The digital transformation is changing the structures and organization of learning. The new technology, e.g. AI/VR/AR, at the core of this transformation is different from all previous technological developments: on the one hand, it offers a new toolbox that can be used to shape knowledge transfer. On the other hand, however, this technology itself aspires to the role of the teacher - even if the powerful AI required for this is still a vision of the future. In the new digital learning space, the communication relationships between teachers and learners are changing by putting the latter at the center. This requires new methodological, technological, didactic and meta-competencies among teachers. Also, the educational process is increasingly leaving the formal educational framework - self-learning opportunities are becoming more important and teachers need to be able to select them and learn in a self-organized way. This also requires the corresponding competencies of the learners.
Against this background, new challenges arise for practice and research in the context of education. These affect every phase of education - school, university, vocational training and continuing education. Classical learning processes are based on a long-standing tradition. Digital education needs to be intensively studied empirically as well as new theoretical models need to be developed and tested.
The aim of this Research Topic is to present recent theoretical and empirical research that addresses the complex changes in the context of formal and informal learning processes. In learning practice, these changes have been countered with various approaches - in particular, during the COVID-19 crisis, formal learning processes were transferred overnight to the digital. However, the question is how innovative the practice of learning is right now and how sustainable such changes are.
In order to explore the active role of a technology in the learning process, which can act as a mediator of knowledge, approaches from, for example, psychology, computer science, education, social sciences, as well as interdisciplinary research are necessary. New theoretical models are currently being developed in these disciplines. Furthermore, proven methodological approaches are reaching their limits, as digital realities are creating a completely new framework for investigating processes and relationships. New questions for research arise, such as the security of data, about democratization of education or social inequalities in the digital space.
These and other changes are of particular interest for this article collection.
We welcome both theoretical as well as empirical research papers from different disciplines.
Areas to be covered in this Research Topic may include, but are not limited to:
• Personalization of learning and teaching in context of digitalization
• Impact of digital transformation on innovation of learning processes
• Interdisciplinary research on education in context of digitalization
• AI for innovation in education
• Sustainable development, implementation and acceptance of educational technologies
• Student and teacher surveillance
• Digital competences and data literacy as key factors for a sustainable transformation of digital education
• Technology-enhanced education and training
• Theoretical foundations of learning and training in digital environment
• Impact of digital teaching and learning on the curriculum
• Data rights and digital education
• Impact of cultural diversity on digital education
• Digital competency and sustainability
The digital transformation is changing the structures and organization of learning. The new technology, e.g. AI/VR/AR, at the core of this transformation is different from all previous technological developments: on the one hand, it offers a new toolbox that can be used to shape knowledge transfer. On the other hand, however, this technology itself aspires to the role of the teacher - even if the powerful AI required for this is still a vision of the future. In the new digital learning space, the communication relationships between teachers and learners are changing by putting the latter at the center. This requires new methodological, technological, didactic and meta-competencies among teachers. Also, the educational process is increasingly leaving the formal educational framework - self-learning opportunities are becoming more important and teachers need to be able to select them and learn in a self-organized way. This also requires the corresponding competencies of the learners.
Against this background, new challenges arise for practice and research in the context of education. These affect every phase of education - school, university, vocational training and continuing education. Classical learning processes are based on a long-standing tradition. Digital education needs to be intensively studied empirically as well as new theoretical models need to be developed and tested.
The aim of this Research Topic is to present recent theoretical and empirical research that addresses the complex changes in the context of formal and informal learning processes. In learning practice, these changes have been countered with various approaches - in particular, during the COVID-19 crisis, formal learning processes were transferred overnight to the digital. However, the question is how innovative the practice of learning is right now and how sustainable such changes are.
In order to explore the active role of a technology in the learning process, which can act as a mediator of knowledge, approaches from, for example, psychology, computer science, education, social sciences, as well as interdisciplinary research are necessary. New theoretical models are currently being developed in these disciplines. Furthermore, proven methodological approaches are reaching their limits, as digital realities are creating a completely new framework for investigating processes and relationships. New questions for research arise, such as the security of data, about democratization of education or social inequalities in the digital space.
These and other changes are of particular interest for this article collection.
We welcome both theoretical as well as empirical research papers from different disciplines.
Areas to be covered in this Research Topic may include, but are not limited to:
• Personalization of learning and teaching in context of digitalization
• Impact of digital transformation on innovation of learning processes
• Interdisciplinary research on education in context of digitalization
• AI for innovation in education
• Sustainable development, implementation and acceptance of educational technologies
• Student and teacher surveillance
• Digital competences and data literacy as key factors for a sustainable transformation of digital education
• Technology-enhanced education and training
• Theoretical foundations of learning and training in digital environment
• Impact of digital teaching and learning on the curriculum
• Data rights and digital education
• Impact of cultural diversity on digital education
• Digital competency and sustainability
