PoliPedia.at – Citizenship Education 2.0

Abstract

The rapid adoption of New Social Media both attracts and irritates citizenship educators. Yet, how citizenship education changes with the Web 2.0 is not determined by new technologies, but dependent on the approaches shaped deliberatively. This contribution aims for the clarification of the difference between New Social Media adoption and New Social Media capabilities. It identifies the development of New Social Media capabilities as crucial for active online participation and collaboration. Citizenship education that aims for the active and capable citizen must provide offers to new target groups. The times when political education was complacent with the teaching of factual knowledge are gone. In the context of New Social Media citizenship education must make use of the innovative toolbox Web 2.0 provides. The authors choose PoliPedia.at as an example within a range of new tools for citizenship education.