Higher education for digital and network society

Abstract

Technology is leading to tremendous changes in social political, cultural, and economic life. Castells (2004) argues that the key factor distinguishing contemporary society is the fact that the use of technologies helps to create and sustain far-flung networks in which new kinds of social relationships and communication are created (p. 3). The new phenomenon of Digital and Network Society (DNS) has emerged which creates a new culture and requests new learning modes. European Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI, 2018) data show that in 2017, 79% of Europeans went online regularly (at least once a week). 70% of Europeans read news online and 65% use social networks. The largest increase relates to the use of the Internet for voice and video calls, where the share of the Internet users went from 39% in 2016 to 46% in 2017. Digital technologies and networks are leading to changes in the way we learn and relate to each other and, most importantly, it encourages openness to learning by using a variety of tools, resources and environments. The necessity of openness in learning is widely discussed among scholars (Judith & Bull, 2016; Santos-Hermosa, Ferran-Ferrer, & Abadal, 2017). The research results (Rolfe, 2017) are used to help create meaningful messages for communication on openness in and for learning. The role of personal practice, learner benefits, content, institution, value and culture need to be stressed. DNS members learn in new, timeless and borderless, spaces. Such society members are always connected and online, sharing and co-creating knowledge, and their learning needs serve as the greatest driving forces for higher education (HE) curriculum change. Research results show that there are various factors affecting the need for HE curriculum change, including the fourth industrial revolution (Schmidt, 2017), emerging technologies, open educational resources (McGreal, 2017; Redecker, 2017)[.] ; Edukologijos tyrimų institutas ; Humanitarinių mokslų fakultetas ; Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas ; Švietimo akademija