The contribution presents the results of the qualitative research conducted with the case study methodology (Domenici, Lucisano, Biasi, 2017; Trinchero, 2004) within the Europe Erasmus+ project with small-scale partnership: PRESTO Peer education and digital storytelling for young people.
PRESTO promoted the use of digital technologies for the development of digital storytelling (Robin, 2008; 2012; 2016) on the desirable future of young people in disadvantaged situations. The aim was to promote the growth of digital skills according to the European definition (Official Journal of the European Union, 2018) and to support young people in promoting transversal skills such as the ability to work in groups, to self-observe, to promote one's self-efficacy and agency (Bandura, 1995; 2012), to identify objectives for one's future, for the purpose of orientation. The case study examined all the project materials and interviews and focus groups were conducted with the designers, educators, some external experts, as well as participation in the training and supervision phases of the educators from the partner countries involved. The material was analyzed following the operationalization process for the definition of the indicators (Marradi, 1987; 2007) also with the support of the NVivo software (Pacifico, Coppola, 2010). Below are the materials used for data processing:

Analysis of project documentation

• Training course for educators Trailers educators Monitoring and evaluation documents
• Interactions on the platform during the training phase Meeting agendas and reporting
• Intermediate and final reports Documents of PE activities in the two local contexts

Interviews

• Designers, local managers

Interviews, focus with educators

• Interview with senior trainer
• Focus group with educators
• Supervision activities

Questionnaires for educators and local managers

• Questionnaires incoming; in itinere; final

Analysis of the documentation produced by the second level beneficiaries

• Young trailers
• Setting analysis

For the purposes of this work, some of the conclusions that emerged are reported. Regarding the didactic mediation carried out with the peer education method (FHI 360, 2014) and with the production of the digital cognitive artefact:

• a clear link emerges between the technical, technological and pedagogical preparation of educators and the DST formats. Educators with greater technical preparation promoted technically better products, but with little connection to the feasibility of the desirable future project. Conversely, educators with less digital skills, but with greater pedagogical preparation, promoted an educational and reflective approach.
• didactic mediation was crucial in supporting motivation and inclusion within the peer group and facilitated a highly relational approach.
• the use of different linguistic codes in the same artefact facilitated the elaboration of the stories, offering opportunities for individual reflection.
• the construct of competence was assumed with a very broad semantics, closer to its transversal meaning than to a professional declination, expressing the endogenous nature of the topic's educational work (Benadusi, Molina, 2018).

In conclusion, it is possible to state that the determining variable for the educational use of digital storytelling in the PRESTO project is to be found in the nature of the didactic mediation promoted by the educators.

Starting from the theoretical frameworks of mediology and specifically of the study of the media within that educational process which makes "subtle culture" (Colombo 1998) an essential source of learning, the objective of our paper is to analyze the media imagery of Bluey. Investigating what is developing around one of the top products of the children's channel Rai Yoyo: the Australian animated series Bluey – created by Joe Brumm and produced in 2018 by Ludo Studio, commissioned by the BBC and currently in production both free-to-air and on RaiPlay and Disney+ platforms. Trying to investigate the educational effects that this product is having among the various generational targets for which it is designed.“The best television series in the world: Bluey is back!” this was the title of an article that appeared in the "Guardian" on 12 July 2023 precisely to indicate the extraordinary innovative process that characterizes this product of contemporary animation that we want to read through the theoretical speculation of mediology. A study interest that also arises from its total diffusion and immediate (and international) success. Suffice it to say that in the space of 18 months since its Australian debut, the series has become a triumphant mass phenomenon and intergenerational consumption (a quick reflection on the numbers is indicated precisely by its exploit in Australia: where out of a total of 25 million inhabitants, all episodes have been viewed 260 million times in streaming. Kate McMahon, author of a podcast for adults - Gotta Be Done. A Bluey Podcast - which comments on each episode of Bluey, told Mashable: «There is no no television series that can make me laugh and cry in seven minutes like Bluey does.There is so much love and it has changed the way I parent for the better." Another point of value is the soundtrack by Hans Zimmer. Unlike many children's cartoons where the musical riffs are repeated in each episode, in Bluey we witness (we listen to) a continuous and original musical choice which not only has climbed the music charts but has become a "case" with an important in-depth analysis on the " New York Times” in 2023. In short, Bluey represents an expressive force that responds to different socio-cultural needs and perspectives with a precise educational and pedagogical tension that - in our opinion - perfectly uses the entire media system. Its inventor in a 2022 interview stated that "if there is one thing I am proud of Bluey for, it is the fact that it can teach adults a little about how important play is in children's lives".

Our research work will develop in three directions: 1) the analysis of the Bluey educational product; 2) the identification of the various media devices through which the series has been remedied and adapted (television, apps, publishing, theatre, video games, fandom and music) and the branding process of the same (merchandising); 3) the deepening of the imagination that it has generated among the various audiences who benefit from it.

In a world that evolves at an unprecedented pace, the realm of education finds itself undergoing profound changes. The conventional educational model is no longer enough to prepare students for the challenges of the 21st century [1].

On one hand, technology seems to render much of the knowledge that was crucial in the past obsolete, and there is also a recurring need to teach the use of specific software/hardware from an early stage, be it in school or university. On the other hand, it is evident that the same technology, when presented randomly or superficially, or when it is informally learned outside of educational institutions, leads to a depletion of essential and cross-cutting skills. These skills are not only crucial for professions demanded by the market and society, but they are also crucial in everyday life and for personal success. The outcome is the emergence of disparities that transcend the level of formal education, particularly in schools focused on classical disciplines.

As an antidote to this risky situation, and in line with the holistic approach advocated by the theme of this panel, we propose, by way of examples and case studies, two areas of important cross-cutting skills.

The first area is coding, not only as a standalone discipline but also proposed across all disciplines, as it is now the lingua franca of the digital age, playing a pivotal role [2]. In a world increasingly governed by technology, understanding how to code is akin to possessing the keys to unlock countless doors of opportunity. This skill goes beyond mere computer programming; it nurtures problem-solving abilities, creativity, and adaptability, skills that are invaluable in driving innovative solutions [3].

The second area, almost a counterpart to the first, focuses on the natural communication skills of human beings. Communication has also undergone radical changes with the proliferation of social platforms and technologies that mediate interpersonal relationships, including educational relationships. Fostering public speaking skills enhances an individual's capacity to express thoughts effectively and cultivates self-assuredness, a crucial trait in both personal and professional life [4].

These two competencies are a mix of theoretical and practical in nature and must be possessed primarily by teachers. Challenges in both areas, such as understanding the profound nature of media and rhetorical-communicative skills, stem from the lack of communication between disciplinary areas and a hierarchical ranking entrenched in our educational system. Technical knowledge and communicative competence are considered somewhat "inferior."

By focusing on these cross-cutting skills in education, our work aspires to forge a comprehensive educational framework that molds students into well-rounded, capable individuals, equipped to tackle the complexities of our rapidly evolving world. It aims to redefine education in a manner that not only imparts knowledge but also empowers students to think critically, communicate effectively, and navigate the digital landscape with confidence. The future of education hinges on the development of these skills, and our perspective represents a stride toward that very future, one that readies students to excel in the ever-evolving world they are poised to inherit.

Mediological reflections on education, intertwined with pedagogy, date back half a century (McLuhan, Postman, Jenkins, Livingstone, Kellner; Maragliano, Pireddu, Balzola, Moriggi). A question arises about: Has mediological reflection considered the educational systems in their reproducing or counteracting inequality? In this perspective, four aspects should be examined, 1) in what measure mediamorphosis influences the historical process leading to a partial weakening of educational institutions as a factor of social mobility; 2) which are the educational "vocation" and orientation of mediology according to the society dynamics; 3) how specific media processes foster inequality and what patterns of inequality they can express; 4) how many and promising experiences in educational field exist, applying mediology for contrasting inequality reproduction.

On the first point it is clear the transition from the industrial production system to the informational one has changed the social pact basis of democratic societies and welfare state organizations, including the educational system. In the context of a profound social classes restructuring, the relevance of the traditional alliance between middle-class intellectuals and lower-middle working classes has collapsed, especially in shaping policies of income redistribution and access to universalistic services; moreover, the balance between formal and informal activities in learning activities has been reversed.

These dynamics have greatly undermined the education system role as a knowledge transfer and as a bridge from the wage-earning classes to the bourgeoisie from social democratic and liberal point of views. In the domain of consumption overwhelming the production in the networks world, "cultural capital" is not mainly reproduced at the school: The traditional education function of introjecting and legitimizing the dominant class norms, as Bourdieu theorized, has been losing meaning. Paradigms for an education able to counter inequality in today's world must therefore be redefined.

Regarding the second point, it can be argued that mediology is a fundamental educational resource for the individual and social groups because founded on the circumstantial paradigm and on the "anti-environment" construction, aimed at raising awareness of the mediamorphosis processes and at training skills in media production. It is a knowledge that can spill over in an organized way encouraging people involvement in the territory problems, in relational situations and active citizenship, in the other knowledge elaboration, and in creating values.

With respect to the third point, several factors of inequality have been described: a) lack of accessibility to devices and the net, b) passive, serial or "flat-formed" learning and communication technologies use, c) insufficient learning practices and MILs skills, d) non-collaborative-design approach to work, self-education, and communication. The varying levels individuals and groups are able to achieve relative to these factors determine a substantial inequality as early as the exit from the educational system, which may worsen or diminish over a lifetime in the absence of adequate educational experiences.

This is verifiable by the positive effects of field experiences. In particular, the introduction of a learning model based on the application of mediological knowledge to the enhancement of territories seems effective, an example of which will be offered in the contribution.

In 1955, Why Johnny Can't Read: And What You Can Do About It was published in the United States, a book destined to remain in the history of American costume. The author, Rudolf Flesch, denounced and criticized the literacy method based on the visual memorization of words - typical of logographic writing but then quite widespread in the United States - rather than on phonetics, as is usually done with alphabetic writing. Following the publication of the book, the phonetic method was then suggested to schools by the American education department and since then the text has entered the American collective imagination. Even Marshall McLuhan, in his famous 1964 book Understanding Media, does not miss the opportunity to appeal to Johnny to explain his theories. According to the Canadian mediologist «Johnny can't read because reading, as customarily taught, is too superficial and consumerlike an activity. […] The problem, therefore, is not that Johnny can't read, but that, in an age of depth involvement, Johnny can't visualize distant goals» (1964, p. 154). Given that by "depth involvement" McLuhan roughly means what we now generically call "immersivity", it is legitimate to ask how the new mobile devices, in particular the smartphone and the tablet, are modifying, to use a term so dear to McLuhan, the individual and collective sensorium of human beings, or the relationship of balance between the senses. In relation to these new devices, the psychoanalyst Darian Leader observes: «the digital age has certainly transformed many aspects of experience, but its most evident, and most overlooked, characteristic is that it allows you to keep your hands busy in many new ways. […] The evident increase in manual technology likely coincides with the emergence of new social spaces, in which the range and duration of interactions is accelerated» (2016, p. 8). In this work we intend to use a mediological approach to pose some questions on how, in the digital age, this rebalancing of the sensorium, in which touch seems to take on an increasingly central role, can and should be taken into consideration in educational practices, especially in relation to the changed use of manual skills - less and less aimed at writing and more and more aimed at the use of technological devices - and the consequent reorganization of the use of the body and the space in which it moves, including the school space, and of the way which individuals (and students) interact within this space.

Educational systems are not addressing the crisis of their foundations. The entire scholastic and academic scaffolding continues to be based on a scientifically discredited caricature of historical humanism (Cacciari 2019), which hinders the development of necessary citizenship and professional skills. Trying to get rid of idola like this could help usher in new horizons to rethink education and learning on renewed epistemological bases, consistent with the logics of a post-media society (Manovich 2020; Moriggi 2023).

The now unstoppable production of images, texts and even educational content through generative artificial intelligence should be framed in a long path of structural and ecological coupling between human and technology (Benjamin, 1915-1939; Tomasello 2019). The incorporation of generative AI systems in educational environments introduces new dynamics of translation and experience of the world, and the deep interaction between human agentivity and generative capacity of machines calls for a reconsideration of the concepts of authorship, creativity and knowledge production.

Generative AIs represent a radical turning point for their ability to create original content in various formats (images, texts, codes, sounds), challenging the traditional distinction between human creativity and technological production. Software becomes a co-creator of knowledge, contexts, and learning experiences (Accoto 2017); which raises radical questions about the role of technological otherness in culture and education, and about the fallout of these generative capabilities on the traditional conception of human creativity (Reckwitz 2017). The latter, in fact, often appears as an essentialist construction that does not help to better decipher ideational and generative phenomena, and rather acts as an (automatic?) generator of spectra that limit understanding. It is on the basis of such hallucinations that the anthropocentric view identifies the human being and his capacities as the epicentre of the creative universe, denying or minimising the ideational and generative potential of other forms of intelligence, both natural and artificial.

The critique of this essentialist view is based on the observation that creativity is not an exclusively human prerogative, as it can be extended to non-human (and non-animal) systems, such as software, machines and neural networks, which demonstrate ex-novo creative capabilities in areas such as art, music and writing. The challenge is thus to question the idea of a specific and predefined 'human nature', which would be an intrinsic bearer of qualities and values such as creativity and generativity (Nietzsche, 1878). The invitation is to consider technologies, including artificial intelligence, as potentially enabling devices capable not only of amplifying and reconfiguring human creative capacities but also of acting as creative entities in their own right (Panciroli, Rivoltella 2023), thus challenging the many spectra about creativity, the origin and sharing of ideas that still inform educational models, policies and content in both school and academic settings.