The designing culture fertilizing Learning Innovation
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Course description
Where to start to innovate your teaching? But before that, what does it mean to innovate in the classroom? Designing Learning Innovation aims to put the designing culture at the service of learning innovation, supporting those who do not have a specific pedagogical background and those who wish to learn the basic tools of a good teaching design then to continue exploring the frontiers of innovation.
A set of logical and methodological tools to innovate teaching, finding the most suitable approaches with one’s own vision of the teaching-learning experience.
Total workload of the course: 30 hours
This MOOC is provided by Politecnico di Milano.
Information about fees and access to materials
The course is delivered in online mode and is available free of charge.
Course materials will remain available to all enrolled users after the end of the current edition, so they can return to content later. The current course edition will be followed by a new one just after its end.
Learning schedule
The course is organized in 6 Weeks providing an exploration path of different topics related to the design of learning innovation.
- Week 1 – Why Learning Innovation
- Week 2 – The Intended Learning Outcomes
- Week 3 – The Assessment
- Week 4 – The Pedagogical Framework
- Week 5 – The Learning Innovation Network: active classroom
- Week 6 – The Learning Innovation Network: contents and useful connections
The Weeks have several lessons within them, consisting of videos, texts, infographics and individual self-reflection exercises. At the end of each Week there are assessed quizzes, necessary to obtain the final certificate.
Specifically, in Week 1 we will reflect on the concept of learning innovation, trying to find an answer to the question “why might we need to innovate our teaching?”.
In Week 2 we will explore the topic of Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) and their key role as a guide through learning innovation design processes. We will start with the Constructive Alignment concept and the analysis of the Dublin Descriptors and Bloom’s Taxonomies as useful cues for a richer design of the Intended Learning Outcomes.
In Week 3 we will analyze the role of Assessment in the learning process, trying to apply its key principles in the teaching design processes.
In Week 4 we will discuss together the Pedagogical Frameworks and their possible use in the design of learning innovation.
In Weeks 5 and 6 we will explore the Learning Innovation Network, a didactic design tool developed by METID – Politecnico di Milano, which focuses on the dynamics of interaction between the subjects that generate the teaching and learning experience and who benefit from it. We will see how this tool proves to be a useful support for the teacher-designer for the design of learning innovation.
In particular, in Week 5 we will focus on the use of the Learning Innovation Network starting from the identification and representation of the subjects of the teaching and learning experience and the definition and description of the teaching activities for the active classroom.
In Week 6, the focus will be on the design of content, on the communication channels and on the integration of strategies of the "outside world" to support teaching and learning activities, as well as the monitoring of innovative teaching and learning experiences.
Prerequisites
No prerequisite knowledge is required for this course.
The course is mainly for university teachers, but it can be stimulating for all the teachers who have an interest in innovating their teaching processes.
Activities
In addition to consulting the contents, in the form of videos and other web-based resources, you will also encounter different types of activities that will contribute to making your experience richer and more complete: anticipatory and reflection activities on the proposed contents, non-evaluated quizzes, forum discussions, peer evaluation, collaborative review of online resources.
Assessment
The final grade for the course is based on results from your responses to the quizzes you will find at the end of each Week (Final Take Away Quiz). You will successfully complete the course if you reach 60% (or more) of the total score by the end of the edition. The course’s total score will be calculated by averaging the scores of the assessed quizzes for each individual Week.
In the course there are graded and not graded quizzes.
You will find evaluated quizzes (Final Take Away Quiz) at the end of each week and the score you got in each of them will be used to obtain the Certificate of Accomplishment. As you proceed along the proposed learning path you will also find other quizzes that are not evaluated. They contribute to enrich, together with the activities planned in the course, your learning experience, consolidating the main topics and helping you to reflect on particular aspects (Take Away Quiz, Anticipation Test, Previous Knowledge Test, etc.). The individual activities and the discussions are optional and do not contribute to the score necessary to obtain the Certificate of Accomplishment, but if you decide to actively participate, your experience will be enriched.
Certificate of Accomplishment
The Certificate of Accomplishment will be released to anyone who successfully completed the course by achieving at least 60% of the total score in the assessed quizzes. You will be able to download the Certificate of Accomplishment directly from the website. Once you have successfully passed the course, you can request the Certificate of Accomplishment without waiting for the end of the edition. The Certificate of Accomplishment does not confer any academic credit, grade or degree.
European Qualifications Framework Level
EQF Level 6
Thematic area (ISCED-F classification)
011 Education
The MOOC is realized in a strongly integrated way with the book “Designing Learning Innovation” (2021) by Susanna Sancassani with Federica Brambilla, Daniela Casiraghi, Paolo Marenghi, Milan, Pearson. All the images from the book are published under the license CC BY 4.0 IT.
Discussion forum
The course aims to offer an opportunity for an active reflection and confrontation with other participants. The set of activities proposed finds its point of valorization and sharing in the Forum. Thanks to the Forum you will be able to confront with other participants, deepen some aspects and resolve any doubts.
Contact details
If you have any enquiries about the course or if you need technical assistance please contact pok@polimi.it. For further information, see FAQ page.
Course Faculty
Susanna Sancassani
Susanna Sancassani is the Managing director of METID (Methods and Innovative Technologies for Learning) at the POLITECNICO DI MILANO where she was professor in the PhD course of “Innovative teaching skills”, “Progettazione multimediale”, “Progettazione di servizi multimediali” and “Progettazione e sviluppo di corsi di e-learning”. She is a member of the scientific committee of SieL (Italian scientific society for e-learning) and coordinator of the table "Digital ecosystems for learning innovation" of CRUI. She is in charge of teacher training on learning innovation at the Politecnico di Milano. In collaboration with other colleagues at the Politecnico, has published “Costruire servizi digitali” (Milan, Apogeo, 2003) “Il bit e la tartaruga” (Milan Apogeo, 2004) and, with Federica Brambilla and Paolo Marenghi, “e-Collaboration: il senso della Rete” (Milan, Apogeo 2011).
Federica Brambilla
Federica Brambilla, graduated in Educational Sciences, she has worked in the field of traditional training and has been a teacher in the Laboratory “Costruzione e conduzione dell’intervista e del focus group” at the University of Milan Bicocca. She has been working at METID since 2004 first as coordinator of the educational area and then as program manager. She is mainly involved in the design of learning innovation in the university context.
Daniela Casiraghi
Daniela Casiraghi, graduated in Industrial Design, she has been working with METID since 2002 first as interaction and instructional designer and then as project manager. She is mainly involved in the design of learning didactic interventions in multidisciplinary and international contexts, with both public and private partnerships.
Paolo Marenghi
Paolo Marenghi, graduated in Biomedical Engineering, he worked on computer aids and alternative hardware interfaces. He has been working at METID since 2001 first as content manager and then as Process Coordination Manager, taking care of the programming and management of the design and development activities for digital learning.
Instructional designer
Valeria Baldoni
Valeria Baldoni, graduated in Communication Theory and Technology at the University of Milan Bicocca, she has been working with METID since 2016 and is mainly involved in visual design, editorial graphics, communication for learning innovation and lately also manages the production of MOOCs. In this MOOC she oversaw the design of the visual contents of the course and coordinated its realization.
Nicoletta Trentinaglia
Nicoletta Trentinaglia, graduated in Educational Sciences, she has been working with METID since 2007 as Project Manager, dealing with innovative education projects, digital learning, e-collaboration and knowledge sharing both nationally and internationally. She oversaw the design of the course and coordinated its realization.
Course credits
Shooting, post-production, scenography: Daniele Albricci, Giorgio Bordiga, Luca Tantimonaco.
Coordinated graphics, diagrams and infographics: Valeria Baldoni, Bianca Santolini, Sara Sacchetto.
Platform and community management: Davide Mezzera, Valeria Baudo, Lia Navarotto.

This course is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.