Teaching and researching relational and communication dynamics for education

The paper presents a blended training programme addressing educators (N=240) working in the social field between formal and non-formal learning systems focusing on one of the key topics of the course, that is relational and communication dynamics in educational processes. The programme has been developed by the University of Florence for the academic year 2018-19 through a collaborative process involving faculty staff from different disciplines. From a theoretical point of view, the program was designed according to the following assumptions: experiential learning, self-directed learning and social learning, and in collaboration with the insiders, that is professionals working in the field. A questionnaire was administered at the end of the first module to assess the quality of educational content and support from the perspective of professional development. Results show that participants appreciated the training blended model, especially the video-lectures, the incidental cases and the online learning environment. This suggests that blended approaches leveraging on mixing theory and practice (cases, sharing of experiences) fit the formative needs of educators, encouraging the development of experiential online learning.