VIRTUAL MADRID FOCUS ON PEDAGOGY
Abstract
The post-digital era signifies a move towards the integration of digital cultures, practices, and social structures into our everyday behaviors, whether face-to-face or online. While technology has fostered more opportunities to connect, the prevalent designs of social media and AI have ushered a shift towards isolation, social polarization, and increased challenges to mental health. For teachers, the problem of isolation has always been present, yet, in the early part of the 21st century up to COVID-19, networking and teacher-led professional development started to foster greater collaboration and connectivity among teachers. This paper draws from current research on teacher networking to trace some of the shifts back towards isolation, post-2016, and identify the key factors shaping this reversal, including AI, social media platform changes, political shifts, and societal attitudes towards educators.
Dr. Kira J. Baker-Doyle is an Associate Professor of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is the author of four books and over 30 peer reviewed publications on the subject of social networks in education. Her fifth book (co-authored with Dr. Kemi Oyewole), “Social Network Research in Educational Leadership: Critical Histories and Imagined Futures” is forthcoming in 2028 from Cambridge University Press.
Paula Marcelo-Martinez
Carlos Marceo
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Wednesday 24th June, 2026