Learning in the 21th Century

Project summary

Given the complex relationship between educational cultures and the net-culture, and based on the assumptions that (a) school has to take into serious consideration the net-culture of the youth, and (b) that the school needs to retain its m ain educational purposes of developing disciplinary knowledge and skills, socializing and person-building, the main purpose of the project is to develop and test theoretically-grounded and applicable approaches of bridging between the two cultures. Hence, both measures which intend to capitalize on students digital skills and knowledge, and compensatory measures are addressed. Consequently, the project attempts to answer the following main questions:

1. In what ways are the net- and the school-culture d ifferent, as experienced and viewed by the net generation itself, and the teachers?

2. What are some exemplary cases of bridging between the two cultures?

3. What novel educational goals can be achieved by net-related activities when incorporated into the school, and how can out-of-school learning be successfully framed by educational purposes?

4. In what ways can social media expand the reach of educational learning, particularly in relation to changes in social views and norms, changes in stands on soci al issues, and changes in attitudes towards democracy and tolerance?

5. How can principles and guidelines based on the findings to research questions 1-4 be actually and successfully applied to whole schools and individual classrooms in the service of the enhancement of educational learning?

These questions are to be answered by means of 4 studies tailored to these 5 questions. The significance of the project is by its conceptualization of what constitutes bridging between the 2 cultures without the sch ool compromising its main mission. The significance of the project is enhanced by the series of proposed studies and by the empirical testing of the successful applicability of the formulated models.