Communication, education and new technologies: the 21st century’s triad

Abstract

The author discusses new technologies, communication and education as an important triad to form citizens in democratic societies. He calls one’s attention to the importance of denaturalizing the technologies, showing them as they appear and as they are oriented towards policies aimed at the market and at consumption, belittling the logic of the interests of each Nation-state and of the different cultures. Another aspect the article highlights is the connection new technologies have with education. It deals with this theme based on efficiency rationality and on the rationality of relevance. In the first case, the practice consists of incorporating the new technologies into the established educative process, with no concern with effective learning. In the latter case, the objective is to give priority to learning, orienting the logic of the technologies towards appropriation based on the student’s cultural reality and aiming at transforming the meaning of the school. Finally, he emphasizes the role the communicator has in reorienting the media and in keeping up with the educative process.