Thanks to the efforts of the IFIP members of e-START, a new SIG (Special Interest Group) on Digital Literacy under IFIP TC3 (Education) was founded with a unanimous decision at the TC3 Annual Meeting of 30th September. The new SIG 3.9 group will be chaired by Prof. Bernard Cornu (Chair, Secretary of IFIP TC3) and Prof. Valentina Dagiene (Vice-chair, Lithuanian National Representative in IFIP TC3). The creation of SIG 3.9 will give e-START further and multiple opportunities to expand as an international network, to develop, disseminate and sustain activities to do with Digital Literacy in Schools, and to participate in and organize world-wide events and conferences.

For more information, see the official website of IFIP TC3: www.ifip-tc3.net/

The mission of Special Interest Group 3.9 is to provide an international forum for understanding and endorsing research, promoting policy development and improving practice on the challenging area of Digital Literacy and e-Inclusion. The work of SIG 3.9 encompasses the entire lifecycle of learning and aims to identify problems and factors, analyse experiences and provide solutions that would address successfully the differentiated needs, interests and aspirations of different groups of people with regard to digital literacy. The work of SIG 3.9 aims to have a global reach, with a broad geographical granularity: local, regional, national, international/continental, worldwide.

“Digital Literacy: Reconstructing the concept – envisioning the ‘curriculum’ – imagining the school”

Education is neither a neutral nor an apolitical activity and the pursuit of digital literacy is definitely not a simplistic technical exercise. Struggling for digital literacy for all means fighting against exclusion and that is a struggle for survival, equity, empowerment and justice in an increasingly complex, insecure and competitive world. Taking this standpoint, the 1st eSTART White Paper focuses on a reconstruction of the concept of digital literacy, which synthesizes previous theoretical work in the area and reconsiders this work by re-positioning it into a progressive, transformative and inclusive pedagogical context. Building upon “Critical Pedagogy” theory and the legacy of “Democratic Schools”, the 1st eSTART White Paper promotes a radical, social-praxis perspective towards curriculum development in the area of digital literacy and may be described as a manifesto advocating a democratic way of living and a liberating process of educating. You can find a complete version of this paper in our new e-START community space in EducaNext. (http://www.educanext.org/dotlrn/clubs/estart/new-lors/Literature_on_Digital_Literacy/estart_position_paper.pdf?m=show)

Digital literacy development: Quantitative indicators and qualitative factors

Understanding and encapsulating factors and indicators that may contribute to being “digitally literate” is an important step towards the development of a common framework for Digital Literacy. Recent conceptualisations of the “digital divide” phenomenon illustrate the existence of multiple and flourishing digital divides, which are created by the intersections of multiple social, economic and cultural factors. There is a need to consider the role and impact of: (a) providing successful “ownership of and access to digital tools, contents and equipment for all”, (b) the relevance factor, in constructing contents and developing educational policies that build on the differentiated needs, interests and aspirations of different populations of students and teachers; and © the role of social and resource networks, with respect to the differences across student, teacher and parent populations of different social, cultural and economic groups. The White paper will follow a social research approach and analyse/summarise the results of comparative analyses of available research data and qualitative and quantitative studies’ outcomes and draw conclusions from these comparisons with respect to the list of factors and indicators that need to be taken into consideration for the formulation of a viable, feasible, efficient and effective educational policy and strategy for the pursuit of digital literacy in compulsory education.

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