The proposal arises as a response to the transformations that new technologies are bringing about in ways of learning, relating, communicating, and expressing oneself. The internet and social networks have become spaces for participation and socialisation, where great opportunities for growth and learning coexist with situations of vulnerability, overexposure, and risk. Faced with this scenario, “Digital Courtyards” aims to support technological evolution in Salesian educational communities through a proactive approach, promoting the development of digital skills grounded in values, critical thinking, and personal care. The project’s primary objective is to encourage safe, informed, and responsible use of the internet, social networks, and new technologies among children, adolescents, and young people in Salesian schools and ARN youth groups.
This is achieved through spaces for reflection, training, and awareness-raising, fostering engaged and participatory digital citizenship. The initiative involves a multifaceted approach. On the one hand, training courses will be organized for educators, managers, youth leaders, and adults responsible for educational and pastoral communities. These proposals aim to provide tools, criteria, and pedagogical resources useful for understanding contemporary digital phenomena and for guiding new generations in virtual environments. Through these spaces, the aim is to strengthen the role of adults as educational reference points, promoting dynamics of dialogue, listening, learning, and prevention.
“Digital Courtyards” will include a provincial communications and awareness campaign promoted by the Delegation for Social Communication, aimed specifically at young people. The goal is to ensure that adolescents and young people are not simply recipients of information, but active participants in building a more humane, respectful, supportive, and informed digital culture. The planned initiatives include training courses for educators and pastoral workers, digital citizenship workshops in schools, an provincial communications and awareness campaign, and a festival of audiovisual productions made by young people.
The project is financially supported by the Misiones Salesianas Salesian Mission Office in Madrid, and benefits from the support of the Tecnologia con Propósito Foundation, an organisation specialising in digital citizenship and technology education. The proposal aims to strengthen the institutional management and pedagogical practices of the Salesian Houses in ARN, addressing the digital dimension not only as a technical tool, but also as a cultural, philosophical, and social issue that requires a close and concrete educational presence in these “digital courtyards,” now inhabited primarily by children and young people. With “Digital Courtyards,” the schools and youth groups of the Salesians of ARN renew their commitment to comprehensive education, addressing the challenges of the present with a proactive and profoundly human perspective.
Further information: donbosconorte.org.ar
