Matteo Stocchetti (ed.

Media and Education

in the Digital Age
Concepts, Assessments, Subversions
Matteo Stocchetti (ed.)

Media and Education in the Digital Age

This book is an invitation to informed and critical participation in the current debate
on the role of digital technology in education and a comprehensive introduction to
the most relevant issues in this debate. After an early wave of enthusiasm about the
emancipative opportunities of the digital ‘revolution’ in education, recent contributions
invite caution, if not scepticism. This collection rejects extreme interpretations and
establishes a conceptual framework for the critical questioning of this role in terms of
concepts, assessments and subversions. This book offers conceptual tools, ideas and in-
sights for further research. It also provides motivation and information to foster active
participation in debates and politics and encourages teachers, parents and learners to
take part in the making of the future of our societies.

The Editor
Matteo Stocchetti is Adjunct Professor in Political Communication at Åbo Academy
University in Vaasa (Finland). He is also Senior Lecturer at Arcada University of Applied
Science in Helsinki, where he teaches Critical Media Analysis.

www.peterlang.com
Media and Education in the Digital Age
 Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at
http://dnb.d-nb.de.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Media and education in the digital age : concepts, assessments, subversions
/ Stocchetti Matteo, ed.
pages cm.
ISBN 978-3-631-65154-4 -- ISBN (invalid) 978-3-653-04437-9 1. Internet in
education. 2. Digital media. 3. Education--Effect of technological innovations
on. I. Stocchetti, Matteo.
LB1044.87.M43 2014
371.33'44678--dc23
2014006469

An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of

libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative
designed to make high quality books Open Access for the public good.
More information about the initiative and links to the Open Access version
can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org

ISBN 978-3-631-65154-4 (Print)

E-ISBN 978-3-653-04437-9 (E-PDF)
E-ISBN 978-3-653-98642-6 (E-PUB)
E-ISBN 978-3-653-98641-9 (MOBI)
DOI 10.3726/ 978-3-653-04437-9

Open Access: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution

NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 unported license. To view a copy of this
license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

© Matteo Stocchetti, 2014

Peter Lang GmbH

Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin
This publication has been peer reviewed.
www.peterlang.com
 Table of Contents

The Politics of Educational Reform in the Digital Age:

Concepts, Assessment and Subversions............................................................. 19
Matteo Stocchetti
Part One – Concepts
Digital Inequality in Primary and Secondary Education:
Findings From a Systematic Literature Review................................................. 41
Ulli Samuelsson & Tobias Olsson
The Future of Mathematics Textbooks:
Ramifications of Technological Change............................................................ 63
Daniel Chazan & Michal Yerushalmy
Media and Information Literacy in the Digital Age.
An Example on Exploring Pluralism................................................................. 77
Marlène Loicq
Scaffolding Curation: Developing Digital Competencies in
Media Literacy Education.................................................................................. 91
Paul Mihailidis and Megan E. Fromm
Journalist Education and Truth in the Digital Age:
Why We Need Critical Digital Literacy............................................................. 105
Filip Lab, Alice N. Tejkalova
Bowling Online: A Critical View of Social Capital
and Virtual Communities................................................................................... 117
Melissa Harness & Sultana A. Shabazz
Part Two – Assessments
Informal Media Education in Europe: an Analysis of the Best Practices.......... 131
Alberto Bitonti, Andrej Školkay
Critical Review of an e-Learning tool............................................................... 149
Barbara Szafrajzen & Karen Ferreira-Meyers

17
Social Health Education Programs at School: Investigating
the Integration of Serious Games in the Curriculum......................................... 167
Katarina Panic, Verolien Cauberghe, Patrick De Pelsmacker
Children and Video Games: Oral and Written Narratives.................................. 183
Rut Martínez-Borda & Pilar Lacasa
Teaching with Laptops: A Critical Assessment of
One-to-one Technologies................................................................................... 203
Magda Pischetola
Teachers and the Challenges of Digital Technologies in Education:
The Portuguese ‘e.escolinha’ Programme.......................................................... 215
Sara Pereira
Enthusiastic, Hesitant and Resistant Teachers Toward the
One-To-One Laptop Programme: A Multi-Sited Ethnographic
Study in Catalonia.............................................................................................. 237
Cristina Aliagas Marín & Josep M. Castellà Lidon
Animation: A New Method of Educational Communication in China.............. 259
Vincenzo De Masi and Yan Han
Part Three – Subversions
Teaching the Unteachable: Networked Media, Simulation
and Community Research/Activism.................................................................. 275
Judith Faifman and Brian Goldfarb
Beyond ‘Beyond Schools’: Young People’s Unsanctioned
Digital Media Use In and Around Schools and Classrooms.............................. 295
David Elliott & Scott Bulfin
Digital Introductions as Critical Practice........................................................... 315
Julie Faulkner
Redefining Students’ Reflections: Opportunities and
Challenges of Video-Enhanced Blogging.......................................................... 327
Dennis N. York and Ronald D. Owston
Emancipative Technology in Formal Education:
The Case for “Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)”.................................. 341
Gloria Gómez-Diago
Index.................................................................................................................. 359

18
Emancipative Technology in Formal Education: The Case
for “Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)”

Gloria Gómez-Diago

Abstract
In a world where the widespread use of the Internet offers to many citizens the technological
opportunity to actively participate in the creation of Cyber culture, downloading and using ap-
plications and software for different purposes, the use of privative software in formal education
has no sense because it imposes unnecessary barriers and constraints on learning practices and
the freedom of students. Based on the results of a pilot study, in this chapter I argue for the
importance of Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) as a suitable alternative model to foster
innovative learning, democratic education and ultimately an emancipative pedagogy.

Introduction
Discussing research in education technology, Selwyn and Facer (2013) argue for
the need of a critical perspective capable of going beyond the mere description of
“best practices” or the documentation of lived digital cultures as cultural studies
offer. Going further is possible by evaluating and analyzing, instead of just de-
scribing or reciting.
In this chapter, and in an effort to take this suggestion seriously, I discuss the
main problems associated with the use of privative software in formal education
from a communicative perspective. In my approach, the unit of analysis is not
the single user but the context of interaction and the outcomes resulting from it
(Gómez-Diago, 2013a). As Lievrouw observes (2011), a ‘contextual’ approach
is very needed not just in technology and education research but also in media
research. In this way, people’s engagement with media can be conceptualized in
terms of expression, organization, relations, and interaction rather than reception
and consumption, as is usually the case. My main argument is that, in formal
education, Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) must replace commercial soft-
ware, which I refer to here as ‘privative’ software because its use deprives users
the right to see and to modify its source code, the right to install it in various
devices or the right to distribute it. If users cannot control their programs, then
it is the program and its manufacturer that control its users – which is the case
when using privative software. The chapter describes the main advantages of the
former and the disadvantages of the latter as experienced in educational practices
in formal education. This study provides a framework for further research which

341
Pure Data. Visual programming language. Retrieved 23 December 2013 from http://puredata.
info/.
VirtualBox. Cross-platform virtualization application. Retrieved 23 December 2013 from https://
www.virtualbox.org/.

Free and Open Software Social Media

diaspora. Retrieved 23 December 2013 from https://joindiaspora.com/.
friendica. Retrieved 23 December 2013 from http://friendica.com.
identi.ca. Retrieved 23 December 2013 from https://identi.ca/.
kune. Retrieved 23 December 2013 http://kune.ourproject.org/.
n-1. Retrieved 23 December 2013 from https://n-1.cc/.
thimbl. Retrieved 23 December 2013 from http://www.thimbl.net/.

357