Digital Technologies for School Collaboration

Web-based school collaboration has attracted the sustained attention of educators, policy-makers, and governmental bodies around the world during the past decade. This book sheds new light on this topical but ever so complex issue. Drawing on a wealth of theoretical and empirical work, it presents the various models of available school twinning programs and explores the cultural, political, and economic factors that surround the recent enthusiasm regarding collaborative initiatives. Moreover, the book critically examines teachers' and students' experiences of web-based school collaboration. In particular, it develops a realistic perspective of the range of challenges they face and identifies the host of technological and non-technological issues that can shape participation in collaborative programs.

"Programs that provide opportunities for transnational collaboration between schools have been around for some time, but the potential expansion of these through new technology has yet to be evaluated in a principled way. Gouseti's book does just that. Based on case studies of teachers' and students' experiences of the European eTwinning program, she provides a detailed analysis of the promises and pitfalls of web-based school collaboration, providing an excellent overview and critique of the rhetoric associated with web 2.0 and 'participatory culture.' This is a book that is well-informed, well-argued and scholarly throughout, offering practical guidance on how to develop school collaboration through new media." - Guy Merchant, Professor of Literacy in Education, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

"The field of educational technology is full of broad expectations and assumptions. As such, detailed examinations of the complex realities of technology and education are always welcome. In this book, Gouseti provides just such an insight into the everyday constraints that have a significant bearing on digital education. This book offers a salutary reminder than very little in education is ever as straightforward as we are promised. An important book for anyone interested in contemporary schools and schooling." - Neil Selwyn, Professor of Education, Monash University, Australia

Autorentext
Anastasia Gouseti is Honorary Visiting Fellow at the London Knowledge Lab at the Institute of Education, University of London, UK.

Inhalt
Series Foreword 1. Web-based School Collaboration: the Promises and Problems 2. Digital Technologies in Education: New Tools for New Times? 3. Collaborative Experiences in Practice: Case Studies from the UK 4. Collaborative Experiences in Practice: Case Studies from Greece 5. The Bigger Picture: Understanding Web-based School Collaboration 6. Conclusions and Suggestions for Improving School Collaboration Where Now?