Transformative learning processes are designed to:
- alter the way we experience, conceptualize, and interact with the world;
- trigger critical reflections, questioning the values, knowledge and norms that orient our thoughts, emotions, and actions;
- elicit a paradigm shift in the way we understand ourselves and our place in the world, including our relationship with other humans and the ecosystems.
(ref: Hoggan et al. 2017, Mezirow 1997, Bornemman et al 2020)
Most effective transformative learning processes integrate multiple ways of learning and knowing, including the rational, the somatic, the experiential, and the affective-emotional.
Over the years, I (co-)designed several transformative learning processes, combining different pedagogical and facilitation approaches: critical pedagogy, feminist radical epistemologies, transgressive education, nature-inclusive learning, Appreciative Inquiry, Theory U, design thinking, etc.
This page lists a number of projects with a transformative learning purpose, which I contributed to design and implement.
“A better PhD experience: practical tools to improve your impact and self-efficacy”
I lead a course (2 ECTS) for early-career researchers at Agripolis Campus, University of Padova. The course aims to empower PhD candidates and Post-Doc researchers with conceptual frameworks, practical tools, as well as strategies and tips, to increase their self-efficacy and resilience, ideally contributing to maximize well-being and impact. Topics include: leadership, reflexivity, power and justice in the academic eco-system, relations in the workplace, non-violent communication, psychological safety and belonging, effective writing, strategic planning. (AY 2023-2024; 2022-2023).
“Sustain-ability: our journey for the planet”
I am part of the team that designed the “Lesson 0” on sustainability for newly enrolled BA students at the University of Padua. It is a short online course that provides key knowledge on sustainability, drawing from system thinking and regenerative approaches, and that inspires students to nurture response-ability and be(-come) active citizens and agents of change. It is a project spearheaded by the Deputy Rector for the Third Mission at the University of Padua (AY 2023 – 2024).
“Care-full scholarship MOOC”
I co-designed the structure, learning process, and content of a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) on care-full scholarship and transformative research. The MOOC touches upon a variety of topics including: situated knowledges, plurality, justice, more-than-human wisdom, the many facets of care. The MOOC is one of the deliverables of the EU-funded project RECOMS (Resourceful and Resilient Communities), coordinated by the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, at the University of Coventry, www.care-full-scholar.co.uk.
“Green4C Summer School: Specialisation in Green Care entrepreneurship”
I was part of the team that designed and facilitated a 4-weeks Summer School (6 ECTS) providing integrated knowledge to prospective & active Green Care entrepreneurs. Participants gained academic knowledge on Green Care, as well as practical skills in business development, communication, marketing and fundraising. They also visited Green Care enterprises across four sectors: social agriculture, nature-based tourism, urban Green Care, and forest-based care.
The learning process was designed to include: peer-to-peer coaching, expert mentorship, networking and capacity building. The Summer School is one of the outputs of the EU-funded project Green4C, at the Dept. of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova (AY 2021-2022). For more info, visit: https://www.greenforcare.eu/summer-school/.
Picture by Giulia Corradini.
Summer School “Uncovering pathways of change along the BRI (Belt & Road Initiative)”
I co-designed and co-facilitated a 6-days transdisciplinary learning process (1.5 ECTS) on cosmopolitanism in relation to the Belt and Road Initiative. The Summer School blended different conceptual and practical perspectives to analyze the role of the BRI, including global political economy, environmental sustainability, science and technology and public participation. Students engaged in a deep learning process, aimed at unveiling their personal sources of inspiration and engagement, and to establish a forward-looking community of scholars and practitioners, with shared ethical goals. The Summer School was organized by the Marco Polo Centre for Global Europe-Asia Connections (MaP), at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (AY 2018-2019). See: https://www.unive.it/data/agenda/4/28137
Pictures by Daniele Brombal.