The Innovation of Learning and Teaching Practices in Higher Education: A Methodological Focus on the University of Bologna’s Model

Due to the provisions related to the SARS-COVID-19 health emergency that suspended the teaching activities of educational institutions of all levels, higher education had to implement a radical transformation of its organization to ensure and support the continuation of teaching activities. The challenge of change has thus affected educational institutions, representing an unexpected acceleration of the process underway; indeed, in the last 20 years, innovation has become a goal in the OECD countries' higher education sector. Concerning this, the path of planning and actions of educational innovation for the University of Bologna (Unibo) started a few years ago in parallel with the implementation of some Research-Training paths inspired by the models of Formative Educational Evaluation (Kellaghan & Stufflebeam, 2003; Bondioli & Ferrari, 2004) and of Research-Training understood in an evaluative meaning (Betti & Vannini, 2013; Betti et al, 2015; Asquini, 2018), in other words, as a process that constantly engages all the actors involved in a work of detailed data analysis and reconstruction of the paths subjected to evaluation. Indeed, the methodological framework behind the educational innovation-oriented activities at the Unibo is recursively centred on the analysis phases of the existing and paths re-construction, with a view to improvement (Vertecchi, 1976). Unibo's model of intervention is characterized by circular actions of evaluation, analysis, reflection, training, and redesign. In particular, the model promotes the diagnostic, decision-making, and planning skills of the subjects involved and it enables both learning and growth. Such an evaluation brings with it potential for the growth and development of the subjects and of the contexts in which the processes take place (House & Howe, 2003). The contribution aims to present the main results concerning the evaluation of the teaching and learning processes implemented by Unibo to respond to the pandemic. A methodological reflection on the research-based activities to change management will be carried out in order to highlight the capacity to transform this unexpected situation into an opportunity for self-assessment, reflection, and innovation.