Mind the Gap: Digital Practices and School

Digital practices are pervasive in the everyday lives of young people. However, to be emerged in digital networked practices does not inherently provide competences to critically examine media and online content. Formal learning could profit from young people's interests and enthusiasm in informal learning contexts, bridging the gap between formal learning and everyday digital practices. The school has an urgent and decisive role to promote digital literacies and to prepare young people to adapt to a changing world. This paper presents results from the project Net Children Go Mobile in Portugal to analyze the gap between digital practices and school. The digital gap between the culture of the school and the culture of children's lives outside school is not just about having more access to technology or more ICT training, it is essentially about having the competence of using critical thinking and a diverse set of skills in digital practices.