The Advantages and Challenges of Digital Education and Distance Education

Dear Colleagues,

The increasing possibilities granted by interactive resources across educational landscapes have transformed the conception of educational practice—technological advances have contributed to greater access to knowledge, and this access has expanded further through digital communication networks. The numerous pathways opened up by technology point to different realities and orientations within the teaching–learning process, whether in traditional or distance learning formats. The convergence of these educational modalities is perceived as being likely to expand in the near future, giving rise to visions of fully virtual education.

The practice of distance education (DE) has been expanding through the means of various modes of communication, enabled at times by analog technology and, at others, by digital technology. In the process of telecommunication, analog communication travels via electromagnetic waves and can be affected by other electrical fields, potentially interfering with signal quality; digital communication, on the other hand, is transmitted through binary bits, offering not only greater speed but also higher quality and reliability. The word “digital” comes from “digitus” in Latin, referring to the fingers of the hand and o counting using ten fingers (de Bem Machado & Fialho, 2020).

Communication embedded in digital media, driven by the expansion of the internet, has gained space by enabling quality education for diverse audiences in various places and contexts. According to the Referential Framework for Quality in Distance Education, communication strengthens the principle of interaction and interactivity, which is fundamental to education and must therefore be ensured through the availability and use of various technological resources (De Bem Machado et al., 2024).

The choice of the type of technology that supports the medium of communication between the actors involved in the process requires planning, organization, and management. These factors are essential for guiding training, investment, the development of materials, the implementation of activities, and evaluation processes, thus promoting increasingly intensive, rich, and multidirectional communication.

Implementing an educational project in a distance learning format demands attention to several elements, among which the tools that enable communication are central to the success of the project. The communication inherent to the teaching–learning process must be continuously expanded. When combined with digital technologies, these processes tend to become more frequent and intensive.

Resources such as virtual learning environments (VLEs) have enabled situations previously not existent in the educational landscape, including accessible knowledge-building processes. Based on this reflection, we ask: What are the challenges and advantages of digital and distance education? This Special Issue aims to map the challenges and advantages of digital and distance education; from the re-signification of the teaching–learning process emerges a new way of being, knowing, and learning that extends beyond the classroom, where DE processes increasingly explore digital communication technologies (Zawacki-Richter & Jung, 2023). For Catapan (2002b), communication through digital language implies various forms of expression—oral, written, visual, auditory, colorful, action-based, and emotional.

Communicating in DE requires different elements than those used in face-to-face settings, especially regarding the organization of time and space, as well as the means of communication. DE is currently being empowered by digital communication networks.

Digital education enables teaching and learning to become interconnected, diffuse, and founded interdisciplinary actions, and can be considered a natural educational practice in the 21st century, enabling new ways of constructing knowledge. This communication model expands beyond the traditional sender–receiver pattern, evolving into a spiraled upward movement. In this dynamic, the message and the information to be conveyed act as mediators (Peters, 2023).

A general movement of virtualization currently affects not only information and communication but also economic and collective functioning. Virtualization reshapes what it means to be together (Sánchez et al., 2024).

Thus, the transformations caused by technologies in digital communication have resulted in a new way of teaching and learning—an interactive, intensive, and networked mode in which knowledge ceases to be an isolated element and becomes diffuse, rhizomatic, interconnected, and interdisciplinary. Therefore, teaching and learning, mediated by technology, can be considered a natural process. In this context, the themes of this Special Issue are as follows:

1. Interactive Education and Connectivity: The Transformation of Educational Space–Time;
2. Interconnections Between Digital Education and Distance Learning;
3. Perspectives for Digital Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence;
4. Interactivity and Digital Communication in Distance Education;
5. Virtual Learning Environments and Personalized Education;
6. Artificial Intelligence, Automated Learning, and the Future of Teaching Mediation;
7. Planning, Management, and Evaluation in Distance Education;
8. Digital Culture and Teacher Education;
9. Competencies for Teaching in the Online Universe with the Use of Artificial Intelligence;
10. Hybrid Education and the Convergence of Modalities: The New Configuration of Educational Practices;
11. Cyberculture and Networked Affectivity: Being Together in Distance Education;
12. Public Policies and the Sustainability of Digital Education.

References:

De Bem Machado, A., & Fialho, F. (2020). Interaction and Interactivity Process: Communication in Digital Education. JINAV: Journal of Information and Visualization, 1(2), 67-73.

De Bem Machado, A., Sousa, M. J., & Sharma, R. C. (2024). A Multidisciplinary Bibliometric Review of Technological Applications for Enhanced Learning and Institutional Growth. Artificial Intelligence Applications in Higher Education: Theories, Ethics, and Case Studies for Universities, 9.

Peters, O. (2003). Learning with new media in distance education. Handbook of distance education, 87-112.

Sánchez, J., Reyes-Rojas, J., & Alé-Silva, J. (2024). What Is Known about Assistive Technologies in Distance and Digital Education for Learners with Disabilities?. Education Sciences, 14(6), 595.

Zawacki-Richter, O., & Jung, I. (Eds.). (2023). Handbook of open, distance and digital education. Springer.

Dr. Andreia De Bem Machado
Dr. Maria José Sousa
Guest Editors

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• digital education
• distance education (DE)
• educational technologies
• virtual learning environment (VLE)
• interactivity
• digital communication
• networked learning
• digital inclusion
• teacher education
• cyberculture