The use of Wikis in Education - a review of the literature

This paper reviews the literature surrounding the use of Web 2.0 in education. It examines various perspectives of what Web 2.0 means, and how Web 2.0 can support a constructivist pedagogy. Case studies involving Wikis are examined and the problems experienced are considered from both a technological and a group-working perspective. The paper concludes that although Wikis have the potential to support social-constructivism the differences between artificially constructed learning groups (formal learning) and self-forming and emergent social groups (informal learning) result in a requirement for greater attention to the theories on group working when creating group tasks using Wikis for learning purposes. Wikis are a tool and do not, by themselves, result in satisfactory collaborationPeer reviewe

Digital Competence and Family Mediation in the Perception of Online Risk to Adolescents. Analysis of the Montenegro Case Study

Da diversi anni il dibattito scientifico e politico internazionale ha manifestato un interesse sempre più crescente sulla digital literacy e la digital education, quali strumenti di tutela del minore rispetto ai rischi derivanti dall’utilizzo incontrollato e inconsapevole di diversi mezzi di comunicazione. Contemporaneamente, diversi filoni della letteratura scientifica hanno approfondito i temi dei rischi e delle opportunità legate all’utilizzo della rete, da cui spesso sono stati promossi interventi territoriali politici, di sensibilizzazione o di formazione per arginare gli effetti potenzialmente nocivi e incrementare quelli positivi, legati soprattutto alle opportunità di crescita individuale e di inclusione socioculturale che le tecnologie possono contribuire a determinare. Il paper si inserisce all’interno di questo quadro per riflettere sul modo in cui il possesso o meno di alcune competenze digitali possa influenzare o meno il comportamento di fruizione mediale dei giovani, incrementando o meno il rischio di esposizione mediale all’interno di un contesto socioculturale circoscritto. Per intraprendere questo tipo di riflessione, il paper focalizza la propria attenzione sul caso di studio del Montenegro e analizza alcuni risultati della ricerca Eukids on line del 2016, per riflettere sulla relazione fra competenze digitali e livello di rischio espositivo dei bambini compresi fra i 9 e i 17 anni all’interno di aree territoriali socioculturali circoscritte.For several years, international scientific and political debate has shown increasing interest in digital literacy and digital education as tools to protect minors from the risks associated with the unmonitored and unaware use of various media. At the same time, various strains in the scientific literature have more deeply analyzed the themes of the risks and opportunities associated with using the web; this has often resulted in the promotion of political, awareness-raising, or educational interventions on the local level, to contain the potentially harmful effects and augment the positive ones linked especially to the opportunities for individual growth and sociocultural inclusion that these technologies can help bring about. This paper enters into this framework to explore how whether or not digital competence is possessed can influence young people’s media use behaviour, while increasing or not increasing the risk of media exposure within a circumscribed sociocultural context. To undertake this kind of reflection, this paper focuses its attention on the Montenegro case study and analyzes some results of the 2016 Global kids on line research work, to consider the relationship between digital competence and the exposure risk level of children between 12 and 17 years of age within circumscribed sociocultural areas

Towards Industrialized Conception and Production of Serious Games

Serious Games (SGs) have experienced a tremendous outburst these last years. Video game companies have been producing fun, user-friendly SGs, but their educational value has yet to be proven. Meanwhile, cognition research scientist have been developing SGs in such a way as to guarantee an educational gain, but the fun and attractive characteristics featured often would not meet the public's expectations. The ideal SG must combine these two aspects while still being economically viable. In this article, we propose a production chain model to efficiently conceive and produce SGs that are certified for their educational gain and fun qualities. Each step of this chain will be described along with the human actors, the tools and the documents that intervene

Theory, reality, and possibilities for a digital/communicative socialist network society

Digital capitalism is guided by the organising principles of digital automation, information processing, and communication. It rests on the consolidation of relations of exploitation of digital labour based on flexibility and generating precarity. It makes profit from user data under conditions of surveillance. What would an alternative paradigm look like? This paper aims to sketch a possible socialist society resting on digital technology but organised on a different logic, namely that of autonomous production, leisure, and social engagement. It draws on relevant theories of the Left, evaluates them against the reality of digital capitalism, and suggests structural and user practice alternatives that can pave the way towards a digital/communicative socialism. This paper engages with the works of Czech philosopher Radovan Richta (1924-1983) and Austrian-French philosopher André Gorz (1923-2007). It shows that their ideas on the scientific and technological revolution and post-industrial socialism are highly relevant for the analysis and discussion of digital/communicative socialism

Regulated Market, Trapped Workers: The Impacts of the Tolerant and Prudent Policy on Labour Precarity in China’s Online Ridehailing Sector

Since 2017, China has adopted the tolerant and prudent policy in regulating emerging digital platform industries. The impacts of this policy on labour precarity have been rarely studied. Drawing on an original survey of over 600 ride-hailing drivers in two Chinese cities, Nanjing and Beijing, we conduct a political economy analysis for a three-party framework involving the municipal government, capital, and labour. We find that, in accordance with the tolerant and prudent principle, municipal governments stipulated regulations regarding the qualifications of ride-hailing vehicles and drivers. These regulations, although they can help reduce labour precarity in the marketplace for licensed drivers, have exacerbated precarity in the workplace. Specifically, in response to the regulations, the ride-hailing platforms aligned with third- party rental companies that provided licensed vehicles. This arrangement has effectively trapped many ride- hailing drivers in the industry: our quantitative analysis shows that drivers bounded by a rental or rent-to- own agreement worked significantly longer hours than counterparts who steered their own vehicles

Economic alternatives and childhood poverty

Current national and international economic policies are exerting ever more direct pressures on children's lives and futures. This paper reviews key concerns and contradictions in neoliberal economic policies' effects on childhood. Alternative feminist and green economics and critical theory critiques of neoliberalism are summarised and their implications for childhood poverty are considered. In conclusion there are suggestions about sustainable green economics for childhood to take account of the problems of advocating perpetual economic growth in a finite planet. Copyright © 2008, Inderscience Publishers

The Adoption of ICT in Small And Medium-sized Family Business. The Role of Younger Generation

The aim of this paper is to understand if the involvement of younger generation in small and medium-sized family firms can encourage a process of technological innovation, realized through the introduction and use of Information and Communication Technology. Younger entrepreneurs, that we call digital successors, compared to their predecessors, has a higher level of education and, living in an era dominated by electronics and digital information, should be able to exploit the new technologies in business organization and management. The new generation has skills, energy and innovative spirit necessary to start the process of technological innovation. From the methodological point of view, this work is based on a qualitative research involving two case studies. In both the family firms analyzed the involvement of the younger generation promoted the adoption of ICTs. This study is proposed as an initial moment of reflection to better identify some hypothesis to be tested with further investigations and a quantitative analysis.ICT, digital entrepreneur, family business, small and medium enterprises, technological innovation, generational change

The precautionary principle. Between social norms and economic constructs

Cet article confronte les interprétations proposées pour le principe de précaution qui viennent de deux horizons différents : les théories économiques du risque qui s'inscrivent dans un cadre bayésien et les repères heuristiques de la doctrine validée par les institutions européennes et françaises. Les traits communs sont mis en évidence, mais aussi d'importantes différences quant aux concepts et aux contextes d'application. Malgré ces différences, l'analyse économique propose des éclairages utiles sur plusieurs questions controversées soulevées par la mise en œuvre du principe de précaution comme norme sociale. Cela concerne par exemple la réversibilité des mesures de précaution, la question de l'application directe du principe à toute personne ou aux seules autorités publiques et le problème de l'imputation de la charge de l'instruction scientifique des hypothèses de risque.

Socio-cultural influences on the behaviour of South Asian women with diabetes in pregnancy: qualitative study using a multi-level theoretical approach

BACKGROUND: Diabetes in pregnancy is common in South Asians, especially those from low-income backgrounds, and leads to short-term morbidity and longer-term metabolic programming in mother and offspring. We sought to understand the multiple influences on behaviour (hence risks to metabolic health) of South Asian mothers and their unborn child, theorise how these influences interact and build over time, and inform the design of culturally congruent, multi-level interventions. METHODS: Our sample for this qualitative study was 45 women of Bangladeshi, Indian, Sri Lankan, or Pakistani origin aged 21-45 years with a history of diabetes in pregnancy, recruited from diabetes and antenatal services in two deprived London boroughs. Overall, 17 women shared their experiences of diabetes, pregnancy, and health services in group discussions and 28 women gave individual narrative interviews, facilitated by multilingual researchers, audiotaped, translated, and transcribed. Data were analysed using the constant comparative method, drawing on sociological and narrative theories. RESULTS: Key storylines (over-arching narratives) recurred across all ethnic groups studied. Short-term storylines depicted the experience of diabetic pregnancy as stressful, difficult to control, and associated with negative symptoms, especially tiredness. Taking exercise and restricting diet often worsened these symptoms and conflicted with advice from relatives and peers. Many women believed that exercise in pregnancy would damage the fetus and drain the mother's strength, and that eating would be strength-giving for mother and fetus. These short-term storylines were nested within medium-term storylines about family life, especially the cultural, practical, and material constraints of the traditional South Asian wife and mother role and past experiences of illness and healthcare, and within longer-term storylines about genetic, cultural, and material heritage - including migration, acculturation, and family memories of food insecurity. While peer advice was familiar, meaningful, and morally resonant, health education advice from clinicians was usually unfamiliar and devoid of cultural meaning. CONCLUSIONS: 'Behaviour change' interventions aimed at preventing and managing diabetes in South Asian women before and during pregnancy are likely to be ineffective if delivered in a socio-cultural vacuum. Individual education should be supplemented with community-level interventions to address the socio-material constraints and cultural frames within which behavioural 'choices' are made