Digital Europe: Challenges and Opportunities for Education

Digital Europe: Challenges and Opportunities for Education | Conversations for the Future of Europe – 2020 #2

Digital technology has become central to education and training in Europe, placing digital competences as essential for life and work in an age of rapid digital changei. But now more than ever digital technology has become a basic necessity, especially in the education sector. The outbreak of the Covid-19 crisis has required the sector to fast-forward its development in this area, forcing drastic shifts in teaching and learning from the classroom to the digital and virtual environment.

The digital agenda 2020, which came to replace the i2010 strategic framework, continues to stress the role of education in developing a European digital space. This has been emphasised by the Digital Education Action Planii that aims to: Make better use of digital technology for teaching and learning; Develop digital competences and skills (across the education sector); and improve education through better data analysis and foresight. While there is no doubt that the European Union has been instrumental in fostering a European digital space, how do its policies and initiatives fare on the ground?

This Conversation will aim to promote debate on the diversity of digital education practices across the different member states, questioning: Who benefits and who is excluded from the digital European space? How does the digital education plan affect the teaching provision of compulsory and tertiary education? What can we take away from experiences during the Covid-19 crisis and how can we keep up the momentum in developing a digital education habitus afterwards?

Speaker: Dr. Cristina Costa, Assistant Professor in Education, University of Durham (UK) With short interventions from: Dr. Mark Murphy, Reader in Education, University of Glasgow (UK); Dr. Guido Reverdito, Academic Director, Smith College and CAPA International Education Florence centres (USA).

Discussant: Dr. Sarah St. John, Robert Schuman Centre and Thoughts for Europe, EUI (Italy)

Chair: Dr. Lorenzo Cicchi, European Governance and Politics Programme, Robert Schuman Centre, EUI (Italy)

Organisers:

Prof. Brigid Laffan | Robert Schuman Centre, EUI

Prof. Andrea Sangiovanni | Department of Political and Social Sciences, EUI

Prof. Philippe van Parijs | Robert Schuman Fellow and Université Catholique de Louvain

Dr. Juri Viehoff | Department of Political and Social Sciences, EUI

 

Please note: the Conversation will take place via ZOOM. Participation is only possible upon registration. The link to the meeting will be sent only to registered participants.