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Dr Gioia Panzarella contributes to resources for developing critical digital pedagogies

Now more than ever, we’re thinking about the role of the digital in educational settings. How can digital technology help us ensure educational environments are platforms for engaging students as full agents of their own learning?

Launched last month, ‘Critical Digital Pedagogies in Modern Languages - a Tutorial Collection’, guest edited by Paul Spence and Renata Brandão, offers online tutorials which explore the theories and applications of digital methods and tools for engaging with modern languages and cultures. This publication is the result of a “tutorial writing sprint”, which took place in the summer of 2019. The purpose of the two-day event was to learn how to produce self-learning online tutorials.

Dr Gioia Panzarella’s self-learning tutorial in the collection guides learners of Italian in an exploration of online resources made available by associations fighting against organised crime. The tutorial focuses on the critical understanding of online resources, and in particular, on the need to encourage learners to engage critically with websites whilst learning a language (in this case, Italian).

Editors Spence and Brandão explain that, thanks to this tutorial, “In assessing the state of antimafia resources and the way in which they communicate their message, the learner will gain skills in evaluating digital resources while engaging with Italian culture through authentic content and developing intercultural competences.” (Critical Digital Pedagogies in Modern Languages - a Tutorial Collection)

You can access Gioia’s tutorial here.

The Special Collection is open access and is published by Modern Languages Open.