Event

 

The digital transformation that ran over global society in recent decades requires a reflection and a revision of current educational models. As highlighted by Norton et al. (2020), the digital transformation consists of a change in the organization of work and social models and implies not only the implementation of a technological solution but more the creation of an alignment between digital technologies, human and organizational factors, reflecting in a profound and strategic way on the value and sustainability structure of the world.

The changes that have already taken place and the effects of globalization and technology made it necessary to redefine and modify educational systems, approaches and processes. Teaching and learning activities began to differentiate themselves from traditional approaches (Bozkurt, 2015) to respond to the increasingly different and more complex characteristics, needs and learning methods of learners. New Media Education (Rivoltella, 2019) poses numerous challenges and opportunities that outline a pedagogical profile characterized by a flexible paradigm in which people contribute to modifying the learning environment (Ardizzone & Rivoltella, 2008).

 The education system has worked to adapt, change, and develop pedagogical and teaching practices in this rapid transformation process. However, these changes, although beneficial, lack a new global vision which, reflecting on past experiences, RETHINKS the educational paradigm in a new key, REWIRING the richness of experience to the opportunities of the digital universe, with the aim of RE-ENVISIONING the education scenario for the next years. To do this, it is necessary to consider the changes that seem more likely and those that we do not expect (OECD, 2022).

Neuroscientific research in the educational field in recent years can provide a wide amount of information and empirical evidence on the topics of learning and teaching in analogical and digital environments, with a specific focus also on corporality and its importance for the effectiveness of the development process. In particular, for the latter aspect, a fundamental question remains open today on the opportunity to reimagine the body in the digital learning experience. As Cregan (2006) says, the body has been subject to “intensification of extension, abstraction and reconstruction”; in this sense, the opportunities for learning must be seized.

Pedagogical sciences have the opportunity to design a new scenario that reformulates educational practices and builds new spaces for carrying out teaching-learning processes in an inclusive and enhancing way (Sibilio, 2015) and for capitalizing on the huge transformations that have taken place in society, linking them with the new neuroscientific knowledge on learning processes and cognitive, communicative and knowledge management practices (Cicognini et al., 2007; Cross, 2006).

REN Conference wants to offer the space and opportunities to reflect, rethink, rewire and, finally, re-envisioning the new educational paradigms, through dialogue between scholars, scientists and operators in the sector.

The topics of the debate will focus on the re-reading of training processes in complex multicultural contexts, of diversity and deviance, building on the knowledge achieved so far and seizing the opportunities offered by digital and neuroscientific evolution.

The conference will be divided into a symposium for dialogue among the top experts of the discipline and in parallel sessions in which attention will be focused on different thematic areas.

The call for paper is open to all professors, lecturers, doctoral students, educators and operators who wish to contribute with empirical and/or theoretical research to the debate and reflection on the theme of new educational paradigms in the digital universe and the contribution that neuroscience can make in the various fields:

  1. Skills for teachers and educators in the third millennium
  2. The body in analogical and digital didactic practices
  3. Inclusive education and teaching in contexts of diversity, marginality and deviance
  4. Learning environments and educational practices in the digital universe
  5. Pedagogical and didactic epistemology: innovative educational practices.

It will be possible to participate in the conference with an oral presentation of the contribution, in person. The best contributions for each topic will be accepted, according to the evaluation of the Scientific Committee. It will not be possible to submit more than one contribution per author.