presented by privileged witnesses and experts), cooperative group work.

Assessment methods

The coursework concludes with an examination with a grade in thirtieths.
The examination is unique for the two modules.
The examination consists of two parts: the first will consist of a presentation and discussion of the artefacts created in the innovative didactic environment; the second part will consist of an oral interview aimed at verifying the theoretical assumptions of the course.
The examination will be accompanied by a descriptive rubric, already provided at the beginning of the course, in order to facilitate the recognition of the expected quality of both the artefacts and the final interview, through which the weight to be given to the two parts will also be defined.


In order to take the examination, registration via the electronic notice board Almaesami is required, in strict compliance with the deadlines.

Teaching tools

Teams platform, G-Classroom, and/or mobile applications (podcasts in Spotify), Video.

Technological tools, materials for group work (handouts, articles, case studies) will be used during the lessons. The lectures will possibly also be supplemented by the screening of documentaries and films and by cycles of "open lectures".

Office hours

See the website of Elena Pacetti

See the website of Piergiuseppe Ellerani