Digital competencies and capabilities. Pre-adolescents inside and outside school

The investment on key-competences in last years was one crucial European strategy to face the new challenges of the knowledge society and of the digital convergence and to guarantee the active citizenship and social inclusion. The first answer has been given in Lisbon 2000’s, when eight main objectives have been presented; they were focused on the improvement of basic and "soft" skills in educational paths of the main agencies (i.e. school and family). Hence, the digital competence, included in Lisbon strategies, can be interpreted in a double meaning: as basic skill (focused on the digital literacy) as soft skill (focused on the digital learning). Starting from here, this proposal will construct a theoretical description of the digital competence and its impact to cognitive processes of the children, considering the influence and the strategies applied by agencies of the social capital, especially the family. This issue will be analysed through the re-reading the capabilities approach by Sen and Nussbaum (2011), according two perspectives: 1. the first is psyco-cognitive connected to the development of digital competences during the learning process of children; 2. the second is focused on the relational and communicative styles of their socializing agencies. In the digital skills, the generation gap is more evident: the youngsters acquire the digital literacy through their experiences; however their digital knowledge is often technical and linguistic, while it isn’t a lot oriented to the metacognition of the digital media, such as the critical thinking or the creativity; on the other side, the educators don’t have the same familiarity with media and for this reason they not always understand needs, values and references of youngsters. The consumption styles of parents, their prejudices and their competences influence the relationship of children with media starting from their first digital experience, with social and cognitive consequences

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

Innovative Teaching and Digital Literacy in Preschool. App Content Analysis and Experimental Case Studies in a Sociological Perspective

The objective of this article is to illustrate, from the theoretical and methodological perspective, the construction of an experimental process of a “digital education app” in several preschools in the municipality of Rome. The general objective the project fits into is related to a sociological analysis, based on the relationship between theory and empirical research, of the effects of introducing digital media into preschool didactics. Preschools are a privileged site for observing and analyzing the formation and development of children’s capabilities (Nussbaum, 2000), since the plasticity of the child’s thought begins to be configured as early as preschool and evolves progressively taking into account the perceptive, sociocultural and behavioural conditions emerging from different educational agencies (Piaget, Inhelder, 1950). The article refers to the research project of the Mediamonitor Minori Observatory of the Sapienza University of Rome entitled “Media Usage in Pre-school. Analysis and Evaluation of the Influence of Digital Media on the Socialization of Children between 0-6”. The article retraces in particular the stages of the research strategy designed to structure a formative, experimental protocol to be experimented in some case studies in Rome and illustrates the main results

Digital Competence Assessment. A Proposal for Operationalizing the Critical Dimension

The European Commission considers the development of digital competences a strategic action to spread and to develop a more active digital participation of citizens. The objective is to increase the level of digital competence in the European citizens up to 2015 and to reduce the number of those who don’t use new technologies and don\u27t surf the net. At the base of an active citizenship there are creativity skills, the ability to support one’s own point of view, the ability to quest, to have a critical reflection, communicative, collaborative, problem solving and listening abilities. Scholars have started to create shared digital skills definitions, to find and to create reference indicators. This paper wants to focus on the critical dimension of the digital competence, trying to simplifying it through more specific analysis levels and though cognitive tools and methodological data that can be useful to educators and researchers to create evaluation tools applicable to different contests and targets.In this paper, we offer a theoretical definition of the critical competence starting from the European framework; an operational definition of the critical competence starting from semiotic and linguistic patterns in literature; and a compilation of an evaluation rubric

Sociological analysis of Montenegrin teachers’ digital capital

Starting with the concept of digital capital in social sciences, this article presents the key findings of the “Global Kids Online” nationally representative survey of primary and high school teachers’ digital skills and practices that was conducted in Montenegro with Unicef’s support in 2018. Digital capital, as any other form of capital within Bourdieu’s perspective, has a sociological validity only in correlation with other forms of capital – such as economic, cultural and social – in a limited context and according to a multi-dimensional approach which goes from a macro- to a micro-social perspective (Pandolfini, 2016). This article identifies and discusses three perspectives of digital capital – macro, meso-social and micro – and their material (technologies, digital services and school experiments with devices) and non-material resources (digital competencies). Analysis of data from the Montenegrin research relating to this perspective shows that the daily practice of using digital technology in classrooms seems to be marginal, even though most teachers have access to the internet in their schools. Currently the majority of teachers are using the internet at school mostly just for checking information online. Their digital competencies are not generally advanced: on average, social and operational skills are the most developed, while their creative skills are least developed. Therefore, to support the development of children’s media literacy through formal education, further investments towards the strengthening of teachers’ digital competencies need to be made and the research shows that the demand for digital pedagogy courses already exists among most teachers. In other words, the Montenegrin research points to the need to invest more in education and experimentation related to the meso- and micro-social perspectives of digital capital.Partindo do conceito de capital digital nas Ciências Sociais, este artigo apresenta as principais conclusões do inquérito nacionalmente representativo do “Global Kids Online” sobre as competências e práticas digitais de professores do ensino básico e secundário, realizado em Montenegro com o apoio da Unicef, em 2018. O capital digital, como qualquer outra forma de capital na perspetiva de Bourdieu, apenas tem validade sociológica em correlação com outras formas de capital, como a económica, cultural e social, num contexto limitado e de acordo com uma abordagem multidimensional que vai de uma perspetiva macro a uma microssocial (Pandolfini, 2016). Este artigo identifica e discute três perspetivas do capital digital – macro, meso e micro social – e os seus recursos materiais (tecnologias, serviços digitais e experiências escolares com dispositivos) e não materiais (competências digitais). A análise dos dados do estudo montenegrino, de acordo com esta perspetiva, mostra que a prática diária de utilização da tecnologia digital nas salas de aula parece ser marginal, embora a maioria dos professores tenha acesso à internet nas escolas. Atualmente, a maioria dos professores utiliza a internet na escola principalmente para verificar informação online. Geralmente, as suas competências digitais não são avançadas: em média, as competências sociais e operacionais são as mais desenvolvidas, enquanto as competências criativas estão menos desenvolvidas. Portanto, para apoiar o desenvolvimento da literacia mediática nas crianças através da educação formal, é necessário realizar mais investimentos para reforçar as competências digitais dos professores. O estudo mostra ainda que a procura por cursos de pedagogia digital já existe entre a maioria dos professores. Por outras palavras, o estudo montenegrino aponta para a necessidade de investir mais na educação e na experimentação associadas às perspetivas meso e microssocial do capital digital

Mapping, Coding, Learning: When Infographic Meets Digital Education –A Pilot Programme in Design School

Media Literacy and Media Education are two concepts that are now endorsed and become part of the academic lexicon of contemporary society internationally and seem to be recognised for all intents and purposes as new processes of education within formal or informal educational contexts. This process, however, cannot be self-taught and entrusted exclusively to the experiential practice of everyone, but requires forms of cultural mediation in educational contexts, especially for the development and practice of more sophisticated transversal digital skills. In this sense, a growing number of researchers in different disciplinary fields claim the need for a 'design twist' in educational practices, with "Design" playing a leading role in terms of notions, processes, and no less distinctive intelligence. The discipline of Design, through the artefacts of Information Design - like infographics - can assist such pedagogical activities, facilitating storytelling in the acquisition of new content and tools supporting the educator in guiding the learning. Starting from these premises, the contribution - through the case study of the Digital Education programme of the master’s in design, Multimedia and Visual Communication at Sapienza University - aims at critically reflecting on the relevance of disciplinary trespassing in the reconstruction of the methodologies of Design applied to future Digital Education. Contaminations useful for the research of new models, methods and processes that allow the design of new learning experiences aimed at the construction of democratic educational systems, inclusive and more adherent to contemporary challenges

A scuola di comunicazione. Laboratori di tecnologie educative e comunicative

il libro problematizza la formazione dei formatori nel campo della comunicazione, contestualizzata in ambienti educative e descrive un modello di intervento formativo postlauream. Nel testo sono descritti anche i project work sviluppati dai corsisti della prima edizione del corso di Alta formazione in Media educationthe book problematizes the training of trainers in the field of communication. it describes a model of educational intervention after the master degree. The book also describes the project works developed by the students of the first edition of the Higher Education in Media education, promoted by Sapienza University of Rom

1ER CONGRESO DE COMUNICACIÓN INFANTIL

The turn of the sixties decade introduced a period of great change which saw young people became a part of society, likewise the beginning of the century is witnessing the emergence of children and pre-teens, between 4 and 12, into the social and economic scenario. Their role has taken a significant leap forward over the last ten years due to their prescription capacity and consumer level. Another reason is that their parents acquire a great number of products that go from breakfast cereal to automobiles, surpassing the previous size of the toy market. Moreover, children and pre-teens become the target of the commercial efforts made by the new entertainment industry because of their capacity to project patterns and social references to the rest of the society. Movies, television channels, tablets, smart phones video games and digital applications... all of which play a significant economic role. Consequently, both the merchandising of products and services and the publicity are paying a special attention to the children’s and youth audience. At the very time when these techniques are exploring new ways to reach the public. All these together lead to a scenario of great interest for the communication researchers, which we believe to be neglected from a scientific point of view. Matters such as the efficiency of persuasive communication within this field, its social, psychological and educational consequences, the debate about ethical questions or the efficiency of legislative measures have been poorly studied and deserve a more comprehensive and deep reflexion. Each one of these topics are, for different reasons, of great interest for social communication researchers, sociologists, psychologists, experts on marketing and publicity, parents and educators among others. The first International Congress of Children’s Communication aims to open a scientific debate for all of them, so they are given the opportunity to contrast their ideas and be able to offer a more extensive and comprehensive picture of this new social reality

From Lisbona 2010 to Europe 2020: strategies for the digital citizen Analysis of a case history

l'articolo partendo dall'evoluzione delle normative internazionali relative alla literacy culturale propone alcune spunti riflessivi, oggetto di potenziale investimento politico futuro, su dimensioni culturali e territoriali poco sviluppate nei contesti nazionali europei e su cui proporre investimenti futuri. I risultati di una ricerca internazionale supporta le indicazioni e gli orientamenti normativi internazional