Futuring the Effects of Rapid Technological Change on Inclusivity and Equity in Higher Education

Dear Colleagues,

Another era of rapid technological change is upon us. Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and the metaverse (metaversity) are two of many potential examples. The effects of the pace of technological change on inclusion and equity may be profound and need to be studied. Consideration must be given to the variety of factors that define individuals and populations: race/ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, age, (dis)ability, other. In addition, consideration must be given to the types of institutions these students enrol in: two-year and four-year institutions, elite colleges and universities, minority-serving institutions (MSIs), other. Collectively, we can theorize that these dynamics will coalesce in interesting and unexpected ways to create new dilemmas, challenges, and opportunities for higher education research, scholarship, policy, and practice.

This Special Issue aims to focus on the fact that another era of higher education is being fashioned right now, in real time. The articles in this volume will capture aspects of the shifting landscape, which is largely being driven by technology changes, and help to scope and define what the shift means for inclusion and equity across student and faculty populations and institutions. Emerging methodological approaches are welcome.

Topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following. Articles should give special attention to how these topics affect or intersect with inclusivity and equity (race/ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, generation, (dis)ability):

• Leading change in an era of technological advancement and uncertainty (can focus on specific types of institutions such as MSIs, or can be more general);
• Strategies for resourcing institutions of higher education to procure and implement cutting-edge technologies;
• Higher education in the metaverse (metaversity);
• Special considerations for GenAI in the higher education context (for faculty, for students);
• Applying futuring or foresight theory to strategic planning to colleges and universities;
• Case studies of colleges and universities on the leading edge of harnessing and institutionalizing technological changes for faculty and students;
• Exploration of existential and other philosophical questions for colleges and universities navigating traditional and virtual worlds;
• Historical analysis where history contains lessons for the future.

Dr. Andrew T. Arroyo
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• futuring
• minority-serving institutions
• inclusion
• equity
• student success
• artificial intelligence (AI)
• metaverse
• metaversity