Service-Learning and digital environment of learning: innovative challenges for higher education

Abstract

Information and communication technologies have transformed our way of seeing and acting in the world, which has led to an unprecedented upheaval in the education sector. Nobody questions that teaching-learning processes are enriched by the possibilities posed by technologies, but, at the same time, it must be aware that education must initiate new generations to know how to live and interact in a technological and hyper-connected world. On the other hand, higher education goes through, pedagogically speaking, a stage oriented to innovation in which the technological influence plays an indisputable role. Universities from all regions update their teaching methodologies and the role of innovation and research in their relations with society. Among other things, this has meant a rediscovery of the centrality of students in the educational process, the need to promote more practical apprenticeships in the qualifications and that, in addition, develop the civic commitment of the students. In this way, many universities have implemented innovation policies focused on learning and the development of competencies where the social responsibility of the University itself with the community plays an important role. A paradigmatic example of all this is the service-learning programs that are developed, in a more or less institutionalized way, in face to face and distance universities. Our objective with this special issue is none other than to analyze the dynamics and interactions that take place between both worlds: virtual environments, digital technologies and service-learning.