Educational technology has advanced tremendously in recent years, with several major developments becoming available in healthcare professionals’ education, including nursing. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in obligatory physical distancing, which forced an accelerated digital transformation of teaching tools. This review aimed to summarize all the available digital tools for nursing undergraduate education developed from 2019 to 2023. A robust search algorithm was implemented in the Scopus database, resulting in 1592 publications. Overall, 266 relevant studies were identified enrolling more than 22,500 undergraduate nursing students. Upon excluding multiple publications on the same digital tool, studies were categorized into three broad groups: serious games (28.0%), gamified applications (34.5%), and VR simulations and other non-gamified digital interventions (37.5%). Digital tools’ learning activity type (categories = 8), geographical distribution (countries = 34), educational subjects (themes = 12), and inclusion within a curriculum course (n = 108), were also explored. Findings indicate that digital educational tools are an emerging field identified as a potential pedagogical strategy aiming to transform nursing education. This review highlights the latest advances in the field, providing useful insights that could inspire countries and universities which have not yet incorporated digital educational tools in their nursing curriculum, to invest in their implementation.

Micro-credentials are transforming digital education by offering flexible, targeted, and accessible ways for learners to acquire and demonstrate skills. Micro-Credentials are small, specialized certifications following a short learning experience, which recognize the knowledge or skills someone acquires in specific subjects or fields. Since 2011, when the Mozilla Foundation introduced the Open Badges system, the use of Micro-Credentials has grown and is now widely employed by all digital platforms offering distance education (Coursera, edX, Udacity, etc.) to certify learners' knowledge, and they are recognized as additional qualifications by employers. Micro-Credentials are becoming increasingly popular as an alternative or complementary form of education, particularly in fields where skills evolve rapidly, such as technology and digital skills, and represent a significant advancement in the field of non-formal and lifelong learning.

Serious games in nursing education provide students with unique opportunities to increase knowledge and enhance decision-making and problem-solving skills. Hence, serious games from simple quizzes that test students’ knowledge to Virtual Reality simulations that gauge students’ ability skills have been developed. This evidence-based review examines the latest initiatives in serious games for nursing curriculum focusing on the design and their technological features to highlight the need of pre-selecting the appropriate elements when conceptualizing a nursing serious game. Using search algorithms in Scopus and PubMed, 1969 articles published between 2019 and 2023 were screened, resulting in 81 studies and 69 unique nursing serious games involving over 7000 nursing students. Geographical distribution of serious games, the games’ type, teaching subject, nursing courses incorporating the games, technologies embarked, and different gaming platforms/engines utilized for their development are reported. Furthermore, common gamification elements (e.g., score, avatars, and quests) and key-design features (e.g., player mode, player–game interaction, feedback provision, and failure option) are described. By reporting on the latest technological advancements, a useful guide is formed, enabling both programmers and educators to easily grasp the newest trends on serious game design and use the produced knowledge to further enhance the nursing curriculum.

Hackathon events have become increasingly popular in recent years as a modern tool for innovation in the education sector as they offer important learning advantages. Within the “INVITE” Erasmus+ project, four distinct hackathons were organized to bring together academic institutions, teachers, and students in the design of innovative international virtual and blended collaborations. In addition, as part of the “INVITE” project, an Open Interactive Digital Ecosystem (digital platform) has been developed to facilitate hackathons organization and was tested within two of the events. This platform can enhance hosting action-training programs providing a shared open resources space for educators to contact peers and design projects. All four hackathons were held during 2024 and their duration and type (onsite, blended, hybrid, and online) varied significantly. However, all hackathon topics were related to sustainability, SDGs, and Green Agenda. In total, more than 220 participants enrolled in the four events, including students, researchers, and professors from different disciplines, age groups, and countries. All participants were provided with qualitative surveys to explore their satisfaction and experiences. The results compare different hackathon setups to reveal valuable insights regarding the optimal design for higher education hackathons.