Analysis on the technological evolution towards Education 4.0 and the virtualization of Higher Education

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the technological evolution of Education 4.0 and the concepts that support higher education in the digital age, the pedagogical and academic trends that support it, and its impact on the virtualization of higher education. Although transformations were already in sight in digital education, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated changes in study methods and human interaction, including the obligation to study and work remotely. The changes caused by the pandemic seemed a temporary condition, but everything indicates that they will be permanent changes in educational interactions mediated by Information and Communication Technologies. This leads to an emerging field: Education 4.0, which is based on the Fourth Revolution and is related to digital information. Essentially, it is the interconnection and convergence of various technologies in digital environments, the storage, management and socialization of academic content, which results in methodological changes in education, especially to improve understanding through distance and virtualized content. This is generating new strategies, content and teaching methods, accelerating the use of technology as a mediator of the teaching-learning process, with new applications of tools, new environments, educational methods and the development of content mediated by the new digital skills of teachers. and learners. This article analyzes the coincidences of Education 4.0 with the virtuality of education through the core similarities, which describe the convergences and divergences between educational conceptions and the enunciated technologies, to reflect on the future offered by the different scenarios of the virtualization of higher education.