(with apologies for cross-posting)

First call for contributions in the book project:

Media and Education in the Digital Age: a critical introduction

The goal of the book is to offer the reader a critical introduction to
some of the most relevant intellectual issues in the current debate
about the impact of digital technology on educational practices.

The ambition of this project is to invite and support an informed
critique of the educational role of digital technology. One of the
goals of this critique is to debunk the ideas and beliefs supporting
extreme interpretations of this role. On the one hand the position of
the techno-enthusiasts: those who seems to credit digital technology
with an unrestraint potential for social betterment. On the other
hand, there are the techno-cynics and those that, for a variety of
reasons, share an unconditional rejection of this technology.

Topics include but are not limited to:
*       The assessment of the role of digital technology in education
*       Critical pedagogy revised in the digital age
*       The concept of implicit pedagogy and how it may usefully apply
to mediatized society
*       The psychology of the Internet: relevant issues in education
*       The formation of personality in a digital environment: Ego,
Superego and the Unconscious
*       Digital technology and the social construction of the real
*       The professional teacher: obsolete or more important than
ever? And at which conditions?
*       Learning to think in the digital age
*       Pedagogical models for the digital age: a critical review
*       Hidden curricula and the digitalization of education
*       Education outside the school: the role and impact of digital technology
*       The project of the Enlightenment, the Individual and the
digital turn in education
*       Techno-enthusiasts and techno-cynics: a critical review of
arguments and counter-arguments

The editor welcomes contributions that address these and other
relevant topics from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, as long
as the problems addressed are not only of disciplinary relevance. In
this volume we are deliberately trying to avoid forcing the reader
into the discussion of intra-disciplinary, theoretical or conceptual
development. Those issues are surely relevant and effectively
discussed in other fora. In this volume, however, the focus should be
a much as possible on two set of issues:
* the practical, social problems associated to the digitalization of
education and * the conceptual solutions that, based on available
knowledge and from a critical standpoint, can be reasonably suggested
to tackle those problems.

The approach of the collection and the trait-d'union of the
contributions is a critical approach to the subject. The notion of
"critical" in this context includes at least three features:
* First an explicit attention to the relations of power implied,
reproduced, challenged or otherwise associated to the topics that
contributors choose to engage.
* Second, is a certain sensitivity towards the idea that the study of
social phenomena is not detached from but very much part of, and
actually influential upon, the phenomena investigated.
* Finally, this meaning of "critical" contains a normative commitment
to the idea that improvement in education should be defined in
relation to a notion of the "individual" as a value in herself and
independently from other configurations instrumentally associated to
her in the economic, political or religious domains.

The implied reader of this book is a rather flexible profile. It may
include the teacher willing to critically engage with these issues but
also the independent researcher looking for a theoretical approach,
conceptual tools, ideas and insights capable of generating socially
relevant research questions and working hypotheses. The arguments
presented in this book should match the highest standards of academic
quality. The style of their presentation, however, should be as
inclusive as possible. All in all, this collection should provide an
original approach and new elements for reflection to the expert
readers in pedagogical sciences but also issue a friendly invitation
to professional teachers, educators and, why not, engaged students to
be active participants in an intellectual debate that is most
influential for the future of our societies.

Submission and deadline: an abstract not exceeding 500 words and a
short CV should be send to Matteo Stocchetti
[log in to unmask]  by February 25th.

The authors of accepted papers should be prepared to deliver their
first draft within three months from notification of acceptance.  Full
articles should not exceed 8000 words

For more information please contact Matteo Stocchetti at
[log in to unmask]

--------------------------------------------------------
MeCCSA mailing list
--------------------------------------------------------
To manage your subscription or unsubscribe from the MECCSA list, please visit:
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=MECCSA&A=1
-------------------------------------------------------
MeCCSA is the subject association for the field of media, communication and cultural studies in UK Higher Education. Membership is open to all who teach and research these subjects in HE institutions, via either institutional or individual membership. The field includes film and TV production, journalism, radio, photography, creative writing, publishing, interactive media and the web; and it includes higher education for media practice as well as for media studies.

This mailing list is a free service from MeCCSA and is not restricted to members.

For further information, please visit: http://www.meccsa.org.uk/
--------------------------------------------------------