Educational Models and Innovative Teaching Practices in the University Experience

Didactic innovation, especially in the most recent period, has taken on differ- ent connotations. It refers to a cultural and epistemological change that is re- flected in the redesign of the educational models and teaching practices (Braga, 2017). In defining the didactic innovation, we often refer to the use of new tech- nologies. But didactic innovation is not only related to the use of digital, it is also research, experimentation of new educational practices, adoption of active and laboratory methodologies (Zanato Orlandini, 2002; Semeraro, 2006; Falcinelli et al., 2009). This contribution will illustrate the results of an exploratory re- search involving professors from two universities: the University of Rome Sapi- enza and the University of Perugia. The research aimed at investigating how (and how much) the teachers surveyed, even in the absence of systematic train- ing in teaching, had independently carried out innovative activities both in the design phase of the courses they own, and through individual initiatives launched in the classroom.