Education and social networking: Between connectivism and the critical social philosophy of the new media

The so-called ‘Internet Studies’ have highlighted the importance of pedagogy declined as a philosophy of education, as a science able to provide, together with other social and cultural sciences, a significant contribution to the understanding of the implications and educational potential of the Net in the age of infosphere. Over the past few years, the so-called ‘social networking pedagogy’ has emerged as an interdisciplinary approach focusing on curriculum and training. It is a pedagogy that identifies in the interaction that takes place, for example, in social networks (‘containers’ for communicative interaction) the possibility of developing a learning and training model that not only opens up new scenarios for education of the future through new media but also allows to understand critically the whole contemporary culture. Therefore, starting from the analysis of this scenario and using a theoretical methodology based on mainly hermeneutical-deconstructive and historical-dialectical approaches, the article outlines the possible epistemological framework for the ‘networking pedagogy’ within the Internet studies, and identifies its main issues. The authors highlight how this specific pedagogy develops today as a ‘pedagogy of culture’ characterized by a positive and optimistic approach to the new media (with particular reference to social networks). After identifying the advantages and disadvantages of the new media, such a pedagogy intends to consider pedagogical issues that teachers and trainers have to focus on and transform into effective educational communication content and tools for the curriculum. The article examines the contributions of the critical pedagogy scholars David Trend and Henry Giroux who can be considered the pioneers of networking pedagogy. The article concludes by highlighting the importance of ethics as a pedagogical practice that, through control, regulation and supervision of communicative interactions in social networks, paves the way for their conscious and educational use.