Session
Organizer 1: Marta Witkowska, NASK National Research Institute
Organizer 2: Pyżalski Jacek, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan
Organizer 3: Anna Borkowska, NASK
Organizer 4: Alicja Lesiakowska-Sarnowska, NASK National Research Institute
Speaker 1: Sonia Livingstone, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Pyżalski Jacek, Civil Society, Eastern European Group
Speaker 3: Marta Witkowska, Technical Community, Eastern European Group
Speaker 4: Piotr Plichta, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 5: Ellen Helsper, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Pyżalski Jacek, Civil Society, Eastern European Group
Alicja Lesiakowska-Sarnowska, Technical Community, Eastern European Group
Anna Borkowska, Technical Community, Eastern European Group
Debate - Auditorium - 90 Min
Social inequality and the pandemic: What can be learned from the COVID-19 pandemic context about the relationship between digital inequality and social and economic inequality? Similarly, what lessons can be drawn with respect to the pandemic and Internet-related human rights? What does this suggest about policy approaches for digitalisation and digital inclusion?
Immediate introduction of distance learning in connection with the pandemic raised questions not only about the universal access of students and the entire school environment to digital resources. It also posed a question about their adequate use, related to the level of digital competences. The crisis situation shed light not only on the issues related to the possibility of implementing the core curriculum, but also on the patterns of using ICT, such as psychological well-being, problematic use, strategies for coping with forced isolation from the peer group and the school environment. The experience of organizing education during the pandemic emphasized the importance of not only providing access, but above all equipping with competences such as digital skills, as a key factor in reducing educational and social inequalities.
3. Good Health and Well-Being
4. Quality Education
Targets: Two SDGs targets are horizontal for the whole session content. The topic of health well-being will be covered by discussing the patterns of ICT use during the pandemic (including not only screen time but also the patterns of problematic internet use). Additionally, the impact of crisis remote learning on social relations of students, teachers and parents will be tackled in the context of mental health and well-being (also in young people with special needs).
The parallel main issue is the quality of education in the contexts of crisis remote education as well as remote and hybrid education in a broader perspective. It will be discussed through the lens of digital skills development since those skills in students and teachers are a prerequisite for good quality education nowadys.
Description:
COVID-19 pandemic has brought enormous challenges to educational systems of all countries. So called crisis remote education, based solely on Internet instruments, was on one hand a big opportunity to continue education processes, but at the same time made visible all the weaknesses of national educational systems and factors that influence their functioning. In our session we focus on central issue that influence the quality of crisis remote education in all countries: digital skills of young people and teachers. We will focus on important pillars of this issue through the lenses of important contemporary concepts and the newest research. We have invited two key speakers prof. Sonia Livingstone (EU Kids Online, Global Kids Online) and prof. Ellen Helsper (EU Kids Online) that will based on their thorough scientific and practical experience the overview of the newest concepts as well as the main issues that could be the lesson for educational systems from pandemic remote education (in the context of digital skills development. Their approach will provide international and intercultural perspective based on the big scale comparative research projects on digital skills they are conducting for many years. This perspective will be supplemented by the three introductory presentations by Polish researchers that will focus on digital wellbeing during pandemic, ICT usage and school relations as well as digital inequalities among students (also those connected to special needs children and adolescents). They will present the most important research data from the projects conducted during schools closure. This approach will enable as to map pros and cons of crisis remote education and formulate conclusions concerning the educational approaches for development of digital skills in teachers and adolescents as well as organization of distance and hybrid learning at different levels.
Conclusions from the discussion will be used by our speakers in the big ongoing research projects on digital skills they are involved in: ySkills (yskills.eu) and EU Kids Online
NASK, as a National Research Institute, will use the results of the dabate to plan future research and publications for teachers, school professionals and parents. Additionally, the conclusions will be used during the annual Nationwide Education Networkk (OSE)community congress, where they will be presented to the teachers, school headteachers, local government units responsible to the management of education and the administration of schools and other educational institutions and communities working with schools.
The proposed panel will consist of two sections.
During the first one, the speakers will briefly present (aprox. 10 min. each) the issues related to the digital competences of students and their psychosocial functioning during the pandemic, based on the latest research (as described above). They will take up topics related to changes in the area of youth relations and communication, digital wellbeing, and the impact of the pandemic on digital inequalities and a broad perspective on the approach to digital competences in the situation of forced remote education.
The second part of the panel will be based on discussions between speakers and panel participants.
The discussion will be conducted around 3 main issues / sections:
- students' digital competences in the face of a pandemic experience,
- how young people adapt to isolation and remote learning and how it changed their online/offline functioning,
- how can we map pros and cons of crisis remote education and formulate conclusions concerning the educational approaches for development of digital skills in teachers and adolescents as well as organization of distance and hybrid learning at different levels.
Interaction between panel participants and online experts will be ensured by the use of the Q&A session module.
The whole debate will be moderated by one of the speakers.
Usage of IGF Official Tool.