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Civic culture is a term for how citizens actively live out, perform, and create public life through our habits, actions, words, and public work. A vital civic culture, with an engaged citizenry, is...

This paper aims to examine a theoretical framework of digital society and the ramifications of the digital revolution. The paper proposes that more attention has to be paid to cultural studies as a means for the understanding of digital society. The approach is based on the idea that the digital revolution’s essence is fully manifested in the cultural changes that take place in society. Cultural changes are discussed in connection with the digital society’s transformations, such as blurring the distinction between reality and virtuality and among people, nature, and artifacts, and the reversal from informational scarcity to abundance. The presented study develops a general model of culture. This model describes the spiritual, social, and technological facets of culture. Such new phenomena as individualization, transparisation, and so-called cognification (intellectualization of the surrounding environment) are suggested as the prominent trends characterizing the above cultural facets.

This chapter examines some common ways educators and policy makers understand the concept of digital literacy and discusses the limitations of those common definitions. The chapter goes on to argue that advancing a transformative approach of and for critical literacy must disavow idiosyncratic categories, which are preoccupied with information and efficiency, and embrace a framework that incorporates a deeper understanding of the nature of digital media.

This chapter stresses that the promotion of a more inclusive democracy necessitates revitalizing a broader understanding of everyday life in an ultra-connected world, developing an understanding of the intricate layers of knowledge construction, and questioning hegemonic discourses. If advancing democratic citizenship is considered a desirable goal, then it is important to clarify not only the technical expectations of using digital technology, but also to define our expectations of public education. The chapter concludes with offering a pragmatic framework for harnessing digital technology to overcome some of the challenges that have been addressed in the book.

One of the key elements of advancing democratic citizenship is the ability to develop critical thinking, to carefully examine assumptions and life situations, and to communicate with others in an effective manner. This chapter analyses some examples that were observed in the study and will offer several ways to understand the complexities of growing up in a hyper connected world.

This chapter complicates (Prensky 2008) metaphor of technology as turning on the light in children’s lives by contrasting the potential of social media to stimulate social agency and the ways in which educational technologies are governed by private interests.

What does it mean to learn with technology? Do current educational technologies support a sense of social agency, or are they mainly a means of training students? Drawing from a qualitative study, this chapter examines some prominent examples and discusses how education in a globalized world emphasizes instrumental rationality.

Those who advocate for the timely yet debated trend of digital personalized learning suggest that it allows each learner to gain more power over the learning process and to provide teachers with tools to support each individual student based on his or her needs, and in this sense, advances constructive and progressive pedagogies by allowing students to better engage with subject matter and to make connections to real life phenomena. This chapter complicates the fundamental assumptions and pedagogical practices of digital personalized learning and juxtaposes them with the principles of progressive education. In light of the growing popularity of personalized learning, this chapter suggests several caveats that ought to be taken into consideration against the tendency to commodify instruction.

Digital technology has entered every domain in life, including education. The global impact of digital tools on education has been explored increasingly by scholars who wished to optimize instruction through digital platforms. Nevertheless, this chapter suggests that, for advancing education, it is also important to critically explore the sociocultural contexts in which education-technologies are designed. This chapter contends that examining the relationships among the neoliberal imperative, consumerist culture, and globalization is crucial for delineating a constructive framework for digital citizenship.

A common definition of listening distinguishes between hearing and listening. The basic distinction describes hearing as a passive action of perceiving sounds, whereas listening involves paying active attention to various layers and elements of what one is hearing. Active listening to music, featuring the discerning of sounds, musical structures, harmonies, and the interrelations between the sounds, is akin to contemplating complex ideas. Providing meaning for this nexus of relationships requires listeners to grapple with these complex musical nuances, listening to different layers of the melody and harmony and connecting them to cultural and historical aspects. Challenging students to grapple with the complex nuances of musical pieces, to listen to different layers of the melody and harmony, and to connect those elements to cultural and historical aspects will provide them the opportunity to reflect upon the social and cultural contexts in which they live. The concept of what it means to be active (or mindful) has been examined from various perspectives and theories and holds great potential in advancing individual growth and social sensitivity.