Towards a communication model for University education

Learning as a student-centred process is a consolidated concept in contemporary literature. To this concept is associated the scientific debate about the redefinition of the role of university professors in terms of enlargement of their functions and skills to plan and manage the training process. The consequent changes are not only connected to the curricular level but involve the communicative sphere of the professor-student relationship, which is increasingly central to promote the effectiveness of the educational project. The paper aims at studying the implications of these changes in the redefinition of the relationship professors-students and at identifying the key-components of a communicative model which differentiates didactic communication from other forms of communicative relationship. A preliminary review of the Italian and foreign literature about innovative didactics, which recognizes the didactic communication relevance in higher education, is briefly presented in the first part. It shows that different theoretical and empirical lines converge on the identification of some communicative components: emotional dimension, participation and engagement. In the second part a case study is presented, discussing the results of a survey in order to analyze the role of communication and these components in the didactics according the point of views of the students. On the basis of the literature review and the case study’ s analysis is possible to identify a specific model which allows professors to systematize and optimize the role of communication to support innovative teaching method.