General Didactics and Group Labour Methods and Techniques (2007/2008)

Learning outcomes

This course supports students in engaging with complex issues related to educational methodology, starting from its meaning, sense and components, then approaching practical examples of further education activities (design of educational patterns). In this connection, teamwork methods and techniques are particularly significant, as working groups are supposed to be potentially conducive to changes among the members of such parties.
This course is intended to:
-open a reflection on the connection between educational methodology, pedagogy, and other sciences such as science of education and science of formation;
-steer the study in the direction of educational methodology components;
-submit different teaching patterns;
-define the criteria of educational schemes;
-introduce films as a support to learning practices;
-open a reflection on the concepts of group, working party and the connection between the former and the latter;
-encourage full consideration of the group leader figure;
-give an outline of the allocated leadership;
-present the widespread techniques of teamwork.

This course will be based on the following issues:
-object and scope of educational methods. Fundamentals of teaching/learning in adulthood;
-educational methodology as self-knowledge, albeit strongly interdisciplinary;
-school, extracurricular, further educational and technology-mediated learning methods;
-educational design;
-theoretical and methodological requirements for the use of films as a support to learning practices;
-examples of blocks of units and tools on specific educative issues;
-a group as an interdisciplinary subject;
-working party and teamwork: the watershed between education and formation;
-leader and leadership;
-teamwork methods and techniques.
Online teamwork can be beneficially shared by course attendants.

Set books for examination:
A. Agosti, (ed), Il cinema per la formazione. Argomentazioni pedagogiche e indicazioni didattiche, Franco Angeli, Milan 2004, pp. 11-57; 103-145.
A. Agosti, Cinema ed educazione. Percorsi per la formazione degli adulti, Cedam, Padova 2001, pp. 1-59; 75-83; 91-101; 175-183.
A. Agosti, Gruppo di lavoro e lavoro di gruppo. Aspetti pedagogici e didattici, FrancoAngeli, Milano 2006.
A. Agosti, Internet ed e-learning per la formazione: per un approccio costruttivo alle possibilità (e ai limiti) della rete nella didattica universitaria in Idem (ed), La formazione. Interpretazioni pedagogiche e indicazioni operative, FrancoAngeli, Milan 2006, pp. 247-270.
G. Bonaiuti, A. Calvani, M. Ranieri, Fondamenti di didattica. Teoria e prassi dei dispositivi formativi, Carocci, Rome 2007.

The rate of learning of the course content will be determined by the submission of an argumentative essay or by an oral test, as the teacher may decide according to the number of examinees and the single exam sessions.
Online work of the course attendants, if any, will be also taken into consideration for assessment purposes.