ITALIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

At the time of an abundance of media offers and the reduced prestige of the institutions, teaching became strategic to maintaining and redefining the authority and professional recognition of teachers. It has therefore become advisable to activate a process of self-reflection on the part of universities on the dimensions of didactic innovation and new demands placed on university professors, starting from the reformulation of the mission of the University of the Third Millennium. Areas in need of consideration include: educating to educate (old and new trends in the mode of transmission of knowledge, considering the continuous access to the contents and the new media and cultural behaviours of the students); educating towards an interdisciplinary perspective; educating towards internationalization; educating for integration and solidarity; educating to divulge the results of scientific research, national and global problems and evolutions in terms of technology and human value; educating with and about the digital media. All these dimensions are explored in the paper, with particular attention given to the multiple dimensions of Media Literacy for university teachers with regard to overcoming physical, cultural and generational barriers between teachers and students and to up-to-date and democratize the quality university education.