Prevenir contra o lobo mau ou despertar a bela adormecida

: estudo de caso sobre as práticas e perceções associadas à internet entre os alunos do Agrupamento de Escolas do Vale de Ovil

Abstract

We live surrounded by technology. In the present, Internet supports a society where information and communication spread to various aspects of human life, turning them into pillars of political, economic, social and culture organization. In a context of rapid changes, political power tried to develop measures and actions, nationals and communities, to encourage technology of information and communication. But not only. The accelerated evolution of the media and the role assumed by the Internet also brought implications for education and training. The School of the XXI century was invaded by a new set of learners and their libraries were sought by a heterogeneous audience that we need to understand better. Many are the questions that can be raised when we contact to the children and young people who frequent our schools. Wouldn´t it be important to know how the digital divide affects the students where we work? Or understand the fears associated with the Internet? And what sources of knowledge are involved in learning through the Internet? Or even realize what their perceptions concerning the advantages and dangers of using the Internet, the copyright or the type of parental mediation that they consider to be subject to? When we study the Internet and the use that can be given to this media in our schools, it is important to demystify fears and doubts, put aside opinions and analyze it objectively without restricting ourselves to a partial view of problems. From a case study, conducted in a school in a county within the district of Porto, which tried to know the perceptions of students with practices, opportunities, fears and risks associated with the Internet. The results of this study show approximations with national reality, for example in the tendency of children and young people value the Internet and the learning by it. However, we also found some specific features, which are the result of the geographic location of the county and certain sociological characteristics that would be important to explore in a future study. The guidelines documents of the school life and the action plan of the library can’t ignore that there are students who do not make the evaluation of information they find on the Internet, do not identify the references and citations or do not respect the copyright particularly when they use images and music recordings. We can’t overlook the cases of acess to content that parents would consider inappropriate and children who change the hours of rest due to the time spent on the Internet. From these and other information it is possible to create a starting point for a further work on developing a safe, critical and responsible use of the Internet. Investments in literacy are needed. The literacy is a decisive fator to transform information into knowledge and to increase the economic wealth of a country.

Date of Award	24 Feb 2012
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	José Reis Lagarto (Supervisor)