Designing blended learning for lifelong learners. Results from a study on social educators

The article focuses on the design and the results of a blended learning programme addressed to 240 educators working in the field of socio-educational services. The programme was designed by the University of Florence in 2018-19 through the involvement of scholars from different domains and insiders from the professional field. Following a problem-based approach, relevant problems for educators’ professional development were identified and content arranged online around them. At the end of the course, a questionnaire was administered to explore adult learners’ perceptions of the educational provision in terms of learning gains suitable for professional development. Results show that participants found all tools provided by the course as relevant for their professional growth, although giving feedback was perceived more meaningful than receiving feedback. In addition, some participants expressed the willingness to have more opportunities for interaction among peers. Overall, the findings suggest that the design choices of the course were appropriate to the target and further improvements can be introduced to enhance participants’ collaboration and peer feedback processes.