Teaching organisation of the GATe degree course

The Master's Degree Course adopts a predominantly distance learning mode, which makes full use of the potential of computer-assisted learning technologies in a constructivist perspective. In particular, multimedia tools and opportunities for interaction with teaching materials, lecturers and fellow students are exploited. The structure of the course enables customisation of the learning paths, guaranteeing the interoperability of the technological systems used, the accessibility of the contents and the flexibility in their use by the students.

The entire training activity takes place within a web-based environment, i.e. through a Learning Management System (LMS), which has the primary objective of creating a dynamic training environment, in which, even in the presence of spatial and temporal distance, human interaction and interpersonal relations are always central, going beyond the mere transmission of information.

To foster this new learning mode, the course structure is based on integrated teaching, also called educational clusters, which may include disciplines from different SSDs designed on the basis of specific competences and learning objectives. These clusters will serve to foster greater integration with respect to related teaching topics, ensuring coherence in the educational objectives and in line with the competences that the course of study intends to develop.

With this in mind, the courses combine hours of distance learning and in-presence activities such as laboratory experiences, educational outings, specialised activities, meetings with professionals, seminar discussions, etc.

Finally, a modular structure within each integrated/Cluster course, organised in 3 CFU modules, ensures the progressive acquisition of the skills required by the outgoing professional figure. The articulation of all the teaching/educational clusters into modules of 3 CFU for each single disciplinary scientific sector, will enable those enrolled in the degree course to obtain open badges (but not CFUs) certifying the acquisition of specific competences consistent with the EU-ESCO framework.

Upon completion of all the modules that make up the teaching/educational cluster, the final assessment of the entire teaching is foreseen to verify the achievement of the overall objectives and the skills acquired and allows the acquisition of CFUs. The completion of the teaching/educational cluster also provides for the issue of a Milestone Badge.

Online teaching modes

Online teaching activities are divided into two main types:

Didactic Delivery (DE)

Didactic delivery refers to all teaching modes that mirror traditional face-to-face teaching. It consists mainly of content sessions presented by the lecturer, which may include video lectures, audio-video recordings, and live-streaming lectures. These activities are aimed at conveying fundamental knowledge in a structured and immediate manner, providing asynchronous access to the content, through video-pills lasting on average 20-30 minutes or streaming lectures of approximately one hour.

Interactive Didactics (DI)

Interactive didactics involves a wide range of activities that stimulate direct interaction between students and tutors, but also between students themselves. These activities include:

• Didactic interventions by means of demonstrations or additional explanations, presented in FAQs, mailing lists or forums (e.g. problem solving, practical exercises);
• Short contributions by students in discussion or collaboration spaces, such as forums, blogs or wikis;
• Structured activities (e-activities), including reports, exercises, case studies, projects and other assessment tools;
• In-depth web-conference sessions for discussion, clarification and formative retrieval;
• Formative assessments, such as questionnaires or in-progress tests.

In addition, a weekly web-conference meeting of one hour is scheduled to explore specific topics in depth and encourage interaction between lecturer and students.

The tutors

This specific teaching method identifies the subject tutors as a specialised support to accompany students on their study path. The tutors will be responsible for defining, in agreement with the individual lecturers, a range of complementary activities and structured distance e-activities in the form of reports, exercises, case studies, problem-solving, exercises and simulations, webquests, projects, guided discussions, etc., as well as discussion forums, web conferences or seminar experiences that will help the student in completing and reinforcing the course of study.  

E-activities include well-defined tasks that students are asked to complete. The activities carried out by the trainees will receive feedback from the tutors and/or lecturers to ensure constant monitoring of the learning pathway. With a view to periodic support and monitoring, the tutors will keep track of the training activities and results achieved, with feedback shared with both students and lecturers. For the e-activities, the tutors will be able to establish agendas and work schedules for the students (groups or individuals), so that they can plan their own study commitment.

In-presence teaching modality

As far as the in-presence teaching activities are concerned, which supplement the distance teaching hours, these are organised according to a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) modality, allowing the in-presence activities to be condensed into residential weeks grouped and distributed throughout the year, thus favouring the participation of all students.  The in-presence activities will be dedicated to interactive sessions, experiential activities, case studies, guided discussions, specialised seminars, group activities, drafting of papers and projects, as well as laboratory-based courses.

The calendar of in-presence activities (link)

Examinations and assessment

Examinations, which take place exclusively in person at the University's premises, are conducted in written, oral or a combination of both forms. Periodic tests and questions are scheduled for each teaching/cluster, according to the methods and frequency defined by the teacher responsible for the teaching.

The final assessment of the course can only be accessed after all the Open Badges envisaged have been obtained.

The final examination is governed by the provisions of the current Didactic Regulations.

Didactic hours

In line with the ANVUR guidelines, one hour of online didactic delivery can be equated to 2 hours of face-to-face teaching. Furthermore, it is envisaged that an ICT-supported didactic quota (“on-line didactics”) contains at least one hour of Interactive Didactics (DI) and at least one hour of Deliverable Didactics (DE).

As an indication and as a rule - unless expressly envisaged in the teaching design of the course - each CFU, equal to 25 hours of student commitment, of which at least 50% is reserved for personal study or other individual training activities, includes 8 hours of Didactic Delivery (DE), 4 hours of Interactive Didactic (DI) and 13 hours of individual study.

The 8 didactic hours, for one CFU, will - as a rule - be delivered according to the following scheme:

• 2 hours of face-to-face didactics;
• 6 hours of online didactic delivery (DE) in the form of pre-recorded video lectures (asynchronous) or live streaming (synchronous). Following the Anvur guidelines, the 6 hours of online didactic delivery will take the form of a total of 3 hours of video lectures.
• 4 hours of interactive didactics (DI) consistent with the ANVUR guidelines in the form of interactive videoconferencing, disciplinary discussion forums, assignment of tasks, online formative assessment, carried out under the supervision of a disciplinary tutor

This didactic model applies to all the degree courses, with the exception of those of a technical-practical, laboratory or experiential nature, which may follow different methods depending on the training objectives

.Teaching materials

The teaching materials provided to students are usually multimedia and may include documents in text, image, audio, video and animation formats. The University selects, compiles and updates the teaching materials, ensuring their high level of authority and completeness. These materials supplement the textbooks, which are in any case necessary for the acquisition of the required knowledge, and must be purchased by the student or borrowed from the university libraries.