In this article, I connect two topics that are relevant to debates in educational studies today: an understanding of how educational discourses and practices convey and produce a definite kind of future, and the debate on what has been defined as the 'turn to character'. I do so by means of interviews with secondary school teachers in Sardinia…

Background: Service-learning is a widely adopted approach in higher education institutions globally, integrating civic engagement experiences into academic curricula while being responsive to the development of local communities. Purpose: This study aimed to assess the impact on students in participating in voluntary semester-long service-learning…

This article provides a case-based critical reflection on integrating transdisciplinary knowledge in entrepreneurship education as a framework for empowering future entrepreneurs and innovators . The increased complexity of modern societies emphasizes new requirements for teaching practices intended to equip decision-makers with the tools…

In many countries, opportunities for higher education are reduced for some under-represented groups in society. One such group are young women from rural and underdeveloped areas who due to traditional, patriarchal lifestyles have much less chance to go to college and get education that their peers from urban areas have much more access to. Online…

This article aims to present the effects of participatory action learning (PAL) as a method of work to Empower the Active Citizenship of young people in schools. The author of the article was involved in an educational project called Future Youth School -- Forums (FYS-FORUMS). The basic aim was to create a model of schooling that promotes the idea…

This study explores the arising and unfolding of class mood with a focus on the students' agentic contributions to classroom interaction. The study is based on empirical video-data that were collected in four secondary school Italian classrooms. We identified three forms of qualitatively distinct class mood, whose unfolding in classroom…

In this paper, we examine the relationship between basic psychological needs and student engagement in a population of Italian secondary school students. To measure the psychological needs, we have selected a set of indicators that, beyond the needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness, also include the need for justice, which is crucial in…

The humanist and critical principles of educational gerontology attribute different goals to education in later life. Self-Actualization is the goal of humanist educational gerontology, while empowerment, emancipation, and social change are the goals of critical educational gerontology. Liberal arts education is dominant in later-life learning.…

In the last three decades, inclusive disability legislation has led to an increasing number of students with disabilities entering higher education. However, barriers to the full participation of students remain. This article presents evidence from studies conducted in two Italian universities. Drawing on the Capability Approach, the goal is to…

This article explores the potential of mobile learning in adult education with a particular focus on identity formation and self-representation. It draws on the mobile learning experiences implemented within MyMobile--Education on the move, a European project (2010-2012) whose main purpose was to develop guidelines for mobile learning in adult…

In the true multilingual classroom, children use a variety of languages to learn: their home languages, the school language, foreign and second languages offered in the curriculum, minority languages, endangered languages. Transforming our monolingual classrooms into spaces where a multiplicity of languages can thrive remains a pedagogical…

The current study was primarily aimed at verifying the effect of a combined computer-assisted and pencil-and-paper training that was developed to empower visuo-spatial abilities in primary school pupils. One hundred and twenty third grade (mean average: eight years old) and fourth grade (mean age: nine years old) students attending several Italian…

Intercultural dialogue is a concept and discourse that dates back to the 1980s. It is the major means for managing diversity and strengthening democracy within Europe and beyond. It has been adopted by the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe as the basis for interreligious and interfaith initiatives and has become increasingly…

Community psychology theorists underline the importance of promoting sociopolitical empowerment, but few studies have been conducted on the evaluation of the efficacy of empowering programs among university students. The authors report two studies: the first, with 216 psychology majors, compared the efficacy of face-to-face and online community…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…