Sustainability, COVID-19, E-learning, and Maker in Education 5.0

Dear Colleagues,

Education has long provided a fundamental basis for preparing citizens for various areas of the job market. To achieve academic objectives and high-quality delivery of information, considering didactic and methodological aspects, new tools and innovations have been integrated into the education model. Such advancements have been brought forth by the fourth industrial revolution, and the fifth is already on the horizon. This fifth revolution brings Industry 4.0 tools oriented towards sustainability and society functioning, generating innovation and developing novel advanced technology and sustainable environmental, social and economic practices, altogether furthering the development of a more participatory, integrative society. The growing amount of information generated every day necessitates quick adaptation. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the digital transformation, the adaptation of professionals to new teaching and learning methodologies and highlighted concerns with mental health issues, such as burnout. Thus, new concepts and practices, such as e-learning, the internet of things, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, advanced robotics, machine-to-machine interaction, mobile technologies, cognitive computing, radio frequency identification (RFID), quick response codes (QR codes), realistic simulation, augmented reality, robotics and autonomous robots, have been integrated into industry, governments, and society at large, and virtual classrooms have likewise been incorporated into schools and universities. This scenario runs parallel to the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations (UN) and, in particular, the 4^th Sustainable Development Goal: Quality Education. Thus, schools and universities across the entire age spectrum are implementing services and seeking to differentiate their brands through the utilization of novel technologies and teaching–learning strategies. Disruptive technology, active methodologies and the entire innovative process seek to streamline and integrate people and technologies, aiming to improve information delivery. In this way, digital inclusion has generated concern about schools’ and universities’ inclusivity and accessibility. Teachers, professors and students have been forced into unprecedented circumstances requiring familiarization with new techniques and methodologies and expansion of their knowledge. Teachers and professors have had to reinvent themselves and innovate. All these opportunities have created challenges for the application of new trends in the teaching–learning process. Education 5.0 can contribute to different world settings. Thus, we are inviting researchers and practitioners from different areas, countries and sectors of education to participate in this Special Issue with contributions and new findings related to a new education model based on Education 5.0. Education 5.0 and sustainable learning enable a holistic approach to remote education, a movement now in full swing.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Gláucya Daú
Prof. Dr. Annibal Scavarda
Prof. Dr. Osvaldo Luiz Goncalves Quelhas
Prof. Dr. Patrick Jaska
Dr. Atef H. Harb
Guest Editors

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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 single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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.