In this volume, contributors advance the theories and praxis of Critical Digital Literacies. Aimed at literacy, teacher education, and English Education practitioners, this volume explores critical practices with digital tools, with a pronounced focus on social justice.

This book provides critical commentary on key issues around virtual reality, using media technology as a tool to challenge perspectives for learning and understanding cultural diversities. With a focus on empathy, embodiment and ethics, the book interrogates the use of immersive technologies for formal and informal educational contexts. Taking a critical approach to discourses around emerging technology and learning, the book presents the idea that a new literacy is emerging and an emphasis on media and technology is needed in the context of education to explore and experience cultural diversities. Employing a personal reflexive narrative, the chapters highlight key issues through research and interviews with leading practitioners in the field. Understanding Virtual Reality will be of great interest to academics and students interested in the effects of immersive realities on the education experience, and to anyone keen on exploring the paradigm shift from entertainment to education.

This handbook interrogates the foundations of media literacy and media education research from a methodological standpoint. It provides a detailed, illustrated overview of key methods used in the study of media literacy and media education. Further, it reveals the diversity of this research field and organizes this diversity by using three categories of investigation: media practices, educational initiatives, and prescriptive discourses. The book offers valuable reference points and tools for exploring the range of research methods used to study media literacy and media education and how these methods connect to epistemological stances, theoretical frameworks, and research questions. It serves as a guide for researchers who wish to position themselves, reflect on the methods they use or are considering using, and compare and contrast them against alternative or complementary approaches. After reading this book, readers will be better able to identify and define the objects of study in media literacy and media education research, the preferred ways of conducting investigations, the phenomena, issues, and dimensions that these are likely to bring to light, and the knowledge that they generate. This comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the field of media literacy education research methods will be of great interest to scholars and students of education studies, media studies, media literacy, cognitive science, and communication studies. Chapter 2 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 International license.

This book collects some of the works presented at ATEE Florence Spring Conference 2020-2021. The Conference, originally planned for May 2020, was forcefully postponed due to the dramatic insurgence of the pandemic. Despite the difficulties in this period, the Organising Committee decided anyway to keep it, although online and more than one year later, not to disperse the huge work of authors, mainly teachers, who had to face one of the hardest challenges in the last decades, in a historic period where the promotion of social justice and equal opportunities – through digital technologies and beyond – is a key factor for democratic citizenship in our societies. The Organising Committee, the University of Florence, and ATEE wish to warmly thank all the authors for their commitment and understanding, which ensured the success of the Conference. We hope this book could be, not only a witness of these pandemic times, but a hopeful sign for an equal and inclusive education in all countries.

Through expert analysis, this text proves that John Dewey’s views on efficiency in education are as relevant as ever. By exploring Deweyan theories of teaching and learning, the volume illustrates how they can aid educators in navigating the theoretical and practical implications of accountability, standardization, and assessment. The Contemporary Relevance of John Dewey’s Theories on Teaching and Learning deconstructs issues regarding accountability mechanisms, uniform assessment systems, and standardization processes through a Deweyan lens. Connecting the zeitgeist of the era from which Dewey’s ideas emerged and current global political, social, and economic contexts, the book emphasizes the importance of resilient systems in reconciliating the tension between standardized assessments and individual student development. Contributors provide insights from a range of settings across Pre-K, primary, secondary, and higher education and address topics including teacher agency, voice, leadership, and democracy. The volume will be of interest to scholars, researchers, and academics with an interest in philosophy of education, education policy and the impact of neoliberal agendas, as well as teaching and learning more broadly.

What we currently call “horse whispering” has roots in a form of western horsemanship that traveled from Europe to Mexico and the United States, and was then transformed by Native Americans and working cowboys into Vaquero horsemanship. Fine Horses and Fair-Minded Riders: Modern Vaquero Horsemanship documents the learning and practice of Vaquero horsemanship, which has survived as a vibrant part of horse culture. In her study, Ávila first focused on participants in the southeastern United States before expanding to include their mentors from across the United States. Ávila characterizes what she found as “a collapse of distance” between geographical and cultural boundaries, digital and physical spaces, and, most significantly, horses and humans. Influenced by New Literacies scholarship and employing a sociocultural theoretical framework, Ávila explores self-directed learning journeys; the flexibility of apprentice and expert positions; the influence of consumer culture; the philosophy and significance of the cultural roots of Vaquero horsemanship; the role of technology; and what the future of this continually evolving horsemanship might include. At the heart of this volume are personal stories and firsthand accounts from those who have studied modern Vaquero horsemanship, which can help to create exceptional and powerful bonds between horses and humans.